Perhaps it would even be possible to refurbish the existing Crosstown trains to be something like two 8 segment cars, rather than buying new trains. They would have to be sent back to T-Bay, similar to how the TTC streetcars were with the welding issues.
They couldn't build a version with 8 modules. Because of the design of the cars, with a suspended module being mounted between two truck-equipped modules, the number of modules on each could would have to be odd-numbered. 3, 5, 7, 9, etc.
@smallspy will be able to speak more authoritatively on this, but as far as I'm aware adding new modules will not be possible without extensive engineering work, as none of the systems are designed to have another module dropped in.
The design is expandable to a point and to be truthful I don't know what that point is. 3 module cars have been advertised, and they've obviously built 5 and 7 module versions. It seems to me that 9 module versions should be feasible as well - especially considering they're currently building some for Berlin.
But could the current cars be expanded to say 7 modules? I don't see why not - depending on how elaborate they want to make it, it may not require any major work at all, and largely just software changes and upgrades to the existing equipment installed in the cars. And I don't think that it would require sending the cars back to Thunder Bay, or La Pocatière, or any Alstom facility. The Black Creek facility is perfectly capable of pulling the cars apart and putting them back together, and of doing all of the connections between modules.
I'm pretty sure it's feasible, there's examples of other cities (Dallas, Hudson NJ) inserting modules into existing LRVs, long after they were built, and Ottawa's long term plan always expected to add a module to the Citadii to bring them to 59m long vehicles (118m long trains). However it's a major rework, and probably would be timed to a major refurbishment.
Precisely - it becomes a costing problem. You don't want to spend the money developing all of this for equipment that is close to life-expired. Until the cars are 10 or 15 years old, it can make sense from a financial standpoint depending on how much Alstom chooses to charge for the pleasure. (And note, when I say 10 or 15 years old, I mean of service - not of the time spent since their actual construction.) Plus any changes required to the shops to handle the longer cars. Plus the changes required out on the line, such as moving the inter-car barriers on the platforms and the walkways on the spare tracks. Plus any changes necessary of the signalling system, if any.
And that's the thing, these changes don't happen in a vacuum. Change one part of the system, and there will be knock-on changes necessary to other parts of the system that can increase the total costs of making that change substantially.
Dan
