On Tue, Jun 14, 2016 at 02:58:49PM -0400, Russell Reiter via talk wrote:
You don't think that the TTC might be forward planning for 750V all around? Remember it was TTC staff I spoke to who told me the change was to accommodate higher voltage.
Well according to the published documents, the change is to handle higher current, not a change in voltage. Also the changes are to make the system pantograph friendly since they want to switch entirely to that. The new line with 750V will be double ended trains, just as the subway trains are, unlike the streetcars running on the existing network. Changing the voltage is just a huge hassle since you have to do a flag day, where every streetcar and transformer and any associated gear is all simultaniously swapped out. That's painful, and the slight current drop by going to 750V is unlikely to be worth it, especially since they won't be sharing trains with the new line anyhow. Since they had to upgrade the overhead wire anyhow for pantographs, going to a bigger wire gauge is much simpler than trying to do a swap out of a bunch of other equipment that can't be done in stages. -- Len Sorensen