The City of Milwaukee and Brookville Equipment Corporation (BROOKVILLE) agreed to terms on November 13, 2015 for the supply of four Liberty Modern Streetcars to the city’s 2.1- route-mile starter line in a contract valued at $18,620,841, with an option for an additional 20 vehicles to support the system’s expected expansion and future development.
The Liberty Modern Streetcars will draw power from an overhead contact system (OCS) while navigating key commercial and residential segments of Milwaukee’s urban core. Landmarks and attractions along the route will include Milwaukee Public Market, the historic Third Ward neighborhood, East Town, Lower East Side, and Cathedral Square Park, while also connecting riders to the city’s downtown intermodal station, providing service to 1.4 million annual users.
Milwaukee’s streetcars will feature an 8 foot, 8 inch body width, a majority low-floor design with station-level boarding, and provide seating for 32 passengers, with additional standing room providing the ability to comfortably transport more than 150 passengers. Rider amenities will include, bicycle racks and an HVAC system adapted to meet the needs of Milwaukee’s seasonal climate.
Delivery of the streetcars will begin in the third quarter of 2017, with all four initial vehicles on-site by the first quarter of 2018.
“Milwaukee is yet another American city that sees the value in streetcars as a transit and development tool,” said BROOKVILLE Vice President of Business Development Joel McNeil. “We are eager provide an American-designed streetcar that is part of a system that the city and its people can be proud of as this forward-thinking initiative comes to fruition and continues to expand.”
The order marks the third American designed and manufactured Liberty Modern Streetcar fleet that BROOKVILLE will deliver to a United States city. In 2015, BROOKVILLE delivered two Liberty Modern Streetcars to Dallas Area Rapid Transit (DART) and the City of Dallas. More recently, DART and the City of Dallas exercised an option for two additional, identical streetcars. Also in 2015, BROOKVILLE secured an order for six wide-body Liberty Modern Streetcars with M-1 RAIL in Detroit. Those streetcars will begin service along the Woodward Avenue line in 2017.
ABOUT BROOKVILLE EQUIPMENT CORPORATION – STREETCAR DIVISION
Headquartered in Brookville, Pa., in the scenic foothills of the Allegheny forests, Brookville Equipment Corporation is a world class American manufacturer of innovative powered transportation solutions for the mining/tunneling, rail freight and passenger transportation industries. BROOKVILLE contributed to the first American manufactured streetcars since the 1950s in 2001 and has modernized, manufactured and remanufactured PCC and heritage streetcars and trolleys for the New Orleans Regional Transit Authority (NORTA), the San Francisco Municipal Transportation Authority (SFMTA) and the Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority (SEPTA). Building upon the company’s 95 years of rail-mounted vehicle manufacturing experience and over a decade of streetcar manufacturing, BROOKVILLE introduced the innovative Liberty Modern Streetcar design in 2012, with the pilot order delivered to Dallas, Texas in 2015 and a second order currently underway for Detroit’s M-1 RAIL streetcar line.