Toronto streetcar system rolling stock

PCC streetcars

The TTC was among the first to buy the then-state-of-the-art PCC streetcar when it was designed by a committee of public transport operators in the 1930s and had them custom-built. These cars were bought to replace the Peter Witt cars and also older vehicles inherited from the Toronto Railway Company. The TTC's first purchase was in the late 1930s, and by the end of the 1950s, they had operated a larger fleet of PCCs than any other agency in the world, with 744 cars in service. The early cars were retired and sent to Egypt, and some newer cars were acquired from U.S. operators abandoning streetcar service, including Kansas City, Birmingham, and Cleveland. By the 1960s, the TTC sought to abandon the service as well, but, in 1972, supporters, led by Jane Jacobs and Steve Munro, persuaded it to reconsider, and so a new streetcar model was needed to replace some of the ageing PCCs.

Two of the TTC’s PCC streetcars, which operated in regular service until they were rebuilt and repainted into historic livery in 1989, have been retained for special events such as parades, private charters and special revenue runs, such as holidays in the summer.

Most of the PCCs were scrapped with a few becoming restaurants, or housing. A few cars were purchased by railway museums and five ex-Toronto cars continue to operate on a new streetcar line in Kenosha, Wisconsin. One PCC in San Francisco is painted in the livery of the TTC's PCCs.

The CLRVs and ALRVs

When the TTC reversed its decision to eliminate streetcars in the 1970s, it was faced with the problem of how to replace their aging fleet of PCC streetcars given that most cities in North America were switching entirely to buses, and so there were no new mass-market streetcar designs already being built that Toronto could purchase as it had before. While Edmonton and Calgary chose to adapt German stadtbahn (city rail) trains for the new systems they were installing around the same time, the TTC instead had a new streetcar designed in the traditional style, and so the two models of streetcars the TTC uses for revenue service today remain unique to the city. It was hoped that the new models could also be sold to the few other cities that continued streetcar service, such as Boston and Philadelphia. This strategy proved unsuccessful as the German designs became widely used for the new paradigm of light rail in North America and other cities purchased cars similar to the CLRV built by other manufacturers for their traditional streetcar systems.

The CLRV (Canadian Light Rail Vehicle, ordered 1977 – version L1 and L2) and the one-and-a-half-length ALRV (Articulated Light Rail Vehicle, ordered 1984 – version L3) were designed by the Urban Transportation Development Corporation (UTDC), an Ontario Crown corporation. The first six cars were built by Schweizerische Industrie Gesellschaft (Swiss Industrial Company, SIG) and the rest by Hawker Siddeley Canada Limited in Thunder Bay, with a propulsion system by Brush of England and bogies by MAN of Germany.

Issues using this stock have arisen. The radio system is antiquated, and TTC has a blacksmith on hand to make parts for the vehicles that are otherwise unobtainable. As well, the pneumatic systems cause problems in very cold weather.

The CLRVs and ALRVs retain many features of traditional streetcar design: they collect their electric power by trolley pole rather than the pantograph more common on modern vehicles, and are unidirectional, with an operating position at only one end and doors on only one side, requiring track loops in order to turn around. Even the ALRVs, which have two body sections connected by an articulation, are shorter than some other modern vehicles, which may have as many as four articulations. This is because the TTC network is largely a "traditional" streetcar network dating to the 19th century, and not a recent light rail system built to modern standards. The infrastructure already in place and the need for compatibility with a large fleet of existing vehicles meant the CLRVs and ALRVs were built to fit the existing system. The TTC has not had strong reason to upgrade the infrastructure, but the option to buy bidirectional and pantograph trains has been included for the next generation of European-style vehicles.

According to the TTC, one CLRV replaces 60 private motor vehicles in the morning rush period or 72 passengers, whereas one ALRV can carry the equivalent of 90 cars or 108 passengers.

Both models of streetcar have high floors accessed by stairs at each door. TTC staff have explored a number of possible means to make them wheelchair-accessible, including constructing level boarding platforms, lowering the track level, installing wheelchair lifts, and attach wheelchair-accessible trailers, but have concluded that none of these options is practical.

Unlike the TTC's earlier PCC and Peter Witt streetcars, the current models are never run in two-unit combinations or with trailers; the replacement of the two highest-volume routes with subway lines has decreased the number of passengers streetcars must cope with, and a single ALRV has been estimated to be long enough to provide sufficient capacity on today's busiest routes. Notably, the CLRVs came with couplers, but these were covered beginning in 1984 owing to safety concerns, and removed in 1988 as no longer required.

There have been a few technical additions to the current CLRV/ALRV streetcar fleet including a horn, most of which retrofitted from the retired H-1 and M-1 subway fleet, as a enhanced safety warning signal to the gong (which remains intact), an automated audible and visual stop announcement system which was installed in 2008 and the Closed-Circuit Television (CCTV) security camera system in 2009, all of which have been installed on both the CLRVs and the ALRVs, similar to the system used on TTC buses. The additional hardware is located behind the left rear seat of the both types of vehicles.

Flexity Outlooks and Flexity Freedoms

The original CLRVs are reaching the end of their thirty-year service life. The TTC had planned to rebuild the CLRVs to extend their useful life by about ten to fifteen years and add new features such as air conditioning. The rationale was to not purchase any new streetcars until the ALRVs reached obsolescence. On July 26, 2006, the first streetcar with air conditioning (number 4041) entered revenue service. However, with new funding from senior governments, new low-floor, higher-capacity streetcars began replacing the current fleet and route by route starting in 2014. The plan has been changed to refurbish only 100 CLRVs to meet Toronto's immediate requirements as the new streetcars come in, with the remaining 96 streetcars rebuilt only if the introduction of new models is delayed.

In June 2007, the TTC launched a public consultation on the design of its new streetcars, including an online survey, and displays at Finch and Scarborough Centre stations, the Albion Centre, and Yonge-Dundas Square. Mock-ups of the Bombardier Flexity Swift (as used in Minneapolis) and Siemens Combino Plus were on display at the 2007 Canadian National Exhibition in front of the Enercare Centre, then known as Direct Energy Centre.

On September 19, 2007, the TTC published their specifications for the ‘LF LRV’, as they are calling the proposed new streetcars, which explains what they are seeking beyond that the vehicle be compatible with the TTC’s existing tracks, which require tight turning radii, good hill-climbing ability, and compatibility with single-leaf switches. The tender requests a tram/streetcar of 27–30 m, with multiple points of articulation, and three powered bogies.

Though the document stated that the TTC would accept a well-designed 70% low-floor streetcar, it decided to seek a 100% low-floor design; folding ramps may be fitted at the doors to allow stepless boarding where platforms are not available. The fleet replacing the CLRVs and ALRVs was to remain single-ended with doors on the right only, and to retain current collection by trolley pole, but the TTC also requested that provision be made for future conversion to pantograph, and that the option of buying a bi-directional version of the streetcar for new lines be available. Provision was to be made for ticket-vending machines on board, rather than have the driver take fares.

The TTC are tendering for an initial order of 204 Flexity Outlook Cityrunner streetcars, with the first prototypes to be delivered in 2010. Current projections for population increases and new lines indicate that by 2026, the TTC will need to extend its fleet to between 350 and 480 streetcars, suggesting that the replacements for the CLRVs and ALRVs will be merely the first of a large fleet.

Bombardier, Siemens, AnsaldoBreda, Mytram, Vossloh Kiepe, and Kinki Sharyo all expressed interest in competing to supply the new streetcars, but most dropped out of the bidding at various stages. While the TTC expressed interest in the cars built by Škoda for the Portland Streetcar, that company did not submit a bid. Siemens gained a great deal of attention for its Combino Plus in 2007, with newspaper advertisements and a web site, but eventually decided that ‘it was in our better interest not to bid’. Only Bombardier and a small British firm, Tram Power, submitted bids.

Bombardier displayed a mock-up of the Flexity Swift built for the Minneapolis project, but later offered a variant of the Flexity Outlook to meet the 100% low-floor requirement, promoting it with a web site called ‘The Streetcar Redefined’. TRAM Power's product was the Citytram, a prototype of which was being tested on the Blackpool tramway until it caught fire on January 24, 2007.

On July 18, 2008, the TTC announced that both bids had been rejected — according to then-TTC chair Adam Giambrone, Bombardier's entry "would have derailed on Toronto streets", while TRAM Power's was not "commercially compliant" — and reopened the contract. Bombardier actively disputed this claim, adding that it could either supply a compliant car or pay for $10.4 million of construction to make the TTC's track network compliant. The TTC entered into direct negotiations with three companies (Alstom, Siemens, and Bombardier) following its August 27, 2008, commission meeting.

On April 24, 2009, the TTC selected a customized version of the Flexity Outlook for the upgrade, with possible use for the Transit City plan as well.

The City of Toronto committed one third of the necessary funds, according to the usual funding formula for capital projects, ⅓ municipal, ⅓ provincial and ⅓ federal. Federal transport minister John Baird was quoted in private telling the city that they could f*** off [sic], though later apologized while explaining that the Toronto request did not meet the timeline required for funds disbursed under the Canadian government's economic stimulus program. While these words were later recanted, the federal government was unwilling to provide any money before the June 27, 2009 deadline approached to finalize the contract with Bombardier. Finally, Toronto City Council voted on June 26, 2009 to commit the other ⅓ of the funding by deferring other capital projects, such that the funding formula became ⅔ municipal and ⅓ provincial. The official contributions were announced by TTC Chair Karen Stintz at the unveiling on Nov 15, 2012. The Province of Ontario contributed CDN $416.3 million, the federal government indirectly contributed CDN $108 million through its gas tax fund, and the City of Toronto and TTC contributed CDN $662 million for a total cost of $1.2 billion.

The new Flexity Outlook streetcars entered revenue service on August 31, 2014, serving route 510 Spadina. The new streetcars have also entered revenue service on March 29, 2015, serving route 509 Harbourfront. The Flexity Outlook streetcars also serve route 514 Cherry.

List of past vehicles

Traffic cars

Work cars