El Paso tram

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
tram
El Paso Streetcar
Basic information
Country Texas , USA
city El Paso, Texas
opening November 9, 2018 (1881 for former tram, shut down in 1947/1974)
electrification 1902
operator SunMetro Mass Transit Department, City of El Paso
Infrastructure
Route length 7.7
Formerly the largest
route 		120
Track length 7.7
Gauge 1435 mm ( standard gauge )
Power system 650 V DC pantograph
Operating mode Furnishing operation
Depots 1
business
Lines 1
Line length 7.7
Clock in the peak hours 25th
Clock in the SVZ 30th
vehicles PCC car

The El Paso tram is the tram system in the US city ​​of El Paso in the state of Texas, with a population of around 680,000 . With its sister city Ciudad Juárez and the surrounding communities across the border in Mexico, it forms a metropolitan region with around two million inhabitants.

Former tram

Railcar on the bridge over the Rio Grande , 1914
Open summer railcar in El Paso, around 1914
The PCC car 1504 has just passed the state border into Mexico in the 1960s

In 1881, rail-operated local public transport on regular-gauge tracks was opened with a wooden wagon pulled by a mule , which quickly expanded to include four different companies. In the late 1890s, this company finally reached the city of Ciudad Juárez , located on the other side of the Rio Grande in Mexico , with a cross-border route. The railway was operated regularly with mules, horses were also used for freight transport.

The first electric tram ran in El Paso on January 11, 1902. The tram was operated by the El Paso Electric Railway Co. At the time of its greatest expansion in the 1920s, the network had grown to a length of 103 km and served the downtown districts , Sunset Heights, Kern Place, Segundo Barrio, Highland Park, Morningside Heights, Fort Bliss, Government Hill, Washington Park, and Ciudad Juárez. This included the 19 km long overland route to Ysleta , which was opened in 1913 .

In 1943 the company was bought up by National City Lines in the wake of the Great American Tram Scandal and all lines operating exclusively on the US side were discontinued until 1947. Only the cross-border tram line from El Paso to Ciudad Juárez was initially retained.

In 1950, 17 PCC cars built in 1937 and three further PCC cars in 1952 were acquired from the San Diego tram . They also received a second pantograph , to simplify customs controls, longitudinal instead of transverse bench seats and vehicle numbers 1500 to 1519.

The National City Lines did not receive a concession to operate buses in the neighboring city, in this way, after a temporary cessation of operations in 1964 and the construction of the bridge over the Rio Grande, cross-border tram traffic was resumed in 1967. Nevertheless: Because the Mexican population preferred to shop in the USA, the administration of Ciudad Juárez withdrew the tram company's operating license in 1973. After the end of cross-border traffic on July 31, 1973, the tram remained in operation for a short time within El Paso in the form of a shorter ring line. On May 4, 1974, it was shut down there too. In October 1977, large parts of the overhead line in Ciudad Juárez were dismantled; the tracks and overhead lines in El Paso were still in place until after 1979.

In contrast to some other cities in the USA, however, the “tram idea” remained present: In the 1990s, the city council operated a number of rubber-tired trams that ran on the streets of El Paso. At the beginning of the 2000s, however, their operation was stopped again.

Today's tram

Parked PCC car from El Paso, 1993
Contact line and track under construction (2017)

In 2012 the El Paso City Council decided to reintroduce the tram and reactivate the 17 remaining PCC cars (three had since been scrapped). The latter had been parked in the desert and were largely protected from corrosion by the dry climate. Six of the vehicles were to be restored for $ 18.8 million. After their recovery, however, their condition turned out to be worse than expected.

In July 2014, approval was given for the construction of two single-track, loop-shaped lines, which are known as the Downtown Loop and the Uptown Loop and form an eight by means of a short joint section. The track construction work began on December 7, 2017, and by March 2018 it was 95 percent complete. The tracks are located in the street space and are partially marked, separate tracks do not exist. Instead of names, the 27 stops are numbered. They are designed similar to each other with protective roofs, seating and information boards; there are no ticket machines.

The first vehicle to be reconstructed by Brookville Equipment Corporation reached the city on March 19, 2018, with Car 1506 . The 14.3 m long and 2.6 m wide PCC now draws its traction current (650 V DC ) from the single contact line via a single-arm pantograph . Air conditioning was installed on the roof, which also changed the appearance of the railcar. At the middle door he was given a lifting device for wheelchairs , and he was also equipped with three bike racks and WiFi. To get closer to the different epochs, two vehicles were given a different color paint:

  • 1950s variant : PCC 1511 and 1515 (orange / green with white roof and light green stripes),
  • 1960s variant : PCC 1504 and 1514 (turquoise green with white roof and dark green stripes) and
  • 1970s variant : PCC 1506 and 1512 (turquoise green with white roof and red stripes).

The first test drive with one of the vehicles took place on April 3, 2018, and on October 10, preliminary operation began without passengers. Even before the last car 1511 was delivered on December 19, 2018, tram operation was ceremoniously opened on November 9.

The depot is located near Stop 1 at the Downtown Santa Fe Transfer Center bus station . The plan to operate two separate lines was abandoned in favor of a single line. In the shape of an eight, the 7.7 km long route will be completed in 45 minutes, with stop 5 on Franklin Avenue being reached twice. The regular fare is $ 1.50 and can be dropped into a fare box in the vehicle.

The operator of the railway is the Sun Metro Mass Transit Department, or "Sun Metro" for short. Initially, a 15-minute interval was offered with four cars. Since April 1, 2019, only three vehicles have been in use, running every 25 minutes. It starts all day at 11 a.m. and closes at midnight on Sundays through Wednesdays. From Thursday to Saturday, the cars are in use until 3 a.m. the next day.

outlook

A new line to the Medical Center of the Americas Foundation in the east of the city is planned. An international connection to Ciudad Juarez is also being discussed. A fast bus network with four lines is also to be set up, the first of which is in operation: here, too, it may be possible to switch to trams in the long term.

literature

Web links

Commons : Tram El Paso  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c Cindy Ramirez: Wired up: Return of the StreetCar In: El Paso Inc. from July 30, 2018 ( Memento from June 24, 2019 in the Internet Archive )
  2. ↑ a b c d e f g h PCC revival in the desert in: Straßenbahn Magazin 7/2019, p. 34 ff.
  3. ↑ http://www.tramz.com/mx/cj/cj.html
  4. ↑ http://www.tramz.com/mx/cj/cj.html
  5. ↑ El Paso Streetcar website , accessed June 25, 2019.