[IMAGE]BombardierOct13FLEXITY-Outlook-Brussel-HRFULL.jpg[/IMAGE] On Monday, in a celebratory event hosted by the Brussels Transport Company STIB (Société des Transports Intercommunaux de Bruxelles), two Bombardier Transportation Flexity trams marked their departure for Vancouver, B.C., where they will operate in a streetcar demonstration project during the Vancouver 2010 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games.  

The 104-foot long vehicles will be transported to Bremerhaven, Germany, where they will start their voyage across the high seas. Travelling through the Panama Canal, the vehicles are scheduled to arrive in Vancouver in early December 2009.

Bombardier Transportation and the city of Vancouver are co-sponsors of the Olympic Line project. This sponsorship is complementary to Bombardier’s role as an official supporter of the 2010 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games and designer/ manufacturer of the Olympic torches.

The Flexity trams will provide free passenger service between the Olympic and Paralympic Village and Granville Island, a key entertainment center for the 2010 Winter Games. From January 21 until March 21, 2010, Bombardier will operate the Flexity vehicles seven days a week, 18 hours a day, at six minute to seven minute headways on the one-mile Olympic Line. This 60-day demonstration period will provide accessible, environmentally friendly and sustainable transportation for more than 500,000 Vancouver residents, visitors and athletes from all over the world.