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 or 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.

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. 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

The coaches feature an aluminum body on a steel frame. They are high and wide, and weigh about. Depending on car design and seating configuration, seats are available for between 136 and 162 passengers, along with standing room. All newly built coaches now feature a washroom on the lower level; the original coaches for GO Transit have the washroom on the intermediate level in the same location where the cab is located in cab cars. 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. The washrooms feature a stainless steel chemical flush toilet, sink, mirrors and waste receptacles. A sliding door that triggers light to indicate unit in use when door is locked. 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 and Bombardier announced a new design for the cab car, which included a larger cab end and crash-energy management crumple zones. Sounder Commuter Rail has also purchased this type of cab car. This new series of BiLevel Cabcar are currently and eventually planned to replace all the older generation BiLevel Cabcars on both commuter rail services, those of which will be converted to normal coaches.
Most operators of these coaches use a 480 volt head end power system for heating, lighting, and air conditioning. The only exception to this is with GO Transit which uses a 575 volt system. 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.

Series

ModelOperatorsBuilderNotes
Bi-Level I coachGO Transit, Metrolink Hawker Siddeley Canada/Can Car
Bi-Level II coachGO Transit, Caltrain, Trinity Railway Express, COASTERHawker Siddeley Canada/Can Car
Bi-Level III coachGO Transit, Metrolink, Tri-Rail,UTDC/Can Car
Bi-Level IV coachGO TransitUTDC/Can Car
Bi-Level V coachGO TransitUTDC/Can Car
Bi-Level VI coachGO Transit, West Coast Express, Sounder Commuter Rail, New Mexico Rail Runner Express, Altamont Corridor Express, Trinity Railway Express, COASTER, CaltrainBombardier Transportation
Bi-Level VII coachGO Transit, FrontRunner, Northstar Commuter Rail, SunRail, Trinity Railway ExpressBombardier Transportation
Bi-Level VIII coachGO Transit, Sounder Commuter RailBombardier Transportation
Bi-Level IX coachGO Transit, Sounder Commuter Rail, COASTER, Altamont Corridor ExpressBombardier Transportation

Operators

Many North American commuter rail agencies operate Bombardier BiLevel Coaches. They include:
ImageOperatorLocationFleet sizeNotes
Altamont Corridor ExpressSan Jose, California
CaltrainSan Francisco, California
CoasterSan Diego, California
FrontRunnerSalt Lake City, Utah
GO TransitGreater Toronto Area, Ontario
MetrolinkGreater Los Angeles Area, California
Northstar LineMinneapolis, Minnesota
Rail Runner ExpressAlbuquerque, New Mexico
SounderSeattle, Washington
SunRailOrlando, Florida
Tri-RailMiami/Fort Lauderdale/West Palm Beach, Florida
Trinity Railway ExpressDallas/Fort Worth, Texas
West Coast ExpressVancouver, British Columbia
ExoMontreal, Quebec

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: