Flexity Outlook (Toronto streetcar)

The Flexity Outlook is the newest version of streetcars for the Toronto Transit Commission. It is built by Bombardier Transportation in Thunder Bay, Ontario, Canada.

The new low-floor streetcars are operated exclusively on the 509 Harbourfront streetcar line as of March 29, 2015, in place of 510 Spadina due to construction on Spadina Avenue until May 10, 2015. They will be put in service on all 11 streetcar routes by 2019 and will replace the aging fleet of Canadian Light Rail Vehicle (CLRV) and the double-module Articulated Light Rail Vehicle (ALRV) streetcars, which have been in revenue service since the 1970s and 1980s respectively.

The new vehicles are low-floor and are just over 30 metres long, longer than the older CLRV and ALRV streetcars. Each vehicle has four sliding doors (opened either by the operator or when a passenger taps the buttonr), large windows, air-conditioning systems, 64 fixed seats, interior bike racks and six flip-down seats.^[3][4]

History

A mockup of the first three sections of the new vehicle on public display in 2011

With the TTC's streetcar fleet nearing the end of its service life, the commission began looking for a manufacturer to build new streetcars. In mid-2009, the TTC announced that it had chosen the Bombardier Flexity Outlook to replace the existing CLRV and ALRV fleet on its streetcar network, most of which serves Toronto's downtown core.^[5] On June 26, 2009, the Toronto City Council approved funding for 204 new vehicles and signed the contract with Bombardier.^[6] A mockup of the new streetcar was put on display at the Bathurst Hillcrest Complex for tours in November 2011. The first vehicle arrived in September 2012. It was unveiled to the public and media two months later in November 2012.^[7][8][9] Beginning in 2013, the new streetcars were tested on several routes, and the first two entered revenue service on August 31, 2014 on the 510 Spadina route.^[10]

Specifications

Flexity Outlook #4402

In 2010, Bombardier released the specifications of the new Toronto streetcars. The vehicle is based on the Flexity Outlook product, but tailored to Toronto's needs. The vehicles use TTC's unique gauge (4 ft 10 ⁷⁄₈ in/​1,495 mm) rather than standard gauge, and trolley poles using 600 V DC for power collection. Other design requirements such as the ability to handle tight turning radii and single-point switches,^[11] climb steep hills, clearance, and ability to upgrade into a more modern pantograph current collection system were factored into the design. The Outlook is almost twice as long as the TTC's older streetcars, and has five articulated sections.^[1]

Toronto was hit by unusually cold weather during the 2013/2014 and 2014/2015 winters. On the colder days, buses were used to supplement the older streetcar fleet, when the pneumatic systems on many of the vehicles failed. Small amounts of moisture that had leaked into the pneumatic lines were freezing in the cold weather.^[12][13] The TTC told commuters that the new Flexity vehicles use different technology that is not susceptible to extreme cold. Instead of a pneumatic system, servomotors or hydraulic systems are used to operate the doors.

Fare collection

Each of the TTC's Flexity vehicles has a fare vending machine near each of its two central doors, and a validator for Presto fare cards at all doors.

A Proof-of-payment (POP) all-door boarding system is used on routes which are served by the new Flexity vehicles. Because the operator sits in a fully enclosed cab and does not monitor fare payments, the TTC's fare enforcement officers perform random spot checks to ensure passengers have POP and that they have paid the proper fares. The spot checks are carried out on board the vehicles or at terminal/interchange stations where passengers connect with the TTC's subway system and other surface routes. The cars are equipped with four Presto card readers located at each door. There are two Ticket Vending Machines (TVM) on board situated beside the double-doors in the second and fourth modules of each car. Passengers who do not carry a Metropass or transfer can pay their fare by depositing cash or tokens into a TVM. The machine issues a POP ticket receipt, which can also be used as a transfer to connect with other TTC routes. Passengers who use Senior/Student tickets must validate their tickets at one of two smaller machines situated beside the TVM which stamps the date and time fare was paid. The validated ticket must be deposited into farebox when transferring another TTC route. Presto card holders who wish to obtain a transfer must tap their card twice: first when they enter the vehicle, then at the TVM, which then issues a POP receipt. TVMs are also posted at most major stops along the route where passengers have the option to pay prior to boarding.^{[14] [15]}

Audible warning signals

The Flexity streetcars use two audible warning signals. They are the first streetcars to be furnished with an amplified digital recording of a bell/gong, based on the recording used from previous streetcars which uses mechanical gongs. They are the first TTC streetcars with a built-in electronic horn (similar to the sound of a bus or automobile horn). The older CLRV and ALRV streetcars which were equipped only with gongs when they entered service in the 1970s snd 1980s respectively. They were retrofitted with horns as their secondary auditory warning device, and most have since been reconfigured with either a similar sound of air horn or an automobile horn respectively in 2011-2012. This had been installed as part of safety and technological upgrades with the fleet in the late 1990s after the 510 Spadina streetcar line opened. The previous type of streetcar horn sound had been used on the TTC's H1 and M1 subway trains which have been retired.^[16]

Destination sign

The Flexity streetcars have long digital orange LED destination signs at the front, rear and at the sides of the vehicle and have two blue bull's eye lights on the side of the front signifying it is an accessible vehicle like TTC buses.

Delivery

TTC Flexity streetcar on 509 Harbourfront line at Exhibition Loop

The first vehicle arrived in Toronto on September 25, 2012 by rail from the Thunder Bay plant to Canadian Pacific Railway’s Lambton Yard near Runnymede Road and St. Clair Avenue West. ^[17][18]

It was loaded on a truck/trailer flatbed and arrived at Harvey Shop at the Hillcrest Complex a few days later.

Car 4400 was the first of three test vehicles delivered for testing and technology verification. The carset has the same number as the wooden mockup car.

The new vehicle was unveiled to the public at the TTC's Hillcrest complex during a media conference on November 15, 2012.^[19][20]

On June 25, 2013, the Railway Age quoted TTC General Manager Andy Byford about the need for the TTC to order an additional 60 vehicles.^[21]

Contract amendments reported on February 24, 2014 called for pantograph current collection for part of the fleet (60 cars) with the later inclusion of pantographs on the remaining 144 cars.^[22] The first three cars (4400, 4401, 4402) have both a pantograph and a trolley pole.

The Flexity streetcars entered service on August 31, 2014 on the 510 Spadina streetcar line and were later deployed along the 509 Harbourfront line on March 29, 2015.^[23][24][25] As of May 1, 2015 five vehicles, 4400, 4403, 4404, 4405 and 4406 are in revenue service.^[26][27] Prototype vehicles 4401 and 4402 had been undergoing almost a year of extensive testing in Toronto. That testing had triggered a change to the design of the loading ramps. The vehicles will only become TTC property when their ramps are retrofitted to the new design, and that change couldn't be made while the plant was on strike.

TTC spokesman Brad Ross said that the new vehicles would enter service on time, in spite of the strike, even if there was only one new vehicle ready for fare service.^[26] Tess Kalinowski, the Toronto Star‍ '​s transportation columnist, wrote that the Bombardier plan had been scheduled to roll out a new vehicle every three weeks, but that measures would taken to roll out three new vehicles per month until production was back on schedule.^[23]

In September 2014, a month after the rollout of fare service on the Spadina line, Kalinowski reported that riders of other routes were expressing jealousy and impatience over the delay before new vehicles were ready to serve their routes.^[23]

Bombardier workers voted to accept a new contract on September 12, 2014.^[28]

On September 29, 2014, Chris Bateman, writing in the Toronto Life magazine, described a new simulator that was being installed in the Hillcrest complex to train drivers on the Flexity vehicles.^[29] It replaces an analogue trainer used to train drivers on the CLRVs. The system allows drivers to simulate navigating the TTC's entire streetcar routes, but only landmark buildings, including the CN Tower and El Mocambo, are rendered accurately. Most of the buildings the driver passes are generic.

On December 19, 2014, Tess Kalinowski, reporting in the Toronto Star, wrote that Bombardier was behind schedule in delivering new vehicles.^[30] She wrote that, by mid-December Bombardier should have delivered 43 vehicles, but had only delivered three. Seven new vehicles should have been delivered in 2013. She noted that Andy Byford had warned Bombardier that he would insist on Bombardier meet the final schedule of all vehicles in time for new streetcars to replace the old fleet by 2019, or he would impose the penalty clauses in the delivery contract. One additional vehicle was expected to be delivered before the end of the year.

Natalie Alcoba, writing in the National Post, reported on January 28, 2015, that the Leslie Barns facility for the new vehicles was expected to be almost empty, when it opened later in 2015, because Bombardier had fallen so far behind delivery of the new vehicles.^[31] She wrote that the delivery schedule called for forty-three vehicles to have been delivered by January 2015, but only three had been delivered, with a fourth expected in February.

On February 23, 2015, TTC Chair Mike Colle said Bombardier had agreed to deliver new vehicles more frequently, and he expected a total of 30 new vehicles to be delivered by the end of 2015. ^[32]

He hoped the 509 Harbourfront (which began to be serviced with the new low-floor vehicles on March 29, 2015), 510 Spadina and 511 Bathurst routes would all be using new vehicles by the end of the year. He said that the TTC already knew it would need to place an order for additional vehicles. The TTC can purchase an additional 60 vehicles at the current price, if the additional vehicles are ordered before the 60th vehicle is delivered. Colle said that the additional vehicles would not be ordered, and paid for, until Bombardier was close to delivering the 60th vehicle, as an incentive for Bombardier to keep to its delivery schedule.

Operations

In March 2013, the demonstration car set made several test runs throughout the streetcar network including one trip from Hillcrest Complex down Bathurst Street to Bloor Street and another trip to Bathurst and Lake Shore Boulevard.^[33]

The TTC has been running LRV 4401 with the pantograph within the Hillcrest Complex and the trolley pole on the street.

On June 19, 2013, the TTC announced that the new vehicles would be operated on the Spadina streetcar line.^[34] The first two new streetcars (cars #4400 and #4403) officially entered revenue service on August 31, 2014.^[35] The full fleet will not be rolled out until 2019.

Rollout schedule

The new streetcars are operating on the 509 Harbourfront and will be redeployed on the 510 Spadina on May 10, 2015 after track reconstruction is complete. As more new streetcars are delivered, more routes will begin to be served by the new cars.^[36] The rollout schedule is listed below (subject to change).

• 511 Bathurst: Mid-2015
• 505 Dundas: 2016
• 501 Queen: 2016/2017
• 508 Lake Shore: 2016/2017
• 504 King: 2017
• 512 St. Clair: 2017/2018
• 502 Downtowner: 2018
• 503 Kingston Rd: 2018
• 506 Carlton: 2018/2019

Maintenance

The existing two carhouses are oriented to service the older high-floor cars with most equipment located under the vehicle floor. They are not oriented to low-floor vehicles with equipment located on the roof. Thus, the TTC constructed a new building at the Roncesvalles Carhouse to serve the new vehicles. The TTC is also scheduled to open Leslie Barns, a new maintenance facility, at the corner of Leslie Street and Lake Shore Boulevard by summer 2015.^[22]

New taller building at Roncesvalles to service extra roof mounted equipment

View of the roof with trolley pole lowered and pantograph raised at Hillcrest

Flexity Freedom LRT

On June 14, 2010, an option for an additional 182 Bombardier Flexity Freedom model for suburban use was exercised to provide vehicles for several new light rail lines, collectively dubbed Transit City;^[37][38] there is an option for up to 118 more.^[39] These vehicles included a number of differences from the streetcar replacements:

• They are double-ended, as Transit City lines would not have had turnaround loops at the ends of the lines;
• They are standard gauge, not the unique gauge used for TTC streetcar and subway lines;^[40]
• They do not need to be able to navigate the sharp curves found on some TTC streetcar lines.
• They have pantographs instead of trolley poles.

The Flexity Freedom is scheduled to be used on the Eglinton Crosstown line running under and beside Eglinton Avenue between Black Creek in the west to Kennedy Road in the east. Other lines approved include the Etobicoke-Finch West LRT along Finch Avenue west from the Yonge–University subway line and the Sheppard East LRT along Sheppard Avenue east from Don Mills subway station.

References

External links

• Media related to Bombardier LRV in Toronto at Wikimedia Commons
• "Toronto: Meet Your New Ride". Toronto Transit Commission. Archived from the original on March 16, 2013. 
• Flexity official site
• New streetcars TTC official site