Raise the Hammer

AS for the LRT program expect quite a few more "bumps" along the way simply because the operating and construction programs must be decided on. These programs can get quite involved and take a great amount of time. Plus once a vehicle design is decided on, most likely it will be a Bombardier Flexity Swift LRV design similar to the Toronto LRV's and the LRV's planned for Waterloo's system, your vehicles have to enter the production order and then you wait for them and this takes years.

That brings up another issue, there will be a problem with your LRV's either in the construction phase as with the TTC's Flexity Outlook LRV's or once they are being tested upon arrival in Hamilton, possibly in even both phases, count on it! I have worked in the industry and all the manufacturers of LRV's, the big 3, Bombardier, Alstom and Siemens as well as the others major builders that sell LRV's North America, Brookville, AnsaldoBreda, Hundai Rotem, CAF, Skoda/United Streetcar, Kawasaki and Kinkisharyo all have the same range of issues with newly ordered and delivered LRV's. These are not your grandpa's streetcar, they are much larger and far more complex vehicles that usually have a technical issue at some point during the manufacturing and or testing phases. AGAIN I WARN YOU, THERE WILL BE TECHNICAL ISSUES WITH YOUR LRV'S AT SOME POINT, the sky is not falling, the government did not buy junk trains, it happens with all of them at some point. These are very complex vehicles with enormous numbers of separate components and with very little tolerance for manufacturing mistakes. The reason for this is that, these light rail vehicles unlike say your own car, doesn't have 50,000 models made of it every year to lower the individual unit price and work out all the production issues early on. However, these LRV's properly maintained, will last between 30-40 years and operate almost everyday over daily distances that would sideline your standard car or pickup truck in a week, all in a variety of weather conditions. So do not get overly excited if or when, your new trains arrive late because of production issues and are requiring more time to get them to run well on your new track. This is not government incompetence, this is not because the trains are crappy or whatever adjective you decide to use. These types of operating issues take time to resolve they always do with large complex and vehicles and it is normal. It is often called the Commissioning Process it can take a while, be calm its not a conspiracy. So enough with the negative comments, I warn you now, there will be some issues with your LRV's at some point, count on it.