Buffalo Metro Rail
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Buffalo Metro Rail is the public transit rail system in Buffalo, New York; it is operated by the Niagara Frontier Transportation Authority, or NFTA. The system consists of a single, 6.6 mile (10.6 km) long line that runs for most of the length of Main Street, from HSBC Arena downtown to the south campus of the University at Buffalo in the northeast of the city.
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[edit] Light rail or metro?
The question of whether Buffalo's Metro Rail is a light rail system or a heavy-rail metro system is not an easy one to answer. The Metro Rail uses small, 2-5 car trains powered from an overhead power line, similar to many light rail systems. On the other hand, for most of its length (5.4 mi), the trains travel underground, totally separate from all other rail and automobile traffic, with high platforms in stations. The southern 1.2 mi of the line is on an at-grade pedestrian mall in downtown Buffalo; while there are no cars traveling on the trains' right-of-way, the trains do interact with auto traffic at cross streets and obey stoplights.
[edit] Fleet
The NFTA operated 27 LRV cars (Number 101 to 127) for the Metro Rail system. They were built Tokyu Car Corporation of Japan.
Twelve St. Louis Car Company PCC streetcars from Cleveland, Ohio's Greater Cleveland Regional Transit Authority (obtained second hand in 1953) were bought in 1980s to serve the Tonawanda turn-out, a Metro Rail route to Tonawanda and North Tonawanda. Only used for trial runs, the plan route was scrapped and cars sold to a museum in Brooklyn Historical Railway Association. These cars were scrapped in 2003 when the BHRA folded.
Fleet details:
Current
- Car Type: LRV
- Number of Cars: 27
- Fleet Numbers: 101-127
- Car Manufacturer: Tokyu Car Corporation, Japan
- Years of Service: 1984-present
- Length: 64 ft
- Motors: Westinghouse 1461, DC Chopper controlled (pre-rehabilitation)
Proposed
- Car Type: PCC
- Number of Cars: 12
- Fleet Numbers: N/A
- Car Manufacturer: St. Louis Car Company
- Years of Service: None - trial runs only, never in revenue service
[edit] Practical information
Metro Rail runs seven days a week, weekdays from approximately 6 a.m. to 1 a.m., Saturdays from 7:30 a.m. to 1 a.m., Sundays from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m (although bus service is available until 1 a.m. in the same area). Trains run as often as once every seven minutes at rush hour, and no less often than once every twenty minutes. A one-way ticket is $1.50, and monthly passes are also available. Travel is based more or less on the honor system; tickets are checked by NFTA personnel on trains and, somewhat more frequently, upon exit from stations. Travel on the above-ground portion of the system is free, though ticket machines are available at above-ground stations for those passengers continuing on to the paid area. The trip takes 22 minutes from end to end.
[edit] Points of interest / Current Stations
- Special Events station: HSBC Arena (note: trains only travel to and from Special Events station to service events at the arena; at all other times the Erie Canal - Harbor station is the south terminus of the line)
- Erie Canal Harbor: HSBC Arena, Memorial Auditorium, Buffalo Downtown Waterfront
- Seneca station: Dunn Tire Park
- Church Station: Bus Terminal (2 block walk east), Downtown Farmers Market, Erie Community College-City
- Lafayette Square: Buffalo Convention Center, Buffalo City Hall
- Fountain Plaza: Chippawa Entertainment District
- Theater station: Shea's Performing Arts Center and the Buffalo Theatre District
- Allen-Medical Campus: The Anchor Bar, birthplace of the Buffalo-style chicken wing
- Summer-Best
- Utica
- Delevan-Canisius College Canisius College
- Humboldt Hospital - Canisius College
- Amherst Street - Buffalo Zoological Gardens, Delaware Park
- LaSalle
- University: University at Buffalo South Campus
[edit] History and future
[edit] Construction
When the Metro Rail began construction in 1978, it was intended to be the first line for an extensive system that would spread throughout the city and suburbs. However, during the construction of the line and afterwards, Buffalo became a significantly less densely populated city. As a result, the new line's ridership was much lower than originally anticipated. The cost of the urban section was so high that no funding was available to extend the lines into the suburbs, to the Amherst campus of the University at Buffalo. Subsequent efforts to obtain funding for feeder lines have met with little success. Because of the short length of the line, its critics call it the "subway to nowhere." Indeed, Buffalo is now the smallest city in the U.S. to have a subway system of any kind.
[edit] The downtown business district
The construction of the pedestrian mall along Main Street downtown coincided with the effective demise of most of downtown's traditional retail shops. While it's not clear that the pedestrian mall caused this shift (many communities suffered the same kinds of changes during this period due to the rise of suburban shopping malls), the blocking of auto traffic from the area certainly didn't help matters. As a result, the downtown section and indeed much of the line lost much of its retail anchor at the south end, and many saw the train as being responsible for the economic gutting of downtown. All major department stores in the downtown area went out of business and many smaller shops closed or relocated in suburban malls. Finally, the 1980s saw a significant decline in the area's economic health in general, reducing both the number of potential passengers and the tax base available to fund the system.
The city of Buffalo is planning to reintroduce cars onto Main Street in a shared trackbed/ roadway. Curb parking lanes will be provided for short term visitors. The project is expected to start in 2007 and to be completed by 2011. [1]
[edit] Railcar Rehabilitation
It was announced in May 2006 that all of the LRV railcars will be rehabilitated by AnsaldoBreda. This project will be completed at SuperSteel's manufacturing facilities located in Schenectady, NY. The rehabilitation is scheduled to be complete in 2010 and will feature many new features. The improvements will include enhanced video monitoring of the railcar interiors, upgraded brakes, rebuilt HVAC systems, rebuilt door systems, a brand new white, blue and gray interior, AC propulsion, and repair to the body shells. Other options are being explored to enhance the railcars at this time but have not been announced.
[edit] Future prospects
There are currently no viable plans to expand the system. Still, the truncated system serves 23,000 passengers daily. Some downtown business groups occasionally call for the removal of the transit system so that they can return to normal vehicle traffic and curbside parking, hoping that this measure might recreate the prosperous days of the past. Without extended branches in the suburbs, the system serves primarily the ever-declining city population and those suburbanites who take buses or cars to one of the outer stations.
One group, the Citizens for Regional Transit (CRTC), advocates the cause for expansion. As indicated in their statement, the CRTC seeks to educate the public, public officials, their authorities and agencies in the Buffalo-Niagara region about the benefits of a comprehensive transportation system including an expanded Metro Rail.
Two lines that are at the front of their cause include the Airport Corridor, and a Tonawanda Corridor, proposed as following:
The Airport Corridor would begin in Downtown Buffalo, near the current Metro Rail's CHURCH station, and continue in an easterly direction in/out Division Sts., diagonally in a northeastern direction near Jefferson toward the abandoned New York Central Terminal, cross Broadway, and then continue eastbound in its private ROW (Right of Way) to the Thruway Plaza, Walden Galleria and Buffalo Airport.
The Tonawandas Corridor would operate from LaSalle Station northwesterly to the City of Tonawanda using the abandoned Erie Railroad tracks. The NFTA went as far as purchasing second-hand PCC trolleys (the first regularly schedule service in the area using PCC cars) from Cleveland, Ohio.
The idea for using these cars ended up being scrapped due to the fact that the cars were unable to operate down Main Street because of their extra width.
On Monday, December 4, 2006 in the spectrum, a UB publication, it was announced that UB President John B. Simpson is planning to get a project under way that would connect UB's three schools together via a transportation system. Within the talks a subway, trolly or light rail was preposed.
[edit] See also
[edit] External links
- The NFTA, the agency that runs Metro Rail
- Urbanrail.net's page on Metro Rail
- More details at nycsubway.org
- Citizens Regional Transportation Corporation (Citizens for Regional Transit/CRTC), an advocacy group supporting expansion of Metro Rail
- Shaker Heights Rapid Transit PCCs
