Charlotte light rail

Charlotte Lynx Light Rail
Lynx Blue Line at Stonewall Station
Basic information
Country	United States
city	Charlotte
opening	November 24, 2007
operator	Charlotte Area Transit System (CATS)
Infrastructure
Route length	17.8 km
Gauge	1435 mm ( standard gauge )
Power system	Direct current over catenary
Stops	20th
Depots	1
business
Lines	2
statistics
Passengers	16,186 daily (as of 2014)
Residents in the catchment area	809,958 thousand
As of July 2015

The Charlotte Lynx Light Rail , in its own spelling LYNX Light Rail, is the light rail system from Charlotte in the state of North Carolina in the USA that opened in 2007 . The name Lynx (German: " Luchs ") was chosen to create a reference to the operator Charlotte Area Transit System , abbreviated to CATS (German: "Cats"), and to the local Carolina Panthers football team . In addition, the term is pronounced just like the English word links (German: "connections").

The system consists of the Lynx Blue Line and the CityLynx Gold Line, which went into operation in 2015 .

history

A tram started running in Charlotte as early as 1891 , but was discontinued in favor of motor vehicle traffic on March 14, 1938. It took a total of 58 years before a rail-based means of transport was reintroduced. It was the Charlotte Trolley , a tram line mostly used by tourists. Replicas of old American trams operated on this and, according to its target group, was mostly only used on weekends. The Lynx Blue Line has been using large parts of the route since 2007 . The operation of the tourist tram ended in 2010. The vehicles previously used on this line have been in use on the new CityLynx Gold Line since July 14, 2015 .

Lynx Blue Line

Lynx Blue Line
7th St. CTC / Arena Gold Line 3rd St / Convention Center Stonewall Carson Bland St East / West Blvd. New Bern Skaleybark P Woodlawn P Tyvola P Archdale P Arrowood P Sharon Rd West P I-485 / South Blvd P.

Vehicle of the Siemens S70 series of the Blue Line in the Carson station

The Blue Line was the first light rail line in the US state of North Carolina to go into operation on November 24, 2007. The line is 15.4 km (9.6 miles) long. An extension of another 15 kilometers is under construction.

The route runs largely parallel to I-77 from downtown (Uptown) south through Dillworth, South End, Sedgefield, Collingwood, Starmount and Hebron, to the north of Pineville directly on the I-485, the city's ring road , ends. There are large parking lots at the last seven stops to catch commuters from the southern suburbs.

The line runs every 10 minutes during rush hour , every 15 minutes on weekdays outside of peak hours (NVZ), every 20 minutes on weekends and every 30 minutes at night. The route is operated on weekdays from around 5:30 a.m. to 1:30 a.m.

In the second half of 2014, 16,186 passengers used the Blue Line every day.

Modern Siemens S70 vehicles are used on this line . The system's only depot is located at the New Bern station , roughly halfway along the Blue Line .

A single ticket costs 2.20 US dollars for seniors and young people by half. Day passes are $ 6.60 and a 7-day pass is $ 22.

An extension of the blue line was opened on March 16, 2018. The 15.0 kilometer long new line runs from the 7th Street stop in the center of the city in a northeastern direction through North Davidson (NoDa) to the site of the University of North Carolina (UNC) . Large parking lots with a total capacity of 3,000 parking spaces were created at four of the eleven new stops, and the bus network was also adapted to the new light rail route. The travel time of the entire blue line from I-485 to the UNC campus is 47 minutes. It is assumed that there will be an average of 24,500 passengers on working days in 2035. The route, which is expected to cost $ 1.16 billion, was originally scheduled to go into operation in August 2017.

CityLynx Gold Line

Gold Line vehicle , then still known as the Charlotte Trolley in the CTC / Arena station of the Blue Line

CityLynx Gold Line
CTC / Arena Blue Line Davidson St McDowell St CPCC Elizabeth & Hawthorne Hawthorne & 5th St

The CityLynx Gold Line , which opened on July 14, 2015 and is only 2.4 kilometers long, begins at the important transfer station Charlotte Transportation Center (CTC) / Arena in the center of the city, where there is also a large bus station and a Blue Line stop . From there, the route heads east, following the East Trade Street - Elizabeth Avenue . After the last stopover at Elizabeth & Hawthorne , she turns left to the northeast and shortly afterwards reaches the eastern terminus, Hawthorne & 5th Street . At the Charlotte Transportation Center (CTC) there is also a connecting track to the blue line so that the vehicles used on the golden line can reach the system's only depot. This track circles the Time Warner Cable Arena and runs along East 5th Street to the light rail tracks. The tram route runs on two tracks in the street space of East Trade Street and the subsequent Elizabeth Avenue.

The Gold Line runs every 15 minutes during rush hour, otherwise every 20 minutes. The operating hours are Monday to Thursday from 6 a.m. to 11 p.m., Friday from 6 a.m. to midnight, Saturday from 8 a.m. to midnight and Sunday from 9 a.m. to 7 p.m. It is free to use.

There are three replicas of the Birney Safety Car with the road numbers 91 to 93, which were originally used as the Charlotte Trolley .

Future development

Several projects are currently under construction or planned to make traffic in the city more meaningful. This includes both the extension of the Gold Line and plans for new lines, primarily the so-called Silver Line, which is to cross the city in an east-west direction.

CityLynx Gold Line Phase 2

The second phase of the golden line will extend the previous line by another 2.5 miles and 11 stops, of which 2 miles from the Charlotte Transportation Center (CTC) head west to French Street and 1 mile from the eastern terminus at Presbyterian Hospital will continue along Hawthorne Lane to Sunnyside Avenue . Construction costs of 150 million US dollars are currently expected. Construction work is scheduled to begin at the end of 2016, and commissioning is currently planned for the end of 2019. From this point on, modern, low-floor vehicles, similar to those on the blue line, will be used and replace the line's previous fleet of vehicles.

Web links

Commons : Charlotte Stadtbahn  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

• Official website (English)

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Lynx Blue Line only
2. ^ Lynx Blue Line. CATS, accessed March 19, 2016 . 
3. ↑ Lynx light rail ridership back to 2008 levels. In: The Charlotte Observer. Retrieved March 19, 2016 . 
4. ^ LYNX Fares. In: CATS. Retrieved March 19, 2016 . 
5. ↑ Charlotte's LYNX Blue Line extended. Railway Gazette, accessed December 19, 2019 . 
6. ^ Blue Line Extension. (PDF) CATS, accessed on March 19, 2016 . 
7. ^ Blue Line Extension construction to affect North Tryon at Orr Road. In: The Charlotte Observer. Retrieved March 19, 2016 . 
8. ↑ LYNX Blue Line Extension. In: CATS. Retrieved March 19, 2016 . 
9. ↑ CityLYNX Gold Line. In: CATS. Retrieved March 19, 2016 . 
10. ↑ Gold Line Phase 2. CATS, accessed on March 19, 2016 (English).