Tag Archives: Toronto

Rail Photo of the Month: August 2023

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ICTS 3027

Location: Kennedy Station, Toronto, Ontario, Canada
Operator of Vehicle: Toronto Transit Commission
Date of Photo: March 12, 2007

In various parts of the transit enthusiast world, there have been people saying that if you want to ride the Scarborough Rapid Transit Line (also known as Line 3 Scarborough) of the Toronto subway system, you better do so soon, as the line is scheduled to shut down this November 18.  Unfortunately, it is possible that you may have missed your chance already.  The line is scheduled to close this November in order to be dismantled and ultimately replaced by an extension of Line 2 Bloor-Danforth.  Currently, Line 2 ends at Kennedy, and passengers who wish to continue to Scarborough must change trains there.  By the end of the decade, this trip will be a one seat ride but until then, a long term substitute bus service will provide the service between Kennedy and Scarborough.

Line 3 is unique within the Toronto transit network.  The line is a “light Metro” line that was originally going to be a streetcar line operated using CLRV vehicles.  However, provincial politics resulted in a decision to redesign the line to a design that was developed by a Crown corporation owned by the Ontario government, known as ICTS (Intermediate Capacity Transit System).  ICTS was meant to provide service on routes that had more ridership than buses but lower ridership than traditional heavy rail lines.  However, the implementation in Toronto proved to be problematic in several regards.  One such example is that the trains were meant to be operated in a fully automated mode but the TTC opted to have them operate in a partial manual mode, increasing wear and tear on the vehicles and requiring additional equipment to be added to support manual operation.  Another example is that the cars were found unable to handle a tight curve on the reversal loop at end of the line, ultimately resulting in the loop’s abandonment.  

With the “S Series” ICTS cars that have served on Line 3 since its 1985 opening nearing the end of their useful lives, it has been decided to shut down the Scarborough RT line and extend Line 2 to Scarborough as a replacement.  However, a derailment near Ellesmere Station on July 24 shut down the line and it has yet to reopen, prompting some to suggest that the line may not reopen prior to its scheduled closure in November.

Although the Scarborough RT line appears to have had a troubled and turbulent history based on this writeup, you shouldn’t think that the ICTS technology was a failure.  The Vancouver SkyTrain uses the same technology and is arguably the most successful application of ICTS.  The ICTS design was ultimately sold and bought by various manufacturers and improved upon over the decades.  It is now owned by Alstom, known as Innovia Metro, and can be found on the AirTrain JFK in New York City, Beijing Subway, Younin EverLine in South Korea, and the Riyadh Metro.

For more photos of TTC’s Scarborough Rapid Transit Line, please click here.  

Rail Photo of the Month: January 2020

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CLRV 4016

CLRV 4016

Location: Spadina Avenue at King Street, Toronto, Ontario, Canada
Operator of Vehicle: Toronto Transit Commission (TTC)
Date of Photo: March 11, 2007

It is the start of a new (Gregorian) year and decade, but some transit vehicles will not be seeing revenue service in either one.  There are several vehicle retirements one could choose to profile here, but today, we are looking at the Canadian Light Rail Vehicle (CLRV) fleet that made its final run this past Sunday, December 29.  These cars, and their articulated ALRV counterparts, were designed and ordered when the TTC’s fleet of PCC streetcars were at or near the end of their useful lives.  The first CLRV arrived on TTC property on December 29, 1979, exactly 42 years to the day before they would be retired. 

The CLRV was designed with the intention that it could be used as a standard streetcar design across all of Canada.  However, like similar attempts to design a universal transit vehicle in the United States, this did not prove to be a successful venture.  Although the MBTA in Boston leased three CLRV cars to test on their Green Line, they ultimately opted not to purchase CLRVs.  Ultimately, the Santa Clara Valley Transit Authority was the only agency to purchase light rail vehicles from the Urban Transportation Development Corporation that built the CLRVs.  Due to the specialized parts on the CLRV that were not mass produced due to the fact no other systems operated these cars, the TTC found these cars increasingly difficult to maintain over time.

As the CLRVs approached retirement age, the TTC opted to replace them with Bombardier Flexity Outlook streetcars rater than refurbish the CLRV cars.  The last ALRV was removed from service on September 2, 2019, and the final CLRV was removed from service this past Sunday.  The TTC is retaining some cars for inclusion in a historical fleet, selling a handful of cars to transit museums, and scrapping the remainder.

I had the opportunity to ride these cars in 2007, which is the only time I’ve been to Toronto (though I’d like to go back some day).  It also turns out I got a photo of CLRV 4046 during that trip; 4046 is the only streetcar of this type to have air conditioning installed (it was done as a trial that was not carried over to any other cars).  

To see a news report from the CBC about the retirement of these cars, click here.  

For more photos of the TTC’s CLRV streetcars, please click here.

 

Oren’s Reading List: A Visit to the TTC Control Centre

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TTC T-1 5092
I’ve had the opportunity to visit some areas of transit systems that are typically off limits to the public and have been able to take photographs that you can find on this website.  There are also times that I have had access to non-public parts of a transit system where photography is forbidden or I am asked not to share my photos online, and I abide by those requests out of respect for those who make them.  In 2007, I had the opportunity to visit the TTC Control Centre, the location from which the Toronto Transit Commission keeps the largest transit system in Canada and the third largest transit system in North America running smoothly.  On my visit, photography was not permitted.  The National Post obtained access and permission to photograph and write about what goes on in the control centre, also referred to as the TTC’s war room.  This is a scene that plays out behind the scenes of every transit agency as it attempts to keep trains and their passengers moving while constantly handling unexpected circumstances such as malfunctioning doors and emergency alarms.  And while you may not believe it, it might be a “net positive” to offload your train in the midst of a transit delay in order to keep everyone else moving.

Curious to have a glimpse behind the scenes at the TTC’s control centre?  Click here to read the National Post’s article.

Oren’s Reading List is an occasional feature on The Travelogue in which I share articles that I’ve read that might also be of interest to the readers of this website.

Oren’s Reading List: Riding an entire system in a day

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Bombardier Mark II Car 204
The Vancouver Sun reports that today, a man named Stephen Quinlan intends to ride the entire Vancouver SkyTrain system in about 3 hours, in order to set the Guinness World Record for achieving the feat.  You can read about his preparations here.  I made no effort to set a record while doing so, but I did ride the entire Skytrain in a single day on August 7, 2007, back when it only had two lines and fewer stations.  It isn’t the first system I rode in an entire day, either.  The largest system I rode in a single day is the Washington, DC Metrorail (in 2002, when it only had 83 stations), but I have also explored the entire TTC Subway (2007), San Juan Tren Urbano (2016), Glasgow Underground (2005), Rome Metro (2008), Jerusalem Light Rail (on opening day in 2011) and Haifa Carmelit (2007) in a single day, and did the Tren Urbano, Jerusalem Light Rail, and Carmelit on a single fare.  Needless to say, it is a much easier feat to achieve on a smaller system such as Haifa’s (the smallest subway in the world) as opposed to a city such as London or New York, but that is to be expected.  

Have you ever tried to ride an entire system in one day?  Were you successful?  Were you trying to set any records?  Feel free to post your answers in the comments below!

Oren’s Reading List is an occasional feature on The Travelogue in which I share articles that I’ve read that might also be of interest to the readers of this website.

Rail Photo of the Month: July 2016

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CLRV 4016

TTC CLRV 4016

Location: Spadina Avenue at King Street, Toronto, Ontario, Canada
Operator of Vehicle: Toronto Transit Commission
Date of Photo: March 11, 2007

Seeing as today is Canada Day, it seemed appropriate to select a Canadian photo to be the rail photo of the month for July.  The Toronto streetcar network is the largest streetcar network in North and South America in terms of track miles, fleet size, and ridership.  Like in many European cities, the streetcars are the primary surface transit in the city center.  However, unlike many other North American cities, proposals to eliminate the streetcar network in the 1960s did not gain traction.  A few lines were abandoned, but beginning in 1989, the TTC began to introduce new routes once again.  The Toronto streetcar’s 21st century revival is the renewal of rolling stock, as the aging CLRV and ALRV are being replaced by modern Bombardier Flexity Outlook trams, similar to those in many European cities.

For more photos of Toronto’s streetcars, please click here.