Plans are moving ahead with Toronto's public transit expansion as Metrolinx recently signed an agreement to ensure that 182 vehicles will be manufactured by Bombardier Transportation with final assembly taking place in Thunder Bay, Ont.

The agreement surrounding the 182 option vehicles, which were included in the June 2009 contract, is valued at approximately $770 million CDN. Deliveries of these vehicles are scheduled to take place between 2013 and 2020. Under the agreement, up to an additional 118 vehicles could be ordered at a later date.

"Bombardier is proud to be part of this very important expansion of public transit in Toronto and greatly appreciates the confidence Metrolinx has placed in us," said Raymond Bachant, President, Bombardier Transportation, North America. "This order further solidifies our presence in Ontario and highlights Bombardier's proven state of the art light rail technology, which is available to all cities in North America."

The vehicles are Bombardier FLEXITY, which feature 100 percent low-floor light rail technology. The five-module bi-directional vehicles are more than 28 meters long and 2.65 meters wide. These vehicles will display a wide range of features, including a step-less interior allowing easy access at street level; car capacity for more than 280 passengers; efficient heating and air conditioning; comfortable interior; enhanced accessibility and safety features; locations for wheelchairs and strollers; active leveling system to ease boarding and exiting; enhanced communications features; and a regenerative braking system that feeds power back into the Metrolinx network.