Bombardier BiLevel Coach

The Bombardier BiLevel Coach is a bilevel passenger railcar currently built by Alstom and previously by Bombardier, Hawker Siddeley Canada, the Canadian Car and Foundry (Can Car), and the UTDC. Used by North American commuter rail operators, they hold 360 passengers and feature a distinctive octagonal profile.

Not to be confused with Bombardier MultiLevel Coach or Bombardier Double-deck Coach.
BiLevel 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, Alstom Transport
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 (26 m)
Width9 ft 10 in (3.00 m)
Height15 ft 11 in (4.85 m)
DoorsPneumatically-operated
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, most recently, Bombardier. Alstom purchased Bombardier in 2021 and now owns the designs and manufacturing facility. There are more than one thousand three hundred BiLevel coaches in service today, all of which have been built in Thunder Bay, Ontario.

Construction
Redesigned cab for crash energy management

BiLevel coaches have an aluminum body on a steel frame. They are 15 ft 11 in (4.85 m) high, 9 ft 10 in (3.00 m) wide, and weigh about 61,000 kg (134,000 lb).[1] They hold 136–162 seated passengers and 276 standees (depending on model and seat configuration) and have two pairs of doors on each side that 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. The washrooms feature a stainless-steel chemical flush toilet, sink, mirrors, waste receptacles, and occupancy lamps. The washroom is accessible, featuring wide doors and grab bars.

One major variant is the cab car. In 2014, Metrolinx (the provincial agency operating GO Transit) and Bombardier announced a new cab car design, which included a larger cab end and crash-energy management crumple zones.[2] The new cab car has been purchased by Sounder Commuter Rail, Altamont Corridor Express, and COASTER. Three of the aforementioned operators plan to replace all older generation BiLevel cab cars and convert some of them to normal coaches.

BiLevel coaches have 480 V head end power (HEP) systems except those for GO Transit, which have 575 V HEP systems. (The 575 V HEP system is a Canadian standard, having been previously used by CN for their Tempo cars.) A 575 V HEP power unit is supplied with GO coaches leased to other operators and GO leases locomotives with 480 V HEP when they lease coaches from other agencies.

Comparison with other Bombardier bilevel coaches

Bombardier also produces two other bilevel railway coach models, the MultiLevel and the Double-deck Coach. The MultiLevel conforms to a smaller loading gauge than the BiLevel for the tighter clearances found on the Washington, D.C.–Boston Northeast Corridor and the Mont Royal Tunnel used by Exo in Montréal. It has 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; it conforms to the German loading gauge and features a cross-sectional profile that narrows towards the upper level.

Series
Bombardier BiLevel Series
Series Number Operators Builder
I GO Transit,[3] Metrolink Hawker Siddeley Canada/Can Car
II GO Transit, Caltrain, Trinity Railway Express, COASTER
III GO Transit, Metrolink, Tri-Rail UTDC/Can Car
IV GO Transit
V
VI 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/Alstom
VII GO Transit, FrontRunner, Northstar Commuter Rail, SunRail, Trinity Railway Express, Exo
VIII GO Transit, Sounder Commuter Rail
IX GO Transit, Sounder Commuter Rail, COASTER, Altamont Corridor Express

Operators
Bombardier BiLevel Operators
Operator Location Quantity Image
Altamont Corridor Express Stockton, California 24[4]
Caltrain San Francisco, California 41
Coaster San Diego, California 28[5][6]
Exo Montreal, Quebec 22
FrontRunner Salt Lake City, Utah 22[7]
GO Transit Toronto, Ontario 979[8]
Metrolink Los Angeles, California 184[9][10]
Northstar Line Minneapolis, Minnesota 18
Rail Runner Express Albuquerque, New Mexico 22[11]
Sounder Seattle, Washington 58[12]
SunRail Orlando, Florida 20[13]
Tri-Rail Miami, Florida 26[6][14]
Trinity Railway Express Dallas, Texas 17[6][15]
West Coast Express Vancouver, British Columbia 44[16]

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.{{cite web}}: 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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