Today, Sunday, November 22, the TTC’s new low-floor Flexity streetcars start operating out of Leslie Barns, the new streetcar facility at the southeast corner of Leslie Street and Lake Shore Boulevard East. The facility is still under construction, so the TTC won’t fully occupy it until early next year.

According to the TTC,

“The state-of-art 26,000-square-metre [28,000-square-foot] facility has 30 streetcar service bays and will provide maintenance for the entire fleet of 204 new streetcars. It will also store and dispatch 100 new streetcars daily. The TTC currently has two streetcar carhouses. Roncesvalles Carhouse will store 60 new streetcars and Russell Carhouse will store 40 vehicles.

“Leslie Barns has one of the largest green roofs in Toronto and an on-site storm water management pond. The facility will also be the site for all streetcar operator and maintenance training.

“In addition to track construction on Leslie Street, which includes specially designed tracks to minimize noise and vibration, extensive utility upgrades and the replacement of century-old watermains and sewers were also completed during construction. Streetscaping improvements on Leslie Street and Queen Street East include new streetlights and wider sidewalks, plantings and landscaping… and will be complete next spring.”

An official opening of Leslie Barns will take place in early 2016.

The TTC has produced a short video so you can see what’s inside the new Leslie Barns: