If you’re a fan of or use the Atlanta Streetcar to get around part of downtown, your ride is sidelined.
MARTA confirmed that all its streetcars are being removed from service for necessary repairs.
“Degradation of the wheel profile led us to do a comprehensive analysis over the last few weeks and make the tough decision to put the Siemen streetcars on a safety hold.” That was the message Daniel Hecht, MARTA’s deputy chief mechanical officer, delivered to the MARTA board Thursday.
“Safety hold” means the streetcars will be offline from its 2.7-mile route in downtown Atlanta.
Hecht said a couple weeks ago routine track inspections found loose and broken bolts on two track switches. A following detailed inspection found problems with the wheels were causing track weight issues. Hecht says MARTA first noticed some wear with the streetcars early in 2021.
He told board members since the early detection of wheel-wear, officials were able to begin the process of ordering parts early. Because of that, there’s been enough time for wheels to be customized and produced for the streetcars despite supply chain disruptions.
Next up are the repairs which will be done cross-country – delivery of the streetcar trucks to be made by flatbed. “They are being shipped to Siemens in Sacramento, California where Siemens will do a comprehensive overhaul of the truck assemblies. That’s about eight weeks for them to overhaul the set of trucks,” said Hecht.
Repairs will also include on the cars’ braking system, since it make sense to do that while the cars are already in the shop.
Big picture – MARTA hopes to have the streetcars back up and running on the route by sometime in March.
In the meantime, the agency is running paratransit vans on the Streetcar route. “We’re going to have streetcar operators operating those, so they know the route, they know the passengers. This will be the best continuity of operation for us,” Hecht said.
The Atlanta Streetcar has been around for eight years. MARTA took over the service in 2018.