Bombardier BiLevel Coach

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A BiLevel coach in service with Toronto's GO Transit.

Bombardier BiLevel coaches are bilevel passenger cars designed to carry up to 360 passengers for regional railways. These carriages are easily identifiable; they are double-decked and are shaped like elongated octagons.

1 History
2 Construction
3 Operators
4 Similar units
5 See also
6 External links

[edit] History

The BiLevel coaches were originally designed by GO Transit and Hawker Siddeley Canada in the mid-1970s as a more efficient replacement for GO's original single-deck diesel multiple units. Later coaches were manufactured by Urban Transportation Development Corporation/Can-Car and finally Bombardier, who now own the designs and manufacturing facility. There are more than seven hundred such coaches in service today and all have been built at the company's Thunder Bay Plant.

[edit] Construction

Inside a Metrolink carriage heading towards Orange County, California.

Coaster Cab Car #2306 at downtown San Diego. (www.trainweb.com photo)

Bombardier multilevel train owned by New Jersey Transit.

The coaches feature a riveted aluminum body on a steel frame. They are 4.85 m (15ft 11in) high and 3 m (9ft 10in) wide, and weigh about 50,000 kg (110,000 lbs). Depending on car design and seating configuration, seats are available for between 136 and 162 passengers, along with standing room. All coaches now feature a washroom on the lower level; the original coaches for GO Transit had the washroom on the intermediate level in the same location where the cab is located in cab cars (see below). The coaches have two pairs of doors on each side which allow the entire coach to be emptied in 90 seconds. Some of the newer coaches have electrical outlets for laptop computers and other devices along with small tables.

One major variant is the cab car. The cab car is placed at the end of the train and features a full cab built into the end of the coach, from which the train's locomotive can be remotely controlled. This allows for push-pull operation with a faster turnaround time for trains, by avoiding having to physically turn around the train or locomotive. Unlike the similar driving van trailer used by Britain's InterCity 225, the cab cars are otherwise identical to the regular coaches rather than imitating the design of the locomotive, leading to the appearance that the train is travelling 'backwards'.

Most of these coaches use a 480 volt HEP system for heating, lighting, and air conditioning. The exception to this is with GO Transit which uses a 600 volt system (This is due to difference in power supplies between Canada and the US; in the US, industrial three-phase power is supplied at 480 volts, whereas in Canada, it is supplied at 600 volts — formerly 550 volts). It is for this reason that whenever GO has leased coaches to other agencies, a power unit went with the coaches, or when GO has leased coaches from other agencies, a locomotive with 480 volt HEP capabilities was leased as well.