Streetcars make return to Motor City
Written by Railway Age Staff
Streetcars returned to Woodward Avenue in Detroit for the first time in 61 years with the May 12 inauguration of the 3.3-mile Q Line from Larned Street to West Grand Boulevard.
The $140-million project is claimed to be the first public-private partnership deal to be funded by private businesses and philanthropic organizations, in partnership with local, state and federal governments.
Supporters of the project include Bank of America, Detroit Downtown Development Authority, Detroit Medical Center, Ford Foundation, Ford Motor Company, General Motors, JPMorgan Chase, Michigan Department of Transportation, Michigan Economic Development Corporation, and the United States Department of Transportation.
The project was also supported by the federal government through a $25-million grant from the Transport Investment Generating Economic Recovery (TIGER) program.
In 2007 the project’s backers formed the non-profit M-1 Rail to lead the design, construction and operation of the 20-station line. Stacy & Witbeck was subsequently awarded the contract to build the line and major construction began in July 2014.
Services are operated by a fleet of six bi-directional Liberty LRVs supplied by Brookville Equipment Corp.
The articulated LRVs will operate without catenary on 60% of the line, then drawing power from 750-volt rechargeable lithium-ion batteries. The 70% low-floor vehicles will also operate in catenary-free mode around the line’s depot.
Each vehicle accommodates up to 125 passengers, 32 of them seated.
