11-27-2020, 07:50 PM
(11-27-2020, 07:17 PM)ac3r Wrote: Also, maybe this disaster that we call the ION could...you know...NOT use Bombardier for anything going forward? When is the last time you ever read anything about them that wasn't bad news? They're a terrible company. I think we only went with them because we or they or someone got some breaks if we bought Canadian, but that turned out to be a complete waste of time and money. Alstom may have had some wonky doors on the newest Otrain line, but at least they got trains in time - not 2-3 years later, incomplete with no APT and welding that was cracking after a few weeks.
Well, depending on what Alstom does with Bombardier, using Bombardier in the future may not even be a choice (at least nominally). But if you think "wonky doors" is the best way to describe the O-train saga then I don't think you've been following it. The wikipedia page for the LRVs sums it up fairly well (in terms of vehicle issues, which are only part of the system's issues):
Quote:By early October 2019, the automated doors of the vehicles used by Ottawa's Confederation Line experienced faults if pried open or held back by passengers; this resulted in numerous service disruptions, some lasting up to 90 minutes due to a lack of proper procedures to isolate and disable the faulty doors while a train was in service. The vehicles also began encountering integration issues with Thales' SelTrac train control system that led to the on-board computer for some trains in service needing to be rebooted, causing delays of up to 20 to 30 minutes.[10]
Reliability gradually improved in November and December 2019. However, on December 31, 2019, electrical problems caused by improperly cleaned electrical contacts on the roof of the trains caused disruptions to passengers.[11][12] Then, throughout January 2020, service continued to suffer due to a combination of train and track switch failures. The trains' interior heating systems have been reported to be insufficient in Ottawa's sub-zero winter temperatures, forcing OC Transpo to consider adding heaters to the vehicles.[13] A manufacturing defect with the inductors used by the vehicles led to numerous electrical failures in inclement weather.[14] On January 30, 2020, the Confederation Line reached an all-time operational low when it was short five trains due to "recurring mechanical and electrical issues". Only eight to nine trains ran during the day.[15] The Confederation Line is expected to field 13 working trains during rush hour.
On July 2, 2020, cracks were found on two wheels of a vehicle during routine maintenance activities. A subsequent inspection of all vehicles found two more wheels with cracks, for a total of four across three different vehicles. As a result, half of the fleet is currently kept out of service each day so that every wheel on each vehicle can be inspected before the vehicle can be put back into service. On July 10, 2020, the Transportation Safety Board of Canada launched an independent investigation into the matter.[16] On September 16, 2020, the City announced that Alstom had determined that the root cause of the issue was an improperly aligned screw that caused stress on the wheel, resulting in the cracks. Alstom said it would replace every wheel in the fleet by early 2021.
If I'm not mistaken, a big part of why we chose the vehicles we did was to piggy-back on Toronto's order. Perhaps ironically, Toronto has ordered some of the same vehicles as Ottawa now because they fear Bombardier won't fulfill their order in time.
But anyways, from cursory reading of systems around the world, it seems like delays on new/custom vehicles is the norm, not the exception.