Flexity Freedom

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Flexity Freedom
Demonstration mockup of first two train segments
Manufacturer Bombardier Transportation
Built at Thunder Bay, Ontario, Canada
Family name Flexity
Entered service expected 2017[1]
Number under construction 196 ordered (182+14)[2]
Capacity 56 (seats) 130 (standees) 4 (accessible spaces) 251 (total capacity) [3]
Operator(s) ETS, GRT, HSR, TTC
Line(s) served B-Line (Hamilton), Eglinton Crosstown line, Finch West LRT, Ion LRT, Valley Line (Edmonton)
Specifications
Car length 30.8 m (101 ft 1 in)[3]
Width 2.65 m (8 ft 8 in)[3]
Height 3.6 m (11 ft 10 in)[3]
Doors 8-12 (4-6 on each side)[3]
Articulated sections 5[3]
Maximum speed 80 km/h (50 mph)[3]
Electric system(s) 750 V DC Overhead trolley wire[3]
Current collection method Pantograph
Track gauge 1,435 mm (4 ft 8 1⁄2 in) standard gauge

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.

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 Grand River Transit on the Ion LRT in Waterloo Region, and by the Edmonton Transit System on the Valley Line.[4][5] Bombardier will produce these vehicles in their Thunder Bay, Ontario facility, which once produced rolling stock under the names of CC&F and 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.[6] 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.[3]

The vehicles are articulated, but unlike competing rolling stock, they are built out of similar-length modules.[3] 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.[5]

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" third rail system.[3]

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.[3] 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 ft).

The reason the light rail lines in Toronto will be constructed to standard gauge instead of Toronto's streetcar gauge is 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.[7]

Orders

Toronto

The Flexity Freedom cars were designed for the Transit City plan which would have created six suburban LRT lines for an order ranging about 300 cars. Only the Eglinton Crosstown line is being built, which resulted in Metrolinx ordering only 182 vehicles[2][8] under a $770 million contract announced in 2010. Bombardier expects deliveries to start in 2018.[9] The Finch West LRT from that proposal has since been also approved, though vehicle orders are yet to be finalized.

As of May 2016, Metrolinx has not yet received the prototype vehicle that Bombardier was supposed to produce by spring 2015. The prototype, once received, would be tested for one or two years to work out any design bugs before manufacturing the full order.[10]

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.[11][12][13]

Bombardier's Thunder Bay plant will build five production vehicles with the Kingston plant making the remaining nine.[9] To avoid bottlenecks and shipping delays at its Thunder Bay plant, production for ION would be shifted to Bombardier's Kingston, Ontario factory.[14] Bombardier is also moving the building of vehicle sub-assemblies and cab structures from a plant in Mexico to one in La Pocatière, Quebec.[10]

Originally, the delivery of the first vehicle was expected in August 2016 with the remainder by the end of 2016.[15] 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.[10]

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,[5] as opposed to Siemens LRVs on the existing Capital and Metro Lines.

References

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  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  3. ↑ 3.00 3.01 3.02 3.03 3.04 3.05 3.06 3.07 3.08 3.09 3.10 3.11 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
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  8. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
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  10. ↑ 10.0 10.1 10.2 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  11. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
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  14. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  15. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
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