Bombardier BiLevel Coach

The Bombardier BiLevel Coach is a bilevel passenger railcar currently built by Bombardier Transportation and previously built by Hawker Siddeley Canada, the Canadian Car and Foundry (Can Car) and the UTDC. They are designed to carry up to 360 passengers for commuter railways. These carriages are easily identifiable: they are double-decked and are shaped like elongated octagons.

Not to be confused with Bombardier MultiLevel Coach or Bombardier Double-deck Coach.
Bi-Level Coach and Cab Car
A GO Transit train with Bombardier BiLevel coaches
Interior of a New Mexico Rail Runner Express coach
ManufacturerHawker Siddeley Canada-SNC Lavalin (Can Car) and UTDC-SNC Lavalin , Bombardier Transportation
Built atFort William (Thunder Bay), Ontario
Constructed1976–Present
Entered service1976
Capacity136 to 162 (seated); 142 in IV series, 276 standees
Operator(s)see article
Specifications
Car body constructionRiveted or welded aluminum body on a steel frame
Car length85 ft (25.91 m)
Width9 ft 10 in (2.997 m)
Height15 ft 11 in (4.851 m)
DoorsPneumatically-operated doors
Weight50,000 kg (110,000 lb)
Power supply480 or 575 V HEP
Braking system(s)Pneumatic tread brakes and disc brakes

History

The BiLevel coaches were designed by Toronto's regional commuter rail service, GO Transit and Hawker Siddeley Canada in the mid-1970s as a more efficient replacement for GO's original single-deck coaches and cab cars.[1] Later coaches were manufactured by Urban Transportation Development Corporation/Can-Car and finally Bombardier, who now owns the designs and manufacturing facility. There are more than seven hundred such coaches in service today and almost all have been built at the company's Thunder Bay, Ontario, and Plattsburgh, New York, plants.

Construction
Redesigned cab for crash energy management

The coaches feature an aluminum body on a steel frame. They are 15 ft 11 in (4.851 m) high and 9 ft 10 in (2.997 m) wide, and weigh about 61,000 kg (134,000 lb).[1] Depending on car design and seating configuration, seats are available for between 136 and 162 passengers, along with standing room. The coaches have two pairs of doors on each side which allow the entire coach to be emptied in 90 seconds. Some of the newer coaches have electrical outlets for laptop computers and other devices along with small tables.

All newly built coaches have a washroom on the lower level; the original coaches for GO Transit have the washroom on the intermediate level in the same location as where the cab is located in cab cars (see below). The washrooms feature a stainless steel chemical flush toilet, sink, mirrors and waste receptacles. The sliding washroom door, when locked, shows a light that indicates the washroom is in use. The washroom door is wheelchair friendly with wide doors and handle bars to assist those with mobility needs on the toilet.

One major variant is the cab car. The cab car is placed at the end of the train and features a full cab built into the end of the coach, from which the train's locomotive can be remotely controlled. This allows for push–pull operation with a faster turnaround time for trains, by avoiding having to physically turn around the train or locomotive. Unlike the similar Driving Van Trailer used by Britain's InterCity 225, the cab cars are otherwise identical to the regular coaches rather than imitating the design of the locomotive, leading to the appearance that the train is travelling 'backwards'. In 2014 Metrolinx (the provincial agency operating GO Transit) and Bombardier announced a new design for the cab car, which included a larger cab end and crash-energy management crumple zones.[2] Sounder Commuter Rail, Altamont Corridor Express, and COASTER have also purchased this type of cab car. This new series of BiLevel Cabcar are currently planned to replace all the older generation BiLevel Cabcars on three of the aforementioned four commuter rail services, many of which will be converted to normal coaches.

Most operators of these coaches use a 480 volt head end power (HEP) system for heating, lighting, and air conditioning. The only exception to this is with GO Transit which uses a 575 volt system (575 volts is a standard industrial Canadian voltage, having been previously used by CN for their Tempo cars — also built by HS). Whenever GO has leased coaches to other agencies, a power unit has been supplied with the coaches, or when GO has leased coaches from other agencies, a locomotive with 480 volt HEP capabilities was also leased. Amtrak, Via Rail and Exo also use 480 volt HEP (480 volt is a standard industrial U.S. voltage).

Series
Model Operators Builder Notes
Bi-Level I coach GO Transit,[3] Metrolink (Southern California) Hawker Siddeley Canada/Can Car
Bi-Level II coach GO Transit, Caltrain, Trinity Railway Express, COASTER Hawker Siddeley Canada/Can Car
Bi-Level III coach GO Transit, Metrolink, Tri-Rail UTDC/Can Car
Bi-Level IV coach GO Transit UTDC/Can Car
Bi-Level V coach GO Transit UTDC/Can Car
Bi-Level VI coach GO Transit, West Coast Express (some leased to GO Transit), Sounder Commuter Rail, New Mexico Rail Runner Express, Altamont Corridor Express, Trinity Railway Express, COASTER, Caltrain Bombardier Transportation
Bi-Level VII coach GO Transit, FrontRunner, Northstar Commuter Rail, SunRail, Trinity Railway Express Bombardier Transportation
Bi-Level VIII coach GO Transit, Sounder Commuter Rail Bombardier Transportation
Bi-Level IX coach GO Transit, Sounder Commuter Rail, COASTER, Altamont Corridor Express Bombardier Transportation

Operators

Many North American commuter rail agencies operate Bombardier BiLevel Coaches. They include:

Image Operator Location Fleet size Notes
Altamont Corridor Express San Jose, California 24 cars [4]
Caltrain San Francisco, California 41 cars
COASTER San Diego, California 28 cars [5][6]
FrontRunner Salt Lake City, Utah 22 cars [7]
GO Transit Greater Toronto Area, Ontario 656 cars [8]
Metrolink Greater Los Angeles Area, California 184 cars [9][10]
Northstar Line Minneapolis, Minnesota 18 cars
Rail Runner Express Albuquerque, New Mexico 22 cars [11]
Sounder Seattle, Washington 58 cars [12]
SunRail Orlando, Florida 20 cars [13]
Tri-Rail Miami/Fort Lauderdale/West Palm Beach, Florida 26 cars [6][14]
Trinity Railway Express Dallas/Fort Worth, Texas 17 cars [6][15]
West Coast Express Vancouver, British Columbia 44 cars [16]
Exo Montreal, Quebec 22 cars

Similar units

Bombardier also produces two other models of bi-level railway coach, the Bombardier MultiLevel and the Bombardier Double-deck Coach.

The MultiLevel was designed to a smaller loading gauge than the BiLevel in order to fit within the North River Tunnels used by New Jersey Transit in New York and the Mont Royal Tunnel used by Exo in Montréal. It also features doors on the middle level rather than the lower level in order to serve the high-level platforms in those two regions.

The Double-Deck Coach is designed, built and operated in Germany, so it is built to the German loading gauge and therefore features a narrowing profile on the upper deck.

Other bi-level or double-deck railcars competing against the Bombardier BiLevel and MultiLevel in the North American market include:

See also
  • Train 48 - a Canadian TV show that used a 64' replica Bi-Level car for train interior scenes

References
  1. "The Bi-Level Coaches (1977-?) - Transit Toronto - Content". toronto.on.ca. Retrieved 11 January 2017.
  2. "The Bi-Level Coaches (1977-?) - Transit Toronto - Content". toronto.on.ca. Retrieved 11 January 2017.
  3. "The Bi-Level Coaches (1977-?) - Transit Toronto - Content". toronto.on.ca. Retrieved 11 January 2017.
  5. "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2009-04-22. Retrieved 2008-09-29.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  6. "Friends of SMART". northbayrail.org. Archived from the original on 17 February 2012. Retrieved 11 January 2017.
  7. "FindArticles.com - CBSi". findarticles.com. Retrieved 11 January 2017.
  8. "Info to GO" (PDF). GO Transit. September 2016. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2016-11-07. Retrieved 7 November 2016.
  9. "Metrolink". rapidtransit-press.com. Retrieved 11 January 2017.
  10. Equipment Archived April 22, 2009, at the Wayback Machine
  11. "FindArticles.com - CBSi". findarticles.com. Retrieved 11 January 2017.
  12. Sounder Archived September 16, 2008, at the Wayback Machine
  13. "They're here! First SunRail cab car arrives in Sanford". Webcitation.org. Archived from the original on 2014-09-08. Retrieved 2017-01-11.
  14. Tri-Rail Commuter Train Archived March 19, 2008, at the Wayback Machine
  15. Train Facts Archived February 5, 2012, at the Wayback Machine
  16. "History of Regional Transit at Vancouver, British Columbia". umanitoba.ca. Retrieved 11 January 2017.
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