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While transit takers eagerly anticipating completion of the new Valley Line LRT still have at least another year to wait, the city provided an opportunity last weekend to step inside one of the new train cars that will eventually run along the route.

The new design is a significant departure from that of the existing Capital and Metro Lines. Dean Heuman, the stakeholder relations manager for TransEd — the group responsible for building and operating the Valley Line — said there’s only a few similarities between the new and old cars.

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“The common things are, they have motors, they have wheels and they have seats,” Heuman said inside the new train car, which was on display in the parking lot of the Mill Woods Town Centre.

And the differences? The new cars are thinner and lower to the ground — passengers will board the train step-free from sidewalk level, a feature that Heuman says makes the train accessible to those using wheelchairs or other mobility devices. There’s heat in the winter, air-conditioning in the summer and segments of the car designed for passengers with bicycles and strollers.