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2015 APTA-TRB LIGHT RAIL & STREETCAR CONFERENCE

Streetcars: A Modern Mode

Two public transportation business leaders--Thomas B. Furmaniak of LTK Engineering Services and Joel McNeil of Brookville Equipment Corporation--comment on new developments in streetcar technology.


Thomas B. Furmaniak
Senior Director
LTK Engineering Services

Low Floors; Energy Storage. A number of significant advancements in technology have benefited transit operators, including designs to incorporate low floors and the evolution of onboard energy storage systems to enable off-wire operation.

Low platforms and level boarding in the car’s low floor section have simplified passenger boarding, especially for those with special needs, and reduced stop dwell times. Portland’s TriMet was the first in North America to adopt this design in the mid-1990s. Since then we have seen it repeated on most new LRT projects and the first modern streetcar project here, also in Portland, in 2001.

Over time, vehicle manufacturers have developed unique truck assemblies and propulsion and braking configurations, along with structural designs, that have allowed a continuous low floor throughout the entire car.

Toronto has adopted this approach for its streetcar fleet while Cincinnati, which just received the first of five cars for its downtown streetcar project, is leading with this design in the U.S. The added benefits of a 100 percent low floor design are level boarding at every door, the avoidance of steps inside the vehicle and a more even distribution of passengers throughout the vehicle.

A newer advancement is the adoption of onboard energy storage systems, including batteries, supercapacitors and even flywheel devices. The rapid development of these technologies in the automotive industry has helped rail vehicle manufacturers introduce such systems without incurring all of the R&D costs. The benefits are the elimination of overhead wire for aesthetic reasons, such as through areas of historic and architectural significance, along parade routes and places with low clearances or other obstructions.

Seattle’s First Hill Streetcar, soon to open, was the first in North America to opt for this capability, primarily to avoid overhead trolleybus wires on the same route. Dallas was the first in service with its streetcar operation on the historic Houston Street viaduct. Both systems employ onboard battery systems for energy storage. Next up are Detroit, Oklahoma City, Fort Lauderdale, Charlotte and Washington, DC. Others are incorporating wire-free zones in their planning.

By virtue of the foregoing two technological advancements, municipalities and transit operators are able to introduce fully accessible streetcars into urban areas.


Joel McNeil
Vice President, Business Development
Brookville Equipment Corporation

Off-wire; Onboard Energy. Off-wire technologies are affording cities the opportunity to develop systems and route extensions that were previously inconceivable due to low clearances and restrictions on overhead wire. This not only allows cities to preserve clean aesthetics, but also gives them the opportunity to provide stops at the doorsteps of where riders want to go in the most efficient ways possible.

With our Liberty Modern Streetcars, we refer to these off-wire technologies as onboard energy storage systems (OESS), and there are options that can be selected to best meet each customer’s alignment and specific challenges. By having knowledge of the available OESS types and forthcoming development plans, cities can put themselves in a position to employ the off-wire technology that will best suit their specific needs.

For example, the Dallas streetcar features a lithium-ion battery solution and provides power to cross the Houston Street Viaduct over the Trinity River. The one-mile off-wire segment represents the majority of the route on a 1.6-mile starter line (which will soon be expanding). A similar OESS system will be used for M-1 RAIL’s Woodward Avenue line in Detroit.

Induction charging is another type of system Brookville has utilized, which is ideal for incremental charging at station stops along a wireless segment. In this case, induction power transfer units are positioned in the ground at station stops and pick-ups are located on the vehicle. Power can be transferred to the vehicle without a physical connection, ­providing additional charge for the OESS to continue on the wireless segment.

Each system needs to be analyzed individually to understand the operational conditions and determine the optimal OESS. In addition to distance of off-wire runs, other factors must be taken into account, including stops, grades, speed and traffic patterns, among others. It is not until all of these factors have been simulated and analyzed that the proper OESS can be identified.

As the technology behind the modern OESS evolves, completely wire-free systems may become a possibility in the future, potentially reducing startup time and overall costs for streetcar operators.

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