Family name Flexity Number under construction 196 ordered (182+14) | Entered service expected 2017 | |
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Manufacturer Bombardier Transportation Built at Thunder Bay, Ontario, Canada Capacity 56 (seats) 130 (standees) 4 (accessible spaces) 251 (total capacity) | ||
The Flexity Freedom is a low-floor, articulated light rail vehicle developed by Bombardier Transportation for the North American market. It is marketed as part of its Flexity family which includes other models of trams (streetcars) and light metro vehicles.
Contents
- Design
- Freedom and Outlook in Toronto
- Toronto
- Waterloo Region
- Edmonton
- Hamilton
- MississaugaBrampton
- References
Flexity Freedom vehicles will be operated by the Toronto Transit Commission on the Eglinton Crosstown LRT, Hamilton Street Railway on the Hamilton B-Line, by GrandLinq on the Ion LRT in Waterloo Region, and by the Edmonton Transit System on the Valley Line. Bombardier will produce these vehicles in their Thunder Bay, Ontario facility, which once produced rolling stock under the names of Canada Car and Foundry (CC&F) and Urban Transportation Development Corporation (UTDC).
Being entirely low-floor, these vehicles directly compete with the Flexity Swift, Siemens S70, CAF Urbos, and Kinki Sharyo LRVs. However, as they are designed for light rail rather than streetcar applications, they also compete against, to a lesser extent, low-floor streetcars from Skoda/Inekon and Brookville Equipment Corporation, among others.
Design
The vehicles are have a 100% low-floor design and can be built to operate unidirectionally or bidirectionally. The vehicles' design includes energy-saving features, like regenerative braking and the use of LED lighting, but they are also air-conditioned. The vehicles may be coated in special paint designed to resist graffiti. They are equipped with passenger counters at the doors.
The vehicles are articulated, but unlike competing rolling stock, they are built out of similar-length modules. Operators can alter the number of intermediate modules, thus altering the capacity of the individual vehicles. The Toronto and Kitchener-Waterloo vehicles will contain five modules, while those in Edmonton will have seven modules. Vehicles can be coupled and operated as trains of up to four connected vehicles.
The maximum passenger capacities, in the standard seating layouts, are 135 and 251, for the three and five-module configurations respectively. When run in the five-module configuration, with train-sets of four vehicles, the maximum capacity of a light rail line is 30,000 passengers per peak hour. The vehicles' standard passenger configuration can safely accommodate up to four passengers in wheelchairs. For example, the trains for Edmonton will carry up to 275 passengers per trains.
According to Bombardier, the trainsets can be built for "catenary-free" power, where, instead of being powered by direct contact with overhead wires they are powered indirectly through induction, through buried loops, a form of ground-level power supply competing directly with Alstom's "APS" system.
Freedom and Outlook in Toronto
Flexity Freedom vehicles differ from the Flexity Outlook vehicles used on the Toronto streetcar system in that they are wider and faster, and use standard gauge rather than the streetcar system's unique broad gauge. They are also bi-directional, with cabs on both ends and doors on both sides. While Flexity Outlook vehicles can negotiate the tight curves of the streetcar network, Flexity Freedom vehicles require a minimum curve radius of 25 metres (82.02 ft). Also, the Outlook streetcars must navigate the single-point switches of Toronto's legacy system, while the Freedom LRVs will use double-point switches.
The light rail lines in Toronto will be constructed to standard gauge instead of Toronto's streetcar gauge because Metrolinx, the Ontario provincial transit authority funding the projects, wants to ensure a better price for purchasing vehicles by having a degree of commonality with other similar projects within Ontario.
Toronto
The Flexity Freedom cars were designed for the Transit City plan which would have created six suburban LRT lines for an order of about 300 cars. Only two of these projects were active in 2016: the Eglinton Crosstown line, the first to go into construction, and the Finch West LRT, which was approved later. Metrolinx placed its first order for 182 vehicles under a $770 million contract announced in 2010. Of the 182 vehicles ordered, 76 are for the Eglinton Crosstown line and 23 for the Finch West LRT. Bombardier expects deliveries to start in 2018.
As of May 2016, Metrolinx has not received the prototype vehicle that Bombardier was supposed to produce by spring 2015. The prototype, once received, will be tested for one or two years to work out any design bugs before Bombardier begins to manufacture the rest of the order.
In July 2016, Bombardier spokesman Marc-André Lefebvre acknowledged receipt of “a contractual notice” from Metrolinx complaining about the delay in delivery of the prototype vehicle. Lefebvre said that the prototype will be delivered in August giving Metrolinx 18 months to test the vehicle, about double the time needed for testing. Lefebvre also said production will begin in spring 2018 and the remainder of the 182-car order will be delivered in time for the scheduled opening of the line. On September 1, 2016, Bombardier said the prototype was nearing completion at the Thunder Bay plant and would be available for testing in 3–4 weeks.
As of September 2016, the province allowed consortia to include the delivery of light-rail vehicles in their bid to build the Finch LRT. This implies that the Finch LRT might not use Flexity Freedom vehicles.
In November 2016, Metrolinx gave formal notice of intent to cancel its $770-million contract with Bombardier.
In late November 2016, Bombardier shipped the first pilot vehicle from its Thunder Bay plant to continue testing at its Kingston plant. The vehicle still requires nine months of qualification testing.
Waterloo Region
In July 2013, the Region of Waterloo finalized a deal with Metrolinx to join their contract to the Toronto order and purchase 14 vehicles for the Ion light rail system at a cost of $66-million.
Bombardier's Thunder Bay plant will build five production vehicles with the Kingston plant making the remaining nine. To avoid bottlenecks and shipping delays at its Thunder Bay plant, assembly work for the Flexity Freedom would be shifted to Bombardier's Kingston, Ontario factory. Bombardier is also moving the building of vehicle sub-assemblies from a plant in Mexico to one in La Pocatière, Quebec, and cab structures to another unspecified plant.
The delivery of the first vehicle had been expected in August 2016, and the remainder by the end of 2016. However, by May 2016, Bombardier announced that delivery of the first car will be delayed to December 2016, and the last car will be delivered by October 2017. The Rail Journal reported the first vehicle was loaded for delivery from the Thunder Bay plant on February 15, 2017. Further shipments will be from Bombardier's Kingston plant, the next shipment expected in June or July 2017.
Edmonton
As part of a consortium that won the contract to build and operate the Edmonton LRT Valley Line in February 2016, Bombardier is providing Flexity Freedom vehicles for use on the new line, as opposed to Siemens LRVs on the existing Capital and Metro Lines.
Hamilton
It is uncertain whether the Hamilton B-Line LRT would use the Flexity Freedom. The province expects to issue a request for qualifications to build the line in 2017, but as of October 2016, Metrolinx has not announced whether the supply of light-rail vehicles would be part of the request, which would open the project to competing vehicle suppliers.
Mississauga/Brampton
The Hurontario LRT would use the Flexity Freedom when in service in 2022. The orders for the Flexity Freedom have not been ordered yet. The vehicles have been displayed to the public for viewing.