TORONTO (AP) -- Canada's largest transit company, the Toronto Transit Commission, chose Bombardier Inc. for a contract valued at more than 1.2 billion Canadian dollars ($990,000) to supply more than 200 new streetcars.
The commission said Friday that the new light-rail vehicles will be quieter and will be able to carry almost twice as many people as its current streetcars.
Bombardier Transportation Canada will begin delivery of the 204 light-rail vehicles in 2011.
The contract would include an option to purchase up to 400 additional vehicles.
The transit commission purchased 248 streetcars in the 1970s and 1980s, which now are near the end of their useful lives.
The commission will vote on the contract next Monday.
