The Czech streetcars arrived via cargo vessel in Baltimore, Maryland, and were transported to storage in the Greenbelt Yard on December 15, 2009. A video, courtesy of DDOT, of the streetcars being loaded up onto flatbed trucks in the ship yard for their trip to the storage facility is available here.

These modern cars are about 8 feet wide and about 66 feet long, about 10 inches narrower and 1/3 the length of a light rail double car train. They are able to operate in mixed traffic and easily accommodate to existing curbside parking and loading. The streetcars have been painted to resemble the DC Circulator.

DC has started construction of a streetcar line in Anacostia and tracks are also being laid on H Street and Benning Road.  In all, DDOT plans to build a network of 37 miles across DC. For additional information and maps of the proposed streetcar system, please refer to DDOT’s website.

 

 

The pictures above are of the DC streetcars being loaded onto trucks in the Czech Republic and then onto skids in the port of Hamburg, Germany, before their trans-Atlantic trip to America. (Photographs courtesy of DDOT)