Toronto Crosstown LRT | ?m | ?s | Metrolinx | Arcadis

[dowlingm]

How many different types of rolling stock does the city of Toronto require? So now we have to train mechanics to maintain every different type of train, and train drivers to operate every different type of train. Order different parts/ components for all the different rolling stock. What a nightmare to manage. More people on the government payroll to oversee all of this.

Two points I would make here, as economy of scale flits into and out of a lot of these discussions.

1. When it suits, such economies are overlooked. Canada Line, having different DMUs for Ottawa Line 2 and 4, UPX cars and now Guelph-Cambridge BEMUs. On the flip side, economy of scale was used to sell the TTC 600 car mega order for uptown and downtown LRVs for Transit City to ensure Thunder Bay got all the work and look how that worked out. Even if the uptown work had been separately tendered it would have created a light rail order of a size roughly that of the entire US light rail fleet - and there’s a good chance the assembly plant might have been located somewhere close enough that Torontonians could work at it* or even have the vehicles driven out of an assembly plant convertible to an MSF**

2. Different vehicles are not necessarily that different. LRVs these days are an assembly of components - electrical, motors, seating, lighting - from a global supply chain. I would love to know what overlap there is between Citadis Spirit and Flexity Freedom but I doubt it’s zero. Additionally, there may not be much choice but to use a common supplier in some situations where a country has only one supply of a specific part but that part is the most convenient one to select for national-content-percentage purposes.

* this is not necessarily a guarantee of a good product - see BYD Newmarket and their vehicles’ woes at TTC
** again not a guarantee of a good outcome - see Ottawa

 

[Bojaxs]

** again not a guarantee of a good outcome - see Ottawa

Ottawa is not a good example of standardization not working because everyone, including Alstom themselves was telling the City of Ottawa that the trains they wanted wouldn't work properly on the line.

It's not a case against standardization. It's a case of city officials ignoring all the experts and gunning ahead regardless.

 

[Steve X]

Ottawa LRVs couldn't even run on any ML LRT lines or the ION. Somehow they chose 1500V DC oppose to the standard 750V DC. The Citadis was suppose to be the backup car for the crosstown so they should at least be able top run on the line manually.

 

[Bojaxs]

If all vehicles operate at the same speed,

Does this mean trains going through the underground and grade separated portions of the line will be relegated to travel at the same speed as the trains travelling along the eastern/ at grade portion of the line?

What I mean is that noone suggests digging up and rebuilding Line 1 because of those problems.

I don't think it's necessary to combat slow zones by digging up the track and rebuilding the entire line.


I was wrong about the voltage. Both Finch and Eglinton will use 750DC. I previously asked in this thread if it was possible to connect both lines in the future. Someone had responded to me that it wouldn't be possible to connect the lines because both use different voltage.
So would it be possible to connect both the Eglinton line and Finch line at some point in the future? Perhaps at Toronto Pearson airport?