And this is why the power source question is important. Pretty soon we will have tracks in the street, cars in storage and operators available (provided by WMATA) but still no way to power the streetcars.

(if the decision comes out that we have to do some non-overhead-wire power source, then we don't have "cars in storage" because they won't work with the other systems).

by Michael Perkins on May 26, 2009 2:58 pm • link • report

Great news! But the streetcars *can* run the length of Benning Road using overhead wires, as it wasn't part of L'Enfant's original plan for DC, but I doubt the city wants to do that until they can figure out the rest of the system.

Are streetcar advocates pushing to change the federal law about overhead wires?

by Tom A. on May 26, 2009 3:01 pm • link • report

I hope they install them correctly. Seattle installed tracks early in the bus tunnel but they had to be replaced later because they weren't insulated. Anyone know if the engineers did it right?

by The Overhead Wire on May 26, 2009 3:10 pm • link • report

Can anyone give more information about the "no overhead wires" law? When the streetcars were first used, the city MADE companies switch from horse drawn trolleys to overhead wires when electricity became available.

When did the overhead wires become taboo?

by Tom A. on May 26, 2009 3:11 pm • link • report

Now how many more decades before we see the cars, Benning road will still be a b***h to drive or use public transit on with or without this.

Also does anyone know what is the difference between lightrail and a streetcar (what are portland and baltimore classified as and whats the difference between the two)

by kk on May 26, 2009 3:28 pm • link • report

Or we can just change the law on a case-by-case basis. Surely Eleanor could deliver on that, but NCPC will do doubt object to stomping on their turf. I can see where you don't want wires and clutter on the monumental avenues, but with all due respect, H St and Benning Road don't exactly qualify. There would also be some additional training necessary for fire-fighters. As long as the wire support structures are kept unobtrusive (i.e., NOT like Howard St in Baltimore) I don't think aesthetics should be much of a concern, with good design. Many historic central cities in Europe have overhead wires, and you hardly notice them.

For what it's worth, elimination of overhead wires was a big cause-celebre for the City Beautiful movement, and if you've seen late 19th-century and early 20th-century photos of American cities, the profusion of overhead wires was pretty ugly. That's when streetcars, electrical grids and telephones were in their infancy. Manhattan also had an extensive network of conduit streetcars. I'm not totally convinced, actually, that a modern conduit system would be unworkable. It seemed to function well for decades in DC and Manhattan.

by Paul on May 26, 2009 3:50 pm • link • report

The overhead wires are banned within the federal city, so they're OK on Benning Road, but I think once you cross the "Starburst" intersection at 15th St NE (it becomes H street there), the wires would be banned.

As far as I can tell, the ball is in DDOT's court. Tommy Wells is on record as supporting a streetcar, with or without wires. He would allow a request for proposals for wireless options so that we can see what's available right now.

And it does need to be "right now", not just "in development" or "undergoing testing", or "proposed". Not for a project that's this close to operation.

Congress isn't likely to take up this issue until DC asks for it. So it may be Congress that gets the final decision, but they're not going to do anything until DDOT and DC ask.

Does anyone know where Klein and the Mayor are on this issue?

kk, light rail and streetcar are both "fuzzy" terms, but the way they're typically used, streetcar means the vehicles share a lane with traffic (they're right of way category C) whereas light rail typically has their own lane but do not have separated crossings (right of way category B). Heavy Rail or metro typically have completely separated rights of way (category A).

by Michael Perkins on May 26, 2009 4:12 pm • link • report

My understanding, Michael, is that NCPC has already dug in its heels pretty hard and would likely strongly oppose any Congressional action to lift the ban. Largely because it would step on its oversight prerogatives. If DDOT wants to use overhead wires, DDOT and the Fenty Administration has a lot of political work to really make it happen. Until that's done, talk of streetcars in the L'Enfant zone is pretty much pie-in-the-sky.

by Paul on May 26, 2009 4:25 pm • link • report

Was there a serious flaw in the underground wire technology used by early-to-mid 20th Century streetcars in Washington? Seems that the system worked pretty well in those days.

by CP on May 26, 2009 4:38 pm • link • report

So, Mike, the options are the Nice system, or the Bordeaux system, then? New conduit systems don't really exist, and like the Bordeaux system and the unproven Primove, would likely require ripping up the railbed again to install the in-ground systems.

They've kind of set up a system lock-in by not installing some provision for in-ground power, so I suspect we're gonna get overhead wires and batteries, at best.

by цarьchitect on May 26, 2009 4:40 pm • link • report

Would it be illegal to pull the cars using horses like was done in the past? It might be a good example of the ridiculousness of all the fighting about who has jurisdiction, and shed a light on all the wasted taxpayer money this project has created.

Or better yet, maybe the powers that be can just unzip their trousers and see who has the biggest "streetcar."

by Tom A. on May 26, 2009 4:42 pm • link • report

Streetcars....they're like buses except they can't change routes.

Besides, shouldn't they be in NW anyways rather than the east side of town? SWPL even said that streetcars are something that white people like.

But really - what do you do if the corridor the tracks are on becomes irrelevant and you're stuck with all this fixed infrastructure?

by MPC on May 26, 2009 5:42 pm • link • report

@Tom A - I love your suggestion. That would be great.

by Ed on May 26, 2009 5:54 pm • link • report

A weak 'what if' from you there, MPC. It would more than likely revitalize the area due to the permanence of the tracks and the investment by the city it symbolizes, and at the very worst would move people closer in to the city core and its jobs. What corridor would do better for east-west than H street? It was once full of businesses and is coming back. Maybe Pennsylvannia to Independence but that would be it.

by NikolasM on May 26, 2009 6:03 pm • link • report

at the very worst would move people closer in to the city core and its jobs.

Forgetting about opportunity cost. If revitalization was as easy laying track then A- more cities would have done it by now and B- it wouldn't have taken till the 1990s for the parts of DC torn by the '68 riots to revitalize.

by MPC on May 26, 2009 6:15 pm • link • report

it wouldn't have taken till the 1990s for the parts of DC torn by the '68 riots to revitalize

Do you know when the Mid-City portion of the Green Line opened?

by цarьchitect on May 26, 2009 6:49 pm • link • report

MPC, the H Street NE corridor will not become irrelevant anytime soon. In fact, i'd say it was the removal of streetcar lines in DC that made places like H Street, 14th Street, and Georgia Avenue irrelevant. After 1962 when streetcars were discontinued, there was gradual decline in many of the retail corridors in DC. By the time the riots happened, they were already on their last legs in places. It wasn't till the mid city line, like Tsarchitect said, that some of these corridors turned around. Yeah, it took until the '90's because laying track isn't as easy as you make it out to be, especially in a regulatory nightmare like DC. However, the effect the transit line had is evident. I mean, let's face it, DC's urban fabric isn't car friendly. We're not built like Tysons...never have been, never will be, and we have to find transit solutions that work for a dense environment.

So why the pricey streetcar over the cheap bus? Most people, me included, are more willing to get on a streetcar than get on a bus because at least we can look at the tracks and know where the hell we're going. I still get a little nervous when I try a bus route for the first time because you can never be totally sure what route it's going to take. Businesses are going to seek out a location near permanent infrastructure like streetcar tracks because they know the routes aren't going to change overnight.

As far as this power situation, you KNOW DDOT is going to end up tearing out the pavement in a couple of years to put in a power system...UGH! DDOT: There are two wireless power systems out there right now. Pick one and go with it.

by merarch on May 26, 2009 11:22 pm • link • report

Several thing need to be clarified. First, the anti-overhead wire ordinance was passed by the US Congress in 1890 and required the street railways to change over from

horsecars at the same time! At that time there was no viable

alternative option for wires for electric cars. The only workable one was the moving "rope" cable technology like in San Francisco that was installed by two of the companies on

four routes from 1891. The other companies experimented with

other forms of propulsion such as storage batteries, compressed air and other hardly workable things! In the meantime, one short urban route went into service in 1895 using horsecars! In that same year, the Metropolitan RR installed the new General Electric conduit system on its

Lincoln Park-Georgetown line. Finally there was a workable

alternative to overhead wires! The other companies soon followed suit and the last cable lines ran in 1899. The

conduit system had some major drawbacks though. It was much

more expensive to install and maintain than wires and when

in the winter when we had snow and/or ice storms the conduit

slot would be be clogged which would tear the current collector "plows" from under cars causing the whole line to

be backed up! Snow and ice will cause problems with surface

contact systems too- so now we're in the same quandery we were in 110 years ago! Just let them simply put up simple,

unobtrusive overhead wire on H St. east of N. Capitol St!

by Barry Smith on May 26, 2009 11:28 pm • link • report

Overhead wires are not necessarily ugly, there is a beauty in their functionality. Most major italian cities have them, even Rome does! And they fit in quite well. As far as aesthetics goes, we have a lot more to worry about besides overhead wires...

by Dcist on May 27, 2009 8:58 am • link • report

Anyone else notice how, in the picture of Benning Road, there are ALREADY overhead wires?

by tom veil on May 27, 2009 9:54 am • link • report

I wonder if these rails could use battery-operated LR cars, like the Kawaskai SWIMO (NiMH).

by JB on May 27, 2009 10:39 am • link • report

"What do you do if the corridor the tracks are on becomes irrelevant and you're stuck with all this fixed infrastructure?"

Exactly! What do we do if the rail line between DC and NYC becomes irrelevant? All that fixed infrastructure. Tragic.

by ibc on May 27, 2009 1:04 pm • link • report

"What do you do if the corridor the tracks are on becomes irrelevant and you're stuck with all this fixed infrastructure?"

And what do you do when a diesel bus croaks after 8-10 years (if you're lucky) of service? Haul it off to the bone yard. LRVs and heavy rail transit vehicles can last decades and most are rebuilt, at least once, during their life cycles. WMATA's oldest cars will be pushing 40 before they are retired. The more rugged construction of rail vehicles (made possible by steel-wheel-on-steel-rail technology) extends their longevity considerably.

by Paul on May 27, 2009 1:11 pm • link • report

MPC: Nobody builds condo developments around bus lines because bus lines can be moved, leaving the condo dwellers stuck. That's the whole point of "fixed infrastructure".

Look at the history of the West: Places where the railroads put lines (eeeek! "fixed infrastructure"!) thrived. Those that the railroads skipped, died. Decades later, places that were near or on interstates (still fixed infrastructure, but it's OK since it's not Commie Hippie Public Transport, right?) thrive; those that aren't on or near interstates have a much tougher row to hoe. And in my own Twin Cities, the healthiest parts of the real estate market are -- tah-dah! -- the places nearest existing or planned light-rail lines.

See the point here? The evil fixed transportation infrastructure, most especially the mass-transit stuff that's bashed by glibertarians and other people who hate the idea of sitting next to black people for a few minutes out of each day, draws the commerce and the development to it in a powerful and undeniable way, and always has.

As for why it took until the '90s for the 1968-riot-affected parts of DC to recover: Well, for one thing, DC didn't get its first Metro trains until nearly a decade AFTER the riots. For another, the Metro, for various reasons (some financial, some logistical) didn't spring up fully formed as we know it today, but has grown over the decades, so coverage of the DC area wasn't as comprehensive as it is now. (I mean, duuuuh.)

by Phoenix Woman on May 28, 2009 11:22 am • link • report

Wouldn't overhead wires technically make it a trolley? :-D

http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/trolley%20car

by Matt Glazewski on May 28, 2009 1:26 pm • link • report

Technically: no. Since like almost all modern streetcars those purchased by DC use pantographs not trolley poles.

On overhead wires: the Benning Rd/H st. alignment could be dealt with by simply installing a Siemens Sitras HES system on the (already purchased) vehicles. Whether that is a solution that can extend to a larger downtown system is a harder question.

by egk on May 28, 2009 3:16 pm • link • report

@egk, according to the link, the range of that system is up to 2.5km. The distance from the "starburst" intersection to Union station is 1.9km.

So that system would be only good for a one-way trip from overhead wires on Benning Road to Union Station, and only if the system operated at peak performance for battery range. If the batteries degrade over time, it's possible that the cars might not make it even all the way to Union Station.

Additionally, what if you want the streetcar to eventually go the whole length of the current X2 bus line and end at 16th Street, which is another 2km past Union Station?

You're going to need some point along the route for the cars to wait *many* minutes while enough energy to travel the rest of the route is transferred to the battery.

Those battery systems look like they're more meant for crossing through the historic old city, where the historic old city is about 1km in diameter. As long as DC's "historic old city" is about 5-6km in diameter, the technology is going to have to more than double in capability before it's a reasonable choice.

by Michael Perkins on May 28, 2009 4:21 pm • link • report

There is a longer German language newspaper article that describes the system in a little more detail.

Crucial points: The Sitras HES is a dual system with quick-charging capacitors carrying most of the energy. Recharging (claimed to take just 20 seconds) can be done at stops to extend the range (in this case that would mean at Union Station for the ride back). And the current design parameters are for the first generation system available now - Siemens expects performance to improve and prices to drop.

Of course it isn't ideal for the whole system, and I still hold high hopes for PRIMOVE. But until that is proven, this is something that would get trains (even the ones DC already has) running all the way to Union Station without an act of Congress.

by egk on May 29, 2009 12:08 am • link • report

Just go ahead and install the overhead wires. I live in SF and we have the largest network of trolleybuses in the country (mostly to navigate the steep hills). For the most part the wires are unobtrusive. Sure, there are intersections that are unsightly, but you get over it quickly. Given that L'Enfant's grid has already been tampered with (street closures, freeways, etc.) just get on with the project and get the trains moving.

by sf4fun66 on May 31, 2009 3:01 pm • link • report

Just go ahead and install the overhead wires.

Unlike San Francisco, we don't ignore the laws to advance liberal agendas.

by MPC on May 31, 2009 3:26 pm • link • report

I agree with MPC. I'd much rather have a legislative solution which acknowledges limited streetcar wires as an exemption then to overturn the law completely by just ignoring it.

by Michael Perkins on May 31, 2009 9:05 pm • link • report

In San Francisco there was originally pressure to require

conduit on Market Street and some other area within the

city but then on 18 April,1906 the huge earthquake and fire

occured and to rebuild quickly, overhead wire was strung and

any ideas about conduit was quickly forgotten! However, that

being said, conduit may have worked better because of SFO's

temperate year round weather without the severe winters that

occur with periodic snow and ice we have here in DC!

by Barry Smith on May 31, 2009 9:43 pm • link • report

Not mentioned above were two other wireless systems for streetcars. CAF of Spain offers their Acumulador de Carga Rapida capacitor storage system that allows 1.2 km of travel per charge with a 25 second recharge time. And Kawasaki offers their Gigacell nickel metal-hydride battery system that allows 10 km of travel with a 3 to 5 minute recharge time. Some sort of contact system would be required at recharge locations.

by Robert Scheuerman on Jun 6, 2009 12:31 am • link • report

Paul, with all do respect, you do not know about wich you are spouting. As a life long Washingtonian from upper NW, I moved to the Stadium-Armory Neighborhood near Langston Golf. I have lived in that area for seven plus years. I could not be happier. H Street, NE is already better than Adams Morgan and U Street (put together). Capitol Hill real estate prices are higher than in Georgetown. H Street and Benning, NE (Kingman Park) (west of the river) are the toast of the town. You do not want to believe it because you are under water in your NW mortgage, but it is safer, in Capitol Hill East, than in NW (anywhere east of 16th). Capitol Hill East is more fun and relevant to Washington being the National Capitol than anywhere in NW, period. The street cars can be powered by electricity without wires over head. With or without them, the area is taking off.

by Bill S on Nov 26, 2009 10:38 am • link • report