From WTOP:
Photo courtesy DDOT
Three modern, sleek streetcars arrived at the Port of Baltimore over the weekend, and were in the process of clearing customs Tuesday morning.
The cars will be loaded and sent to the Greenbelt Rail Yard, where they will be further inspected.
The arrival of the cars in the D.C. area is a landmark. Streetcars last rolled through the city in 1962, when several lines headed into and out of Maryland and Virginia.
“Not only is this a way to link people and neighborhoods, but it is also a way to rebuild neighborhoods. And there are parts of our city that have struggled to rebuild since the original streetcar network was paved over and the riots happened in ’68,” DDOT Director Gabe Klein recently told WTOP.
Right now, two streetcar lines are under construction in D.C. Anacostia and the Benning Road/H Street Corridor will be the first two sections to see the new transportation network.
Plans call for those lines opening around 2012, but city officials say they are working to accelerate that timeline.
DDOT recently unveiled an ambitious plan for 37 miles of streetcars with eight lines.
