The new Bombardier streetcars have arrived!
December 7, 2009
The new Bombardier streetcars have arrived!
December 7, 2009
Woop woop — I’ve been sent some photos of Vancouver’s new Bombardier streetcars, from intrepid transit photographer David Lam!
Check out all the pics in this gallery, over at the Trans-Continental photo site.
The streetcars arrived this morning from Brussels, Belgium, and they’ll be running on the Olympic Line—that’s the demonstration streetcar line that will operate during the Games (January 21 to March 21, 2010). It’s a project from the City of Vancouver and Bombardier.
And our congratulations goes out to the City! We’re excited to see the streetcars arrive, and excited to see how the project goes, as it’s a rare opportunity to try out streetcars in our region.
[…] The Buzzer blog » The new Bombardier streetcars have arrived! buzzer.translink.ca/index.php/2009/12/the-new-bombardier-streetcars-have-arrived – view page – cached The new Bombardier streetcars have arrived for the Olympic Line, a City of Vancouver streetcar demonstration line during the Games! Photo by David Lam. […]
they look beautiful! any information about any sort of launch event?
The City of Vancouver will have more info on a launch event, as it’s their project. Their Olympic Line page doesn’t seem to list anything yet, but I’m sure we’ll hear more about it as we get closer to January 21.
OMG!! The streetcars look awesome!! :) I just wish they could stick around longer than the Olympics.
One question, once the streetcars are in service will they have same fares as the TransLink system or the DVHR?
To clarify, DVHR stands for Downtown Vancouver Historic Railway.
And who knows, maybe one day the city will actually find their spine and build a streetcar line (again) or at least put out dedicated bus lanes.
Yeah, one can dream, and yeah, I am a bit cynical about this because I somewhat doubt it will go beyond that. But at least European visitors will think that Vancouver is at least trying to catch up with them.
Wow, that thing is nice! Can’t wait to ride it :D
Maybe one day we’ll get the cash to build one for real
Zack; The line will be free for everyone.
is this just temporary? they lookin sharp
FREE?
My favourite word that starts with “F”!
There’s been a lot of talk about free transit in the city by certain groups. Perhaps this will be a good test.
One concern is people staying on board all day, preventing anyone else from using it. That was a major problem with the Canadian Tire monorail during Expo.
Kenny: I know!!!!! I just found out that on Global BC!
@ ;-) i think the same thing happened with the opening of the canada line
but who can blame them right? :)
BTW… where are these cars made/assembled? Europe? Quebec?
Very nice!
I can’t wait, such an important route, and a great pilot project for proving just how cheap it is to get the old interurban lines running again.
If these things are even half as useful as it looks to be, I’ll definitely be writing my MLA, MP, Premier, Minister of Transpo/Enviro (fed/provincial levels) and you name it else to try to get this thing funded past March 21st.
They are assembled in Bruges, Belgium.
;-):
I like that you still remember the Canadian Tire monorail from Expo. Thank goodness we have you (and others like you!) to share these tidbits of transit history!
Yes, they’re from Bombardier’s fairly substantial Belgian operations; Brussels has been very accommodating about letting them lend out its vehicles to other prospective buyers. If Vancouver actually bought them, though, they’d probably be built at Thunder Bay in Ontario, which is already going to build similar vehicles for Toronto.
If I’m not mistaken, the Canadian Tire monorail started as a free service. When no one got off and kept riding it all day (especially on rainy May days), they changed the policy.
You could ride it to a maximum of 2/3 of the route, then you needed to get off and line up again. The trains had three colour routes for the differnt loop segments.
I forgot where the trains went after the fair.
Interesting enough, the Olympic Line also shares lots of similarities with the Railbus service during the 1986 Expo, a commuter train service that served between New Westminster Skytrain Station to Abbotsford along the old interurban tracks! This service was operated by British Railways, and I believe the train cars were jointly designed and manufactured by British Rail and Leyland, exported to Canada from the UK!
More information can be found on Paul Hillsdon’s website:
http://www.paulhillsdon.com/?p=439
Dave
Pacers in Canada! That’s something I never would have guessed had happened. It would be nice if they could get something similar back into service, although hopefully with more comfortable stock.
If there’s ever a ceremony for it….I shall be first to call dibbs for a spot on opening day.
So here it is:
DIBBS!
Oh, and let’s not forget the canada line with people staying on the train the whole day for the free launch….
More great photos of it can be found on the Bombardier site: http://www.bombardier.com/en/transportation/media-centre/multimedia-library
Click on Special Events.
One quick correction click on the Special Events link under the Transportation heading.
Trying to find out when the Vancouver/Bombardier Olympic train service will be open to the public. I had heard that it would be open at this time and would like to experience the ride if it is open. It sounds as if it will be January 21, but not sure. We are visiting from the Interior and it would be great to partake at this time.
Wayne: The Olympic Line page over at the City of Vancouver website says the line will run from Jan 21 to Mar 21.
Hoping all is well with the return of streetcars to Vancouver.Here in Toronto we are awaiting new streetcars also for 2013
Woop,forgot to rell you to check out my Photo Blog of Toronto Streetcar pictures have a nice day!!http://streetcarboy.blogspot.com/