The current Bilevel design, although largely originating in Europe, found its way to North American rails in the 1970s and has since been used by dozens of commuter agencies all across Canada and the United States. Originally designed by Hawker Siddeley Canada, the cars have been manufactured over the years by Hawker Siddeley, Urban Transportation Development Corporation (UTDC), SNC-Lavalin, Bombardier and today, Alstom. The cars have always been built at the original Canadian Car & Foundry (CanCar) factory in Thunder Bay, Ontario.

In 1989, the first Bilevel cars were introduced to the United States by Tri-Rail in the Miami area. In 1992, Metrolink in the Los Angeles area introduced the design to the West Coast. This spurred further orders in California by Coaster of San Diego and Altamont Commuter Express (now Altamont Corridor Express) of San Jose. By the 2000s, more agencies across North America began using the Bilevel Commuter Cars for start-up commuter operations, such as Sound Transit (Sounder) in Seattle, FrontRunner in Salt Lake City, RailRunner in Albuquerque, and West Coast Express in Vancouver, just to name a few. As of early 2026, 14 agencies across North America operate fleets totalling over 1500 Bilevel Commuter Cars.

In the mid 2010s, the Bilevel car underwent its most significant redesign since their introduction over 40 years earlier. The new CEM (Crash Energy Management) car design features a refined roof profile and other alterations to the rest of the body shell and window arrangement. But the biggest change is the new stylized cab car. Designed to keep crews safer in the event of an incident and provide exceptional visibility, these new cab cars are a significant departure in style to the original designs.

Rapido Trains Inc. Bilevel model brings museum-quality details, improved operations, and prototypical accuracy to this long-loved and under-appreciated mode of (commuter) transportation.

• CRASH ENERGY MANAGEMENT (CEM) CAB AND COACHES — FIRST TIME IN HO SCALE!
• NEW SCHEMES INCLUDING THE POPULAR MIAMI TRI-RAIL PALM TREE SCHEME
• THE BEST ROLLING BILEVELS... PERIOD—WITH TRACK-POWERED INTERIOR LIGHTING

HO Scale Bilevel Commuter Car Features:

• NEW CEM-style coaches and cab cars now available
• Over 10 different body style variations, all accurate to the prototype
• Free-rolling, highly-detailed inside-bearing trucks with roller-bearing axles and metal wheelsets
• Minimum 22” radius curves
• Full underbody and unrivaled interior detail
• Accurate painting and lettering, both inside and out
• Tinted windows
• Metal side grab irons
• Constant interior lighting in DC and DCC
• Controllable cab car lighting in both DC and DCC
• Cab cars pre-wired with a speaker and a 21-pin socket for full DCC/Sound functionality

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