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TTC: Flexity Streetcars Testing & Delivery (Bombardier)

TheTigerMaster said:
Just spotted LFLRV 4405 running 511 Bathurst to Bathurst Station. Looks like the TTC is running them on 511 ahead of the Games.
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That doesn't seem to be the case today (although I hope it is on Saturday when I head down to the Exhibition Centre).

I just saw 4407 and 4408 on Spadina/Queen's Quay (one of them in the loop as I passed) but currently only 4407 seems to running (according to NextBus).

Edit: 4408 is running the Harbourfront route.
 
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From this link:

Bombardier hiring dozens weekly, still need more to push out streetcars on time: Union

The Thunder Bay Bombardier plant has been hiring at least a dozen new employees every week to help speed up its streetcar production.
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This comes after Bombardier fell behind on its delivery orders to the Toronto Transit Commission.

The CEO and the Chair of the TTC were in Thunder Bay last month meeting with Bombardier officials and touring the plant. Under their contract, Bombardier had committed to produce 200 streetcars by 2019.

So far only six are currently in service in Toronto.

Unifor Local 1075 president Dominic Pasqualino says with the new hires the plant is working very hard to deliver on its promise of pushing out one car every five days. But he says at the moment they are not there yet.


Last week the company's vice-president of operations Aaron Rivers parted ways with the company.
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At least in Toronto we will have seven new streetcars running in revenue service during the Pan Am games.

There is STILL no streetcars running in revenue service in Washington DC. They have six streetcars. See link. Here are their excuses not to run them until they are fixed.

33 things DDOT must fix to open the DC Streetcar

The long-delayed H Street Streetcar has been shrouded in secrecy for months. But now DDOT has released a report detailing the exact causes of the delays, and what they must do to fix them.

The complete list of 33 fixes is detailed below.

The list comes via an independent report from the American Public Transportation Association (APTA). The recommendations are a mix of back-end organizational issues and physical problems with the line's construction.

The final report confirms the APTA's preliminary finding from this spring, that none of the problems are fatal flaws. All 33 items on the list are fixable.

DDOT has been working on fixes for months

DDOT has yet to comment on the status of fixes, but it's clear the agency has been working on them.

For example, one item on the list notes that streetcar doors scrape against some station platforms when they open. Last month, DDOT began modifying platforms to correct this problem.

Another example is the thick lines of red paint that DDOT added at key locations along H Street this spring. The paint is a visual warning for when the streetcar tracks swerve across travel lanes (like when they shift from the left lane to the right lane at Benning Road and Maryland Ave). If a car is inside the painted area at the track crossing, the streetcar doesn't have room to pass safely.

The complete list

The full 33-item list comes in two parts: The first 18 items are from the preliminary findings that came out in March. Following that, there are 15 new items.

Here they all are:

18-item preliminary list

1. In conducting safety certification, the DC State Safety Oversight office should allow flexibility in resolving problem issues. Workarounds that adequately resolve safety issues may be considered acceptable as temporary fixes, provided DDOT identify a plan for permanent solutions.

2. Hire a qualified chief safety officer.

3. Hire additional technical staff with more experience in light rail / streetcar construction and operating.

4. Repair breaks in the streetcar rails at three locations.

5. Ensure the six railcars are all in a state of good repair, including railcar #202 which caught fire in February, 2015.

6. Investigate why streetcar doors scrape at stations, and fix the problem.

7. Add more prominent pavement graphics indicating where streetcars stop at stations, and add pavement graphics at switch points and passing locations to indicate to streetcar operators when it's safe to pass another streetcar.

8. Ensure all on-board radios are working.

9. Add additional lighting at streetcar stations.

10. Complete a new safety assessment.

11. Hire an independent expert to ensure compliance with the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). Specifically, have this expert review and if necessary correct the design of the rumble strips at station platforms.

12. Train maintenance staff more thoroughly, so they'll catch problems such as rail cracks sooner.

13. Develop a pre-revenue operations plan, and do additional streetcar testing after all right-of-way and vehicle issues are resolved.

14. Add heaters to rail switches, so they can melt snow pack.

15. Resolve items from the previous safety & security reports.

16. Develop a centralized tracking system for managing and resolving problems. DDOT's current system is decentralized and results in oversights.

17. Review documents describing operating & maintenance procedures, and correct inconsistencies and incomplete sections.

18. Develop an opening day operating schedule.

15-item followup list

Items 1 through 6, 9, and 10 all deal with recommendations for back-end reorganization of DDOT's streetcar office. Most notably, APTA recommends DDOT appoint a single dedicated project manager with authority to make decisions, and delegate additional specific decision-making authorities to other designated staff. Currently all decisions are being elevated to the DDOT director, causing delays and leading to a lack of clarity regarding who is responsible for fixing problems.

7. Conduct team building exercises to help streetcar staff work together better.

8. Replace streetcar side mirrors with rear-facing cameras, reducing the width of the streetcars and thus reducing the risk of scraping parked cars.

11. Ensure pedestrians on the south side of the Hopscotch Bridge have a safe and clearly-marked path. At the time of the APTA review, construction of Station House DC was blocking the sidewalk and stranding pedestrians.

12. Add additional protection for pedestrians at the foot of the stairway at the Benning Road entrance to the streetcar carbarn, where a stairway terminates directly into the streetcar tracks.


Photo from DDOT.

13. Install a fence or landscaping along the street to prevent jaywalking.

14. Add larger signs and additional on-street stencils warning car drivers to park inside the white line.

15. Add bigger streetcar speed and signal signs. Current signs are too small for streetcar operators to see.
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W. K. Lis said:
At least in Toronto we will have seven new streetcars running in revenue service during the Pan Am games.

There is STILL no streetcars running in revenue service in Washington DC. They have six streetcars. See link. Here are their excuses not to run them until they are fixed.
Click to expand...

Yes, not even made by Bombardier! Their official website ( http://www.dcstreetcar.com/ ) is quite fun to read too as it explains to a City that has not had streetcars for decades how to cross (or not cross) streetcar tracks etc etc. Maybe something the TTC needs to emulate as (based on QQE experiences ) people are very confused here too.
 
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