The BiLevel Coach is a bilevel passenger railcar currently built by Alstom and previously by Bombardier, Hawker Siddeley Canada, the Canadian Car and Foundry (Can Car), and the UTDC. Used by North American commuter and regional rail operators, they feature a distinctive octagonal profile. The principal operator is GO Transit in the Golden Horseshoe, which operates some two-thirds of the total produced fleet.
History
The BiLevel coaches were designed by Toronto's regional commuter rail service, GO Transit and Hawker Siddeley Canada in the mid-1970s as a more efficient replacement for GO's original single-deck coaches and cab cars. Later coaches were manufactured by Urban Transportation Development Corporation/Can-Car and, most recently, Bombardier. Alstom purchased Bombardier in 2021 and now owns the designs and manufacturing facility. There are more than 1,500 BiLevel coaches in service today, all of which have been built in Thunder Bay, Ontario. The BiLevel coaches remain the mainstay coaching stock of GO Transit rail services.
The coaches have gone over numerous design changes over the years, originally featuring more shorter windows and larger intermediate levels featuring the washroom on the aforementioned level, and 162 seats in the original series'. Now featuring fewer taller windows, smaller intermediate levels, 136 seats, and a fully accessible washroom on the lower level. The exterior was also changed from being riveted aluminum sides to being welded aluminum panels featuring a cleaner look.
Construction
250px|thumb|left|Redesigned cab for crash energy management
BiLevel coaches have an aluminum body on a steel frame. They are high, wide, and weigh about .
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| Exo
| Montreal, Quebec
| 22
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| FrontRunner
| Salt Lake City, Utah
| 22
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| GO Transit
| Toronto, Ontario
| 979
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| Metrolink
| Los Angeles, California
| 184
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| Rail Runner Express
| Albuquerque, New Mexico
| 22
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| Sounder
| Seattle, Washington
| 58
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| SunRail
| Orlando, Florida
| 25
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| Tri-Rail
| Miami, Florida
| 26
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| Trinity Railway Express
| Dallas, Texas
| 17
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| West Coast Express
| Vancouver, British Columbia
| 44
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Future operators
{| class="wikitable sortable"
|+Future Bombardier BiLevel Operators
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!Operator
!Location
!Quantity
!Notes
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| Amtrak California
| Northern California
| 16
| 13 coaches and 3 cab cars to be leased from Caltrain.
|-
| Hiawatha (Amtrak)
| Chicago, Illinois<br />Milwaukee, Wisconsin
| 3
| rowspan="2" |Will be leased from Northstar after the line shuts down
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| Trinity Railway Express
| Dallas, Texas
| 5