Buffalo Metro Rail

The NFTA has a fleet of 26 rigid-bodied (non-articulated) LRVs for the Metro Rail system, numbered sequentially from 101 to 127. They were built by [[Tokyu Car Corporation]] of [[Japan]]. One car (number 125) was damaged in transit and later purchased by a restaurateur, Bertrand H. Hoak, of [[Hamburg (town), New York|Hamburg]], as an addition to Hoak's Armor Inn restaurant on Abbott Road, near Armor Duells Road. The car has since been sold. ===Rehabilitation=== In May 2006 it was announced that all of the LRVs would be rehabilitated by [[AnsaldoBreda]]. The rehabilitation will feature many improvements. 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, upgraded propulsion, and repair to the body shells. In addition, the railcars will receive new monitoring systems, automated announcements, new door chimes, and interior/exterior LED signage to replace existing rollsigns. Total project cost is an estimated $40 million for rehabilitation of 27 Metro Rail cars. The project originally used SuperSteel's manufacturing facilities in [[Schenectady, New York]]. However due to loss of orders and the economy, SuperSteel closed the facility in April 2009, costing 175 jobs and delaying the rehabilitation. The project for the time being has been moved to Gray Manufacturing Industries, located in [[Hornell, New York]]. AnsaldoBreda has proposed to purchase the former SuperSteel plant, originally opened in 1996. If this purchase was completed, AnsaldoBreda would have completed all remaining work on the NFTA contract in Schenectady. If this purchase was not completed, the remaining work would have been done at Gray Manufacturing's facilities in Hornell, which was what ultimately happened. The first two cars were due back in revenue service in July 2010. ==Plans for expansion== There are no viable plans to expand the system. 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 a declining city population and those suburbanites who take buses or cars to one of the outer stations. The truncated system serves 23,000 passengers daily. One group, the [[Citizens Regional Transit Corporation]] (CRTC), advocates 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. In April 2011, the group stated that the six hundred block of Main Street, which has the tenant [[Shea's Performing Arts Center]] , along with hotels and bars, should be converted into a mixed automobile and rail system, such as the ones in [[San Francisco]] and [[Toronto]]. Many public officials have brought in criticism of the project, and the CRTC has expressed concern as well. ===University line extension=== On Monday, December 4, 2006, in ''[[The Spectrum newspaper|The Spectrum]]'', a publication of the [[University at Buffalo]] (UB), it was announced that UB President [[John B. Simpson]] is planning to get a project underway that would connect UB's three campuses via a transportation system. The proposed systems included a subway, trolley or light rail. ===Airport corridor=== 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 [[Buffalo Central Terminal]], cross Broadway, and then continue eastbound in its private right-of-way to the Thruway Plaza, [[Walden Galleria]] and Buffalo Airport. ===Tonawandas corridor=== The Tonawandas corridor would operate from LaSalle Station northwesterly to the City of Tonawanda using the abandoned Erie Railroad tracks. The NFTA purchased twelve [[PCC streetcar|Presidents' Conference Committee]] (PCC) streetcars in the 1980s to serve the Tonawanda turn-out, a proposed Metro Rail extension to Tonawanda and North Tonawanda. These cars were built by the St. Louis Car Company and acquired by [[Cleveland|Cleveland, Ohio's]] [[Greater Cleveland Regional Transit Authority]] second hand in 1953. It was determined after initial trial runs that the PCCs were too wide for existing station platforms and the plan was abandoned. The PCCs were subsequently sold to the Brooklyn Historical Railway Association (BHRA), from where they were scrapped in 2003 when the BHRA folded. ==Annual ridership== Numbers are from the Federal Transit Administration's National Transit Database (1996–2006) and Buffalo Business First (2007–2008). {|class="wikitable" |- align=center ! Year | 1996 || 1997 || 1998 || 1999 || 2000 || 2001 || 2002 || 2003 || 2004 || 2005 |- ! Ridership | 7,135,746 || 6,918,812 || 7,213,82 || 6,335,643 || 6,568,165 || 6,355,955 || 5,797,407 || 5,857,687 || 5,478,002 || 5,373,321 |- align=center ! Year | 2006 || 2007 || 2008 |- ! Ridership | 5,631,864 || 5,543,100 || 6,860,000 |- |} ==See also== * [[Citizens Regional Transit Corporation]] * [[List of tram and light-rail transit systems]] == External links == * [http://www.nfta.com/ Niagara Frontier Transportation Authority], the agency that runs Metro Rail * [http://www.urbanrail.net/am/buff/buffalo.htm Urbanrail.net's page on Metro Rail] * [http://world.nycsubway.org/us/buffalo/ More details at nycsubway.org] * [http://www.citizenstransit.org Citizens Regional Transportation Corporation (Citizens for Regional Transit/CRTC)], an advocacy group supporting expansion of Metro Rail * [http://web.presby.edu/~jtbell/transit/Buffalo/ Buffalo Metro Rail] * [http://ribaulo.tripod.com/metro.html History of design and construction of Metro Rail] * [http://www.cityrailtransit.com/maps/buffalo_map.htm Buffalo Metro Rail map] * [http://www.railfanguides.us/ny/buffalo/index.htm Todd's Railfan Guide to the Buffalo Light Rail System] {{USLightRail}} {{coord missing|New York}}