BALTIMORE, MD - The Maryland Department of Transportation Maryland Transit Administration (MTA) announced that the first part of its Purple light-rail line will run between New Carrollton and College Park, Maryland, by late 2022, The Washington Post reported.
MTA officials previously announced that the first segment of the Purple Line would be constructed between New Carrollton and Bethesda, but didn’t name a western terminus. They also stated last month that College Park was the most logical western terminus for the line because the train stop there will have cross over tracks that allow light-rail vehicles to reverse direction. The line's second segment is expected to extend to Montgomery County by 2023.
 New MTA Purple Line in relation to the other rail transit lines. [Map not to scale!] |
When the 16-mile, 21-station line opens for service, it will connect to the MTA-owned MARC Train commuter service, the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority’s Metrorail and Amtrak.
LOS ANGELES, CA - Los Angeles Metro has finally announced their new lettering scheme for the rail and express bus lines. Lines formerly identified by color (e.g.. The Los Angeles to Long Beach light rail line has been known as the Blue Line since its opening 30 years ago in 1990). Here is the current plan. Vehicles on the Long Beach line and the Expo Line are already showing the A and E letters.
| Original Name |
Type of Service |
Route |
New Name |
Opened |
| Blue Line |
Light Rail |
Los Angeles to Long Beach |
A-LINE |
1990 |
| Red Line |
Subway |
Los Angeles to Hollywood |
B-LINE |
1993 |
| Green Line |
Light Rail |
Redondo Beach to Norwalk |
C-LINE |
1995 |
| Purple Line |
Subway |
Los Angeles to Westside |
D-LINE |
2006 |
| Expo Line |
Light Rail |
Los Angeles to Santa Monica |
E-LINE |
2012 |
| Orange Line |
Express Bus |
Chatsworth to N. Hollywood |
G-LINE |
2005 |
| Silver Line |
Express Bus |
El Monte -Downtown - San Pedro |
J-LINE |
2009 |
| Gold Line |
Light Rail |
Azusa to East Los Angeles |
L-LINE |
2003 |
| Crenshaw Line |
Light Rail |
Crenshaw District to LAX |
TBD |
Sched 2020 |
Just like the stores which like to change where everything is located to make customers see other things other than what they really want, transit companies feel that the need to shake things up to give new life to older systems. Los Angeles has a P-line until 1963 on Pico Boulevard that used their newest 1948 PCC cars.
Progressive Railroading reported on January 28th that the Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority (LA Metro) is seeking public input on three light-rail alternatives the agency is evaluating as part of the Eastside Transit Corridor Phase 2 project that will extend the Gold Line.
Next month, LA Metro will host meetings in East LA, Rosemead and Montebello, California, to gather input on the possible light-rail routes, LA Metro officials said in a press release.
The first alternative follows the southern edge of State Route 60 from the current Gold Line terminus at Pomona and Atlantic boulevards and continues to Peck Road in South El Monte. A short light-rail segment would shift to the north side of the freeway between Greenwood Avenue and Paramount Boulevard.
The second route would be built along Atlantic Boulevard in an underground segment between the current Gold Line terminus and the Citadel Outlets in Commerce. The route would then proceed east along Washington Boulevard via aerial and at-grade alignments ending at Lambert Road in Whittier.
The final route option would combine the first two alternatives by building out both the State Route 60 and Washington Boulevard alternatives.
LA Metro is also evaluating an initial operable segment (IOS) approach which would allow the agency to start project construction in the near-term with ultimate buildout of the project based on available funding. Any IOS must be able to operate as a stand-alone system and include a maintenance and storage facility, agency officials said. A supplemental draft environmental statement on the alternatives is anticipated to be available for public review in mid-year.
The project will be funded by $6 billion in Measure M funds, scheduled in two cycles. The first cycle allocates $3 billion in 2029 and the second cycle allocates $3 billion in 2053. If funds can be identified and secured as part of LA Metro’s Twenty-Eight by ’28 Initiative to build 28 projects before the 2028 Summer Olympics and Paralympics, the LA Metro's board will direct staff to explore accelerating the project schedule, officials said.
NEW YORK CITY, NY - It was reported by Progressive Railroading on January 13th that the MTA New York City Transit has withdrawn 298 Bombardier R179 rail cars from service as a result of reported door problems that could indicate a systemic problem with the cars. The R179 is a class of 318 new technology New York City Subway cars being built by Bombardier Transportation for the B Division. The cars are to replace all remaining R42s and may replace some remaining R32s.
On December 24, 2019, a train operating on the C Line reported door trouble and lost propulsion, as it is designed to do so. Crews resolved the issue by isolating and shutting down the door, then removing the train from service, NYCT President Andy Byford said, according to a published transcript from a press conference held on the fleet withdrawal.
Bombardier conducted an internal review of the incident. On Jan. 2, the company notified the Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) that the door's locking mechanism was not secure and that the door became ajar en route. Bombardier initially noted this was a “one off” incident. The locking mechanism was replaced.
However, a second incident occurred on January 3, 2020 when another train on the C line reported door trouble. Train crews locked the door panel and later removed the train from service.
However, during the second week of January, MTA New York City Transit (NYCT) returned all 298 Bombardier R179 rail cars to service.
LTK Engineering, NYCT and Bombardier Transportation completed inspections of and adjustments to all door systems. They also performed software upgrades and testing for the entire fleet.
In total, 318 cars, 2,544 doorways and more than 5,000 separate doors were inspected and certified for safety, NYCT officials said in a press release.
Bombardier’s analysis indicated that the two door locking mechanism failures were caused by a rare combination of unforeseen mechanical and operational circumstances that were unlikely to reoccur, Bombardier officials said in a press release.
Bombardier stands by the quality and integrity of its rail cars and components and wants to reassure customers and passengers that the R179 doors are completely safe,” said Elliot Sander, president of Bombardier Transportation’s Americas region.
PHILADELPHIA, PA - (The following article was posted by the Market Street Railway on Tuesday, January 21, 2020).
San Francisco's Market Street took its name from the one in Philadelphia. A century and a half later, community and political leaders in the City of Philadelphia were intrigued by the success of our F-line, where riders and onlookers loved the sleek PCC streetcars (the first batch of which Muni actually bought second-hand from Philadelphia). A movement started there to bring back PCCs to the Route 15-Girard line, which had been "temporarily" bus-tituted in 1992. The regional transit agency, SEPTA, did not want to do this, given its emphasis on suburban commuters, but then-Mayor Ed Rendell and others essentially strong-armed SEPTA into it.
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A fleet of SEPTA's own PCCs (18 to be exact - numbered 2320-2317) was rebuilt with controls and components that mirrored their Kawasaki light rail vehicles, dubbed "PCC-II" (as in PCC-Two). They brought streetcar service back to Girard Avenue in 2005, which first got rail service in 1859! (Peter Ehrlich took the shot above at 28th Street & Girard in 2010.)
Soon enough, though, it became clear that SEPTA management wasn't fully supportive of the PCC service. Only two of the 15 SEPTA board members are appointed by elected officials in the City of Philadelphia; the suburban board majority has repeatedly emphasized suburban rail services rather than inner-city ones. Rendell left office, some supporters took the continuation of the PCC service for granted, and on January 25, buses will replace streetcars on the 15-line again. SEPTA officials have said that rail service will eventually return, but point to a time at least four years down the road when the agency procures new LRVs to replace its current Kawasaki fleet. (And by the way, two other SEPTA streetcar lines have been "temporarily" operated by buses for over 27 years now, since 1992!)
The Kawasaki LRVs have lasted almost 40 years, but the PCC-II's, completely rebuilt with Kawasaki-type (all new) components just 15 years ago, are said to be "falling apart". And identical ex-SEPTA PCCs rebuilt to traditional standards for Muni in the early 1990s lasted 25 years between rebuilds.
SEPTA has made no official announcement about the future of the PCC-IIs, but leaks from inside the agency claim that they'll be scrapped, except for a couple going to a museum. (And to anticipate an obvious question, Muni has an ample number of its own unrestored but complete single-end PCCs in storage, as well as 13 ex-SEPTA PCCs restored and running on the F-line right now, including Car 1055, painted in the authentic SEPTA green, red, and cream (Shown in this great photo by Kevin Mueller looking south on Church Street.)
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Our point here isn't to poke at Philly. Their agency, their decision. What we do want to say is how important it is to have what we call a "coalition of appreciation" -- businesses, neighborhood groups, and yes, a focused advocacy group like us -- to continuously remind the owner-operator, SFMTA, of the value we believe attractive vintage transit delivers to the city in many ways. It does take a coalition, one that keeps the support of successive generations of political and agency leaders. We've seen in other cities -- Seattle, Portland, and now Philadelphia -- what can happen when the initial champion(s) of vintage streetcar service move on.
Continuing our advocacy -- which led to the creation of the F-line more than a quarter century ago -- depends on you. If you're a subscriber to this electronic newsletter but not yet a member of MSR, we hope you'll join or donate. Easy to do, for members and nonmembers alike. Thanks.
[Editor: The above article almost immediately elicited several comments from knowledgeable trolley fans in Philadelphia. Ed Springer, author of the 'Some History' article in this issue, provided to us on January 21st that there were only eight of the original 18 PCC-II vehicles that were still operable, 2322, 2324, 2325, 2329, 2330, 2331, 2335 and 2337 and all eight of them were in service on Tuesday, January 21st. He also stated that the PCC-IIs do NOT use equipment similar to the 1981 Kawasaki cars. The PCC II’s rebuilding cost only about $250,000 each. It would be impossible to produce a car equal to a Kawasaki for what was budgeted in the rebuilding program. The PCC-IIs have more in common with New Orlean’s Canal St. cars. Route 15’s PCC-II
cars are equipped with a truck closer to a Clark PCC truck. The trucks and riding quality are greatly inferior to a Kawasaki car. He also stated that the last day of PCC-II service was to be Friday, January 24, 2020
The saga keeps growing as it became apparent by Thursday, January 23rd that the feces was starting to hit the rotary cooler somewhere at 1234 Market Street (SEPTA HQ) because the following article appeared in the Philadelphia Magazine on January 23rd. Philadelphia Magazine is a regional monthly magazine published in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania by the Lipson family of Philadelphia and its company, Metrocorp. One of the oldest magazines of its kind, it was first published as a quarterly in 1908 by the Trades League of Philadelphia. S. Arthur Lipson bought the paper in 1946. ]
SEPTA PCC-II 2323 at Richmond-Westmoreland loop |
One thing’s for sure: The historic trolleys that currently serve SEPTA’s trolley Route 15, which runs between West Philadelphia and Port Richmond, are going to be "temporarily" replaced by buses starting on Sunday.
Contrary to some rumors, though, SEPTA says the trolleys will return in a year or two, after construction projects obstructing their route are complete — and they’ve received overdue maintenance work.
The transportation organization announced on Wednesday that it would pull the historic trolleys from service next week. SEPTA spokesperson Andrew Busch primarily blamed highway construction projects. The Pennsylvania Department of Transportation’s ongoing work along Interstate 95 has already forced SEPTA to substitute buses for trolley service along the line near Port Richmond. An additional project this spring, around 40th Street near the Philadelphia Zoo, would have required SEPTA to replace trolleys with buses on the western portion of the route as well.
SEPTA PCC-II 2324 Westbound at 29th & Girard
January 23, 2020. (photo by Ed Springer) |
SEPTA PCC-II 2337 Eastbound at 26th & Girard
January 23, 2020. (photo by Ed Springer) |
“[Service] would’ve been a more chopped up even than it is now,” Busch said. “We thought it was a good time to maximize the opportunity and take the fleet — which, those trolleys were rebuilt in the early 2000s but date back to 1947 — out, and perform a ceiling-to-floor maintenance.”
Only four* of the 18 trolleys that are able to run along Route 15 are currently in service, Busch said. The cost of the trolley repairs is not yet clear: “We know they need some work,” Busch said, “but we have to get into those trolleys before we know everything that needs to be done.”
[* Four is a grossly incorrect number. We know that there were at least eight and
all eight of them were in service on Thursday, January 23rd.]
SEPTA PCC-II 2322 Eastbound at 58th & Girard
January 23, 2020. (photo by Ed Springer) |
SEPTA PCC-II 2324 in Bay 3 at Callowhill Depot
January 23, 2020. (photo by Ed Springer) |
The Route 15 trolleys should return to service in late 2021, according to SEPTA, after the completion of the I-95 PennDOT project, which could take about 12 to 18 months. Busch said commuters shouldn’t expect any major changes along the length of the route.
The urbanist transit advocacy group 5th Square launched a petition on Tuesday demanding that SEPTA “repair the PCC trolleys and bring them back into use in the short-term.” In the petition, which has since been updated, the organization said “riders have no idea if [the trolleys will] ever be back.”
SEPTA PCC-11 2325 Westbound at 58th & Girard
January 23, 2020. (photo by Ed Springer) |
SEPTA PCC-IIs 2330-2324-2329 in Bay 3 at Callowhill Depot - January 23, 2020. (photo by Ed Springer) |
But don’t fear, trolley fans: Busch said the historic vehicles, called PCC-II’s, will return to service for at least the next 10 or so years. That’s how long it could take (minimally, he estimates) before SEPTA secures funding and sees through a planned trolley modernization project. Plans for that billion-dollar revamping, which the Delaware Valley Regional Planning Commission detailed in early 2018, include replacing SEPTA’s entire existing trolley fleet with a “state-of-the-art light rail system.” The system would be designed to improve passengers’ experiences boarding, riding and exiting the trolley, as well as living and biking near their stations.
“The idea was [Route 15 trolleys] would be in service up until that point,” Busch said. “But we’re probably 10 years out from that happening, and of course we need to identify funding [for that project].” .
The final photos were taken by Ed Springer on Friday, January 24th at Delaware Loop!
 Car 2322 at 5:20PM, January 24, 2020!
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Car 2324, reportedly the last car, later that same evening, finishing her run early Saturday morning!
Late Breaking News: PCC-II
Car 2332 was towed from Elmwood to Woodland Shop on Tuesday, Jamnuary 28th. This car was being repaired/worked on at Elmwood when worked stopped on it over a year ago. Another PCC-II car 2328 sitting outside Woodland for two years was moved into the shop.
[Editor: We included many photos of these cars in case Route 15 joins the long list of streetcar lines killed by SEPTA since their inception in the late 1960s e.g. Routes 6 (Ogontz Ave), 23 (Germantown Ave), 47 (N 5th St), 50 (Rising Sun Ave), 53 (Wayne Ave), 56 (Erie Ave), 60 (Allegheny Ave) and 62 (Yeadon-Darby Shuttle) while other cities such as Cincinnati, Detroit, Kansas City, Milwaukee and Oklahoma City are building or have recently built new streetcar lines!
PITTSBURG, PA - On Wednesday, January 8, 2020, The Port Authority of Allegheny County closed portions of the Mount Washington Transit Tunnel in Pittsburgh due to continued landslides caused by storm water runoff as reported by Progressive Railroading. This tunnel is used exclusively by the authority’s light-rail and bus network.
Due to debris from the runoff and an unstable hillside, no light-rail service will operate on the outbound tracks of the tunnel until further notice, authority officials said in a press release.
Inbound light-rail service to the tunnel was detoured to run through the city's Allentown neighborhood (Note the orange line in the above map between South Hills Junction and Station Square) while outbound service will operate through the Mount Washington Transit Tunnel on the inbound tracks. The Port Authority has been working with the city and Pittsburgh Water and Sewer Authority to re-mediate the hillside and prevent further erosion and damage to the tunnel, authority officials said
SAN JOSE, CA - On December 28, 2019, the Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority (VTA) launched light-rail service on its new Orange Line, which runs between Mountain View and the Alum Rock Transit Center in San Jose, California.
The new line, which also connects with Bay Area Rapid Transit service at Milpitas Station, is part of the agency’s redesigned transit service approved by VTA's board last year, VTA officials said in a press release.
The redesign also shortened the Blue Line, formerly known as the Alum Rock-Santa Teresa Line, to end at Baypointe Station in San Jose instead of Alum Rock; and the Green Line, previously the Mountain View-Winchester line, was shortened to end at Old Ironside Station in Santa Clara instead of Mountain View.
SEATTLE, WA - Sound Transit crews on January 4th began construction to integrate a new light-rail segment to the east side of its existing Link system in downtown Seattle. See map of East Side extension next!
The work required a light-rail service suspension on January 4 - 5th which kicked off the first of three weekend construction periods. During weekend construction, shuttle buses will replace light-rail service at downtown Seattle stations, Sound Transit officials said in a press release.
Two additional weekend light-rail closures are planned for Feb. 8–9th and March 14–15th.
Beginning January 6th and continuing through March 13th, Link riders traveling through downtown will need to transfer to a new center platform at Pioneer Square Station.
Sound Transit uses 62 Type 1 low-floor Light Rail Vehicles manufactured by KinkiSharyo and delivered in 2003 (31), 2005 (4) and 2010 (27). They have also ordered 152 Type 2 S70 low floor LRVs from Siemens Mobility that should begin service this year..
.gif) Type 1 Sound Transit LRV! |
 Type 2 Sound Transit LRV! |
TORONTO, ONTARIO, CANADA - According to a report in Progressive Railroading on January 11, 2020, Metrolinx crews have completed most early construction on the future Finch West light-rail line in northwest Toronto in preparation for major construction, agency officials announced last week on the Metrolinx blog. Metrolinx, founded in 2006, is a Crown agency that manages and integrates road and public transport in the Golden Horseshoe region of Ontario, Canada, including the cities of Toronto and Hamilton and their suburbs. See map below:
Crews relocated oil and gas pipelines, removed trees, constructed an access road and installed fencing along the nearly 7-mile route. Workers also broke ground on a light-rail vehicle maintenance and storage facility at York Gate Boulevard and Finch Avenue West.
Metrolinx also has been constructing temporary work sites along the Highway 400 bridge in preparation for construction of two new bridge decks off the highway. Crews have begun road-widening activities to make way for an underground station, emergency exit, track and other required infrastructure.
Construction of the Finch West line will continue through winter 2020. By 2023, the Finch West light-rail line will connect the Jamestown, Rexdale and Black Creek neighborhoods via 18 stops, including 16 surface stops and an underground interchange station at Finch West. A below-grade terminal stop at Humber College will connect to other local transit services like GO Transit, MiWay, Viva and Zum.
Greg Arnold with the store van painted in the ATSF "Red Bonnet" Scheme
Greg Arnold, store owner, stocking shelves! This is a continuous process as the items keep going out of the store almost as fast as they are placed on the shelves.
Kevin Honda, Store Manager, placing price tags on each and every every item..., another continuous process!
