11-01-2018, 06:36 AM
(10-31-2018, 08:27 PM)Canard Wrote: I thought I've made it pretty clear many times, but, again, in a nutshell:
- These 182 vehicles were ordered for the 7 "Transit City" LRT lines in Toronto.
- Meanwhile, the design of the ECT changed significantly from a surface route to mostly subway, at Rob Ford's direction, causing a huge delay. ML had no need for trains on the original timeline and didn't submit any further specifications to Bombardier - knowing that they would have nowhere to physically put the trains, had Bombardier built them on the original schedule.
I’m not sure about the number of Transit City lines when the vehicle order was made, but at the time Rob Ford was elected it had already been pared back to 4: Eglinton, Finch, Sheppard, and Scarborough RT replacement.
I don’t believe it is correct that Rob Ford changed Eglinton from surface to subway. The tunnel section was always going to be a tunnel, owing to the narrow right of way. He made noises about burying the surface portion in Scarborough, but nothing came of that.
At some point I recall a deal with Ford to re-instate the Eglinton and Scarborough RT replacement as one super long line, joining up at Kennedy. But I don’t remember where that was in the sequence.
Then of course Glenn de Baeremaker screwed everything up by introducing a surprise motion to switch Scarborough to subway. Apparently it should have been rejected by the Chair as re-opening an issue already settled by Council, which is supposed to require a 2/3 majority. But Frances Nunziata allowed it (because of course she did, and against the advice of staff), and millions of dollars worth of planning was tossed out for no good reason.