Tucson

June 2013

Streetcars by March 2014

All eight streetcars ordered by the city of Tucson from the Oregon Iron Works subsidiary United Streetcar LLC of Clackamas, Ore., should be delivered by March 2104, the City Council was told. The Arizona Daily Star reports that United Streetcar's president Kevin Clarke appeared before the council on June 18 to provide a manufacturing and delivery update. The infrastructure of the 3.9-mile modern streetcar line is expected to be fully completed by October 2013. The project cost now is estimated at $180 million, or $19.5 million below budget.

If the delivery date is met then service could start on the system by mid 2014, 8 months later than the date planned if the streetcars were delivered on time.

According to Clarke initial testing has begun on Tucson's first car and should be delivered to Tuscon for local testing in August. Subsequent cars would arrive at four week intervals.

Despite lengthy delays, United Streetcar's first production car has been accepted in Portland which may indicate that forecast delivery dates may now be more reliable.

Since Marc the city has been assessing the manufacturer damage charges as called for in the contract of $1,800 per day per car.

Track construction is scheduled to wrap up in July followed by completion of the overhead wire system in September.

Old Pueblo Plans to Resume Operation

Old Pueblo Trolley [OPT] has updated its website to indicate that discussions are underway with the city of Tucson to resume vintage streetcar service:
http://www.oldpueblotrolley.org/ The relevant text is as follows:

"NEWS: After 18 ½ years of serving the community, Old Pueblo Trolley's operation of historic streetcars was suspended at the end of October 2011 for construction of the modern streetcar project, which is currently expected to begin operation in the Summer of 2014. OPT is currently engaged in meetings with the City of Tucson aimed at resumption of historic trolley operations along with the modern streetcars."

In March of this year a delegation from the APTA Streetcar Committee met with volunteers from the Old Pueblo group and the City to discuss issues related to resumption of service and mixed operation of heritage and modern streetcars. A complete set of recommendations were drafted and given to the parties. Included was a suggestion that the group obtain a reliable 4-motor heritage car which could be used while restoration work continues on other cars in the Old Pueblo collection.