BOSTON, MA - The Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority (MBTA) Fiscal and Management Control Board this week voted during the first week in November to electrify its commuter-rail fleet and increase service frequency. The board adopted a resolution that instructs MBTA officials to prepare immediately to launch electrified pilot programs on the Providence/Stoughton Line, the Fairmount Line, and a section of the Newburyport/Rockport Line connecting Boston to Lynn, Revere, Chelsea and Everett, local media reported yesterday.
MBTA General Manager Steve Poftak said it could take two to four years to acquire electric trains for the programs, according to the report. The electrification plan is expected to cost billions, with some alternatives costing $10.6 billion and $28.9 billion, according to the report. The board also adopted resolutions calling for the implementation of 15-minute headways between key rail stations.
KANSAS CITY, MO - The Kansas City Streetcar Authority in the last week of October began passenger service on its newest streetcar, marking completion of the authority’s fleet expansion to six streetcars.
The addition of car No. 806 enables the authority to operate four streetcars every Saturday throughout the year. It also allows the authority to perform regular maintenance on the entire fleet, KC Streetcar officials said in a press release.
The authority received two new streetcars, Nos. 805 and 806, earlier this year, nearly two years after the Kansas City Council approved the $9.8 million order from CAF USA Inc., streetcar officials said. We reported that streetcar No. 805 went into passenger service in the summer.
LOS ANGELES, CA - Progressive Railroading reported that at the beginning of November, the Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority (LA Metro) issued a request for proposals (RFP) seeking a contractor to assist in the early stages of development of the Sepulveda Transit Corridor Project. The RFP calls for a pre-development agreement with up to two private sector contractors to assist the agency in the planning and design of a fixed guideway transit line connecting the San Fernando Valley to the Westside, and ultimately Los Angeles International Airport.
 LA Metro P3010 three-car train on the A-line, (formerly known as the Blue Line) that reopened in November 2 after an extensive renovation. |
The line would provide a new travel option in the congested 405 freeway corridor through the Sepulveda Pass, LA Metro officials said in a press release. By summer 2020, the agency will identify the route alternatives that will be studied during the project's environmental review phase. Those alternatives will be chosen from up to two contractors that respond to the RFP and/or from a feasibility study LA Metro will complete by next month.
After LA Metro's board selects and completes the final engineering phase of the preferred project alternative, the agency then could invite the private project developer to submit a proposal to build the line. The line's first phase between the Valley and the Westside is scheduled to open in 2033, officials said. The Sepulveda project will receive $9.5 billion in funding from Measure M and other local, state and federal sources.
NEW ORLEANS, LA - During the week of 4-10 November, the New Orleans Regional Transit Authority (NORTA) resumed streetcar service on its Riverfront Line, 23 days after service was suspended due to the partial collapse of the Hard Rock Hotel under construction near Canal Street.
Crews were working on the hotel when a portion of the building collapsed, killing three and injuring more than 19 people, local media reported. Streetcar service remains suspended on the Rampart-St.Claude routes, and on portions of the Canal-Cemeteries and Canal-City Park/Museum routes.
PHILADELPHIA, PA - Progressive Railroading reported on November 14th that The U.S. Department of Transportation awarded the Delaware River Port Authority (DRPA) a nearly $12.6 million grant for the Port Authority Transit Corp. (PATCO) Franklin Square Station reopening project, the authority announced earlier this week.
 Above ground kiosk of the new Franklin Square station now scheduled to open in 2023! |
The $30 million project calls for rehabilitating the Franklin Square rail station in Philadelphia, which has been shuttered since 1979. The project involves improvements to the station’s civil, structural, mechanical and electrical systems, DRPA officials said in a press release. The grant was awarded under the Better Utilizing Investment to Leverage Development (BUILD) Transportation Discretionary Grants program, which allows the USDOT to invest in projects that have a significant local or regional impact. Construction is expected to begin in late 2020, with the station slated to open in 2023. The station is located between the 8th & Market station and the Delaware River on the map below.
(Note: To be honest and being a former Philadelphia resident, I never remember that station being opened since PATCO opened in February 1969.)
PATCO opened with 121 67 foot long cars built by the Budd Company in 1968, called PATCO I. 25 of the cars were single units numbered 101 - 125 but the remaining were 50 married pairs numbered 201-250. The 46 PATCO II cars (252-296) came in 1980 from Vickers Canada under license from the Budd Company. The entire fleet was rebuilt starting in 2009 by Alstom in Hornell, New York. Rebuilt cars were then numbered in the 1000 series and all cars were made into married pairs. The last of the unmodified cars ran in June 2018.
 Budd-built 234 in 1969! |
 Rebuilt car #1104!
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The Wilmington Chapter NRHS chartered PCC-II Car 2324 for Super Saturday Streetcar Special XXII some time ago on January 31, 2015. This photo was too good to not be shown in this issue event though the event was over four years ago. It was taken from the Philadelphia Zoo parking garage on Girard Avenue. In the background is the Letitia House, erected in 1715 at Second and Chestnut Streets (and thought to once be the home of William Penn’s daughter Letitia) and moved to West Girard Avenue in Fairmount Park for the 1876 Centennial world’s fair. Philadelphia's SEPTA (South Eastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority) has 18 of these PCC-II cars (series 2320-2337) for service exclusively on their Route 15, Girard Avenue line. (Bill Monaghan)
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SAN FRANCISCO, CA - The Market Street Railway reported on November 27th that Car 1015, painted to honor the Illinois Terminal Railroad, got delivered back to Muni that very day, completely renovated following almost a quarter-century of service on the F-line (which followed a third of a century of original service on Muni lines).
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This is one of ten rare double-end PCC cars, series 1006-1015) that Muni bought new in 1948.Thanks in large measure to our persistent advocacy, seven of the ten (Cars 1012 and 1013 were scrapped and 1014 is in Australia) have been preserved and restored for decades of future operation by Muni (the two final renovations are close to returning from Brookville Equipment Company in Pennsylvania). Simply put, they wouldn't be here without the efforts of the Market Street Railway and without these double-ended cars, there couldn't have been the second vintage streetcar line, the E-Embarcadero, which we are making progress in getting extended to Aquatic Park to serve Ghirardelli Square and Fort Mason.
SAN FRANCISCO - SAN JOSE, CA - Progressive Railroading reported that on November 26th Caltrain announced it's stepping up the manufacturing, assembly and testing activities for its electric trains at Stadler’s Salt Lake City plant in preparation for the rail system's electrification between San Francisco and San Jose, California, by 2020. Three rail cars are completely wired and undergoing electrical testing, while other structural and life-cycle testing continues on the cars' trucks at the Utah plant. In addition, endurance tests are wrapping up on propulsion gearboxes, Caltrain officials said in a project newsletter.
Also, 75 percent of first article inspections have been completed. The inspections verify that the first manufactured component in a series is built to requirements, Caltrain officials said.
And this month, crews began installing system foundations in Palo Alto and Mountain View, and continued pole installations in San Mateo, Belmont, San Carlos and Redwood City, California. Work also was performed this month on six traction power facilities in San Jose, Redwood City, Sunnyvale, South San Francisco and San Mateo.
SILICON VALLEY, CA - Progressive Railroading reported that in late October, Bay Area Rapid Transit (BART) began pre-revenue operations on the Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority’s (VTA) 10-mile BART Silicon Valley Berryessa extension in California. The milestone represents a final step before starting passenger service, which is on track to begin in December, BART officials said in a press release.
During pre-revenue operations, operators and systems and maintenance staff will be trained and made familiar with the line's trackwork, stations and facilities on the line. The rail system will also be operated without passengers to allow BART officials to verify schedules, train timing and system safety. The extension begins at the current terminal in Fremont, CA. See map of project below:
The $5.6-billion next phase to downtown San Jose remains unfunded. Targeted for completion in 2029–2030, it would add three new subway stations south of Berryessa: Alum Rock/28th Street, Downtown San Jose—West Option, Diridon—North Option, and a surface station in Santa Clara. Initial testing and preliminary construction activities began in January 2019.
TEMPE, AZ - During this month, Valley Metro crews will begin installing special track to enable the Tempe Streetcar in Tempe, Arizona, to cross over the area's existing light-rail system.
The work will occur at two locations along the 3rd Street streetcar route at Mill Avenue and Ash Avenue, and require single-tracking on portions of the light-rail route. While the work is taking place, light-rail trains will be spaced along the track throughout the entire system at larger intervals and will operate on an adjusted schedule between Dec. 21 and Jan. 5, 2020, Valley Metro officials said in a press release. The “track tie-in” project is the most technically challenging part of the construction, officials said.
The Tempe Streetcar is scheduled to open in 2021 with 3 miles of track, 14 stops and two connections to Valley Metro light-rail service, agency officials said in a press release. The planned route is shown below:
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TORONTO, ONTARIO, CANADA - It is now official! The Toronto Transit Commission (TTC) announced in mid-October that it will retire the last of its Canadian Light Rail Vehicle (CLRV) streetcars late next month to make way for 204 new, low-floor streetcars from Bombardier Inc.
To commemorate the passing fleet, two CLRVs will make a final run of service December 29th between Bathurst Street and Greenwood Avenue in Toronto.
 CLRV 4038 and two others in service! |
The first of the CLRV fleet was delivered to TTC on December 29, 1977, and entered into service on September. 20, 1979. The final streetcars of the 196 streetcar-order were delivered in 1982, TTC officials said in a press release.
Later, TTC ordered 52 additional Articulated Light Rail Vehicle (ALRV) streetcars, which were double the length of the original streetcars. That fleet was retired in September 2019.
This fleet replacement marks the first time that all TTC streetcar and bus routes will be serviced by accessible vehicles, officials said.
