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^^^^
Great posts.. For the longest time and I mean decades those maps hardly changed - nice to see some real changes happening in the next 8 years and beyond!
After a protracted dispute with Bombardier about delays to its light rail vehicle order for the Eglinton Crosstown LRT, Metrolinx has taken the drastic step of placing an order for cars with another company. Transportation Minister Steven Del Duca announced Friday that Metrolinx, which is the provincial agency in charge of transit planning for the GTHA, has inked a deal to buy 61 vehicles from the French firm Alstom at a cost of $528 million.
The transit agency hasn’t cancelled its $770-million purchase from Bombardier, which as a result of a lawsuit brought by the manufacturer is now tied up in a dispute resolution process. But Del Duca said allowing both purchases to go ahead simultaneously would provide Metrolinx with a backup fleet that guarantees it will have enough vehicles to open the Crosstown line by 2021.
Government projects should always protect tax payers' interest, because it is tax payers who are fund them. Yet often, for political reasons, they put "local jobs" first, which is why we have this mess in the first place.
Government should have good policy to encourage creation of local jobs, not to use taxpayers' money to give local company any sort of preferential treatment as if it were a good thing to do, and too often, we do just that.
Government projects should always protect tax payers' interest, because it is tax payers who are fund them. Yet often, for political reasons, they put "local jobs" first, which is why we have this mess in the first place.
Government should have good policy to encourage creation of local jobs, not to use taxpayers' money to give local company any sort of preferential treatment as if it were a good thing to do, and too often, we do just that.
Alstom has actually invested quite a bit in Canada and they will be building these trains outside Ottawa. The trains are a bit larger than Bombardiers flexity platform so if they are adopted on the Crosstown they will have to do some modifications to the stations and to the maintenance storage areas. In light of that I think Metrolinx doesn't have a lot of hope that Bombardier will meet their service target dates and hence decided not to hedge all their bets on Bombardier. Given the whole Streetcar situation with the TTC I would agree this is a good move.
Alstom has actually invested quite a bit in Canada and they will be building these trains outside Ottawa. The trains are a bit larger than Bombardiers flexity platform so if they are adopted on the Crosstown they will have to do some modifications to the stations and to the maintenance storage areas. In light of that I think Metrolinx doesn't have a lot of hope that Bombardier will meet their service target dates and hence decided not to hedge all their bets on Bombardier. Given the whole Streetcar situation with the TTC I would agree this is a good move.
The Alstom LRT trains are actually almost twice the length and capacity as the Bombardier Flexity Freedom models. Metrolinx will be deploying approximately 60 of these trains on the Crosstown Line 5, which will almost double each train's passenger capacity.
Metrolinx has ordered the longest model in the Alstom Citadel LRT series, with capacity for 340 per train:
The Alstom Citadel trains are standard "off the shelf" models already widely used in France, so it'll be a relatively simple and quick delivery in time for Line 5 Crosstown opening or the Hurontario LRT opening in 2020-2021:
Well if Alstom keeps on top of its delivery targets this should be a huge blow to Bombardier Transportation.
Even Montreal's regional rail operator, AMT, recently chose the Chinese state-owned train manufacturer CRCC for its newest fleet of bi-level commuter trains, again side-stepping Bombardier.
CRCC's bid came in almost 30% below AMT's budget, and CRCC promised to have all trains ready in 18 months in the beginning of 2019. I hope Bombardier takes notice of this and learn its lessons.
Even Montreal's regional rail operator, AMT, recently chose the Chinese state-owned train manufacturer CRCC for its newest fleet of bi-level commuter trains, again side-stepping Bombardier.
CRCC's bid came in almost 30% below AMT's budget, and CRCC promised to have all trains ready in 18 months in the beginning of 2019. I hope Bombardier takes notice of this and learn its lessons.
Well I don't think by default the home country should get an advantage. If that were the case no American airlines would buy the C series (Delta placed the largest order for that aircraft) they would always buy Boeing. Same thing in Europe - they'd always buy Airbus so really the contract should go to the company best able to meet the needs of the transit authority. I'm sure there are Bombardier trains in China so all is good but Bombardier really does need to pull up its socks here because historically they have done very well here in Canada but these delays carry major reputational risk and not just in Canada.
Ontario is going to spend millions to begin the process of building a high speed rail corridor between Toronto and Windsor that would cut travel times in half for passengers, CTV News Toronto has learned.
Premier Kathleen Wynne is expected to make the announcement Friday.
Sources say $15 million will be spent on an environmental assessment. During this assessment the first phase will examine design and specifications of the line that will connect Toronto to Guelph, Kitchener/Waterloo, London and eventually Chatham and Windsor.
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