Pittsburgh light rail

Pittsburgh Light Rail
Light rail at the entrance to the Mt. Washington Transit Tunnel
The T route network (before the branch was renamed to Library in Silver Line in March 2020)
Route length:	42.2 km
Gauge :	1588 mm

The light rail Pittsburgh , English Pittsburgh Light Rail , known as The T , is a light-rail -Stadtbahnsystem in Pittsburgh in the southwest of the US state of Pennsylvania . It is the successor to the trams of the Pittsburgh Railways or the Port Authority of Allegheny County , whose inner city lines were completely replaced when the tunnel under the city center was opened in 1985. Pittsburgh is one of the few cities in the US with uninterrupted street-level rail traffic.

vehicles

Interior view of the light rail vehicles

The first generation of light rail vehicles started using the Siemens SD-460 under 750 V overhead lines from 1985 . Like other light rail cars in the USA, these are derived from the German Siemens Duewag U2 cars.

A special feature of the cars is that they sometimes have two doors next to each other - one with steps for stations with access from street level, and the other without steps for stations with elevated platforms.

The new acquisitions from CAF in 2003/2004 closely follow the construction of the SD-460.

The PCC cars of the former tram company, 12 of which were still running on remaining routes, were finally decommissioned in 1999. Two vehicles are on display in Pittsburgh, the others have been sold.

Lines

Most of the once 68 tram lines were closed in the 1960s. The remaining lines were combined with the opening of "The T" to two lines and their variants - the previous line 42 to the Rote Line ( Red Line / Beechview Line ), which was used in light rail operations from 1985, and the previous lines 44 and 47 to Blue Line ( Blue Line / Overbrook Line ), which was initially operated with PCC trams until 1993. After a few years without traffic, it was converted to the light rail standard in 1999 and opened in 2004 ( Overbrook Line reconstruction ). Since March 2020, the branch after Library , which was previously assigned to the Blue Line , has been called the Silver Line . Together, the lines have 53 stations over a length of 42.2 km.

The red and blue lines run every 15 minutes on weekdays, whereby the train sequence on the blue line with passengers during rush hour is reduced to 4 minutes. The red line often ends at Overbrook Junction station, where there is a dozen-meter walk to the Willow station of the blue line. The journey from there on the red line to downtown takes about ten minutes longer.

Extensions

Cityscape of the district of Oakland with the Cathedral of Learning of the University of Pittsburgh

• the only extension implemented so far is the extension of the north end beyond the city center. The main part of the "North Shore Connector" is a tunnel with two tubes under the Allegheny River , which separates the "Downtown" from the North Shore (north bank). Planning began in January 1999 and federal funding was secured in February 2004. However, the tender in autumn resulted in higher bids than expected, so that drilling could not begin until October 2006. The first tunnel breakthrough was in July 2008. The tunnel has been used since March 2012, and the connection, like the stations in the city center, can be used free of charge (free fare zone).
• As early as November 1993, the operator suggested setting up a "Spine Line" to Oakland . This has great potential for commuter traffic as it is home to facilities such as Carlow University , the University of Pittsburgh , Carnegie Mellon University , the Pittsburgh Technology Center , the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center, and the Phipps Conservatory . However, there are no concrete plans.
• Around 2009/2010, the manager responsible at the time, Dan Onorato, not only highlighted the connection to Oakland in the east, but also proposed a connection to Pittsburgh International Airport in the west. He has also requested federal funding for the planning work. While the Oakland development reaches the universities after only three kilometers, the airport is almost 30 kilometers away. A regional train is also being discussed to connect it. The Pittsburgh light rail would, however, open up the districts south of the Ohio River , as the regional train runs north of it.

Web links

Commons : Pittsburgh Light Rail  - collection of pictures, videos and audio files

• Operator's website

Individual evidence

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1. ↑ Roger T. DuPuis II: Pittsburgh Railways OnLine - History Page 4 "A Trolley Car Tragedy". In: Pittsburgh Railways OnLine. 2002, accessed May 1, 2020 . 
2. ↑ Schedule Red Line (Pittsburgh) . Port Authority. Retrieved October 9, 2018.
3. ↑ Schedule Blue Line (Pittsburgh) . Port Authority. Retrieved October 9, 2018.
4. ^ Caitlin Cleary: US gives green light to tunnel under river . Pittsburgh Post-Gazette . September 9, 2006. Retrieved April 14, 2006.
5. ^ Jon Schmitz: Trains ready to roll under the river to North Shore . Pittsburgh Post-Gazette . March 12, 2012. Retrieved March 21, 2012.
6. ↑ https://www.cs.cmu.edu/~guyb/spine.html
7. ^ Tom Fontaine: Light-rail link still a priority . In: The Beaver County Times . Beaver Falls February 6, 2009 ( full text ): "Creating a light-rail link between Pittsburgh International Airport and downtown Pittsburgh remains one of Allegheny County's top three transportation priorities, County Executive Dan Onorato said Friday (...) the airport-to- downtown rail project wasn't included on the commission's list because it's not as far along, from a planning perspective, as the downtown-to-Oakland project. "