US Light Rail Transit Has Sudden Growth Spurt With Flurry

Tag : classic interlining



US Light Rail Transit Has Sudden Growth Spurt With Flurry of NewLine Openings Light Rail Now! Publication Team • May 2004
The spectacular expansion of electric light rail transit (LRT)systems in American cities seems to represent a strong vote ofconfidence by the planners and decisionmakers of these urban areasin LRT as an effective public transport solution to mobilityproblems. This expansion has continued throughout the spring of2004 with the opening of several new lines across the country. Andeven more expansion is under way. Here's a synopsis of the latestopenings:
Portland


interstate MAX Yellow Line opens ahead of schedule and under budget
Portland's MAX Yellow Line (mainly routed on interstate Avenue)opened ahead of schedule and under budget on Saturday, May 1st.Serving north and northeast Portland between the city's downtownand the Expo Center, the new line (see map, below) includes 10 newstations along North interstate Avenue, a former state highway thatfell into decay after it was replaced by the interstate 5 freewayin 1964. The 5.8-mile, $350 million project marks another milestonein the region's quest to alter urban development patterns,according to a local TV news report.
[KGW-TV, 1 May 2004; photo: M. Eidlin]
Running through North Portland and the Rose Quarter, the line thenenters downtown Portland on tracks used by the Blue and Red lines.By the end of its first year, it is projected to carry as many as13,900 passengers per day. However, urban development goals appearequally critical for local planners; the new rail line is alsointended to bolster economic development and housing opportunitiesin what is described as a "downtrodden corridor".
[ Portland Oregonian , 05 May 2004; KGW-TV, 1 May 2004]
Early indications suggest that the MAX Yellow Line is readilyachieving both its mobility and urban development goals. As ofMonday, 3 May, the Yellow Line had tallied 12,900 boardings –about 93% of its first-year ridership target within its first 3days of service.
[ Portland Oregonian , 05 May 2004]

Memphis


Medical Center heritage trolley extension opens as planners eyemodern LRT
The opening of Portland's modern LRT extension along interstateAvenue was preceded by the launch of extensions to two other LRTsystems – these providing heritage streetcar service –in Memphis (15 March) and New Orleans (18 April).
Memphis's heritage electric streetcar system took a powerful leapforward on Monday, 15 March 2004, when the Madison Avenue extension– serving the city's Medical Center complex – openedwith a grand fanfare. Several hundred people cheered and confettiflew as the first big yellow trolley burst through a banner andconfetti at Cleveland Station and headed downtown (see photo,above).
[ Memphis Commercial Appeal , 16 March 2004]
The Memphis trolley system is operated by the Memphis Area TransitAuthority and, until the latest expansion, was transporting morethan 800,000 passengers a year over two downtown circulator lines,providing service 7 days a week. A 2.5-mile Main St. line opened in1993, traveling the length of Main St. This line connects the SouthMain and Pinch historic districts with numerous downtownattractions. A 2.0-mile Riverfront Trolley Loop, opened in 1997,connects together the two ends of the Main St. Line, primarilyusing a railroad right-of-way shared with Amtrak. (The map atabove, right shows the base streetcar system in red, and theMadison/Medical Center extension in yellow-red; the MississippiRiver is light blue.)
[Vintage Trolley website, 2004; map: MATA, FTA]
Service has been provided with 14 rehabilitated streetcars importedpredominantly from Portugal and Australia, plus one replica car.According to MATA, ridership on the established system had reached3,300 boardings per day.
[Vintage Trolley website, 2004; MATA website, May 2004]
The new Madison Avenue/Medical Center line operates five additionalheritage trolleys refurbished by contractor Gomaco (a well-knownsupplier specializing in replica and refurbished heritage-stylerailcars). The 2.5-mile extension is expected to attract anadditional 2,100 rider-trips a day.
[Vintage Trolley website, 2004; The Business Journals , Feb. 08, 2004]
The new line operates in mixed traffic along Madison Avenue,generally on tracks located in the inside travel lanes. Gradeseparations have been constructed at two locations: (1) two newrail-only bridges at Danny Thomas Blvd. (one on each side of anexisting bridge), and (2) reconstruction of the existing bridgeover the I-240 interstate freeway (with tracks placed on thebridge). The project has added six new stations and a smallpark-and-ride facility at the eastern end of the line. Five of thesix stations are located in the center of the street.
[Vintage Trolley website, 2004]
The Madison Avenue/Medical Center streetcar extension is intendedto provide both a transportation and an economic development linkbetween Memphis's Central Business District and Medical Center andwill expand transit service options for employees, residents andvisitors. This corridor has high-density development, plussignificant concentrations of households without autos, manyelderly people, and others who rely on transit for access tomedical facilities for care and employment. It is hoped that therail line will enhance development efforts that are already underway and provide a catalyst for redevelopment in other sections ofthe corridor.
While the original budget for construction and procurement of fiveheritage streetcars was $74.6, the actual cost of the project camein significantly under budget, at approximately $55 million. Withthis extension, Memphis's rail transit system has taken a qualitative leap , from being merely a nostalgic, tourist-oriented circulator andshuttle in the downtown, to serving as a major rail transit link for multiple destinations in central Memphis.
Memphis's historic streetcar system is envisioned as a precursor to a modern LRT system, in which trackage and power would beshared by both modern and historic vehicles. Thus, theMadison/Medical Center heritage streetcar project has been plannedas the last segment of the downtown rail circulation system as wellas the first segment of a modern regional LRT system, tentativelywith at least three corridors (targeted for the year 2020).
[MATA website, 2004]

New Orleans


Canal Streetcar line reopens after 40 years
For the first time in 40 years, streetcars returned to New Orleans'historic Canal Street. On Sunday, 18 April, the New OrleansRegional Transit Authority (NORTA) resumed revenue-serviceoperation of the Canal streetcar line, providing service forresidents and visitors along the city's historic business district,with a one-way ride costing $1.25.
[ Metro , 15 April 2004; photo: Mike Harrington, 2004]
The new streetcar line, which travels a 5.5-mile route from theFrench Market to its final stop at the New Orleans Museum of Art,includes a fleet of 24 brand-new, air-conditioned streetcars. TheCanal cars are painted red to distinguish them from the historicolive-green cars running on the venerable St. Charles line. Builtby NORTA blacksmiths, carpenters, electricians, and mechanics, incollaboration with Brookville Equipment Corp., the newhigh-performance Canal line cars are designed to resemble thePerley Thomas models used on the St. Charles line (and on the Canalstreetcar service until its abandonment in 1964).
The opening of the Canal streetcar line is the latest milestone ina gradual but consistent program of upgrades and expansions of NewOrleans' renowned (and once extensive) streetcar system. As notedabove, trolleycars had last run on Canal in 1964, when the railline was abandoned and the right-of-way paved over as a busway(i.e., early "Bus Rapid Transit"), operated with diesel buses.
However, the St. Charles streetcar line, with continued heavyridership, was kept in operation – the last remnant of aonce-vast citywide system. in 1973, the St. Charles Line and theremaining fleet of 35 Perley Thomas cars received nationalrecognition when they were named to the National Register ofHistoric Places. Eventually, the entire bus and streetcar systemwas taken under public operation by NORTA.
[Vintage Trolley website, 2004]
The St. Charles line extends approximately 7 miles, most of it in acenter median on St. Charles Avenue, with about ten blocks ofstreet running in mixed traffic to connect with Canal St. In NewOrleans' Central Business District. There are 52 stops in total.All of the center-median track (known locally as "neutral ground")on St. Charles and Carrollton Avenues is covered with grass (sod),flush with the top of the rails. The track is laid to New Orleans'traditional 5' 2-1/2" broad-gauge standard. The overhead contactsystem on the line is direct-suspension trolley wire, powered at600 volts DC, suspected primarily by bracket arm construction usingcenter poles.
[Vintage Trolley website, 2004; map: NORTA]


in August 1988, New Orleans opened a totally new streetcar line,the Riverfront Line. The first phase of this line connectedtogether the then-new commercial developments in the WarehouseDistrict to developments along the Mississippi Riverfront and inthe French Quarter. The initial line utilized a 1.5-mile section ofthe existing Public Belt Line railroad, incorporating a singletrack with a passing siding in the middle. Unlike the St. CharlesLine, this new route initially was standard gauge.
[Vintage Trolley website, 2004; map: NORTA]


Overwhelming public response to the new line (5,000 riders per dayinstead of the projected 2,000) prompted plans for expansions whichbegan to be phased in starting in 1990. The line was extendedanother half-mile, a second track was added, and threewheelchair-accessible ex-Melbourne streetcars were added to theservice.
In 1997, the line received another major overhaul, being convertedto the 5' 2-1/2" broad-gauge standard of the St. Charles Line inorder to permit direct use of the Carrollton "station" (maintenancefacility) serving the St. Charles line. The Riverfront service wasalso re-equipped with a fleet of seven new cars built atCarrollton. These new cars were built to the classic Perley Thomaspattern so familiar to New Orleans, but featured PCC-derivativerunning gear and controls from CKD (Tatra) in the Czech Republic.The Melbourne cars formerly used on the line were subsequentlyresold to Memphis for that city's own heritage trolley operation(see previous story, above).
The Riverfront line currently has ten stations, featuringrelatively short, low-level concrete platforms with modern steelcanopies and informational signage. ADA access is provided withcar-mounted wheelchair lifts from Ricon. The double-track line (asnoted, utilizing a traditional railroad right-of-way) is stillparalleled by a standard-gauge track for freight trains. Guardrails have been added between the running rails on the freighttrack for the length of the line adjacent to the streetcar tracks.Direct-suspension trolley wire is hung from steel poles utilizingbracket arm construction. The poles are topped with lights thatalso provide nighttime illumination.
[Vintage Trolley website, 2004]
As of 2001, weekday rider-trips on NORTA's St. Charles andRiverfront streetcar lines averaged 14,100. This relatively highridership, and the streetcars' success in attracting newpassengers, prompted strong interest in restoring streetcar serviceto Canal St., where ridership had steadily plummeted despite the"BRT" busway service which had replaced the earlier streetcar linein 1964.
[FTA NTD 2001]
Despite the ridership drop, five major Canal bus lines were stillexperiencing approximately a total of six million annual boardingsin the late 1990s, and it was felt that the re-introduction ofstreetcars would inherit adequately strong ridership from the busservice, while introducing the potential to significantlyinvigorate ridership in the corridor. Planners predicted thatreplacing NORTA's buses with streetcars would allow for asignificant reduction in the cost of providing public transit onCanal Street and in the Mid-City area, while maintaining currentservice schedules and capacity. improved traffic flow, better airquality, and the potential for economic development in underservedareas were additional benefits hoped for.
[NORTA website, 2002/11/17]
Work on the $161 million Canal project began in January 2001. Thisproject has included reinstalling streetcar trackage in the"neutral ground" on Canal Street for 4.13 miles, between the bottomof downtown and the Cemeteries area, plus the branch to City Park(see map, below). Trackage for the one-mile spur on NorthCarrollton Avenue has been installed in the left traffic lane; thestreetcar extension terminates at Beauregard Circle opposite theNew Orleans Museum of Art. Tracks have been laid using the 5'2-1/2" broad-gauge standard of the St. Charles Line to facilitateinterlining with other lines and to permit access to the Carrolltonstation of the St. Charles line.
[ New Orleans Times-Picayune , 16 September 2003; NORTA website, 2004; Vintage Trolley website,2004]


A major feature in the Canal project has been the fabrication ofthe two dozen brand-new, high-performance streetcars based on thePerley Thomas (PT) model – the PT-2000. Like the PerleyThomas replicas operating on the Riverfront Line, the new car hasbeen fabricated mainly in-house, with trucks and electricalequipment provided by Brookville Equipment Corp. ADA access isprovided via onboard wheelchair lifts on both sides. The car isall-electric, and uses PCC-derivative trucks from CKD-Tatra.
Unlike the Riverfront cars, the Canal cars are air conditioned, amodification which has eliminated the traditional Perley Thomasarched ceiling and its bare light bulbs inside the car. The Canalcars instead have a flat ceiling and modern light fixtures,although the wooden walkover seats found on the older cars areretained. The PT-2000s have an unusual faux-clerestory sectionadded on the roof, housing the car's air-conditioning unit andresistor grids for the propulsion system.
[Vintage Trolley website, 2004]
NORTA's energetic streetcar expansion program emphasizes that NewOrleans regards its heritage-style streetcar system as its mainstay rail transit mode to serve the central city. Planning for additional streetcar linescontinues, with a possible reinstatement of the famous Desire lineat the top of NORTA's list. This would introduce a route similar,although not identical, to the original "Streetcar Named Desire"route immortalized in Tennessee Williams's play and subsequentmovie.
Vigorous US LRT expansion continues
The new extensions in Portland, Memphis, and New Orleans are merelythe latest examples of an ongoing, vigorous resurgence of LRT expansion, including modernization measures and capacityupgrades, extensions to existing systems, and totally new startupsin several cities. (The openings in Portland, Memphis, and NewOrleans follow on the heels of the launch of the River Linenon-electrified light railway in southern New Jersey, connectingCamden with Trenton; see Camden-Trenton: River Line Light Railway Gains Riders, SpursEconomic Development .)
Here's a summary of some of the most important examples of currentelectric LRT expansion projects:
· Extensions : Projects currently under way in San Diego, San Francisco, SanJose, Sacramento, Denver, Dallas, St. Louis, Philadelphia,Pittsburgh, Hudson-Bergen, Newark.
· Upgrade : Project currently under way in Baltimore (double-trackingproject).
· New Systems Startups : Projects currently under way in Phoenix, Seattle, Little Rock(heritage streetcar), Charlotte (modern LRT plus extension toexisting heritage streetcar).
Some of the information in this report has been adapted frommaterial on the MATA, NORTA, and Vintage Trolley websites.