The Toronto Transit Commission (TTC) has taken delivery of the first of 60 new streetcars from rail manufacturer Alstom as the organisation prepares to meet ridership growth over the next decade.
The introduction of the first of the low-floor zero-emission Flexity light rail vehicles begins the delivery of the 60 streetcars in a process that began with a C$396m ($288.5m) contract signed in June 2021 and will grow the fleet used in the Greater Toronto Area as part of the TTC’s wider streetcar programme.
TTC Chair Jamaal Myers said: “Streetcars are a vital part of the TTC and the city and I am pleased that we are continuing to expand our fleet and plan for ridership growth and increased demand.
“Our goal is to run a sustainable transit system that our customers can continue to rely on and be proud of. This is a big step in that direction.”
Built at Alstom’s Thunder Bay factory and its La Pocatière site in Canada, the new streetcars will join the 204 existing Alstom vehicles already used in the region’s public transit system, with deliveries rolling out across the rest of 2023, 2024 and 2025.
In addition to adding the new vehicles to its fleet, the TTC’s C$568m programme, jointly funded by the federal government, the Ontario government and the City of Toronto, will include the reconfiguration of its Hillcrest Complex to be able to store at least 25 streetcars.
David Van Der Wee, vice president of rolling stock in North America for Alstom, said: “The team at our manufacturing facility in Thunder Bay is unsurpassed in their experience with assembling and testing TTC streetcars, having delivered over 200 of these vehicles through the years.”
The TTC currently operates nine streetcar routes across 355km and carries more than 26 million people.
The Toronto fleet programme is one of a few rail improvement programmes in the North American country, with the federal government also moving forward with major plans for a High Frequency Rail project between the capital and Québec City.
