[smallspy]

Well the vehicles are standard gauge, so probably lots of Metrolinx track they could be stored on... but yea, it's not really ideal before a MSF is built.

Except that they don't. Willowbrook is operating well past its maximum capacity, and while the imminent opening of the ERMF will help this, it's only going to be short-term as Bombardier completes its current commitments for GO cars. (And then there's the 16 locos that should start to arrive early next year.) There's certainly no room at the existing outposting facilities, unless they want to build extra track for the sole purpose of storing LRVs.

Dan
Toronto, Ont.

 

[Fred.S]

Ok plan B, couple all the units together as one long train, and continually pull them around with a MP40. You can then use them as extra service for early GO RER (I call it LRERT). I see no reason why that's not 100% technically feasible...

 

[BMO]

When Crosstown was announced as part of Transit City in 2007, do you recall what the projected completion date was?

I believe the original date was 2019-2020

 

[TheTigerMaster]

When Crosstown was announced as part of Transit City in 2007, do you recall what the projected completion date was?

I recall a target of 2020. Of course, that was before an EA or even funding was available. That it's only slipped schedule by ~20% from an optimistic back-of-the-napkin target is kinda amazing.

The original Eglinton Crosstown LRT plan was intended to stretch from Pearson Airport to Kennedy Station. The part between Pearson and Mt Dennis was supposed to be open around this time, if my memory serves me correctly. This part of the line was pushed to Phase 2, and won't be completed until the mid-2020s at the earliest. So we didn't meet the optimistic back-of-the-napkin target.

Also, what remained of the Eglinton Crosstown LRT was delayed by a year due to inter-agency politics between Metrolinx and the TTC. The TTC was originally supposed to construct the line, but at the 11th hour, Metrolinx decided that they wanted to construct the Crosstown using the Infrastructure Ontario model. This would require duplicating a lot of the TTC's work tendering the project. Metrolinx was insistent that they could re-tender the line, without delaying the project, but a year after the management switch occurred, Metrolinx announced (unsurprisingly) that they'd have to delay the delivery of the Crosstown LRT by a year.

The decision to use the IO model really should have been made much further in advance, such that it wouldn't delay the delivery of the project.

 

[Karen Fox]

I'm assuming that since Kennedy and Eglinton Stations already have washroom facilities, they would also have washroom access for the Crosstown LRT.

However, about the Mt. Dennis Station, would that station have washroom facilities, since it would be a "terminal" station or transit hub?

Shouldn't the Cedarvale Station have washroom facilities, since it is an interchange station, like Yonge-Bloor?

Else, leave the portable potties behind so passengers can make use of them.

 

[jaybe]

What makes you think Bombardier is squirming in all this? The way I read it, Metrolinx folded like a house of cards.

Dan
Toronto, Ont.

Metrolinx has provided Bombardier with an extension to a services contract in exchange for the opportunity to cancel purchases of new trains. For most businesses, selling new product is always much more important than winning contracts to service an existing install base. In addition, it sounds like Metrolinx has added some tough language around penalties for poor delivery performance in the future.

If you've ever done a home renovation where the contractor or trades-person is slower than had been initially agreed, you know there is little that can be done. My read is this is a massive failure for Bombardier and Metrolinx is doing the best they can in a bad situation.

 

[Voltz]

When Crosstown was announced as part of Transit City in 2007, do you recall what the projected completion date was?

When it was first funded, the first phase, Eglinton West Station to Martin Grove, was to be open last year. The delays and cuts in 2010 by McGuinty, while Wynn was Transportation Minister, pushed the remnants to 2021.

 

[TransitBart]

I recall a target of 2020. Of course, that was before an EA or even funding was available. That it's only slipped schedule by ~20% from an optimistic back-of-the-napkin target is kinda amazing.

Why do people keep writing here that if only McGuinty and Ford had not interfered then Eglinton LRT would have been open in 2014?

 

[TransitBart]

Except that they don't. Willowbrook is operating well past its maximum capacity, and while the imminent opening of the ERMF will help this, it's only going to be short-term as Bombardier completes its current commitments for GO cars. (And then there's the 16 locos that should start to arrive early next year.) There's certainly no room at the existing outposting facilities, unless they want to build extra track for the sole purpose of storing LRVs.

Dan
Toronto, Ont.

Where is the next maintenance facility after ERMF going to be? Shall there be a WRMF in the Hamilton area?

 

[EastYorkTTCFan]

Why do people keep writing here that if only McGuiny and Ford hadnot interfered then Eglinton LRT would have been open in 2014?

I think they may be the same people that are convicted that the TYSSE was supposed to be open for the PAAM games despite the TTC saying otherwise.

 

[crs1026]

I can't imagine that parking vehicles out of doors for three years would be good for them.

Where is the next maintenance facility after ERMF going to be? Shall there be a WRMF in the Hamilton area?

Eglinton, Finch, Hurontario, and Hamilton will all have maintenance bases.

- Paul

 

[Monarch Butterfly]

I can't imagine that parking vehicles out of doors for three years would be good for them.


Eglinton, Finch, Hurontario, and Hamilton will all have maintenance bases.

- Paul

They have parked the streetcars and subway trains outdoors since their respective yards were built. It is the buses that require to be stored indoors, and the buses still have a much less expectancy life.

They wouldn't be just sitting there idling. They'll be sent around the tracks in the yards first, testing the new vehicles out and looking for defects with a fine tooth comb.

 

[TransitBart]

I can't imagine that parking vehicles out of doors for three years would be good for them.


Eglinton, Finch, Hurontario, and Hamilton will all have maintenance bases.

- Paul

Paul - for GO. (I answered a post which was a flyer for this thread. I ought to have asked in a GO thread. That each LRT had a garage type facility I had known.

 

[smallspy]

Metrolinx has provided Bombardier with an extension to a services contract in exchange for the opportunity to cancel purchases of new trains. For most businesses, selling new product is always much more important than winning contracts to service an existing install base. In addition, it sounds like Metrolinx has added some tough language around penalties for poor delivery performance in the future.

If you've ever done a home renovation where the contractor or trades-person is slower than had been initially agreed, you know there is little that can be done. My read is this is a massive failure for Bombardier and Metrolinx is doing the best they can in a bad situation.

The purchase of vehicles from Alstom was a knee-jerk reaction because Metrolinx knew that they'd gotten themselves into a really bad situation. While they were concerned about Bombardier not delivering the vehicles on time, the bigger concern was the financial implications with regards to the contracts for operation of the Eglinton line once construction is completed. Their tried to call the bluff of cancelling the order of vehicles from Bombardier, which the courts quite quickly shot down. Despite their contention that the vehicle deliveries were already late, they never had a location of their own to test and store them. (To use your house-building analogy, they commissioned the builder to build a house with a schedule - but didn't actually have a property on which to build it yet.)

Don't get me wrong, Bombardier doesn't come out of this smelling of roses either. But it looks like to me that they're allowing Metrolinx to lead the messaging on this - and yet, it's Metrolinx that is going to end up paying all of the costs for the agreement. Perhaps that is part of the agreement. Bombardier doesn't have to sell anything to you or me, only to the transit properties around the world - and in that case, public opinion is somewhat less of a concern.

Where is the next maintenance facility after ERMF going to be? Shall there be a WRMF in the Hamilton area?

I know of no plans to build another heavy-maintenance facility. All of the "modern" outposting facilities built in the past 15 years or so have been designed to be upgraded with a "running maintenance" building should it be needed in the future.

Dan
Toronto, Ont.

 

[steveintoronto]

Their tried to call the bluff of cancelling the order of vehicles from Bombardier, which the courts quite quickly shot down.

The courts certainly didn't. The court action was on whether an Injunction could proceed at that time. There was absolutely nothing in the court's ruling on the ability to undertake an action, just the terms of the probation stated in the contract until doing so.

And now Metrolinx has done so.

Addendum: For anyone wishing to understand the Court's ruling and why, here's a good place to start without getting too technical on the legal proceedings: (My first Google hit, it'll do)

By Ben SpurrTransportation Reporter
Wed., April 19, 2017 (8 months ago)

In a highly anticipated decision released Wednesday morning, Judge Glenn Hainey of the Superior Court of Justice granted the rail manufacturer’s application for an injunction that, at least for now, prevents the transit agency from cancelling the deal.

The ruling is a victory for Bombardier, but it could yet prove only temporary.

Bombardier vs. Metrolinx ruling
[...]
It’s not clear how long the dispute-resolution process could take, but Hainey warned that his ruling was conditional on Bombardier taking “all reasonable steps to expedite” a decision by the dispute-resolution board.

If it did not, the judge said that Metrolinx could appeal to him to “seek an appropriate remedy.”

The injunction would also be lifted if the dispute-resolution board agreed that Bombardier was in default. However, the company could likely prolong the process by appealing the board’s decision in court.
[...]

https://www.thestar.com/news/gta/20...linx-from-cancelling-bombardier-contract.html

Guess what happened?