The Canadian Light Rail Vehicle (CLRV) and Articulated Light Rail Vehicle (ALRV) were types of
streetcar
A tram (called a streetcar or trolley in North America) is a rail vehicle that travels on tramway tracks on public urban streets; some include segments on segregated right-of-way. The tramlines or networks operated as public transport are ...
s used by the
Toronto Transit Commission
The Toronto Transit Commission (TTC) is the public transport agency that operates bus, subway, streetcar, and paratransit services in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, some of which run into the Peel Region and York Region. It is the oldest and largest ...
(TTC) from the late 1970s until the late 2010s. They were built following the TTC's decision to retain streetcar services in the 1970s, replacing the existing
PCC streetcar
The PCC (Presidents' Conference Committee) is a streetcar (tram) design that was first built in the United States in the 1930s. The design proved successful in its native country, and after World War II it was licensed for use elsewhere in the ...
fleet.
Two variants were produced: the standard single-module CLRV (built between 1977 and 1981) and the longer
articulated
An articulated vehicle is a vehicle which has a permanent or semi-permanent pivot joint in its construction, allowing it to turn more sharply. There are many kinds, from heavy equipment to buses, trams and trains. Steam locomotives were someti ...
double-module ALRV (built between 1987 and 1989). The ALRVs were officially retired from regular TTC service on September 2, 2019, with the CLRVs officially retired on December 29, 2019.
Both were replaced by the
Flexity Outlook
The Bombardier Flexity Outlook is a series of low-floored, articulated light-rail trams manufactured by Bombardier Transportation. Part of the larger Bombardier Flexity product line (many of which are not low-floor), Flexity Outlook vehicles are ...
, a low-floor streetcar first introduced in 2014.
History
CLRV
Starting at the end of the 1970s and into the 1980s, the TTC's fleet of
PCC streetcar
The PCC (Presidents' Conference Committee) is a streetcar (tram) design that was first built in the United States in the 1930s. The design proved successful in its native country, and after World War II it was licensed for use elsewhere in the ...
s approached (or exceeded in some cases) the end of their useful lives. Many Toronto citizens, and especially a group known as "Streetcars for Toronto" led by transit advocate
Steve Munro
Steve Munro (born 7 September 1948) is a Canadian blogger and transit advocate from Toronto, Ontario. Munro has been credited in playing a lead role in the grass-roots efforts to convince the Toronto City Council to reverse plans to abandon To ...
, had fought successfully against the TTC's plan to convert the remaining streetcar lines to buses, which necessitated a new streetcar model to replace the aging PCCs. The "Canadian Light Rail Vehicle" was an attempt at a new, standardized streetcar design to be used in Toronto and in other new streetcar developments throughout the country. There was also a similar attempt of this "standardized vehicle" concept made in the United States around the same time with the
US Standard Light Rail Vehicle
The US Standard Light Rail Vehicle (SLRV) was a light rail vehicle (LRV) built by Boeing Rotorcraft Systems, Boeing Vertol in the 1970s. The Federal Transit Administration, Urban Mass Transportation Administration (UMTA) of the United States Dep ...
, with cars built by
Boeing Vertol
Boeing Rotorcraft Systems (formerly Boeing Helicopters and before that Boeing Vertol) is the former name of an American aircraft manufacturer, now known as Vertical Lift division of Boeing Defense, Space & Security.
The headquarters and main r ...
for Boston's
Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority
The Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority (abbreviated MBTA and known colloquially as "the T") is the public agency responsible for operating most public transportation services in Greater Boston, Massachusetts. The MBTA transit network in ...
and the
San Francisco Municipal Railway
The San Francisco Municipal Railway (SF Muni or Muni), is the public transit system for the City and County of San Francisco. It operates a system of bus routes (including trolleybuses), the Muni Metro light rail system, three historic cable ...
.
Hawker Siddeley Canada
Hawker Siddeley Canada was the Canadian unit of the Hawker Siddeley Group of the United Kingdom and manufactured railcars, subway cars, streetcars, aircraft engines and ships from the 1960s to 1980s.
History
Founded in 1962 as the Canadian divi ...
proposed their version of a streetcar in 1972 known as the Municipal Service Car, which had a
bus-like chassis and a
semi-low floor design with front and rear doors similar to that of the CLRV fleet. The project was abandoned the following year when the TTC selected the CLRV design. No Municipal Service Car prototypes were ever produced and only concept drawings remain of this vehicle.
The first six CLRV cars (4000–4005) were manufactured by
SIG
Sig used as a name may refer to:
* Sig (given name)
*Sig, Algeria, a city on the banks of the Sig River
*Sig Alert, an alert for traffic congestion in California, named after Loyd Sigmon
*Sig River, a river of Algeria also known as Mekerra
sig (l ...
of
Zurich, Switzerland, and used as
prototype
A prototype is an early sample, model, or release of a product built to test a concept or process. It is a term used in a variety of contexts, including semantics, design, electronics, and Software prototyping, software programming. A prototyp ...
s for
Urban Transportation Development Corporation
The Urban Transportation Development Corporation Ltd. (UTDC) was a Crown corporation owned by the Government of Ontario, Canada. It was established in the 1970s as a way to enter what was then expected to be a burgeoning market in advanced l ...
(UTDC) (now
Bombardier) to manufacture subsequent CLRVs at the
Thunder Bay
Thunder Bay is a city in and the seat of Thunder Bay District, Ontario, Canada. It is the most populous municipality in Northwestern Ontario and the second most populous (after Greater Sudbury) municipality in Northern Ontario; its population ...
works of
Hawker Siddeley Canada
Hawker Siddeley Canada was the Canadian unit of the Hawker Siddeley Group of the United Kingdom and manufactured railcars, subway cars, streetcars, aircraft engines and ships from the 1960s to 1980s.
History
Founded in 1962 as the Canadian divi ...
(today also part of Bombardier). The original order was for 200 CLRVs, of which ten were to be built by SIG and 190 by Hawker Siddeley. However, the order was reduced by four vehicles to 196 in order to provide parts to construct a prototype Articulated Light Rail Vehicle (number 4900). The four CLRVs removed were from the SIG portion of the order; thus, there were no CLRVs numbered 4006–4009. The 190 Hawker Siddeley CLRVs were numbered 4010–4199.
CLRV car 4000 had a
pantograph
A pantograph (, from their original use for copying writing) is a mechanical linkage connected in a manner based on parallelograms so that the movement of one pen, in tracing an image, produces identical movements in a second pen. If a line dr ...
when being tested by SIG on the
Orbe-Chavornay railway
The Orbe-Chavornay railway (O-C) is a 3.9 km standard gauge railway in Vaud, Switzerland, linking the towns of Orbe and Chavornay, Switzerland, Chavornay (where there is an interchange with trains of the Swiss Federal Railways. The line was o ...
and was converted to
trolley pole
A trolley pole is a tapered cylindrical pole of wood or metal, used to transfer electricity from a "live" (electrified) overhead wire to the control and the electric traction motors of a tram or trolley bus. It is a type of current collector. Th ...
before being delivered to Toronto.
On December 29, 1977, the first CLRV, SIG-built 4002, arrived at the
Hillcrest Complex
Hillcrest Complex is the Toronto Transit Commission's largest facility and is responsible for most of the maintenance work on the system's surface vehicles, including heavy overhauls, repairs and repainting. It is located adjacent to the intersec ...
aboard a railway flatcar. On September 30, 1979, after a year of testing and modification, CLRVs started service on route
507 Long Branch
501 Queen (301 Queen during overnight periods) is an east–west Toronto streetcar route in Ontario, Canada, operated by the Toronto Transit Commission (TTC).
At long, it is one of the longest surface routes operated by the TTC, the longest ...
(today the western portion of route
501 Queen
501 Queen (301 Queen during overnight periods) is an east–west Toronto streetcar route in Ontario, Canada, operated by the Toronto Transit Commission (TTC).
At long, it is one of the longest surface routes operated by the TTC, the longest ...
).
Twenty-two CLRVs were to run on an open-track
Scarborough LRT line (to be later built as an
ICTS
Information and communications technology (ICT) is an extensional term for information technology (IT) that stresses the role of unified communications and the integration of telecommunications (telephone lines and wireless signals) and computers, ...
line). Thus, for suburban operation, the UTDC originally specified an outside-frame bogie that later proved problematic in street operation,
and designed the vehicles for speeds up to . The bogies would derail at switches in street trackage and have noise and vibration problems.
Replacing the original Bochum wheels with SAB wheels (similar to PCC wheels) corrected these problems. The Bochum wheels had a rubber layer between the hub and the steel tire (rim), which would flex rather than pulling the opposite wheel through a
single-point switch.
The CLRV electronics include 1970s-era solid state power controls. In later years, the propulsion control system became unreliable and difficult to maintain as obsolete electronic and electrical parts became difficult to source.
The CLRVs originally had sealed windows and no air conditioning. Later, the windows were modified to allow passengers to open them.
The CLRVs were delivered with couplers for multiple-unit operation. Between 1984 and 1988, the couplers were removed, and a safety shield was placed over the front coupler pocket.
ALRV
As with the CLRV prototypes, the ALRV prototype, numbered 4900, was tested with a pantograph on standard gauge tracks before delivery to the TTC. Built in 1982, prototype 4900 had features that were not implemented on either CLRVs or production ALRVs such as hand controls instead of foot controls, and electronic destination signs instead of linen rollsigns.
The prototype had couplers while subsequent production units did not.
Prototype 4900 ran trials in Toronto from August 10, 1982, until February 25, 1983, with a break when it was displayed at the 1982
Canadian National Exhibition
The Canadian National Exhibition (CNE), also known as The Exhibition or The Ex, is an annual event that takes place at Exhibition Place in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, on the third Friday of August leading up to and including Canadian Labour Day, ...
. After completion of the trial runs, car 4900 was stored at the
St. Clair Carhouse
The St. Clair Carhouse (also known informally as the Wychwood Carhouse) was a streetcar facility in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It was located south of St. Clair Avenue on a parcel of land bounded by Wychwood Avenue on the east, Benson Avenue on i ...
until March 7, 1987, when it was shipped to the UTDC testing facility in
Kingston, Ontario
Kingston is a city in Ontario, Canada. It is located on the north-eastern end of Lake Ontario, at the beginning of the St. Lawrence River and at the mouth of the Cataraqui River (south end of the Rideau Canal). The city is midway between Toro ...
. On March 24, 1988, following a test run, it was rear-ended by another streetcar on the test track and suffered extensive damage. It was scrapped in 1997.
The 52 production ALRV cars were built by UTDC using
bogie
A bogie ( ) (in some senses called a truck in North American English) is a chassis or framework that carries a wheelset, attached to a vehicle—a modular subassembly of wheels and axles. Bogies take various forms in various modes of transp ...
s and
articulations supplied by
MAN SE
MAN SE (abbreviation of ''Maschinenfabrik Augsburg-Nürnberg'', ) was a manufacturing and engineering company based in Munich, Germany. Its primary output was commercial vehicles and diesel engines through its MAN Truck & Bus and MAN Latin Ame ...
of
Germany
Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...
. Assembly of the first 11 cars took place in Thunder Bay, while that of the remaining 41 cars took place in Kingston. They are numbered 4200–4251.
The first production ALRV, number 4200, was shipped to Toronto on June 11, 1987. It underwent further testing and modifications after its arrival. Car 4204 was the first of the production ALRVs to go into revenue service, doing so on the
507 Long Branch
501 Queen (301 Queen during overnight periods) is an east–west Toronto streetcar route in Ontario, Canada, operated by the Toronto Transit Commission (TTC).
At long, it is one of the longest surface routes operated by the TTC, the longest ...
route on January 19, 1988.
Marketing
The previous attempt (made in the United States) to design a
US standard light rail car was unsuccessful, and the resulting cars proved troublesome to both transit systems that had purchased them. While the CLRV had fared better for Toronto's streetcar system, other cities in both the US and Canada expressed little interest in the design, which thus remained almost exclusive to Toronto's streetcar system. This made the cars increasingly difficult and costly to maintain, as they required specially-made parts, including electronic modules no longer available.
In 1980, cars 4027, 4029 and 4031 were leased and tested by the
Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority
The Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority (abbreviated MBTA and known colloquially as "the T") is the public agency responsible for operating most public transportation services in Greater Boston, Massachusetts. The MBTA transit network in ...
(MBTA) to run on the
Green Line. During this time, the cars were occasionally operated as two- and three-car trains. However, the MBTA did not adopt the CLRV design for its light rail fleet.
Other than the TTC, the UTDC had only one other buyer for its light rail products. In the mid-1980s, the
Santa Clara County Transportation Agency (now known as the Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority) purchased 50 vehicles that were double-ended and articulated. Delivery started in March 1987.
After about 15 years in service, they were replaced by low-floor LRVs and sold secondhand to
Sacramento
)
, image_map = Sacramento County California Incorporated and Unincorporated areas Sacramento Highlighted.svg
, mapsize = 250x200px
, map_caption = Location within Sacramento ...
and
Salt Lake City
Salt Lake City (often shortened to Salt Lake and abbreviated as SLC) is the Capital (political), capital and List of cities and towns in Utah, most populous city of Utah, United States. It is the county seat, seat of Salt Lake County, Utah, Sal ...
.
CLRVs were built with couplers for multiple-unit control. Although not used in Toronto, the CLRV could be configured for double-end operation and high-platform boarding.
Characteristics
The design and operation of the CLRVs and ALRVs carried over features from the highly successful PCCs that they replaced, having a similar interior layout, and the same two green bull's-eye lights in the upper corners of the front, above the
destination sign
A destination sign (North American English) or destination indicator/destination blind (British English) is a sign mounted on the front, side or rear of a public transport vehicle, such as a bus, tram/streetcar or light rail vehicle, that dis ...
, which uses back-lit
roller boards. Braking and acceleration were controlled by the operator with the same pedal layout used on the PCC's, including the
dead man's switch
A dead man's switch (see alternative names) is a switch that is designed to be activated or deactivated if the human operator becomes incapacitated, such as through death, loss of consciousness, or being bodily removed from control. Originally a ...
which was used to apply the
parking brake
In road vehicles, the parking brake, also known as a handbrake or emergency brake (e-brake), is a mechanism used to keep the vehicle securely motionless when parked. Parking brakes often consist of a cable connected to two wheel brakes, which is ...
when the vehicle was not in motion.
Other features include fluorescent lighting and chopper controls to save energy.
Claude Gidman, the former chairman of industrial design at the Ontario College of Art & Design (now OCAD University), was involved in the design for the CLRV. He created the colour scheme for the streetcar, including its distinctive crimson red colour, to make the CLRV noticeable on the streets and to continue the "Red Rocket" tradition in colouring. He also proposed that the front seats of the streetcar be angled inward, an idea that was abandoned.
Unlike the CLRVs, the ALRVs have a large box sitting on the roof of each of the two articulated sections. Each box houses an air intake to ventilate the larger ALRV interior. All of the TTC's ALRVs were delivered without couplers, and a safety shield covers both of the empty front and rear coupler pockets.
Compared with the CLRVs, the ALRVs had limited acceleration due to their extra weight and because trolley pole pickup limited the amount of power they could draw.
When the CLRVs and ALRVs were delivered in the 1970s and 1980s respectively, they were equipped with
gong
A gongFrom Indonesian and ms, gong; jv, ꦒꦺꦴꦁ ; zh, c=鑼, p=luó; ja, , dora; km, គង ; th, ฆ้อง ; vi, cồng chiêng; as, কাঁহ is a percussion instrument originating in East Asia and Southeast Asia. Gongs ...
s as the sole audible
warning signal
Aposematism is the advertising by an animal to potential predators that it is not worth attacking or eating. This unprofitability may consist of any defences which make the prey difficult to kill and eat, such as toxicity, venom, foul taste or ...
. Most cars were retrofitted with
horns Horns or The Horns may refer to:
* Plural of Horn (instrument), a group of musical instruments all with a horn-shaped bells
* The Horns (Colorado), a summit on Cheyenne Mountain
* ''Horns'' (novel), a dark fantasy novel written in 2010 by Joe Hill ...
in the late 1990s to combat automobile accidents when the
510 Spadina right-of-way streetcar opened. Initially, the horns were salvaged from retired
H1 and
M1 subway cars which were replaced by the
T1 subway cars. However, during the CLRV/ALRV streetcar fleet overhaul project between 2011 and 2012 the TTC reconfigured the streetcar horns with new air horns or automobile-type electric horns.
![CLRV 4041 EB at King & Yonge](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/66/CLRV_4041_EB_at_King_%26_Yonge.jpg)
CLRV 4041 is the only member of the CLRV/ALRV fleet to have an air conditioning unit, which the TTC installed in 2006. The unit was a long roof-mounted box with beveled sides that gave 4041 a look distinct from that of other CLRVs. TTC operator Stanley Mamaraj described 4041's air conditioning as "The cool air comes down. You can feel it, it's nice and cool."
However, after a ride on 4041, transit advocate Steve Munro described the air conditioning as "nowhere near as aggressive as it is on some buses or on the T1 subway cars. Moreover, depending on where you are in the car, you may not feel the effect at all because the cool air does not blow out evenly. When I rode back north on a non-A/C car, I sat beside the open window and was actually cooler than I had been on 4041."
Starting in 2006, the TTC installed a
closed-circuit television
Closed-circuit television (CCTV), also known as video surveillance, is the use of video cameras to transmit a signal to a specific place, on a limited set of monitors. It differs from broadcast television in that the signal is not openly t ...
(CCTV) security camera system on all surface vehicles including the CLRV/ALRV fleet as well as
buses
A bus (contracted from omnibus, with variants multibus, motorbus, autobus, etc.) is a road vehicle that carries significantly more passengers than an average car or van. It is most commonly used in public transport, but is also in use for cha ...
. The system is to deter crime on vehicles and help catch trouble-makers. It uses four cameras to make high-quality images stored in a 24-hour loop.
Until at least 2014, CLRV/ALRV streetcars, as well as buses, used a 1970s, pager-like communication system for Transit Control to communicate with operators. It was essentially a text-based system that could send messages to 10 vehicles at a time, and each operator had to acknowledge the message before Transit Control could communicate with other operators. In 2014, the TTC requested funding for a new radio system.
promotional graphicpublished by the TTC in 2009 illustrated that an ALRV could replace 55 automobiles carrying 61 passengers (assuming 1.11 passengers per auto) during the AM rush.
Since December 2015, the CLRVs and ALRVs have accepted fare payments by
Presto card
The Presto card (stylized as PRESTO) is a contactless smart card automated fare collection system used on participating public transit systems in the province of Ontario, Canada, specifically in Greater Toronto, Hamilton, and Ottawa. Presto car ...
and have since been installed system-wide including all TTC buses and subway stations as of December 2016.
To coincide with the Presto rollout on the CLRV/ALRV fleets, the TTC also introduced a
proof-of-payment
Proof-of-payment (POP) or proof-of-fare (POF) is an honor-based fare collection system used on many public transportation systems. Instead of checking each passenger as they enter a fare control zone, passengers are required to carry a ticket, pa ...
(POP) system across all streetcar routes in the TTC network (including the CLRV and ALRV streetcar fleets and the aforementioned replacement shuttle buses that operate in place of streetcars) in an effort to speed up services. The POP system allows riders with proof of payment—such as a paper transfer, TTC pass or Presto card—to board at any door of the vehicle. Riders are subject to random fare inspections, and riders paying by cash or token continue to have to board at the front door of the vehicle to pay at the farebox and are required to take a paper POP transfer from the driver to show when requested.
Operator training
![Toronto LRV training mockup](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/b/ba/Toronto_LRV_training_mockup.jpg)
A mockup of a CLRV which was used to train new streetcar operators is located at Hillcrest. The training simulator consisted of an operator cab, front steps and part of the front of a streetcar.
Operators also train with a real streetcar. The signs on the vehicle identify it as a training car.
Later years
In 2014, the CLRV and ALRV streetcars began being retired and replaced by
low-floor
Accessibility is the design of products, devices, services, vehicles, or environments so as to be usable by people with disabilities. The concept of accessible design and practice of accessible development ensures both "direct access" (i.e ...
Flexity Outlook
The Bombardier Flexity Outlook is a series of low-floored, articulated light-rail trams manufactured by Bombardier Transportation. Part of the larger Bombardier Flexity product line (many of which are not low-floor), Flexity Outlook vehicles are ...
vehicles, the first of which were put into service on the 510 Spadina route.
The replacements were initiated on the basis of the older vehicles being inaccessible to those with disabilities as well as the age and declining reliability of the CLRV and ALRV fleets.
Accessibility
The CLRV/ALRV cars, like the PCCs, had
high floors and steps at every doorway, and were therefore not
wheelchair accessible
Accessibility is the design of products, devices, services, vehicles, or environments so as to be usable by people with disabilities. The concept of accessible design and practice of accessible development ensures both "direct access" (i.e ...
, severely limiting their use by people with
physical disabilities
A physical disability is a limitation on a person's physical functioning, mobility, dexterity or stamina. Other physical disability, disabilities include impairments which limit other facets of daily living skills, daily living, such as respiratory ...
. Furthermore, the doors were separated by vertical stanchions in the centre of each doorway, making each opening too narrow to accommodate wheelchairs, making accessibility retrofits more difficult and costly. With the passage of the
Accessibility for Ontarians with Disabilities Act (AODA) mandating all public transport to be fully accessible by 2025, the TTC saw the need to replace them with
accessible
Accessibility is the design of products, devices, services, vehicles, or environments so as to be usable by people with disabilities. The concept of accessible design and practice of accessible development ensures both "direct access" (i.e ...
vehicles as early as 2005. TTC staff explored a number of possible means to make the old fleet
wheelchair
A wheelchair is a chair with wheels, used when walking is difficult or impossible due to illness, injury, problems related to old age, or disability. These can include spinal cord injuries ( paraplegia, hemiplegia, and quadriplegia), cerebr ...
-accessible, including constructing level boarding platforms, lowering the track level, installing wheelchair lifts, and attaching wheelchair-accessible trailers, but concluded that none of these options were practical,
and replacing the cars was the best option.
In 2008, the TTC installed automatic stop announcements on all surface vehicles, including the CLRVs and ALRVs, to satisfy the requirements of the AODA. An LED device displays stop names in text, accompanied by a recorded voice announcing the stop names. This is to aid riders with hearing and vision problems.
In 2016, the TTC announced it would also install external announcement systems on all of its surface vehicle fleet, again including the CLRVs and ALRVs, to announce the route and destination of the vehicle to passengers waiting to board.
A TTC report in 2015 proposed that it may have continued to use some high-floor inaccessible CLRV/ALRV vehicles to supplement the low-floor Flexity Outlook streetcars during peak hours on selected routes either until approximately 2024, when projections indicated it would have enough of the Flexity vehicles available to provide accessible service on all streetcar routes or if they become impractical to maintain.
By May 2019, however, the TTC planned to retire the remainder of the CLRV/ALRV fleet by the end of 2019.
Winter operational issues
During the
polar vortex
A circumpolar vortex, or simply polar vortex, is a large region of cold, rotating air that encircles both of Earth's polar regions. Polar vortices also exist on other rotating, low-obliquity planetary bodies. The term polar vortex can be used to ...
winter seasons of 2013/2014, 2014/2015, 2017/2018 and 2018/2019, many of the CLRV and ALRV streetcars broke down operating in temperatures below due to their age. On one of the worst days in January 2014, 48 streetcars failed to run for the morning rush hour.
On December 28, 2017, when the temperature was again −20 °C, 45 older streetcars could not leave the carhouse.
During an extreme cold snap from January 20 to 22, 2019, the TTC withdrew all CLRV/ALRV cars from service due to the high risk of the cars breaking down in the cold weather. Instead, only Flexity Outlook streetcars along with buses were used.
The ALRVs remained out of service for the rest of that winter season.
The older streetcars use pressurized air passing through tubes and valves to operate such things as suspension, braking, windshield wipers, doors and the rail sander (for traction under icy conditions). Condensation can freeze and block the air tubes causing a variety of malfunctions. Over time, salt erodes the air tanks and the tubing gets brittle and leaks leading to less efficient air flow which may cause the compressor beneath the tail of the car to overheat and break down.
To address these problems in December 2015, the TTC performed fixes taking 2–3 days per streetcar to implement. These included the installation of new air tanks and filters, the replacement of old tubing to the windshield wipers, repairs on the valves controlling air flow to the rail sanders, overhaul of the brake valves, and the correction of any suspension system deficiencies.
Replacement parts
As the TTC's CLRV/ALRV streetcar fleet has aged, many parts used by these older streetcars are no longer available from outside suppliers. If a CLRV or ALRV is damaged in a breakdown, collision or derailment, parts need to be replaced or be bent back into shape. For this purpose, the TTC employed a
blacksmith
A blacksmith is a metalsmith who creates objects primarily from wrought iron or steel, but sometimes from #Other metals, other metals, by forging the metal, using tools to hammer, bend, and cut (cf. tinsmith). Blacksmiths produce objects such ...
to craft and repair parts. The blacksmith also supplied tools such as switch irons and towing drawbars for streetcars.
The use of salt brine to de-ice city streets has corroded parts on the older streetcars so much that such parts must often be cut off the car. The TTC Harvey Shops must manufacture some of the replacements sections, such as the chevrons which attach the bogies to the car body. The upholstery department constructs the bellows used between the articulated sections of the ALRV. Each set of bellows takes 240 hours to construct from a vinyl-like material using electric sewing machines.
Refurbishment
In 2006, the TTC was planning to refurbish 100 CLRVs to extend their life and possibly to add air conditioning. This plan was shelved by December 2016, and the only visible outcome was that CLRV 4041, effectively a prototype for refurbishment, became the only CLRV with air conditioning, sporting a visually distinct air conditioning unit on its roof.
In June 2015, the TTC started a program to rebuild and extend the life of 30 CLRVs and 30 ALRVs because of delays in delivery of the new Flexity streetcars. 56 employees were assigned to work on this program. Refurbishing each ALRV was expected to take about 55 days and cost $800,000. The cost for each CLRV was expected to be about $200,000. The total cost was budgeted at $33.1million. The work was to be completed by 2017.
The refurbishment of 30 ALRVs alone was budgeted at $24.5million, with an option to refurbish another 10. The remaining 12 ALRVs were to be stripped of useful parts and scrapped. The refurbishments included repairing corrosion, repainting, installing new energy-efficient
LED lights
An LED lamp or LED light bulb is an electric light that produces light using light-emitting diodes (LEDs). LED lamps are significantly more energy-efficient than equivalent incandescent lamps
and can be significantly more efficient than mos ...
, upgrading the floors, refreshing the seats, and overhauling the pneumatic, brake and traction systems. This was expected to extend the life of the cars until 2024.
The first renovated ALRV (4217) entered service on October 15, 2015.
However, the TTC stopped the ALRV refurbishment program after completing 20 cars at a cost of $26million. The TTC hoped to have 10 of the refurbished ALRVs in service on any given day, but found that only two or three were fit for service with the others awaiting repairs mainly due to electrical problems. Because of budget constraints, the refurbishing had excluded electrical work.
Decline
The CLRV and ALRV cars began being retired from service as the Flexity low-floor streetcars arrived and began service. A TTC report in 2015 projected that the last of the older-model vehicles would be retired by 2024.
By January 2017, only 170 of the 200 CLRVs and ALRVs could be put into service because of the extra maintenance they required.
In 2016, the TTC proposed using 30 to 40 ALRVs to supplement Flexity streetcars until 2024 to address increased ridership until 60 more low-floor streetcars could be ordered.
By September 2018, the CLRV fleet had so deteriorated that the TTC indicated they intended to use ALRVs to supplement some rush-hour services on the busier streetcar lines intended to be operated with CLRVs only.
The ALRV fleet was sidelined between February and April 2019. In May, the TTC ran the ALRV fleet for , during which time one ALRV had a failure in its compressed air system. In mid-2019, the remaining ALRV fleet (about 6 or 7 vehicles) remained on standby as spare vehicles for supplemental service.
By June 23, 2019, Flexity Outlook streetcars had fully replaced CLRVs on route
501 Queen
501 Queen (301 Queen during overnight periods) is an east–west Toronto streetcar route in Ontario, Canada, operated by the Toronto Transit Commission (TTC).
At long, it is one of the longest surface routes operated by the TTC, the longest ...
between
Neville Park Loop
Neville Park Loop is the eastern terminus of the 501 Queen, 301/501 Queen streetcar line, the longest streetcar route of the Toronto Transit Commission (TTC).
It is also the terminus of the 143 Beaches/Downtown express bus service. It is located ...
and
Humber Loop
Humber Loop is a station and intermediate turning loop for streetcars on the 501 Queen line of the Toronto Transit Commission (TTC).
It is located between the Gardiner Expressway and The Queensway just west of the Humber River in Toronto. The ...
. CLRVs continued to serve the route between Humber Loop and
Long Branch Loop
Long Branch Loop is the westernmost stop on the longest Toronto Transit Commission (TTC) streetcar route, the 501 Queen line. It is located in the Long Branch neighbourhood in southwestern Toronto, close to the boundary with Mississauga.
Westb ...
(operated as a separate branch of route 501) until Flexity streetcars had fully replaced them by September 1, 2019.
The last day of operation for the ALRVs was September 2, 2019. On that date, ALRVs 4204 and 4207 made commemorative last runs during the afternoon along Queen Street between
Russell Carhouse
The Russell Carhouse, located at Queen Street East and Connaught Avenue just east of Greenwood Avenue in Toronto, is the Toronto Transit Commission's second oldest carhouse.
Russell Carhouse used to store and maintain high-floor streetcars whic ...
(Queen and Greenwood) and
Wolseley Loop (Bathurst and Queen) with free rides to mark the occasion.
In September 2019, 44 CLRVs were in service.
In that month, only routes
506 Carlton
506 Carlton (306 Carlton during overnight periods) is a Toronto streetcar route run by the Toronto Transit Commission in Ontario, Canada. It runs from Main Street station on subway Line 2 Bloor–Danforth along Gerrard, Carlton and College Str ...
and
511 Bathurst were using them.
![CLRV 4178 at Queen & River on last day](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/09/CLRV_4178_at_Queen_%26_River_on_last_day.jpg)
In September 2019, an artist group repainted CLRV 4178 at the
Hillcrest Complex
Hillcrest Complex is the Toronto Transit Commission's largest facility and is responsible for most of the maintenance work on the system's surface vehicles, including heavy overhauls, repairs and repainting. It is located adjacent to the intersec ...
in bright colours, replacing its regular red and white colour scheme. The repainting project was dubbed "A Streetcar Named Toronto" and is intended to make 4178 a moving artwork. Leaves in red and white were painted on the streetcar's floor and the ceiling was painted with a floral pattern. The artist group changed the colour of some seat covers and added photographs in the interior. The repainted streetcar ran until the end of the year on regular routes as well as for special events such as Nuit Blanche. The streetcar was expected to be scrapped after its retirement,
but was ultimately preserved by the Halton County Radial Railway.
By October 2019, only 18 CLRVs were still in service.
By late November 2019, CLRV service seven days per week was planned only for 511 Bathurst.
The TTC announced that it would continue to run CLRVs on that route until December 28, but it would also use some CLRVs as extra vehicles on 501 Queen between Bathurst Street and Greenwood Avenue on weekends from November 24 to December 28.
The last day of service for the CLRVs was December 29, 2019. On that day, the TTC offered free service on the CLRVs along Queen Street between 10am and 2pm to commemorate the occasion.
At 3pm, three CLRVs made a last commemorative run carrying invited guests from the Wolseley Loop to the Russell Carhouse.
Of the six CLRVs running that day, CLRV 4001 was the last to return to Russell Carhouse.
The TTC has retained two CLRVs and an ALRV for special occasions and charters. Other CLRVs will be sold to various transit museums across North America or will be sold as scrap.
In July 2020, the TTC indicated it will convert CLRVs 4081 and 4124 into work cars.
The TTC sold CLRV 4187 at auction to a private individual for static display at Glista Family Farms in
Priceville, Ontario
Priceville is a village in the southwest corner of the Municipality of Grey Highlands, Grey County, Ontario, Canada. It is on the Saugeen River on Grey Road 4, east of Durham and southwest of Flesherton.
History
The first settlers were African ...
. As a condition of sale, the TTC stripped the car of its TTC logo. The buyer paid $3,400 for the car, the minimum allowed bid, but shipping increases that cost to an estimated $8,000. The new owner plans to preserve the streetcar's interior, and has constructed a short strip of track to mount the vehicle.
Decommissioning
Some noteworthy retired vehicles that were scrapped include:
* CLRV 4063 was the first to be retired. In 2006, it was intended to be the first prototype for the TTC's CLRV overhaul program, which was to include a complete reconstruction of the body as well as new propulsion and control systems. However, after the car was stripped, the overhaul program was cancelled. Because of a diminishing supply of spare parts for the active fleet, it was decided that the unit would be scrapped and all usable parts be salvaged for repairs to the existing fleet. The shell was sold for scrap in March 2009 to Future Enterprises of
Hamilton, Ontario
Hamilton is a port city in the Canadian province of Ontario. Hamilton has a population of 569,353, and its census metropolitan area, which includes Burlington and Grimsby, has a population of 785,184. The city is approximately southwest of T ...
.
* ALRV 4231 was retired in mid-2014 and was used to supply parts until its scrapping in May 2015. It was the first ALRV to be retired and scrapped.
* CLRV 4062 was the second CLRV retired after it suffered a serious collision with TTC bus 7807 on December 27, 2014.
Previously, the TTC repaired CLRVs damaged in collisions, even those heavily damaged. Instead, CLRV 4062 was retired in January 2015.
* CLRV 4162, retired in March 2015, was the third CLRV to be retired but the first to be so because of age, wear and tear.
* CLRV 4005 was retired in May 2015 and scrapped in July 2015. It was the first of the six SIG-built CLRVs to be retired.
* CLRV 4000, the first CLRV by number and one of the six CLRVs built by SIG, was shipped to a Hamilton scrap yard from the
Leslie Barns
Leslie Barns is a streetcar maintenance and storage facility at the southeast corner of Leslie Street and Lake Shore Boulevard in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It has been built to house and service the majority of Toronto Transit Commission's fle ...
on December 9, 2017.
Preservation
See also
*
Light rail vehicle
Similar vehicles
*
US Standard Light Rail Vehicle
The US Standard Light Rail Vehicle (SLRV) was a light rail vehicle (LRV) built by Boeing Rotorcraft Systems, Boeing Vertol in the 1970s. The Federal Transit Administration, Urban Mass Transportation Administration (UMTA) of the United States Dep ...
, a similar, though unsuccessful, attempt to build a standardized PCC successor in the US.
*
Kawasaki Heavy Industries Rolling Stock Company
is the rolling stock manufacturing subsidiary of Kawasaki Heavy Industries. Since beginning operations in 1906, the company has produced more than 90,000 railroad cars.
Products
As indicated by the company name, the company mainly produ ...
Type K LRV for
SEPTA
The Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority (SEPTA) is a regional public transportation authority that operates bus, rapid transit, commuter rail, light rail, and electric trolleybus services for nearly 4 million people in five coun ...
to replace PCC streetcars and similar to the CLRV
*
Santa Clara VTA Light-rail
VTA Light Rail is a light rail system in San Jose and nearby cities in Santa Clara County, California. It is operated by the Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority, or VTA, and consists of of network comprising three main lines on stand ...
, which used a somewhat similar car design also produced by UTDC.
Notes
References
Citations
General
*
External links
The Canadian Light Rail Vehicles (The CLRVs)The Articulated Light Rail Vehicles (The ALRVs)Toronto Transit Commission 4000–4005, 4010–4199CLRV roster
Toronto Transit Commission 4200–4251ALRV roster
* depicting retired CLRV 4000 being loaded on a flatbed at the Leslie Barns
* : Last official runs of the ALRV
* published by Transit Toronto (a railfan group) on June 7, 2020
* published by
CityNews
''CityNews'' (corporately styled City''News'') is the title of news and current affairs programming on Rogers Sports & Media's Citytv network in Canada. The newscast division was founded on September 28, 1975 as ''CityPulse'' as a standalone loc ...
on August 4, 2020, about CLRV 4187
{{TTC
Toronto streetcar vehicles
Articulated passenger trains
600 V DC multiple units
Electric multiple units of Canada