The TTC streetcar network is in the midst of a major upgrade. The TTC has ordered 204 new 5 section articulated streetcars which are slowly being delivered. The fleet currently consists of 15 metre, 24 metre and new 28 metre streetcars.
No indication has been given that double point switches usually used on light rail lines will replace the legacy single point switches.
The overhead is being changed over to a pantograph compatible overhead. Tangent wire should have been upgraded to heavier 4/0 wire by the end of 2015. The feeder system has largely been completed with only diversion or special service track to be done 2016-2019. Intersections should be completed by the end of 2018. As of now scheduled pantograph operation has not begun.
The new 28 metre streetcars draw up to 50% more power than the four axle streetcars of half their length. But this is a reduction. The small contract area of the trolley shoe and the older wire limits the current draw that can be done. Pantographs will increase the contract area on the wire and the heavier wire will allow greater current draw.
The matter of streetcar track switch controllers had not been settled as the last up date I saw early last year.
