THREE of 32 new Siemens SD160 LRVs entered service in Calgary on July 4. Equipped with IGBT controls and AC drives, they are to be delivered in two batches, 15 this year and 17 in 2003, at a cost of C$112m. The bodyshells are being built in Siemens’ Carson plant in California and assembled at Sacramento.
The cars are needed to handle a boom in ridership on the 29·3 km C-Train network, and to operate a 3·4 km extension of the South line from Anderson Road to 146th Avenue South which is due to open in October. Two further extensions are scheduled to open in 2003, and another in 2006. Ridership has risen by 73% over the last five years, lifting the average daily patronage to 188000 journeys.
Calgary Transit has signed a ’Ride the Wind’ partnership agreement under which the light rail network will be entirely powered by renewable energy. Over the next few years Vision Quest Windelectric will install 12 extra turbines at its Pincher Creek wind farm in southern Alberta, and sell the power to Enmax, which supplies electricity to CT.
