DC Streetcar

First iteration of streetcars Between 1862 and 1962, streetcars in Washington, D.C., were a common mode of transportation, but the system was dismantled in the early 1960s as part of a switch to bus service. In January 2002, District of Columbia officials began studying the economic feasibility and costs of constructing a system of streetcars throughout the city. The project received Metro's backing. DDOT studied the feasibility of both a citywide system and one or more "starter" lines. D.C. Council Member David Catania specifically requested that DDOT study adding streetcars in the Anacostia neighborhood. The first line to be built would be a "starter" streetcar line in Anacostia. Metro proposed allocating half the total amount to build the D.C. streetcar line, complete the Silver Line, build a streetcar line on Columbia Pike in Arlington County in Virginia, and build a Purple Line light rail link between Bethesda and New Carrollton in Maryland. However, state and local governments said they were unable to fund Metro's proposal at that time, and the planned projects died. The Purple line project was later funded through Maryland state and local funds and federal grants, and was scheduled to open in 2027.) The District of Columbia subsequently decided to build the initial components of the DC Streetcar system on its own. The Anacostia line was scaled back to a demonstration project just in length with only four stations: Bolling Air Force Base, the Anacostia Metro station, the intersection of Martin Luther King, Jr. Avenue SE and Good Hope Road SE, and the Minnesota Avenue Metro station. DDOT began an environmental assessment of the CSX tracks in July 2003. Circulator oversight In December 2009, D.C. Councilmember Jim Graham proposed establishing a D.C. Transit Board to oversee the DC Circulator bus system as well as the DC Streetcar system. The board would oversee the establishment of routes and transit fares. The goal of the trip was to investigate whether streetcars had the intended positive economic consequences and whether the return on investment seemed worthwhile. Local media reports indicated that the D.C. developers were impressed by the effect streetcars had on Portland's economic development. In April 2014, DDOT estimated that the H Street Line would open in the fall of 2014. A temporary car barn at the former Spingarn High School was scheduled for completion in July. Testing of the system would take several weeks, and then the system would need to be certified for operation by the Federal Transit Administration (FTA), which would take another 60 to 80 days. DDOT also said it needed to take delivery of a sixth streetcar, likely in June, before any testing could begin. With a decision on the fare structure still months off, Council Member Marion Barry threatened to cancel all funding for all planned DC Streetcar lines. Barry argued that the rider subsidy was too high and that the $800 million planned for construction of the remaining lines could be better used for road maintenance and school construction. She said the service would be replaced within two years by an electric trolleybus that will use its overhead electric wires. In October 2025, she announced more budget cuts and said the system would close in March 2026. The system ceased operations on March 31, 2026. == Rolling stock ==

Railcar fleet -built streetcar to be used on the DC Streetcar system being tested along H Street NE in December 2014. The D.C. government owned six streetcars that served the system, built by two manufacturers to very similar designs. The first three streetcars, numbered 101 through 103, were ordered in 2005 and built in the Czech Republic in 2007 by Inekon Trams, for the Anacostia line, but because of delays in the start of construction of the line in Washington, they were stored in the Czech Republic until December 2009. They are model 12 Trio. The second set of streetcars, initially numbered 13-001 through 13-003 (subsequently renumbered 201–203), were built in the U.S. in 2013 by United Streetcar, They are United Streetcar model 100. The first United car was delivered to DC Streetcar in January 2014 and the third and last in June 2014. Visually, the United units differ from the Inekon cars in appearance with different fiberglass driver compartments, and cowling, but the overall dimensions are identical. Each car was wide and long, and each car consists of three connected sections, a design known as an articulated streetcar. Rolling stock problems Although DDOT awarded contracts to United Streetcar to build streetcars for the H Street/Benning Road line in mid-2011, these contracts were withdrawn and new bids solicited after the contract process was found to be flawed. D.C. City Council member Mary Cheh, chair of the council's transportation committee, said the DDOT's management of the streetcar project had lost the confidence of the public and that she would seek legislation establishing an independent authority to run the system. and the order was expanded to three cars in August 2012. ==Ridership==

Operated lines H Street NE/Benning Road Line In 2003, then-Mayor Anthony A. Williams unveiled a draft Strategic Development Plan which proposed redeveloping and revitalizing six blighted areas of the city, including H Street NE and Benning Road. Among the proposals to revitalize H Street was the construction of a streetcar line to downtown D.C. in five to 10 years. on much of the same route established by the Columbia Railway Company in 1870. By 2008, the extension to the Minnesota Avenue Metro station had been dropped. stop at the end of the H Street NE line. In late August 2011, DDOT announced the H Street Line would begin operation in the summer of 2013. Testing on the H Street-Benning Road Line began in August 2014, with a planned opening date for the line in late 2014. After more delays, the line had been tentatively projected to open in January 2015, but on January 16 the DDOT's director Leif Dormsjo announced that the Department would no longer issue any estimates for an opening date and that he intended to reorganize the project's management team. In early March 2015, DDOT suggested that the project may be scrapped entirely, if an outside review being conducted by the American Public Transportation Association found "fatal flaws", but the findings, released on March 16, found no "fatal flaws" in the project. Dan Malouff, a writer for the Greater Greater Washington website, reported on July 10, 2015, that a review prepared for the DDOT had identified 33 causes for continued delay in rolling out fare service. In 2025, construction of 24/7 bus and streetcar-only lanes was planned between 3rd Street NE and Benning Road, alongside improvements to bus stops and transit signal priority. Lines partially constructed but never finished or lines never built Anacostia Line Ground was broken for the Anacostia Line on November 13, 2004. However, 10 months into the project, DDOT and Metro temporarily mothballed the streetcar line. Two days after the groundbreaking, CSX announced it would abandon the railway track but refuse to allow the city to use it for the streetcar project. DDOT officials say they believed that only the city and CSX owned the land under the tracks, but a legal review found that CSX was not the only private owner. The city was unwilling to build the project on the CSX tracks, only to have the other owners demand payment in the future. The new deadline for completion of the now-$10 million, 1.1-mile (1.7 km) line was set for the spring of 2008. DDOT opened bids for the now-$45 million contract to construct the Anacostia Line's tracks and infrastructure in August 2008. The delays had caused the warranty on the mothballed Czech-produced streetcars to expire, and storage costs were running $860,000 a year. On August 26, 2010, DDOT officials ordered construction of the Anacostia Line shut down after city officials refused to extend the construction contract or give a new contract to another firm. Although $25 million had been spent over the past two years, rails at the intersection of Firth Stirling Avenue SE and Suitland Parkway were buried under asphalt and weeds grew among the rails at South Capitol Street and Bolling Air Force Base. However, , no further work has taken place on the line. Proposed lines In October 2010, D.C. officials unveiled tentative plans to build a streetcar line up Georgia Avenue. The city began holding public hearings on construction of the line ahead of schedule, due to the imminent 2011 closing of Walter Reed Army Medical Center. The streetcar line was part of a proposed $500 million, mixed-use housing, office, and retail development that would begin construction in 2013. In January 2010, The Washington Post reported that the K Street Line would probably be the third line to be constructed. The K Street Line would extend from Union Station to K Street NE, then run west to 26th Street NW. It would link with the H Street/Benning Road Line at Union Station via a pedestrian bridge which would require passengers to alight at Union Station and board an unconnected line. The two lines would thus form a cross-city streetcar line, although not directly. It was included in the Constrained Long-Range Transportation Plan. Another streetcar line was proposed for Maine Avenue SW. In October 2010, the D.C. government unveiled its long-awaited, $1.5 billion development proposal for the city's southwest waterfront district. This proposal included a DC Streetcar line down the middle of the entire length of Maine Avenue. ==Stations==

• On September 8, 2016, a person was injured after a streetcar and a vehicle collided. • On June 2, 2017, ten people were injured after a streetcar and bus collided. • On June 23, 2018, a cyclist was killed when one of his bicycle tires got caught in the streetcar track, causing him to fall into the path of a charter bus. == See also ==