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RTA spokeswoman Mary Shaffer points out an expanded area in a refurbished Red Line rail car for bikes, strollers and passengers in wheelchairs, during a media preview at Tower City in Cleveland. The remodeled car is the first in a fleet of 40 Red Line cars to be outfitted with new seats, windows, LED lighting, fire-retardant flooring and other features over the next two years.

(Marvin Fong/The Plain Dealer)

CLEVELAND, Ohio -- RTA riders can get their first look today at a refurbished Red Line car, on display at the rail station in Tower City.

All 40 Red Line cars are getting an interior re-do that includes upgraded seats, new windows and LED lighting to replace fluorescent lighting. Since cars are taken out of service to be renovated, the $3.5 million project will take two years to complete.

The first car to get a facelift is on display to the public starting at 1 p.m. today. Walk downstairs at Tower City to the rotunda and head to the Red Line entrance. The completed rail car will be there through 7 p.m. Wednesday.

The Red Line cars are being almost completely gutted, down to the flooring and subflooring, which is being replaced with fire-retardant material.

The remodeled interior includes newly painted wall panels and updated graphics and signage. A tan, brown and orange color scheme has been replaced with the same blue-and-gray decor of RTA's Blue and Green train lines. Vinyl seats are out, replaced with cloth seats with more padding.

Casey Blaze, rail shop supervisor with RTA, walks through a newly renovated Red Line rail car. The car was almost completed gutted and fitted with new seats, wall panels, windows and lighting. The color scheme was changed to blue and gray, matching the look of RTA's HealthLine and its Blue Line cars.

There is also more space for strollers, bicycles and shopping carts. RTA says up to 50,000 people a year use its Rack-N-Roll program that allows bikes to be brought on board its rapid transit and the Euclid Avenue HealthLine, or loaded onto exterior racks on buses.

Employees of the Greater Cleveland Regional Transit Authority are handling all the work. The project is intended to extend the life of the Red Line fleet by 15 years. The redesign was based on comments by customers and RTA's Citizens Advisory Board.



RTA finished a five-year mechanical overhaul of its rail cars last year at a cost of $21.6 million.

The agency also rolled out improvements in the spring to what had been balky ticket-vending machines for its Red Line train and HealthLine bus route. The changes made the machines easier to read and tickets were dispensed after just three clicks, instead of seven clicks with instructions that were hard to follow.

The Red Line travels from Cleveland Hopkins International Airport northeast to the Louis Stokes Station at Windermere in East Cleveland. It serves West Park, Ohio City, downtown Cleveland, University Circle, Little Italy and other destinations.