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76-480: The Urban Transportation Development Corporation Ltd. ( UTDC ) is a former Crown corporation owned by the Government of Ontario , Canada. It was established in the 1970s as a way to enter what was then expected to be a burgeoning market in advanced light rail mass transit systems . It developed significant expertise in linear propulsion, steerable trucks and driverless system controls which were integrated into

152-517: A cheaper system requiring an on-board attendant was implemented. In 1982 UTDC also entered a design to offer rail service to the suburbs east of Toronto, a system known as GO ALRT . ALRT was based on the ICTS technology, but used a longer car about the size of a conventional railway passenger car, and replaced the third rail power with an overhead pantograph . Given the larger sized cars that made mechanical placements easier, conventional motors replaced

228-623: A handicap transit vehicle developed by UTDC with Rek-Vee Industries in Scarborough and FunCraft Vehicles in Cambridge State-owned enterprise The terminology around the term state-owned enterprise is murky. All three words in the term are challenged and subject to interpretation. First, it is debatable what the term "state" implies (e.g., it is unclear whether municipally owned corporations and enterprises held by regional public bodies are considered state-owned). Next, it

304-624: A major expansion of its globally based Bombardier Flexity platform to the North American streetcar and light rail markets . In 2009, the TTC selected a derivative of the Bombardier Flexity Outlook design to replace its legacy fleet and make its entire streetcar network wheelchair-accessible, and in 2010 Metrolinx commissioned a large order of Bombardier Flexity Freedom LRVs for newly constructed light rail lines in

380-589: A major vendor in the mass transit market. It was privatized in the 1986, when it was purchased by Lavalin of Quebec. The UTDC factories in Kingston and Thunder Bay continue to produce rapid transit systems for use in Ontario and abroad. Toronto grew extensively during the 1960s and 1970s, and like many cities in North America, most of this growth was in the suburbs . In order to move workers to and from

456-718: A manufacturer of mass transit vehicles with 860 workers in Thunder Bay and Kingston, Ontario , creating a yearly turnover of .US$ 250 million. Bombardier received a US$ 17 million subsidy in return for commitments to maintain employment and investments of up to  US$ 30 million in plant and equipment. Bombardier quickly re-branded the UTDC products under its growing Bombardier Transportation marque, which started in 1970 with its purchase of Rotax , which made engines used in Bombardier's snowmobiles as well as tramcars. Now in

532-766: A manufacturing plant was added to the Millhaven site, VentureTrans Manufacturing, which opened in 1982. Having won the contracts in Canada and USA, UTDC attempted to market the ICTS technology in Europe and Asia. One "near-miss" was in London, where UTDC succeeded in persuading the client, the London Docklands Development Corporation , to purchase a driverless elevated system for its Docklands Light Railway . However, due to funding constraints,

608-526: A manufacturing side, it would be inappropriate for the company to remain government owned. In 1986 the new Ontario government announced its intention to sell UTDC to Lavalin , a large engineering company in Montreal, Quebec . Lavalin purchased the company for CAD$ 50 million, less than the $ 70 million spent on the UTDC by the government up to 1981. The sale was very controversial at the time: $ 39 million of several non-performance payments had to be made because of

684-617: A new streetcar known as the "Municipal Surface Car". However, the Government of Ontario had formed the OTDC in the early 1970s, and provided the TTC 75% of its capital funding. The government then demanded that the TTC turn to OTDC for new vehicles. In August 1973 the TTC placed an order with the OTDC for 200 new Canadian Light Rail Vehicles (CLRV). The design was purchased from the Swiss company Schweizerische Industrie Gesellschaft (SIG). SIG

760-441: A number of contracts with the TTC and Ontario's GO Transit commuter network. They formed a joint operating company at their Canadian Car & Foundry (CC&F) factories in Thunder Bay and Kingston, Ontario: Can-Car Rail built heavy-rail passenger cars, subway cars, streetcars and other vehicles. Now armed with a complete portfolio from light to heavy rail, UTDC had a number of additional successes in North America, and became

836-481: A number of other products for sales to the Canadian Forces , the medium-sized M35 2-1/2 ton cargo truck and the larger Steyr Percheron . As early as 1981 the Government of Ontario had considered selling UTDC to the private sector. The government's concern was that without a manufacturing business, UTDC would find it difficult to make enough income to justify its Kingston operations. If the company did start

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912-519: A portion of its CC&F factory in Thunder Bay to the UTDC, creating the jointly owned Can-Car Rail . Hawker Siddeley had already developed a number of rail vehicles, and with its partnership with UTDC these became the favoured products for a number of contracts in Ontario. In addition to the ICTS, UTDC now had a product portfolio that spanned everything from streetcars to subways to traditional heavy rail passenger cars and hoppers. In December 1983

988-661: A public objective. For that reason, SOEs primarily operate in the domain of infrastructure (e.g., railway companies), strategic goods and services (e.g., postal services, arms manufacturing and procurement), natural resources and energy (e.g., nuclear facilities, alternative energy delivery), politically sensitive business, broadcasting, banking, demerit goods (e.g., alcoholic beverages ), and merit goods (healthcare). SOEs can also help foster industries that are "considered economically desirable and that would otherwise not be developed through private investments". When nascent or 'infant' industries have difficulty getting investments from

1064-495: A regular enterprise, state-owned enterprises are typically expected to be less efficient due to political interference, but unlike profit-driven enterprises they are more likely to focus on government objectives. In Eastern Europe and Western Europe , there was a massive nationalization throughout the 20th century, especially after World War II . In the Eastern Bloc , countries adopted very similar policies and models to

1140-399: A separate right-of-way. This expense is easy to justify in the case of a subway with its large passenger capacity, but for a system like a bus the capital costs overwhelm the passenger numbers these systems could carry. What was needed was a new system that reduced the capital costs to be able to efficiently serve low-density routes in the suburbs, a system with flexible sizing somewhere between

1216-589: A small subway and large streetcar, an "intermediate" sized system. Work on an Intermediate Capacity Transit System (ICTS) had already started in 1970. Several consulting firms were asked to provide separate feasibility reports with outlines of a basic system. At the time, new urban transit systems were a field of active research across North America due to U.S. federal funding under the Urban Mass Transportation Administration 's (UMTA) plans to roll out new systems in cities across

1292-556: A streetcar line that would extend from the end of the subway at Kennedy station to the Scarborough City Centre , a low-density route passing through industrial land. The TTC was not interested in changing to the ICTS for this route, until the Ontario government, which provided about 80% of the capital costs, stepped in and demanded the ICTS be used. A smaller system in Hamilton, Ontario was also considered, and there

1368-577: A transit system known as the Intermediate Capacity Transit System (ICTS). It was designed to provide service at rider levels between a traditional subway on the upper end and buses and streetcars on the lower, filling a niche aimed at suburbs that were otherwise expensive to service. Urban Transportation Development Corporation Ltd. was a holding company. During its time it held several wholly owned subsidiary companies: The Services and R&D companies were merged in

1444-510: A transportation system to serve the automobile, the Spadina Expressway would be a good place to start. But if we are building a transportation system to serve people, the Spadina Expressway is a good place to stop." Davis felt that the future of urban transit lay not in the automobile, but mass rapid transit systems. In keeping with this, the street portion of the Spadina Expressway was cancelled in 1971, but full funding remained for

1520-562: Is a viable argument for SOEs is debated. SOEs are also frequently employed in areas where the government wants to levy user fees , but finds it politically difficult to introduce new taxation. Next, SOEs can be used to improve efficiency of public service delivery or as a step towards (partial) privatization or hybridization. SOEs can also be a means to alleviate fiscal stress, as SOEs may not count towards states' budgets. Compared to government bureaucracy, state owned enterprises might be beneficial because they reduce politicians' influence over

1596-739: Is an agency within the United States Department of Transportation (DOT) that provides financial and technical assistance to local public transportation systems. The FTA is one of ten modal administrations within the DOT . Headed by an Administrator who is appointed by the President of the United States , the FTA functions through Washington, D.C. headquarters office and ten regional offices which assist transit agencies in all states,

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1672-764: Is approximately 70% of total employment. State-owned enterprises are thus a major factor behind Belarus's high employment rate and a source of stable employment. In most OPEC countries, the governments own the oil companies operating on their soil. A notable example is the Saudi Arabian national oil company , Saudi Aramco , which the Saudi government bought in 1988, changing its name from Arabian American Oil Company to Saudi Arabian Oil Company. The Saudi government also owns and operates Saudi Arabian Airlines , and owns 70% of SABIC as well as many other companies. China's state-owned enterprises are owned and managed by

1748-469: Is contestable under what circumstances a SOE qualifies as "owned" by a state (SOEs can be fully owned or partially owned; it is difficult to determine categorically what level of state ownership would qualify an entity to be considered as state-owned since governments can also own regular stock , without implying any special interference). Finally, the term "enterprise" is challenged, as it implies statutes in private law which may not always be present, and so

1824-525: Is essential. But at least as important are steps to promote economic efficiency and livability in areas of future development. Our national welfare therefore requires the provision of good urban transportation, with the properly balanced use of private vehicles and modern mass transport to help shape as well as serve urban growth." President Lyndon B. Johnson signed the Urban Mass Transportation Act of 1964 into law, which passed

1900-564: Is highlighted in the predominant local terminology, with SOEs in Canada referred to as a " Crown corporation ", and in New Zealand as a " Crown entity ". The term " government-linked company " (GLC) is sometimes used, for example in Malaysia , to refer to private or public (listed on a stock exchange) corporate entities in which the government acquires a stake using a holding company . The two main definitions of GLCs are dependent on

1976-667: The BiLevel . GO continued placing additional orders, eventually buying 470 for their service in southern Ontario, where the BiLevel is widely associated with GO. When downsizing hit GO in the early 1990s, a number of these coaches were leased out to various operators in Canada and the US. They were received to rave reviews, and quickly generated orders from operators across North America. Several hundred additional BiLevel cars were built, and over 700 remain in service. UTDC's Can-Car also produced

2052-550: The Canadian Locomotive Company that closed its doors in 1969, and the city lobbied hard for the new company to locate there. It was officially opened on 29 September 1978 by James Snow , the Minister of Transportation and Communications. The site included a 1.9 km (1.2 mi) oval test track that included at-grade, elevated and ramped sections, switches, and the automatic control centre. Phase III of

2128-730: The District of Columbia , and the territories. Until 1991, it was known as the Urban Mass Transportation Administration ( UMTA ). Public transportation includes buses , subways , light rail , commuter rail , monorail , passenger ferry boats, trolleys , inclined railways , and people movers . The federal government, through the FTA, provides financial assistance to develop new transit systems and improve, maintain, and operate existing systems. The FTA oversees grants to state and local transit providers, primarily through its ten regional offices. These providers are responsible for managing their programs in accordance with federal requirements, and

2204-628: The Greater Toronto Area . Although manufacturing of both the TTC and Metrolinx orders was intended to be completed entirely at the CC&;F plants, recurrent delays and other technical problems have led to Bombardier opening a second production line at the former CLC site in Kingston. UTDC Can Car Rail division built several military vehicles for the Canadian Forces : Transportation Technology Ltd. installed: Multi-Purpose Small Bus,

2280-597: The House by a vote of 212-129 and cleared the Senate 52–41, creating the Urban Mass Transportation Administration . The agency was charged with providing federal assistance for mass transit projects, including an initial $ 375 million in capital assistance over three years as mandated by the act. In 1991, the agency was renamed the Federal Transit Administration . The current acting Administrator

2356-563: The Progressive Conservative Party of Ontario leadership contest, replacing long-serving John Robarts as the official party leader and Premier of Ontario . Shortly after taking power, on 3 June Davis announced that he was cancelling provincial support for the highly controversial Spadina Expressway in Toronto, rising in the legislature and stating that "Cities were built for people and not cars. If we are building

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2432-694: The Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority ), and then a run of 58 subway cars for the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority in Boston . These were the first of many such orders, and hundreds of subway cars were delivered to various U.S. transport services over the next two decades. Since the early 1970s, Hawker Siddeley had been designing a new two-level railcar for GO Transit , which they started delivering in 1976 as

2508-548: The Spadina subway line that shared the same right-of-way. However, subways were suitable only for high-density routes that could afford to pay for their expensive construction and operation. In 1980 this was estimated to be between $ 75 and $ 80 million a mile. The TTC suggested that all of the high-density routes suitable for subways were already being served. The other vehicles in use with the TTC, buses and streetcars, would not be able to provide rapid transit unless they were given

2584-715: The State-owned Asset Supervision and Administration Commission (SASAC) . China's state-owned enterprises generally own and operate public services, resource extraction or defense. As of 2017 , China has more SOEs than any other country, and the most SOEs among large national companies. China's SOEs perform functions such as: contributing to central and local governments revenues through dividends and taxes, supporting urban employment, keeping key input prices low, channeling capital towards targeted industries and technologies, supporting sub-national redistribution to poorer interior and western provinces, and aiding

2660-418: The linear induction motor , Standard Elektrik Lorenz's "SelTrac IS" system for the automatic control system, Dofasco for an articulated bogie system, Alcan for the design of the car bodies and a set of prototypes, and Canadair for assembly and production. A Transit Development Centre for UTDC was built on a 480-acre (190 ha) site in Millhaven, outside of Kingston, Ontario. Kingston had been home to

2736-408: The FTA is responsible for ensuring that grantees follow federal mandates along with statutory and administrative requirements. In 1962, President John F. Kennedy sent a major transportation message to the U.S. Congress . It called for the establishment of a program of federal capital assistance for mass transportation. President Kennedy stated, "To conserve and enhance values in existing urban areas

2812-697: The French Aérotrain , while the German firm Krauss-Maffei entered its Transurban system, based on magnetically levitated train (maglev) technology. The space age maglev system immediately won the interest of the Davis government, and in the Phase II proposals they selected it for further study, along with the Ford ACT and Hawker Siddeley's entry, both of which used rubber tires. Ford withdrew when

2888-458: The ICTS program ended on 31 January 1980 when testing on the prototype was completed at the Millhaven site; by this point the government had invested about $ 57.2 million, of a total $ 63 million spent on the product by the government and its industrial partners. Looking for a site in Ontario to serve as a test bed for the ICTS, the government focused on an extension of the eastern end of TTC's Bloor–Danforth line . The TTC had already started building

2964-586: The ICTS varied too greatly from the system it wanted to develop, which was aimed primarily at sites in the U.S. With only Hawker Siddeley and Krauss-Maffei remaining, the 1 May 1973 announcement that the Krauss-Maffei design had won the contest was unsurprising. In November 1974 Krauss-Maffei announced that it was forced to withdraw from the project. The West German government had been funding development of several maglev systems based on different technologies, and decided at that time that Krauss-Maffei's system

3040-767: The Minister of Finance II, the Minister in the Prime Minister's Department in charge of the Economic Planning Unit, the Chief Secretary to the Government, Secretary General of Treasury and the heads of each of the GLICs (the Employees Provident Fund, Khazanah Nasional Berhad , Lembaga Tabung Angkatan Tentera (the armed forces pension fund), Lembaga Tabung Haji and Permodalan Nasional Berhad . Khazanah Nasional Berhad provided

3116-678: The Ministry of Transportation arranged financing for Phase I and II studies to develop a new system to replace the maglev. In June 1975 the Ontario Transportation Development Corporation (OTDC) announced that it had arranged a consortium to continue the development of the ICTS, changing its name to "Urban Transportation Development Corporation" to avoid any "provinciality" during its efforts to market what would now be an entirely local design to other cities. The consortium consisted of SPAR Aerospace for

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3192-612: The Scarborough RT became a subject of ridicule, often closing in heavy snows. Most of the problems with the Toronto and Vancouver systems were worked out by the time the Detroit People Mover opened in July 1987. In the early 1980s, the UTDC was involved in the planning of a new light railway in the northwest New Territories , Hong Kong . The corporation was engaged under a bid by Kowloon Wharf to build and operate

3268-561: The TTC announced that it was buying 126 subway cars from UTDC, and followed this in February 1984 with an order for 52 ALRVs. The subway cars were built at Can-Car, but after the first ten ALRVs, streetcar production moved to the Millhaven plants which were winding down their ICTS production. A further run of a modified double-ended ALRVs followed for the Santa Clara County Transportation Agency (now

3344-620: The Toronto and Vancouver systems proceeded apace, with the Scarborough RT opening for service on 22 March 1985, followed by the Vancouver SkyTrain on 11 December 1985, where passenger service on what is today's Expo Line started in January 1986. The systems suffered from serious teething problems; snow froze to the third rail which required the Scarborough RT system to be fitted with protective covers. The braking system

3420-404: The Toronto area under the auspices of the recently created GO Transit , and asked for submissions for ICTS vehicles to serve the routes. Fourteen designs were studied, but whittled down to eight formal proposals. Some were PRT systems, while others were more traditional subway-like systems. Three of the eight ran on rubber wheels, four were air cushion vehicles ( hovercraft ) including a version of

3496-474: The U.S. were in the process of developing systems for UMTA, and many of these companies submitted a proposal for the ICTS project. It was with the formation of the new Ministry of Transportation and Communications in May 1972 that serious development of the ICTS started. On 22 November the new policy was announced. The Davis government proposed a new rail network known as GO-Urban that would operate three routes in

3572-1019: The USSR. Governments in Western Europe, both left and right of centre, saw state intervention as necessary to rebuild economies shattered by war. Government control over natural monopolies like industry was the norm. Typical sectors included telephones , electric power , fossil fuels , iron ore , railways , airlines , media , postal services , banks , and water . Many large industrial corporations were also nationalized or created as government corporations, including, among many others: British Steel Corporation , Equinor , and Águas de Portugal . A state-run enterprise may operate differently from an ordinary limited liability corporation. For example, in Finland, state-run enterprises ( liikelaitos ) are governed by separate laws. Even though responsible for their own finances, they cannot be declared bankrupt ;

3648-475: The business and industrial areas in the city centre, an extensive series of expressways was planned, and made its way into the city's Official Plan in 1966. As work on the new highways started, a wave of public protest followed as many houses, and in some cases entire neighbourhoods, were bulldozed to make way. The work became increasingly opposed in Toronto, especially after the cause was taken up by famous urban commentator, Jane Jacobs . In 1971 Bill Davis won

3724-410: The country. UMTA was convinced that urban rail systems would only be able to compete with cars if they had more car-like capabilities, and they were primarily interested in the personal rapid transit (PRT) concept of automated car-like cabs that would pick up and drop off passengers as individual units and then link up into longer trains for travel at high speed between stations. A number of companies in

3800-865: The coupling and doors of the older (retroactively named) Mark I design) have won several new contests, including the Millennium Line extension of the Vancouver SkyTrain network. ART technology has also been exported outside North America, and is in use on the Kelana Jaya Line in Kuala Lumpur , the Airport Express in Beijing (in four-car trains), and on the EverLine outside of Seoul . The design has since evolved into

3876-418: The early 1990s this aggressive expansion plan led to a massive debt load and serious financial difficulties. In 1991, Lavalin's bankers put it under pressure to be acquired by its chief rival, SNC . Lavalin announced its intent to sell its stake in UTDC, and several companies expressed an interest, including Asea Brown Boveri and Westinghouse . Before this was completed, the company went bankrupt. As part of

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3952-566: The early problems on the ICTS that had to be paid out by the government. Soon after, Hawker Siddeley announced that it was selling its remaining interest in CC&F to Lavalin as well. This was during a period of rapid conglomeration by Lavalin, which included purchases of the Bellechasse Hospital in Montreal, MétéoMédia 's television services, and many other businesses that were unrelated to its core engineering strengths. By

4028-447: The exclusive guideway had already begun in the early 1980s for GO ALRT, which was then modified shortly after to allow for conventional GO Train service. Work on the exclusive track from Pickering to Whitby was completed in 1988, followed by an extension to Oshawa in 1995 with limited service, which was shortly after pushed back up to all day two-way service, allowing for further expansion of Lakeshore East GO train service. Construction of

4104-507: The form of Public Sector Undertakings (PSUs). The Malaysian government launched a GLC Transformation Programme for its linked companies and linked investment companies ("GLICs") on 29 July 2005, aiming over a ten-year period to transform these businesses "into high-performing entities". The Putrajaya Committee on GLC High Performance ("PCG"), which oversaw this programme, was chaired by the Prime Minister , and membership included

4180-498: The grounds of the Canadian National Exhibition was abandoned in place, with the foundations and a few support pillars already constructed. Krauss-Maffei continued development of the original inter-city Transrapid, but at a very slow pace and through a series of mergers with other companies involved in maglev technology. The first Transrapid system did not enter service until 30 years later. On 14 April 1975,

4256-412: The leading application of the incomplete contract theory to the issue of state-owned enterprises. These authors compare a situation in which the government is in control of a firm to a situation in which a private manager is in control. The manager can invest to come up with cost-reducing and quality-enhancing innovations. The government and the manager bargain over the implementation of the innovations. If

4332-553: The linear motor in order to reduce capital costs (the linear motor requires an aluminum "fourth rail" for the entire line). However, due to changes in the laws governing the operation of GO trains on the freight railways they ran on, GO was able to improve its schedules without having to build any new infrastructure. ALRT was cancelled in 1985 in favour of conventional heavy rail technology. UTDC later played an important part in this build-out in spite of these changes, and GO eventually built its own twin-track line to Oshawa . Construction of

4408-501: The mid-1980s to form Transportation Technology Ltd. The Intermediate Capacity Transit System (ICTS) was sold into three markets: the Toronto Transit Commission (TTC) for its Scarborough RT line, Detroit's Detroit People Mover , and Vancouver's SkyTrain system. Further sales proved more difficult than had been hoped, but in the early 1980s, Hawker Siddeley Canada joined forces with UTDC in order to win

4484-592: The negotiations fail, the owner can decide about the implementation. It turns out that when cost-reducing innovations do not harm quality significantly, then private firms are to be preferred. Yet, when cost-reductions may strongly reduce quality, state-owned enterprises are superior. Hoppe and Schmitz (2010) have extended this theory in order to allow for a richer set of governance structures, including different forms of public-private partnerships . SOEs are common with natural monopolies , because they allow capturing economies of scale while they can simultaneously achieve

4560-399: The private sector (perhaps because the good that is being produced requires very risky investments, when patenting is difficult, or when spillover effects exist), the government can help these industries get on the market with positive economic effects. However, the government cannot necessarily predict which industries would qualify as such 'infant industries', and so the extent to which this

4636-402: The proceedings, UTDC was returned to the Government of Ontario , which quickly sold it to Bombardier in February 1992. Bombardier Transportation had in late 1991 negotiated a $ 17 million subsidy from the Ontario government for the purchase. SNC purchased the engineering portions of the company and became SNC-Lavalin, while most other business were sold to other firms. At that time, UTDC Inc. was

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4712-428: The proportion of the corporate entity a government owns. One definition purports that a company is classified as a GLC if a government owns an effective controlling interest (more than 50%), while the second definition suggests that any corporate entity that has a government as a shareholder is a GLC. The act of turning a part of government bureaucracy into a SOE is called corporatization . In economic theory ,

4788-451: The question of whether a firm should be owned by the state or by the private sector is studied in the theory of incomplete contracts developed by Oliver Hart and his co-authors. In a world in which complete contracts were feasible, ownership would not matter because the same incentive structure that prevails under one ownership structure could be replicated under the other ownership structure. Hart, Shleifer, and Vishny (1997) have developed

4864-543: The secretariat to the PCG and managed the implementation of the programme, which was completed in 2015. As of 2024, Philippines Amusement and Gaming Corporation (PAGCOR) is the most profitable state-owned enterprise in the Philippines. It is the third largest contributor to government revenues, following taxes and customs. Urban Mass Transportation Administration The Federal Transit Administration ( FTA )

4940-469: The service. Conversely, they might be detrimental because they reduce oversight and increase transaction costs (such as monitoring costs, i.e., it is more difficult and costly to govern and regulate an autonomous SOE than it is the public bureaucracy). Evidence suggests that existing SOEs are typically more efficient than government bureaucracy, but that this benefit diminishes as services get more technical and have less overt public objectives. Compared to

5016-465: The state answers for the liabilities. Stocks of the corporation are not sold and loans have to be government-approved, as they are government liabilities. State-owned enterprises are a major component of the economy of Belarus . The Belarusian state-owned economy includes enterprises that are fully state-owned, as well as others which are joint-stock companies with partial ownership by the state. Employment in state-owned or state-controlled enterprises

5092-497: The state's response to natural disasters, financial crises and social instability. China's SOEs are at the forefront of global seaport-building, and most new ports constructed by them are done within the auspices of the Belt and Road Initiative . As of at least 2024, an Ethiopian SOE is Africa's largest and most profitable airline, as well as Ethiopia's largest earner of foreign exchange. In India , government enterprises exist in

5168-588: The system. After Kowloon Wharf pulled out of the project in 1983, citing concerns over the slow pace of development in Tuen Mun New Town , UTDC was among several companies that expressed interest in building the railway, but not in operating it. The Light Rail Transit was eventually built by the Kowloon-Canton Railway Corporation and opened in 1988. Starting in 1972, the TTC contracted Hawker Siddeley Canada to design

5244-542: The term "corporations" is frequently used instead. Thus, SOEs are known under many other terms: state-owned company, state-owned entity, state enterprise, publicly owned corporation, government business enterprise, government-owned company, government controlled company, government controlled enterprise, government-owned corporation, government-sponsored enterprise , commercial government agency, state-privatised industry public sector undertaking, or parastatal, among others. In some Commonwealth realms , ownership by The Crown

5320-578: The third-generation Bombardier Innovia Metro design and marketed as part of Bombardier's Innovia family of automated transportation products. Vancouver continues to be the largest operator of the ICTS system, with nearly 50 kilometres (31 mi) of operational Innovia Metro trackage on two of its SkyTrain lines since the Evergreen Extension began service in 2016. Its entire fleet of Mk I and Mk II trains remain in service and have been supplemented by newly built Mk III trains. Bombardier also continues to win sales with its other light rail vehicles, including

5396-405: The train business, in 1975 it added the Montreal Locomotive Works and its LRC high-speed train design. Although the LRC was never the success Bombardier hoped, the company continued to buy other rail companies in North America and Europe, dramatically expanding its divisions until, with its purchase of ADtranz in 2001, the largest supplier of rail equipment in the world at the time. Bombardier

5472-674: Was a brief study for a similar system in Ottawa, Ontario . Vancouver, British Columbia was interested in the system as part of the Expo 86 buildout in keeping with the theme, "Transportation and Communication". Although the UMTA program in the U.S. was "de-funded" that year, Detroit pressed ahead with its plans and signed up in August. Hamilton, Ottawa, Miami , Los Angeles and Washington, D.C. were also in talks with UTDC. With three customers lined up,

5548-597: Was contracted to build the first 10 before turning over construction to OTDC, subcontracted at Hawker Siddeley's CC&F factory in Thunder Bay. The prototype run was cut to six, in order to allow four to be converted into an articulated design, the Articulated Light Rail Vehicle (ALRV). UTDC unveiled the ALRV at a June 18–19, 1982 open house at its Transit Development Centre, which over 10,000 people attended. In March 1983 Hawker Siddeley Canada sold

5624-404: Was less interesting than ones from Thyssen-Henschel and Messerschmitt-Bölkow-Blohm . There were also technical problems; in testing, the complex systems needed to switch trains on the magnetic tracks froze up, and would require a re-design. With Krauss-Maffei's financial support gone, and daunting technical problems remaining to be solved, the maglev project died. A test track being constructed on

5700-588: Was much more aggressive in marketing the UTDC product line than either the government or Lavalin had been, especially the ICTS. Bombardier re-designed the cars, expanding the passenger capacity and updating their look, re-introducing the product as the Bombardier Advanced Rapid Transit (ART). ART won the contest for the AirTrain JFK project, and an improved design introducing articulating sections between adjacent cars (replacing

5776-448: Was too powerful and caused the wheels to rub flat in spots, which led to noisy running, the opposite of the design goal. Bugs in the automatic control software led to a number of problems with doors that would not open, "phantom cars" that would appear mid-line and cause the collision avoidance systems to turn on and freeze trains in place in spite of having a driver. A host of other problems seriously delayed scheduled operations. In Toronto,

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