Four car CTrain service launching early in Calgary
Posted Nov 13, 2015 11:42 am.
This article is more than 5 years old.
After a successful test run, four-car CTrain service is up and running full time in Calgary.
For now, only two trains on the 201 Red Line (Tuscany-Somerset) will have an extra car, with a more gradual transition for the rest of the fleet.
Transit Director Doug Morgan explains they have new and improved cars arriving in January, to roll out through 2016.
“It will take us some time to work the wrinkles in our brand new fleet, but we hope by March, we start to see them come online, one or two per month. So, slowly as we get them, as quickly as we commission, get them ready for service, they’ll be out online,” he said.
They hope they will have 18 extra-long trains by Stampede 2016, and replace their aging fleet from the 1980s by early 2017.
“Some of them have as much as 2.8 million miles on them, so they’ve been around the world a few times,” he said.
Mayor Naheed Nenshi made the announcement Tuesday morning, hopping out of the driver’s seat of one of the four car trains.
“For the last several years, the biggest problem with Calgary Transit has been that’s it’s too popular. Too many people are taking the trains, and it’s hard sometimes to get on a train, it’s hard sometimes to be comfortable on a train, and this 33 per cent increase in capacity is going to make a huge difference,” he said.
The extra cars will carry 200 more passengers per trip.
Morgan says it’s nice to see some pay off after a lot of hard work.
“It’s been a big job, we’ve had to put together a lot of pieces, extend every platform, we have to realign tracks, we’ve had to redo circuitry, add tracks and power for the new heavier trains,” he said.
