Charge up the batteries for M-1 Rail

As construction on the M-1 Rail in Detroit builds momentum this spring, officials are touting the technology that will power the streetcars as highly advanced and the wave of the future for such transportation systems.

The line is projected to be operational by late next year, and most of the route is expected to feature streetcars operating on battery power provided by 750-volt rechargeable lithium-ion batteries.

"We're pushing the envelope on this really old industry," said Paul Childs, the system's chief operating officer.

Aesthetics, it turns out, was a key concern.

"You would have thought you were looking through a jail cell," said Childs, describing the route's initial designs, which included power poles around Campus Martius Park.

Another concern was the railroad overpass where the Amtrak train crosses Woodward.

Instead of a Woodward Avenue wrapped with electric lines, 60% of the route will be "off wire," meaning most of it will run on battery power versus electricity. The rest will use an overhead catenary system, a standard feature of electric streetcars, allowing the cars to recharge as they drive the 3.3-mile route along Woodward, from downtown to New Center.

"We wanted to push the off wire as far as we could go," Childs said.

The streetcars will have arms, known as pantographs, which will lift up to make contact with the overhead electric lines and then drop when the cars are on battery power. Childs said about 160 poles with wires will dot Woodward.

The overhead catenary system will be in use from about Henry/Winder Street, near I-75, to Canfield and then from Warren to Hendrie Street, near I-94. Both ends of the route are to be off wire, including the section with the "car barn" at the Penske Technical Center. Childs said no other system in the world has its storage and maintenance area off wire.

Four substations — at John R, Willis, Amsterdam and Bethune — will provide power for the system. Power also will be supplied through regenerative braking, and Childs noted that there will be three- to five-minute layovers at stations 1 (Congress Street) and 12 (Grand Boulevard) at each end of the line. The drivers also will walk from one end of the streetcar to the other — a streetcar dashboard will be on both ends of the vehicles — as they prepare to switch directions because the streetcars will not actually turn around.

M-1 is expected to select a streetcar company shortly, Childs said. And although a final design is not available, Childs was able to share some details. The three-piece, articulated cars are expected to be 66 feet long and be able to carry 125 passengers on average. They will travel the maximum speed on Woodward — 35 m.p.h. — and stop for traffic lights.

The batteries themselves could be on top or underneath the streetcars.

M-1 will purchase six streetcars and generally run up to five at a time, Childs said. Walk-up fares are expected to be $1.50, although passes and other fare options will be available. Dan Gilbert's Quicken Loans, which pledged $10 million to the approximately $140-million project, secured naming rights for the line.

Childs said 3,000 to 5,000 people are projected to ride the streetcar line each day, but that number will likely grow as it attracts more people to the immediate area.

Dallas is another city with a streetcar system that uses battery power. A 1.6-mile streetcar line opened there in April.

Concerns about wires on a historic bridge, the Houston Street Viaduct, prompted officials to choose battery power for the mile-long trip on the bridge, which crosses the Trinity River. The rest of the route uses the overhead lines.

"We thought it was a better approach not to have power lines (on the bridge)," said Morgan Lyons, a spokesman for Dallas Area Rapid Transit.

Lyons said streetcar operations so far have been going "pretty well."

The system, which is owned by the City of Dallas and operated by DART, is expected to run through a section of the city's downtown close to a possible stop for a proposed high-speed rail line that would connect Dallas and Houston, Lyons said. The system purchased two $4.5-million streetcars with an option for two more from Brookville Equipment in Brookville, Pa., and is anticipating additional line extensions in the future. The cost for the system overall is pegged at $50 million.

Adam Mohney, a spokesman for Brookville Equipment, said his company is the only maker of streetcars to design and manufacture them in the U.S. He declined to comment when asked whether his company has had discussions with M-1 officials about supplying cars for the Detroit system.

As for using battery power on streetcars, Mohney said, "It's definitely the wave of the future."

City officials and residents want to reduce the amount of wire used for electrical infrastructure, he said.

The major question for those considering the technology would appear to be making sure enough power is available at all times to run the streetcars.

Mohney said numerous factors can affect the amount of power needed, including the grade of the track and traffic, but that redundancies are built into his company's streetcars. He noted that the driver can monitor the power level, and the company works "very closely with our customers on the back end" to make sure there is ample capacity.

"There's plenty of time spent making sure the vehicles are going to perform as expected, and we've had success in Dallas so far," he said.

Contact Eric D. Lawrence: elawrence@freepress.com. Follow him on Twitter: @_ericdlawrence.

Bridge work

Work on Woodward Avenue's highway bridges has been moving along, and this weekend is when M-1 Rail officials expect to flip sides on the I-94 overpass. The west side is under construction currently, and the work will switch to the east side if the time frame stands. As a result, I-94 is expected to be closed at some point next weekend between I-75 and the Lodge Freeway (M-10).

The flip for the I-75 overpass work is expected to follow toward the end of June, according to Paul Childs, M-1 Rail chief operating officer.