Post navigation

Prev: (07/28/15) | Next: (07/28/15)

First Hill Streetcar — ‘The start date is still not fixed’

It’s getting to the point where updates on when the First Hill Streetcar won’t start service are about as exciting as watching videos of the First Hill Streetcar being tested.

CHS stands undeterred.

“The start date is still not fixed as we need the manufacturer to complete this iterative process of testing and fine-tuning to safety-certify the vehicles before we can finalize our start-up activities,” read the last of three bullet points included in Scott Kubly’s streetcar portion of the SDOT director’s monthly status report delivered to the City Council’s transportation committee Tuesday morning.

“All streetcars for the First Hill Line have now been delivered, and the manufacturer is targeting the end of July for substantial completion of two cars that are still in final assembly here in Seattle,” bullet point one informs us. Friday is the 31st so workers at the line’s International District maintenance facility will be busy.

According to Kubly’s update, all that remains before service can begin on the ten-stop, 2.5-mile streetcar line from S Jackson and Occidental to Broadway and Denny Way connecting Pioneer Square, the ID, Little Saigon, First Hill and Capitol Hill is…. testing. “The critical path for the start of service is now the commissioning and testing process for the vehicles,” bullet point two said.

SDOT wrote about the testing in a recent update:

The new First Hill Streetcar visited all its neighborhoods from Capitol Hill to Pioneer Square on Tuesday as part of its ongoing testing program. These low-speed tests focused on the braking performance when traveling downhill in traffic. Many of our tests are performed late at night or on the 8th Avenue S maintenance facility track–some will even be performed with the new car delivered to the South Lake Union line–but this was a nice opportunity to show off for the lunchtime crowd on a sunny July day!  We are working hard with the manufacturer to get the vehicles ready for passenger service. The start date is still not fixed as we need the manufacturer to complete this iterative process of testing and fine-tuning to safety-certify the vehicles before we can finalize our start-up activities.

While the city has yet to put its word on the line with a firm launch date, in June’s update at City Hall, Kubly came as close as he dared to naming August as the new goal for the line originally planned for a 2014 start. “We are making every effort to be ready to start service in August, but cannot fix the date with certainty until the testing and safety certification has progressed a bit further,” Kubly’s briefing read.

While construction on the rails and the line’s accompanying bikeway have been complete since late 2014, issues around the trolleys manufactured by Inekon have lead to delays and contractual financial penalties for the Czech firm. Inekon found itself wrestling with the unique power system being deployed in the First Hill line. Heading from Pioneer Square to Broadway, the First Hill Streetcar will operate on electrical power provided by a single overhead wire “which receives electricity provided by four traction power substations strategically located along the 2.5 mile route.” On the return trip downhill, new hybrid batteries will provide the streetcars power “generated through its regenerative braking along the inbound route, much of it downhill.”

When it does start running, the new streetcars will arrive at the 10 stops every 10-15 minutes from 5 AM to 1 AM Monday to Saturday and 10 AM to 8 PM on Sundays and holidays. The trains will share traffic lanes with motor vehicles. The streetcar’s current northern terminus will deliver riders to Broadway and Denny — across the street from future light rail service at Capitol Hill Station. Planning to extend the streetcar and its accompanying bikeway north on Broadway to Roy by 2017 is also underway.

Subscribe and support CHS Contributors -- $1/$5/$10 per month

9 Comments
Inline Feedbacks
View all comments
genevieve
genevieve
8 years ago

I was just wondering about this today. I go back and forth between being excited for service to start and being thoroughly exasperated by the delays (which then reminds me that the streetcar really, really, really should have run on 12th).

harvey
harvey
8 years ago

Such a colossal waste of $$. 10 stops in 2.5 miles. You can walk it. I can’t wait to see who is taking that thing at 12:30 a.m. to the International District.

Jim98122x
Jim98122x
8 years ago
Reply to  harvey

Maybe YOU can walk it. Consider yourself fortunate you have your mobility. Not everyone can. And when you start seeing more tourists from Pioneer Sq area ending up on Broadway, ask yourself how they might have gotten there.

wilbur
8 years ago
Reply to  Jim98122x

they got there via the light rail to capitol hill

josh
josh
8 years ago
Reply to  harvey

i’d love to be able to catch this thing from near my apartment at the north terminus and take it to the ID for grocery shopping. lugging heavy bags of groceries on foot is a real bitch, and the last time i went via metro, i had to take a bus downtown, transfer to the 7, then because of delays, ended up waiting almost 30 minutes for a random bus to take me back to the hill. i can’t wait for this to open.

K
K
8 years ago
Reply to  josh

Exactly.

AJF
AJF
8 years ago

I was initially skeptical about this project but now that I work in Pioneer Square I can definitely see myself using it. Between the new light rail station (early 2016 can’t come soon enough!) and the street car, getting up the hill will be much easier and faster.

Ssfctid
Ssfctid
8 years ago

I really wished they brought this up to 23rd. Seems so fucking obvious. Not looking forward to hoofing it up Yestler at 1am after a night out.

wilbur
8 years ago

By the time this silly streetcar is in service, the technology to drill through unstable soils will be improved to the point that we could have had a first hill light rail station at a fraction of the cost of the separate streetcar.