BROOKVILLE, Pa. – Brookville Equipment Corporation (BROOKVILLE) delivered its fifth and sixth off-wire capable Liberty Streetcars to Detroit in March, wrapping up vehicle deliveries to the new QLINE streetcar line ahead of contractual delivery dates and prior to the QLINE’s recently announced May 12 start of revenue service.
“We are proud to work with the only U.S. based designer and manufacturer of streetcars,” said M-1 RAIL CEO Matt Cullen. “BROOKVILLE worked with us every step of the way to ensure the QLINE would meet its Spring 2017 operational launch. Our vehicle testing and training programs benefitted from the early vehicle deliveries and we are looking forward to our May 12 Grand Opening.”
Throughout the project, BROOKVILLE’s deliveries occurred an average of 57 days ahead of their contractual dates, beginning with the pilot vehicle’s arrival in September 2016. Since that time, the streetcars have been gradually undergoing testing in preparation for the forthcoming line opening.
Designed and manufactured at BROOKVILLE’s Pennsylvania manufacturing plant, the QLINE streetcar vehicles will traverse a 6.6 mile loop on Woodward without the aid of an overhead contact system (OCS) for 60 percent of the route, instead using the Liberty Streetcar’s battery onboard energy storage system (OESS).
Other key features of the 66.5 feet-long, 8 foot, 8 inch-wide vehicles include over 70 percent low-floor area, station-level passenger boarding, and the capability to comfortably transport up to 125 total passengers at a time to key business, shopping, entertainment, and dining centers along the route.
In addition to the M-1 RAIL order, BROOKVILLE has delivered Liberty Streetcars to Dallas Area Rapid Transit (DART) and is also currently under contract with the City of Oklahoma City and the City of Milwaukee for the production of similar Liberty Streetcar vehicles.
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 Streetcar design in 2012, with the pilot order delivered to Dallas, Texas in 2015. Later in 2015, the Liberty Streetcar onboard energy storage system (OESS) was honored with the LRTA’s Global Light Rail Award for ‘Technical Innovation of the Year.’ Additional Liberty Streetcars have been ordered by M1-RAIL in Detroit, the City of Oklahoma City, and the City of Milwaukee.
ABOUT M-1 RAIL
M-1 RAIL owns and operates the QLINE, a 6.6-mile circulating streetcar loop serving 12 locations on Woodward Ave. from Downtown Detroit through Midtown, New Center and the North End. The QLINE is the first major transit project led and funded by private businesses and philanthropic organizations, in partnership with local, state and the federal government.