Detroit People Mover replacing entire fleet with railcars from Toronto

Out with the old and in with the new, the Detroit People Mover is closing in on a deal to replace the 12-car fleet that travels above the streets of downtown.

[@ahurafarahani7751]

Detroit. You better take care of our Scarborough RT trains.

[@user-qd3dj4yi5x]

Agreed that car took my to STC every Sunday

[@jeffcrampton4771]

For 1 million dollars they better be in great shape Toronto did not want them because they are garbage like the trash you bring to the USA across the ambassador Bridge you send so much that they had to build Gordie Howle Bridge

[@jeffcrampton4771]

They better be in great shape for 1 million Toronto didn't want them because they are garbage like the trash Canada sends across the ambassador Bridge you guy's send so much garbage that they had to build the Gordie Howe bridge

[@treynolds94]

How many fellow Ontariables here. Enjoy your new trains treat them well.

[@ClarkGreaseball]

Ontariables?? It's Ontarians.🙄

[@Bruvva_Wu]

​@@ClarkGreaseballOnterribles 😂 but at least you're not from Quebec 🤢🤮🤮🤮

[@JuliasCesar]

@@Bruvva_WuOh man British Columbian here who just took a vacation to Quebec for the F1 Race. Let me be clear they don’t like Anglo accents or people at all. 😂

[@Bruvva_Wu]

@JuliasCesar grew up in T town. Yet bilingual. In the Yukon now and most of the Quebecers that live up here are the good ones. They are Canadian through and through!

[@jeffcrampton4771]

That's why you sold them for 1 million Toronto didn't want them maybe they can take the 1 million n build a dump instead of dumping your garbage in Michigan

[@b30233]

while they may feel newer and fresher, we can't promise they'll be any smoother. The rattles and shakes are part of the charm!

[@jeffcrampton4771]

Maybe Toronto can build a dump instead of dumbing there trash in Michigan

[@Boypogikami132]

@@jeffcrampton4771sorry to insult your little soul but Michigan bought “trash”.

[@albatrose1001]

@@jeffcrampton4771lol detroit begged for them

[@creaturexxii]

Gotta love the sounds of the Mark I's Linear Induction motors make.

[@ransom182]

Going to miss 'em when they are retired in Vancouver

[@creaturexxii]

@@ransom182 I kinda wished the newer rolling stock (Mark II and Mark III's) made the same sound 🚈

[@Bruvva_Wu]

Are they traction motors or linear induction like SkyTrain?

[@creaturexxii]

@@Bruvva_Wu Linear Induction Motors, my mistake

[@Bruvva_Wu]

@@creaturexxii It's that Doooooo Dooooooooooo Doooooooooooooooooooo

[@MetroElfren]

That's great to see the Mark I trains from Toronto get a second life in Detroit. These cars deserve love and care and they're in good hands with my trust in Detroit.

[@ClarkGreaseball]

Yes, good recycling of technology. I hope they're bullet proof too! 😁

[@AlCatSplat]

Can't have shit in Detroit 💀

[@user-eg3nb3tf1l]

@@AlCatSplatshut up

[@stickynorth]

Good to see the trains from Scarborough Line 3 have a second life in Detroit even if they are replacing older trains with older trains... As long as the system lives I'm happy. Although it should still be extended city wide. Automated metro's are the future of rapid transit. They are strike/labour cost proof, can be run in small or large batches and are just cool!

[@c.e.7737]

they aren't strike proof lol?

[@PhilliesNostalgia]

@@c.e.7737Apparently they can maintain themselves, or so this guy insinuates. But they aren’t any operators typically, so no staff that would cause trains to not be able to operate due to a strike. But no mechanics, no trains

[@brucebeamon5460]

Ideally in my mind I would have hoped that the the Q-line and the people mover could join tracks and then expand it to at least Michigan Central and also to 8 Mile Rd and then maybe eventually east Jefferson to alter Rd . Especially seeing how much development happened on Woodward to Grand Boulevard .

[@Makoto778]

@@c.e.7737 Yeah, maintenance staff can still strike..... That being said, its fewer staff to drive/monitor trains.

[@coastaku1954]

Keep in mind, Line 3 was supposed to be automated, but that plan was altered when TTC feared loosing jobs, so they put a cab in them. But it is a little out of touch where you think we should just replace Train operator jobs, sounds pretty tech-bro bullshit

[@jlousy1901]

Long live Scarborough RT!

[@ransom182]

Vancouver has 150 Mark I cars that are being retired shortly. Ya'll can have 'em if you want haha

[@jeffcrampton4771]

Maybe you can take the 1 million n build a dump in Vancouver instead of using michigan as a dump with all your trash n your trash talk 313

[@OliversElevators]

Lol could you imagine 150 cars running on the tiny People Mover loop? That would be a train like every 10 seconds or something!

[@eh-269]

@@OliversElevatorsif they use Vancouver’s moving block system then that would be possible 😂

[@drewmcdonald4082]

Man I really need to visit Detroit - looks like the spirit of the city is very alive there! Much love from St. Louis!

[@thomasrobinson8336]

Happy to see them going to a grateful home.

[@drdewott9154]

Pretty good to see the PM get some love. Hopefully the time can come in the not too distant future where Detroit can build out the Peoplemover to be a network, rather than just a loop. Like build some radial corridors into other districts beyond downtown, and maybe add a second track so you can go around the downtown loop in both directions. You could theoretically then have 2 lines, going clockwise and anticlockwise in downtown and going into a radial line on each side.

[@NotJustBikes]

Billions get spent on highways while transit riders get the scraps left over from Canada. That sounds about right.

[@DavMovis_]

And then they ask "why doesn't anyone ride it?"

[@wturner777]

You think that's bad, our county transit agency had to get used (new to us) buses from other counties. Because of our aging fleet we did what we had to do, and we're STILL short on buses as of today.

[@mergat2970]

I just wish the people mover wouldnt move in one direction only

[@kurtfriedrich9599]

Cool, rode the peoplemover linear induction train to greektown one time while visiting Detroit with the lake freighter MV Algosteel in the nineties. Loved it Great City Detroit❤ Been coming to the Motor City since 1978.

[@noahdykstra7362]

Take care of 'em guys

[@Lumpology]

with both Toronto and soon to be Vancouver's mark 1 trains come available, detroit should expand the people move soon to take advantage of all the cars coming available. Never been a better and cheaper time to expand the system into a proper metro.

[@jeffcrampton4771]

They are expanding it now to go to Ford field

[@afcgeo882]

They still don’t have the ridership.

[@noitamrofnisiM]

@@afcgeo882 I mean its not very long, if they want ridership they have to expand it.

[@matthewsvideos8235]

Get the Vancouver MK1’s that were built in 1992. Some of the newest versions built.

[@afcgeo882]

@@matthewsvideos8235 They already got what they needed.

[@mymocs61]

Would be fun to see the skytrain mark 1s replace these trains

[@johnchambers8528]

Good luck with the new used transit cars. This is just like when many cities had trolleys and updated their fleet or changed over to busses. A smaller system would buy relatively good used cars because it was much cheeper than buying new cars. With today’s tight budgets it is a smart thing to do to keep the line running.😊

[@AmakaHubner-fn5fu]

Build a subway like Toronto! America needs to normalize underground metro systems and not treat them as something special

[@boiii3productions945]

Agreed

[@TheRandCrews]

hell they should build a subway with similar train cars that Vancouver will be retiring in a few years

[@Crash8668]

The Toronto RT cars are an older version of what Vancouver has. Mark 1 cars vs Mark 2 or 3

[@NextNate03]

Subways cost allot more money to build. Smaller cities can't afford to build subways.

[@1224chrisng]

with Vancouver's old train cars coming, they might as well just build an entire new Skytrain

[@mrtransitfan647]

The Mark I Trains in TTC McCowan Yard are leaving to go to Detroit!!

[@SRBAnimate]

So glad something came out of this

[@maroon9273]

They should build subway system where people movers station can connect to its rapid rail line.

[@GuruKhatri1]

Omg 😂 I'm from Toronto. Detroit you should run

[@CubeAtlantic]

That is probably strange but still new up-to-date for Detroit even doe i never been to Detroit.

[@acrandal]

With all the money Detroit is saving on the train cars, I hope they keep working on building more rail in the city to upgrade access for more nrighborhoods.

[@pacman3556]

Awesome-- the picture of the pp I drew on the back of the seat in Scarborough is going to get international recognition.

[@eddieafterburner]

Is your picture to scale?

[@subwaytheo]

There are number of components on these cars that I personally overhauled over the years. Detroit, take care of my babies.

[@matthewsvideos8235]

Wow I thought the TTC MK1 cars were in worse shape than the Vancouver fleet that have been in service since 1986 and starting to be retired. Hope to hear something that does not sound like the metallic rattle and bang I hear in Vancouver and that they have AC in those rebuilt cars.

[@davidng2336]

Nice to hear that Detroit will reuse Toronto's Scarborough fleet, even though the current fleet and Scarborough fleet are nearly identical to each other (the latter has cab windows).

[@vette1]

take care of them and double track the line

[@JJoa74]

Actually feels a little weird we're saying goodbye to them. Enjoy Detroit.

[@gregoryharris4323]

Great now lets expand it throughout the city.

[@billyfouronesix]

I visited the UTDC factory outside of Kingston Ontario when I was a child. They were being designed for the Vancouver Expo. Are these the same cars???

[@stephenp448]

Yes.

[@carstarsarstenstesenn]

They need to expand this into a real network that serves the city instead of just doing a tiny loop around downtown

[@Zeke2p9]

Will the new trains be any quieter? The Canadians can hear the current trains.

[@dj69321]

How about moving people to and from detroit? Can't even catch a God damn train to/from Michigan's biggest airport.

[@lame6810]

People have been moved by it. It will go missed.

[@1940limited]

So it's 18 months to replace the cars with other cars that are just as old to upgrade the train to nowhere? Have you looked around Detroit's suburbs lately? I think that's where the work is needed.

[@Ejb905]

Hoorray !!! the Reporter pronounced Toronno properly!!! No one pronounces the last T

[@tylerboro4812]

Wow! They’re new?

[@stephenp448]

39 years ago, yes.

[@martingr0ve64]

For anyone concerned of a derailment possibly happening with these "new trains", don't be. The cause of Toronto's Line 3 derailment was due to a loose bolt on the tracks that made the trailing car jump off the rails.

[@Detroit_Dawg]

Bring back the trollies downtown!

[@soothvideos]

Reroute it so it actually goes somewhere.

[@jeffcrampton4771]

It does go some were n they are expanding it now to go to ford field

[@NicksDynasty]

It needs new routing...

[@yusefyohan300]

Our junk is their treasure

[@nickeldime1691]

The Q Line will be extended soon!

[@brucebeamon5460]

🤔. Is that a FACT or wishful thinking ? As I said in another space in this comment section.. ideally they would be able to re-tool the Q- line cars to be used on both tracks

[@nickeldime1691]

@@brucebeamon5460 not wishful thinking. There is a source that says the city has been talking with the federal government for funding. The Q line was private investment not the government. The Q line was privately funded just to show the federal government that it can be done.

[@mhbbej1]

The Q line was extended to 96th street and 2nd Ave back in 2016. Oh I'm sorry. That was in NYC.

[@mgzuck]

This may buy some time, but really they need to piggyback on the new cars Vancouver is ordering. These will buy 10 years probably, but may be cheaper in the long run to buy new ones while someone else is ordering them.

[@adrianwitzburg4140]

Just double track the line

[@TheRandCrews]

i think it’s better for them to just build a new line from scratch but with the same technology involve will be harder to retrofit

[@vlosa2439]

this is a crying shame. they could have taken some old new york city old cars, how is the industrial city of America taking hammy downs from the British empire. this is crazy. detroit should be building its own cars and putting the locals to work.

[@randygravel2057]

Looks a billion times better then LA

[@mrxman581]

So these renovated trains will increase the life expectancy by only 5 years? It might be more cost-effective in the short-term, but not long-term, I'm sure. I wish them luck as I would anyone who buys a used car. It's a bigger gamble than buying new.

[@sportsmaster1364]

They only spent about $1M on these other cars. That's a decent spend for five years' worth of extended productivity.

[@ytzpilot]

Last time I bought a used car for $1100 and got 5 years out of it, and sold it for $500, this deal is kind of the same as the TTC are selling those cars for next to scrap value, so it will be much lower operating costs even in the short term. The procurement process of buying new trains would be more expensive and procurement doesn’t get you trains

[@lastchretien]

The trouble is that you can’t just buy brand new trains for a system that’s using thirty-forty years old. This is a big reason that Toronto opted to close their system: it too was reaching end-of-life and in order to replace the trains, there would need to be significant expenditure on replacing and upgrading track, stations, etc. as the underlying system technology has advanced in the decades since its inception, mostly thanks to Vancouver’s SkyTrain (same technology) being essentially constantly expanded and upgraded. Toronto (and Detroit, to my knowledge) haven’t upgraded or expanded their installations. Toronto ultimately chose an extension of our conventional subway to replace this portion of our network.

[@staryoshi06]

@@lastchretien You can't buy off the shelf sure, but you can have a new one custom-made, which is what many places do.

[@maximum988]

​@@sportsmaster1364 unless this is one of those situations where you pay more for shipping then what you ordered.

[@PatrickDoyle-gt9kd]

Did they remove the cabs yet?

[@troybellamy4615]

Cans are never removed just in case something goes wrong so human operation can take over!

[@TheRandCrews]

@@troybellamy4615i mean so does vancouver but they only bring out operators on very snowy days

[@matthewsvideos8235]

The Vancouver versions have an access door to reveal controls for manual operation. Usually seen for winter or any other times where automatic control may be interrupted.

[@hakohito]

They getting those obsolete cars from Scarborough built in the 70's lol

[@michaelkushnir2640]

Did anyone tell Detroit WHY the cars are for sale?

[@alankingchiu]

🤫

[@billyehh]

They are building a heavy rail subway. It is an extension of Line 2

[@acrandal]

They're haunted, but it's by very polite ghosts.

[@MNSTgrowth]

The TTC got fleeced. Detroit is making out like bandits 😂

[@billyehh]

Not really. Nobody else uses them. They were over crowded during rush hour carrying over 4000 passengers per hour with 3 minute headroom. With a daily ridership of 40,000, both the King (81,000) and Queen (53,000) Streetcars carried more passengers. Farewell Line 3 and hello to an extended Line 2.

[@gedias1]

Who else would buy them?

[@jillballantyne1870]

We rode these last month--clear to me the best answer is to SEE Detroit i looked amazing! But the view is blocked in these old cars. We need all Plexiglass-- this is an upgrade not old cars from Canada.

[@leahsuter9957]

erm no they acc derailed ☝️

[@cloevans3471]

This makes no since. Why take off a 1987 cart just to replace it with a 1987 cart. I would love to know the price for a brand new 2024 upgrade

[@neilimada7578]

Vancouver has the same system as Detroit for its transportation network. I’ll be it’s much more expansive but we use the same trains. The city just procured new trains and I ran a little math on the price per car. It’s approximately 2.2 million CAD per new car so a train set would be ~4.8 million dollars (2 cars per set as shown in Detroit).The video says Detroit has 12 sets so it would cost ~54 million dollars to replace the set with brand new vehicles. Perhaps in 5 years Detroit can take our 2002 or 2010 sets from us when they eventually retire?

[@cortezmiller1899]

Sense, not since!

[@Left_hand_clapping]

They explained it in the video.

[@b30233]

Torontos trains had a life extension done to them that rebuilt many mechanical components to allow them to run longer, so while they are the same age the Toronto ones are in better mechanical condition than the Detroit ones. This also means that the Detroit cars can be used for parts as the Toronto ones continue to age. Not sure how much it cost to rebuild one of these trains but a while ago I saw some reporting that the Torono trains were being sold for 1 million USD, though not sure if that's the whole fleet or per coach. Either way, dirt cheap.

[@NextNate03]

​@@Left_hand_clapping They never actually said. By the sounds of it, they are still working out a deal.

[@brucebeamon5460]

SAME AGE 😒they supposedly spent. millions to upgrade EACH I’m not sure I believe tHaT … for floors and seats … they didn’t specify how much they are paying…personally I not sure this is the bargain they are acting like it is 😒 will there be an IMPROVED RIDING EXPERIENCE ?

[@Grind-el6fn]

They were refurbished 2015-2017 fully from the ground up by Bombardier. Before refurbishment they had holes in the frames.

[@Grind-el6fn]

They paid 1 million for 10-12 multiple railcars as well as troves of spare parts as Toronto no longer needs them. Think about that, 1 million dollars is nothing to the government. It is a steal of a deal. A single simple bus nowadays can costs 1 million dollars.

[@rickyma3189]

Oh, you don't know how inefficient the TTC is, I'm sure they spent millions to refurbish them just to sell them to another city for pennies on the dollar. The line that the TTC trains ran along was getting very old and they planned replacing the line with newer track. It was expedited because there was a derailedment.

[@NextNate03]

Replacing cars with cars that are the same age?!?! And they are going to have to buy brand new cars in about 5 to 10 years?!?! How much is it if they buy brand new cars today (in 2024)?

[@AutoGamerZ_]

The current trains are at the end of their natural service life. They need to be replaced or renovated to get another 5 to 10 years out of them. Renovating them costs an estimated 1,5 million dollars per car for 12 cars. The cars from toronto that are being acquired already had this renovation done, and the total cost of acquisition was just about 90 grand per car. Even with the expenses of actually putting them in service, that's a bargain. While it may sound strange to replace trains with equally old trains, in this case, it was a very sensible decision.

[@1224chrisng]

​@@AutoGamerZ_ it's not proprietary, the specifications are completely public domain. Besides, when Vancouver gets all their Mark 5's, they'll probably sell off their newer Mark 1's and eventually maybe their Mark 2's as well

[@AutoGamerZ_]

@@1224chrisng Ah right, my bad. It's not technically proprietary, but compatible systems are currently only manufacturered regularly by one company.

[@barbarakilpatrick3859]

Macys is wrong😷👽

[@donaldewert2332]

I'd like a subway connecting Milwaukee & Chicago. I lived in Detroit for awhile. Is the bar, Famous Door still there??🏳️‍🌈

[@xr6lad]

Says everything doesn’t it. Can’t even buy new trains. Detroit rebirth - yea nah.

[@danmcclaren5436]

wait so Detroit is going to spend big bucks to buy cars that are the same age? but hopefully get another 5 years out of them? that might be the dumbest idea I've heard in a while

[@user-eg3nb3tf1l]

Not exactly

[@pi1810]

❔

[@jeffcrampton4771]

How much $ ?

[@sportsmaster1364]

The purchase was $1M total. For 10 to 15 cars, that's less than $100K per car. Good value

[@jacktattersall9457]

@@sportsmaster1364 That's a steal.

[@pigletshut]

No wonder someone says Toronto got fleeced.

[@gtavstepfordcounty1733]

Upgrade not a upgrade if you use the same train from the line 3 of Toronto transit system absolutely ridiculous 🙄

[@user-eg3nb3tf1l]

Whatever who cares

[@stickynorth]

If the cars still work and have life why not? Cheap solution to keep the system alive although it should be expanded city wide.... Automated metro trains are the future of transit worldwide. They are labor/strike proof, can be run in small or large batches and have been keeping Vancouver and Dubai moving for decades now!

[@sportsmaster1364]

Line 3 only failed because they didn't upkeep the track. The cars themselves are more than likely just fine- remember, at one point Toronto wanted Line 3 to be able to run until the end of the decade, so they could seamlessly transition from RT to subway.

[@barcelonachair6487]

This is a brilliant plan. Our world needs to find more ways to re-purpose and work together. Detroit would not have otherwise have funds in the budget and T.O. could use the extra income that they are not getting from the feds. Cities across North America do this with buses.

[@NextNate03]

​@barcelonachair6487 Then why Toronto not re-purpose the cars for their own city?

[@viktorakhmedov3442]

All they can afford is _used_ train cars? Ghetto.

[@stephenp448]

It's more that the vehicle technology was only used in 3 cities; Toronto, Vancouver and Detroit - and the original fleets were all built at around the same time. The vehicles and track are sort of a package deal because of the propulsion technology. If you want compatible replacements, you pretty much have to buy used, and they'll all be roughly the same age.

[@mikemyers8897]

Replacing junk with junk that did not work in Canada

[@bryan89wr]

Toronto neglected to do basic maintenance with their system; waste of money buying from them especially considering Vancouver is rumoured to phase out their second generation trains (built in 2002) earlier than expected because of their large order of Alstrom Mark V trainsets.

[@troybellamy4615]

It's not that these cars didn't work in Canada! It's that they are incorporating the peoplemover Infrastructure into an extension of an existing heavy rail subway line! Since the Subway line stock is 25% longer and also wider, they cars can't be used! The cars in question have been fully modernized within the last decade!

[@brianmcdonald6519]

Those cars worked fine in Canada! It was track maintenance that was the eventual downfall. They have already been upgraded, so Detroit does not have to spend that money on their old stock. Win win. Detroit gets upgraded stock for whatever the selling price is to Toronto!

[@AgressiveAndre]

It was the tracks the vehicle was fine

[@matthewsvideos8235]

The MK1 trains have been very successful in Vancouver Canada. The 150 cars from three different orders were the backbone of the fleet for decades. Some nearly 40 years old just like Detroit and Toronto.

[@javonwells1354]

Aw man! My favorite president is coming to town this weekend! 😅 🇺🇲🇺🇲🇺🇲 TRUMP2024!!!

[@willywonkaisdaman2016]

I just took a dump

[@lucywithadeucey]

You better not be black saying this

[@javonwells1354]

@@lucywithadeucey You better not be an adult with a functioning brain saying this.

[@NextNate03]

Republican Party tried to overthrow the government on January 6th.

[@brucebeamon5460]

🤔 What DIFFERENCE does there COLOR make for THERE OPINION ? Humor ME !