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EDMONTON
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| Alberta . Canada |
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EDMONTON
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| Edmonton has a population of 1 million in the city and 1.4 million in the metropolitan area and was the first North American city with less than a million inhabitants to build a light rail system, which runs underground in central areas, just like a European Premetro or Stadtbahn system. In 2023, the network was complemented with a French-style modern tramway, the Valley Line. | |||
| Capital & Metro Lines | |||
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Construction on the initial LRT line began in 1974 at 95 Street and 106 Avenue. The first segment between Belvedere and Central was inaugurated in April 1978, in time for Commonwealth Games. The line follows a CN right-of-way (National Railways) from Belvedere to Stadium, from where it continues in a new tunnel to Central station. In 1981 it was extended north to Clareview, and later in stages through the city centre: to Corona in 1983 and to Grandin in 1989. In 1992, the light rail trains reached the deepest station of the line, at 23 m below street level, at University of Alberta, after crossing the North Saskatchewan River on the Dudley B. Menzies LRT Bridge, which has a lower level for pedestrians and cyclists. Since 1983, all stations have been built with full accessibility for the disabled, while other stations were later upgraded. In the late 1990's Clareview and Belvedere stations were covered and their platforms lengthened to allow the use of 5-car trains. While the underground sections have full metro standard, there are level crossings along the surface sections. After the completion of the South LRT project in April 2010, the "Capital Line" has a total length of 20.5 km (4.4 km underground), with 6 underground and 9 surface stations. Initially, there were 37 light-rail vehicles in use (24.3 m long, 2.65 m wide, built by Siemens-Duewag, similar to the 'U2' vehicles in Frankfurt and San Diego). In June 2008, Siemens delivered the first of 37 SD 160 type light rail vehicles. In September 2015, when the "Metro Line" opened to NAIT (Northern Alberta Institute of Technology) in the north of the city, the original line became known as the "Capital Line". The Metro Line is being extended northwest in various stages. |
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Valley Line |
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The Valley Line is rather a modern European-style tramway than an American light rail system, running 13 km from downtown Edmonton southeast to Mill Woods and including one elevated station at Davies. It uses low-floor Flexity Freedom vehicles manufactured by Bombardier (now Alstom). After some delays, the initial section eventually opened on 4 Nov 2023. In the second stage, the Valley Line is being extended westwards to Lewis Farms to form a 27 km cross-city line. |
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History
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22
April 1978: Belvedere
- Central (6.9 km) |
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Links
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ETS - Official Site Edmonton Light Rail at Wikipedia More photos by Jon Bell Edmonton Radial Railway Society (Heritage Trams)
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URBAN RAIL in CANADA – Metro · Subway · Light Rail · Tram · Streetcar · Commuter Rail Vancouver · Calgary · Edmonton · Waterloo/Kitchener · Hamilton · Mississauga · Toronto · Ottawa · Montréal · Québec Text deutsch
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High
Level Bridge Streetcar
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2007 © Robert Schwandl (UrbanRail.Net)
