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Greater Toronto Transit Authority (GO Transit) recently placed a $35.2 million order with Bombardier Transportation for the design, manufacture and delivery of 20 "new-generation" BiLevel(a) commuter-rail vehicles, adding to the authority’s existing fleet of 341 Bombardier-built cars.



Each vehicle will offer a total capacity of 378 passengers (133 seated) on two full and intermediate-end decks — which will provide higher ceilings and better seating, stairway and door positioning, according to a prepared statement. The vehicle configuration also is designed to accommodate passengers with disabilities.



Low-level platform doors will be designed to enable a full carload of passengers to get on or off a train within 90 seconds, minimizing platform congestion.



Designed in collaboration with GO Transit, the first Bombardier BiLevel vehicle entered service in 1978. Since, Bombardier has produced about 660 BiLevels for a variety of North American transit agencies.



The vehicles will be built at Bombardier's Thunder Bay, Ontario, manufacturing facility. Production will begin immediately, with the first deliveries expected in late-summer 2003.