smallspy
Senior Member
Perhaps you are confused about what they are concerned about.The point is that age itself shouldn't be as much of a concern as maintenance is.
I'm not saying the T1s SHOULD last to 60 years, but if they are so profusely concerned that line 2 will have to be shut down because they can't get replacements on hand in time, common sense would've dictated a rebuild several years ago (say, 2017-18), so that the subway cars are in fine form to keep going if their replacements are delayed, but also that it wouldn't have been a total waste of money if the replacement cars had been available as scheduled. We've seen this nonsense time and again, the CLRV replacement was not on time, the SRT replacement was not on time, the GM replacement was not on time - AND there is no guarantee that the replacement cars wouldn't have been lemons that would have required the T1s to keep going even longer. It is the height of stupidity to assume that it will be and that no actions need to be taken to secure the reliable operation of line 2 going forward.
But of course, that would require a bit of planning for the future, which Toronto is terrible at. Distract the unwashed masses with promises of shiny new trains, and don't do anything about the equipment you've already got.
Safety is not the issue.
The problem is that as the vehicles age, they become less reliable. And especially with modern, computer-controlled ones, that means that circuits vital to the operation of the vehicles may fail.
And surprise of surprises, many of those components are either no longer available or are only available at greater prices than they were before. Which increases the maintenance budget. Which puts more strain on the system.
You touched on the issue - that the purchase of replacement trains has been delayed - but have missed the point that maintenance is not the problem. No amount of maintenance is going to keep a circuit going once the magic smoke has been let out.
Dan




