CTrain

CTrain is a light rail system in Calgary, Alberta, Canada. The system is operated by Calgary Transit as part of the Calgary municipal government's transportation department, and currently consists of two lines; the Red Line and the Blue Line.
The CTrain began operation on May 25, 1981, and has expanded as the city has increased in population. In, the system had a ridership of, or about per weekday as of, making it one of the busiest light rail transit systems in North America. Approximately 45% of workers in Downtown Calgary take the CTrain to work.

History

The idea for rail transit in Calgary originated in a 1967 Calgary transportation study, which recommended a two-line metro system to enter service in 1978. The original plans had called for two lines:

a northwest-to-south line between the original Banff Trail station and Southwood station was chosen over dedicated busways and the expansion of the Blue Arrow bus service because light rail has lower long-term operating costs and addressed traffic congestion problems. The Blue Arrow service ended in 2000.

The present-day CTrain originated in a 1975 plan, calling for the construction of a single line, from the downtown core to Anderson Road. The plan was approved by City Council in May 1977, with the construction of what would become the C-Train's "South Line" beginning one month later. The South Line opened on May 25, 1981. Oliver Bowen, a descendant of original black settlers to Amber Valley, Alberta Obadiah Bowen and Willis Reese Bowen, was the manager of the department that designed and built the original CTrain system. In 2009, the City of Calgary named its largest maintenance facility after Bowen to honour his work. The Oliver Bowen LRT Maintenance Facility in northeast Calgary is a $6.5 million rail facility.
Though the South Line was planned to extend to the northwest, political pressures led to the commission of the "Northeast Line", running from Whitehorn station to the downtown core, with a new downtown terminal station for both lines at 10 Street SW, which opened on April 27, 1985.
The Northwest Line, the extension of the South Line to the city's northwest, was opened on September 17, 1987, in time for the 1988 Winter Olympics. This line ran from the downtown core to University station, next to the University of Calgary campus. Since then, all three lines have been extended incrementally, with most of the stations commissioned and built in the 2000s.
In April 1996, Calgary Transit began piloting a commuter rail service between Anderson station and a temporary station located at 162 Avenue SW, operating a rented Siemens RegioSprinter DMU which ran on CP Rail MacLeod Subdivision tracks. This pilot was intended as a short-term solution to road congestion for the rapidly growing commuter population in South Calgary and as an experiment to test the viability of a South Red Line extension. A new temporary passenger platform was added on the CP Rail line adjacent to Anderson station. The RegioSprinter was travelled between this platform and a platform at 162 Avenue SW located just north of the present-day Somerset–Bridlewood station. This service was only in operation during peak hours and was free-of-charge. Service was discontinued after five months.
The West Line, the extension of the Northeast Line, opened for revenue service on December 10, 2012, as the first new line to open in 25 years. The line runs for 8.2 km from Downtown West–Kerby station on 7 Avenue at 11 Street SW at the west end of Downtown, westward to 69 Street station located at the intersection of 17 Avenue and 69 Street SW.

Date	Stations	Line
August 31, 1990		Northwest Line
October 9, 2001		South Line
December 15, 2003		Northwest Line
June 28, 2004		South Line
December 17, 2007		Northeast Line
June 15, 2009		Northwest Line
August 27, 2012		Northeast Line
August 25, 2014		Northwest Line

Lines

The CTrain system has two routes, designated as the and the. They have a combined route length of. Much of the South leg of the system shares the right of way of the Canadian Pacific Railway and there is a connection from the light rail track to the CPR line via a track switch near Heritage station.
The longer route serves the northeastern and western sections of the city. Most track is at grade, with its own right-of-way. The downtown portion is a shared right-of-way, serving both routes along the 7th Avenue South transit mall at street level. This portion is a zero-fare zone and serves as a downtown people mover. The tracks split at the east and west ends of downtown into lines leading to the south, northeast, west and northwest residential neighbourhoods of Calgary. Six percent of the system is underground, and seven percent is elevated. Trains are powered by overhead electric wires, using pantographs to draw power.In the first quarter of 2015, the CTrain system had an average of 333,800 unlinked passenger trips per weekday, making it the busiest light rail system in North America. Ridership has declined slightly since reaching this peak, coinciding with a recession in the local economy. In 2007, 45% of the people working in downtown Calgary took transit to work; the city's objective is to increase that to 60%.

Rolling stock

The system initially used Siemens-Duewag U2 DC LRVs, and used by the Frankfurt U-Bahn. The slightly earlier Edmonton LRT, and the slightly later San Diego Trolley were built at approximately the same time and used the same commercial off-the-shelf German LRVs rather than custom-designed vehicles such as were used on the Toronto streetcar system and the Vancouver SkyTrain. U2 vehicles constituted the entire fleet in Calgary until July 2001, when the first Siemens SD-160 cars were delivered. Eighty-three U2 DCs were delivered to Calgary over three separate orders; 27 in 1981, three in 1983, and 53 in 1984 and are numbered 2001–2083. As of March 2020, 39 out of the original 83 U2 DCs remain in service, plus car 2090. The success of the first North American LRT systems inspired Siemens to build an LRV plant in Florin, California. Siemens now supplies one-third of North American LRVs and has supplied over 1000 vehicles to 17 North American systems. This will include 258 vehicles for Calgary when the current order of Siemens S200 vehicles is completed.

Fleet numbers	Total	Type	Year Ordered	Year Retired	Number of units Retired	Exterior	Interior	City of manufacture	Notes
2001–2083, 2090	83	Siemens–Duewag U2	1979–1985	Started 2016	44			Düsseldorf, Germany	1 unit formed from other units Retired units are up to date as of March 24, 2020
2101-2102	2	Siemens–Duewag U2 AC: uses AC traction instead of DC traction.	1988	2016	1			Düsseldorf, Germany	Being former demonstration trains: only variants in the world. Named Scout, 2101 is an asset inspection train for overhead lines and tracks.
2201–2272	72	Siemens SD-160 Series 5/6/7	2001–2006	-	-			Florin, California	Retrofitted with air conditioning 2009–2011 in-house. All to be refurbished by Siemens.
2301–2338	38	Siemens SD-160NG Series 8	2007	-	1			Florin, California	2311 retired due to an accident
2401-2469	69	Siemens S200	2013–2018	-				Florin, California	2401-2463 built and delivered between 2015 and 2019; 2464–2469, 2019–2020

The following LRVs have been retired:

Car Number	Type	Year Retired	Reason	Status
2001,, 2004, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2011, 2014, 2016, 2017, 2022, 2023, 2026, 2029, 2033–2037, 2040, 2042, 2043, 2045, 2049, 2052, 2055,, 2065,, 2067, 2069, 2072, 2074–2079,, 2081, 2083.	U2	2016–present	Retired as a result of newer S200 LRVs.	Retired. Being salvaged for parts and scrapped.
2002	U2	May, 1981 / September, 2019	Collided with car 2001 in May, 1981; A-end written off. B-end later received a new A-end and was retired at end of life in 2019.	Retired; disposed of in 2020. A-end was scrapped, B-end was sold to a private owner, who is creating a piece of street-art using it as a part of a thesis project.
2010	U2	March 27, 2002	Collided with a truck at the 4 Avenue SW crossing as it was leaving the Downtown.	Retired. Used as spare parts.
2019	U2	April 2007	Collided with a flatbed truck in the intersection of Memorial Drive/28 Street SE near Franklin Station.	Retired. One end is used as spare parts, the other end was combined with the good end of LRV 2027 to form LRV 2090.
2027	U2	May 2008	Damaged when it hit a crane in the median of Crowchild Trail near Dalhousie Station	Retired. One end is used as spare parts, the other end was combined with the good end of LRV 2019 to form LRV 2090.
2050	U2	October 2007	Collided with a vehicle at the 58 Avenue SW crossing near Chinook Station.	Repaired in 2010; currently active
2057	U2	Summer of 2009	Damaged when it hit a backhoe that was being used in the construction of the new 3 Street W station on 7 Avenue.	Retired. Used as spare parts.
2064, 2066, 2080	U2	Summer 2018		Sold to Edmonton Transit Service after they were retired at end of life, used for parts, and have since been scrapped.
2101	U2 AC	Early 2016	Taken out of service.	Converted to track inspection vehicle
2102	U2 AC	August 8, 2016	Taken out of service.	Retired in early 2017. Used as spare parts for 2101, has since been scrapped.
2311	SD-160NG	September 20, 2016	Departed Tuscany Station into the tail track, overshot the end of the rails crashing into the tail fence and a metal power pole.	Retired, scrapped.

Note: Units in parentheses in the first row in the above table were retired at end of life or sold.
The following table confirms U2 units that have been spotted still in service. Shows individual car numbers. Current consists may vary.

Car Number	Last Spotted	Location Spotted/Destination	Notes
2025	09/25/4	Destination: Tuscany.
2090	09/25/5	Spotted at Somerset. Destination: Tuscany.	Created from the good ends of 2019 and 2027.
2071	09/25/16	Spotted at Canyon Meadows. Destination: Somerset.
2051	09/25/16	Spotted at Canyon Meadows. Destination: Somerset.
2031	09/25/16	Spotted at Canyon Meadows. Destination: Somerset.
2044	09/25/17	Spotted at Victoria Park/Stampede. Destination: Tuscany.
2039	09/25/17	Spotted at Victoria Park/Stampede. Destination: Tuscany.
2030	09/25/17	Spotted at Erlton/Stampede. Destination: Tuscany.
2043	09/25/17	Spotted at Erlton/Stampede. Destination: Tuscany.
2003	09/25/17	Spotted at Erlton/Stampede. Destination: Tuscany.
2046	09/25/17	Spotted at Erlton/Stampede. Destination: Tuscany.
2063	09/25/18	Spotted at Dalhousie. Destination: Tuscany.
2048	09/25/18	Spotted at Dalhousie. Destination: Tuscany.
2054	09/25/22	Spotted at City Hall/Bow Valley College. Destination: Somerset.
2024	09/25/24	Spotted at Brentwood. Destination: Tuscany.
2050	09/25/25	Spotted at Southland. Destination: Tuscany
2073	09/25/25	Spotted at Southland. Destination: Tuscany
2047	09/25/24	Spotted at 8th St W. Destination: Tuscany
2070	09/25/24	Spotted at Brentwood. Destination: Somerset.
2032	09/25/25	Spotted at Brentwood. Destination: Tuscany.	Working brake lights.
2056	09/25/25	Spotted at City Hall/Bow Valley College. Destination: Saddletowne.
2020	09/25/25	Spotted at City Hall/Bow Valley College. Destination: Saddletowne.
2061	09/25/25	Spotted near SAIT/AUArts/Jubilee.Destination: Tuscany.	Clean.
2013	09/25/25	Spotted near SAIT/AUArts/Jubilee.Destination: Tuscany.
2012	09/25/25	Destination: Tuscany.
2062	09/25/25	Destination: Tuscany.
2009	09/25/25	Spotted near Southland. Destination: Tuscany.	Dirty.
2058	10/03/25	Spotted at Somerset. Destination: Tuscany.	Rusted, paint chipped.
2015	10/03/25	Spotted at Somerset. Destination: Tuscany.	Dirty.

In 1988, the Alberta Government purchased from Siemens two U2 AC units, the first of their kind in North America, for trials on both the Edmonton and Calgary LRT systems. The cars were originally numbered 3001 and 3002 and served in Edmonton from 1988 to spring 1990. These LRVs came to Calgary in the summer of 1990 and in September, Calgary Transit decided to purchase the cars from the province and then applied the CT livery to the cars. They retained their original fleet numbers of 3001 and 3002 until 1999, when CT renumbered the cars 2101 and 2102. Initially, these two cars were only run together as a two-car consist as they were incompatible with the U2 DCs. In 2003, Calgary Transit made the two U2 ACs compatible as slave cars between two SD-160s and have been running them like this ever since.
In July 2001, Calgary Transit brought the first of 15 new SD-160 LRVs into service to accommodate the South LRT Extension Phase I and increased capacity. Throughout 2003, another 17 SD-160 LRVs were introduced into the fleet to accommodate the northwest extension to Dalhousie as well as the South LRT Extension Phase II. However, demand for light rail has exploded in recent years. In the decade prior to 2006, the city's population grew by 25% to over 1 million people, while ridership on the CTrain grew at twice that rate, by 50% in only 10 years. This resulted in severe overcrowding on the trains and demands for better service. In December, 2004, city council approved an order for 33 additional SD-160 vehicles from Siemens to not only address overcrowding, but to accommodate the northeast extension to McKnight–Westwinds and the northwest extension to Crowfoot. These new SD–160s started to enter service in November, 2006. In December 2006, CT extended the order by seven cars to a total of 40 cars, which had all been delivered by the spring of 2008. This brought the total of first-generation SD–160s to 72 cars numbered 2201 – 2272. These cars were all delivered without air conditioning, and retrofitted with air conditioning between 2009 and 2011.
In November 2007 city council approved purchasing another 38 SD-160 Series 8 LRVs to be used in conjunction with the West LRT extension and further expansions to the northeast and northwest legs. These are new-generation train cars with many upgraded features over the original SD-160s including factory equipped air conditioning and various cosmetic and technical changes. These units started to enter service in December 2010 and are numbered 2301–2338. As of May 2012, all had entered revenue service.
In September 2013, Calgary Transit ordered 63 S200 LRVs to provide enough cars to run four-car trains, and to retire some of its Siemens-Duewag U2s, which are nearing the end of their useful lifespans. Some of the 80 U2 cars were 34 years old, and all of them had traveled at least. The first of the new cars arrived in January, 2016 and delivery was expected take two years. The front of the new cars is customized to resemble a hockey goalie's mask, and they include such new features as heated floors for winter and air conditioning for summer. They also now have high-resolution video cameras covering the entire interior and exterior of the vehicles for security purposes.
On November 18, 2016, Calgary Transit announced the retirement of the first CTrain LRV purchased, car 2001. Some of the Siemens Duewag U2 cars will be phased out as the new Siemens S200 cars come online.