page_title: Bombardier Flexity Freedom
section_title: Waterloo Region
hierarchical_section_title: Bombardier Flexity Freedom / Orders / Waterloo Region
caption_attribution_description: English: Bombardier Flexity Freedom, Ion unit 507. Photographed at Queen Station during system testing.
context_page_description: The Bombardier Flexity Freedom is a low-floor, articulated light rail vehicle developed by Bombardier Transportation for the North American market. It is marketed as part of the Bombardier Flexity family which includes other models of trams and light metro vehicles. They are produced in facilities in Thunder Bay and Kingston, Ontario, which once produced rolling stock under the names of Canada Car and Foundry and Urban Transportation Development Corporation, respectively.
  The Flexity Freedom is used on the Ion rapid transit in Kitchener and Waterloo, Ontario. It is planned for use on two light rail systems under construction: Line 5 Eglinton in Toronto and the Valley Line in Edmonton.
  Being entirely low-floor, these vehicles directly compete with the Bombardier Flexity Swift, Alstom Citadis, Siemens S70, CAF Urbos, and Kinki Sharyo LRVs. However, as they are designed for light rail rather than streetcar applications, they also compete against, to a lesser extent, low-floor streetcars from Škoda/Inekon and Brookville Equipment Corporation, among others.
context_section_description: In July 2013, the Region of Waterloo finalized a deal with Metrolinx to join their contract to the Toronto order and purchase 14 vehicles for the Ion light rail system at a cost of $66 million.
  Bombardier's Thunder Bay plant built one production vehicle, and two prototype vehicles, with the Kingston plant making the remaining 13. To avoid bottlenecks and shipping delays at its Thunder Bay plant, assembly work for the Flexity Freedom was shifted to Bombardier's Kingston, Ontario factory. Bombardier is also moving the building of vehicle sub-assemblies from a plant in Mexico to one in La Pocatière, Quebec, and cab structures to another unspecified plant.
  The delivery of the first vehicle had been expected in August 2016, and the remainder by the end of 2016. However, by May 2016, Bombardier announced that delivery of the first car would be delayed to December 2016, and the last car would be delivered by October 2017.
  The first vehicle was loaded for delivery from the Thunder Bay plant on February 15, 2017 with further shipments from Bombardier's Kingston plant. The first Flexity Freedom vehicle arrived that month at the Ion maintenance facility, but it could not be tested as its operating software was incomplete. In October 2017, the second LRV arrived in more functional condition. By mid-December 2017, Waterloo Region had 3 LRVs on site.
  On December 19, 2017, Waterloo Region had its first successful test of a Flexity Freedom running under its own power at the Ion maintenance facility. The two-hour test was done at the low speed of 10 km/h (6.2 mph). In 2018, testing beyond the maintenance facility started.
  On June 21, 2019, regular service began for the system. In August 2020, it was confirmed that part of a compensation package from Bombardier to settle shipping delays would be a fifteenth unit, provided free of charge, for the Ion fleet. It is set to arrive later that year.
caption: Ion vehicle 507 at Queen station during testing in August 2018
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