Dallas — First Brookville Car Arrives

March 2015

Railway Gazette reports that on March 24, 2015 Dallas officials unveiled the first newly-delivered modern streetcar supplied by Brookville Equipment of Pennsylvania for the Dallas-Oak Cliff line scheduled to begin service on April 13. A second car for the line will follow shortly. Discussions are reportedly underway to exercise options for two more cars to run on the planned extension of the new line.

The cars will operate on battery power over the Houston Street viaduct but will draw power from overhead wires at each end of the bridge.

A $9·4m contract with Brookville Equipment Corp for two vehicles was signed in February 2013 and includes the option for two additional vehicles. The bidirectional three-section Brookville Liberty Modern Streetcar is 70% low floor. At 20·3 m (66.6 feet) long it is about half the length of the LRVs in the existing DART fleet.

It is 2 400 mm (7.87 feet) wide with capacity for 100 passengers including 34 seated. Maximum speed is 70 km/h (43.4 MPH). Two 550 V batteries are installed to power the four 99 kW AC traction motors when off-wire.