Testing Start on Green Line

Light rail vehicle tests begin through University of Minnesota

 

 

ST. PAUL, Minn. – July 24, 2013 –The first light rail vehicle to operate under its own power on the Central Corridor Light Rail Transit Project (Green Line) will make its inaugural run this week.

"The line is energized through the University of Minnesota campus, and this is where the first testing will occur. This is an electrifying moment in more ways than one," said Metropolitan Council Chair Sue Haigh, whose agency designed and built the line, which will open in mid-2014 before the Major League Baseball All-Star game at Target Field next July.

A railcar mover will pull one light-rail vehicle (LRV) on Thursday morning from the West Bank Station, past the East Bank and Stadium Village stations and then return to the West Bank. Then, the LRV will move alone overnight Thursday over the same route, drawing power from overhead wires. This will be the start of overnight testing on weeknights through campus, which will resume on or after Aug. 5 and continue through mid-September. Testing on University Avenue and the rest of the corridor will begin late summer. Months of daily testing will follow, the outcome of which will determine the line’s opening date in mid-2014.