MATA Trolley

History

Originally proposed as a 4.9-mile (7.9 km) line along the Mississippi River, the Memphis City Council voted 9-4 in January 1990 to build the 2.5-mile (4 km), $33 million Main Street route. After multiple delays, construction of the line commenced in February 1991 for completion by December 1992. However, due to the longer-than-anticipated restoration of the vintage streetcars, the opening of the line was delayed until spring 1993. After further delay, testing of the first of the restored cars began on March 10, 1993, and the system opened to the public on April 29, 1993.

On October 1, 1997, the Riverfront line opened. The system's third line, running east from Main Street along Madison Avenue for about 2 miles (3.2 km), opened on March 15, 2004. It was completed at a cost of about $56 million, which was approximately 25 percent below the original budget forecast for the project.

Rolling stock

The trolleys used are almost all restored, vintage streetcars. The original three cars in operation on opening day were all formerly used in Porto, Portugal, and are Car 187, circa 1927; Car 194, circa 1935; and Car 204, circa 1940. These cars are each 30 feet 6 inches (9.3 m) long, 7 feet 10 inches (2.39 m) wide and weigh 25,820 pounds (11.71 t) without passengers. The cars were restored by Kerns-Wilcheck Associates of Memphis. Three additional ex-Porto cars (156, 164 and 180) joined them within weeks, and the fleet had six cars (all ex-Porto single-truckers) by May 1993.

Between the mid-1990s and 2003, the Gomaco Trolley Company supplied an additional ten cars: nine reconditioned Melbourne, Australia W2 class cars and one single-truck car (No. 1979) that was built new by Gomaco in 1993, originally as a demonstrator. There is also car 1794, which was originally an open-sided car from Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, but was heavily rebuilt and enclosed before entering service in Memphis. The most recent addition, in early 2004, is a replica Birney Safety Car, manufactured by Gomaco, the same cars used on the TECO Line Streetcar System in Tampa, Florida.

The fleet and overhead wires were converted from trolley pole to pantograph current collection in early 2003, during a three-month suspension of service which started on January 5, 2003.

Lines

The MATA Trolley network consists of three lines. There are stations at 24 locations (in and out bound stations are counted as a single location) and 35 of the stations are sheltered and ADA accessible.

Accidents and incidents

On June 1, 2011, two trolleys—A Melbourne W2 class and Porto number 194—traveling on Main Street collided due to a power failure.

Service suspension (2014)

Two of the Melbourne cars caught fire, in December 2013 and April 2014. Both incidents occurred along the Madison Avenue line. In May 2014, the line was shut down in order to conduct an investigation, since the speeds along it are higher. On June 10, the suspension was expanded to include all MATA trolley lines after it was determined much of the fleet would need to be renovated. At that time, the suspension was expected to last at least six months until a feasible solution could be found. Options included restoring the existing fleet at a cost of $6 million, or replacing them with new heritage streetcars at a cost of $40 million. After thorough inspection of the fleet, MATA decided to overhaul several cars rather than purchase new ones, and to eventually reinstate service using only overhauled cars. In December 2014, MATA announced that it was not yet able to give an estimated date for the resumption of service. In March 2015, it was announced that limited trolley service might be possible in May or June, but there was still no timetable for full restoration of service. In October 2016, Memphis Mayor Jim Strickland said trolleys would not be back in service before 2017.