Rebirth of the Streetcar
KC Streetcar, Kansas City. William C. Vantuono photo
RAILWAY AGE, MAY 2021 ISSUE: Nearly wiped out decades ago, the lightest form of light rail has made a remarkable comeback.
Two centuries ago, before anyone had the idea of laying rails on the ground so wheels could run swiftly and smoothly over them, nobody could travel faster than they or a horse could walk, or a boat could sail. Then came trains and streetcars, and everybody’s world suddenly seemed smaller.
Then, in the past century, came the decline of passenger trains and the near-extinction of streetcars in the United States and Canada. The past few decades have brought the rebirth of the streetcar, but not necessarily the way it was in its former Golden Age. It has become a genus, with several different species of vehicles that could be classified as “streetcars” or as the related species of “light rail” in all parts of the nation.
Tempe Streetcar Receives First Brookville Liberty® NXT Written by William C. Vantuono, Editor-in-Chief
The first of six Liberty® NXT Streetcars for Valley Metro’s Temp Streetcar at Brookville’s manufacturing facility in Western Pennsylvania prior to shipment.
Brookville Equipment Corp. has delivered the first new Liberty® NXT streetcars to Valley Metro Rail for the Tempe Streetcar system, slated to open later this year.
Like the previous iteration of the Liberty® Streetcar, the Liberty® NXT will utilize a lithium-ion battery onboard energy storage system (OESS) to operate on sections of the alignment without an overhead catenary system (OCS). The streetcar’s batteries stay charged with OCS traction power.