Edmonton Light Rail Transit

LRT Edmonton
Route length:	24.3 km
Gauge :	1435 mm ( standard gauge )
Legend Clareview DL MacDonald Yard Belvedere Yellowhead Trail Coliseum stage NAIT Kingsway MacEwan Churchill Central Bay corona Grandin Dudley B. Menzies Bridge University Health Sciences McKernan / Belgravia South campus Southgate Whitemud Drive Century Park

The Edmonton Light Rail Transit (abbreviated LRT) is a light rail in Edmonton in the Canadian province of Alberta . The LRT is part of the Edmonton public transportation system and runs over 15 miles.

Lines

Crossing the North Saskatchewan River

The Edmonton Light Rail Transit has two lines: the Capital Line and the newly built Metro Line.

The Capital Line, a 20.3-kilometer, double-track line , begins and ends in the northeast of the city with the Clareview station and runs in a south-westerly direction into the city center with the Belvedere, Coliseum and Stadium stations on the surface. In front of Churchill station, the route changes underground and runs in the inner city area with the stations Central, Bay / Enterprise Square and Corona in an east-west direction. Between the Grandin and University stations, the route crosses the North Saskatchewan River on the Dudley B. Menzies Bridge, built especially for the light rail, in a north-south direction. Shortly before the Health Sciences / Jubilee station, the line reaches the surface again and then runs south via the McKernan / Belgravia, South Campus and Southgate stations to the Century Park terminus.

The metro line opened on September 6, 2015. The metro line uses a new branch of 3.3 kilometers with three new stations. From the Churchill underground station, the branch runs north on the surface to the new NAIT (Northern Alberta Institute of Technology) terminus. The metro and capital lines share the stations south of Churchill station. The metro line normally runs between Health Sciences / Jubilee and NAIT stations via Churchill. But during rush hour, Metro trains can run from Century Park to NAIT.

The Capital line uses five-car trains, but because of the short, temporary platforms at NAIT station, the metro line uses three-car trains. The capital line is every 5 and 10 minutes. The metro line runs every 15 minutes.

history

In 1962 , the city of Edmonton awarded the contract to develop a rapid transit system. The actual construction started in 1974 on the 7.2 kilometer stretch between Belvedere and Central. This was opened on April 22, 1978 . In the same year, the Commonwealth Games in Edmonton took place in the Commonwealth Stadium , which can be reached via the Station Stadium. When the line opened, Edmonton became the first North American city of less than one million people to use a light rail system.

The first extension of the line by 2.2 kilometers took place on April 26, 1981 with the opening of the new Clareview terminus. With the city center expansion in 1983 , the underground stations Bay (now Bay / Enterprise Square) and Corona were added. The southern route was expanded again in 1989 to include the Grandin station. With Station University , which opened in 1992 , the LRT reached the southern part of Edmonton and crossed the North Saskatchewan River. After a long period without extending the route, the Health Sciences station, which was renamed Health Sciences / Jubilee in 2009, opened on January 3, 2006 . The route to the terminus was completed in two stages. On April 25, 2009, 2.3 kilometers with the McKernan / Belgravia and South Campus stations were opened and a year later on April 24, 2010 the remaining 5.47 kilometers via the Southgate station to the Century Park terminus were opened.

extension

The new Valley Line will connect the southeast and western parts of Edmonton and will be built in two stages. The first stage, a 13-kilometer stretch already under construction, connects the southeastern part (Mill Woods) and the city center (102 Street NW and 102 Avenue NW), and comprises 11 stations and a depot. At Churchill Station, passengers can transfer to the Capital Line or the Metro Line. Today Churchill Station is underground, but the Valley Line will pass from Churchill Station on the surface in the street (102 Ave NW).

Another expansion planned is the extension of the metro line from NAIT Station to the north-western district of St. Albert.

vehicles

U2 car in the Health Sciences Station

SD-160 car in South Campus Station

The vehicles on the Capital and Metro lines are high-floor. All of the cars in service were of the Siemens Duewag U2 type until 2009 . All 37 of these are owned by the City of Edmonton. Some of these railcars were finally assembled in Canada. In order to cope with the demand for the 2009 extensions, a further 37 Siemens SD-160 cars were ordered in 2005 . The first car arrived in Edmonton on May 9, 2008. After a test and trial phase, the new cars went into regular operation on January 26, 2009.

The Valley line will use Bombardier's Flexity Freedom low-floor vehicles . Each Flexity car will have a capacity of 275 passengers.

Web links

Commons : Edmonton Light Rail Transit  - collection of images, videos and audio files

• official website
• Edmonton Transit System's LRT History. In: barp.ca. Retrieved January 14, 2018 . 
• Pictures and plans of the extensions

Individual evidence

1. ↑ ^{a b} ETS history. City of Edmonton, archived from the original on June 16, 2011 .  
2. ^ Dudley Menzies Bridge - Light Rail Transit Bridge Over The North Saskatchewan River. PCL Constructors Inc., archived from the original on July 16, 2011 .  
3. ↑ Graeme McElheran: Metro Line Opening September 6 City of Edmonton Communications, September 4, 2015. Retrieved on October 25, 2015 (English).  
4. ^ Metro LRT Operations. Retrieved October 25, 2015 .  
5. ↑ ^{a b} LRT for Everyone. (PDF) City of Edmonton, archived from the original on September 10, 2015 .  
6. ^ ^{A b} Bombardier Wins Order to Supply Light Rail Transit System for City of Edmonton's Valley Line in Canada. Bombardier, February 12, 2016, accessed August 5, 2016 .  
7. ^ Edmonton Transit System's LRT History. In: barp.ca. Retrieved January 14, 2018 .  
8. ↑ Photos of the new type of car. (No longer available online.) Formerly in the original ; accessed on January 14, 2018 .  ( Page no longer available , search in web archives )  
9. ↑ New LRT Cars Start in Regular Service. City of Edmonton February 12, 2016, archived from the original November 22, 2010 ; accessed on January 26, 2009 .