El Paso, TX — First Rails to be Laid

June 2016

The El Paso Herald-Post reports that the first rail was to be laid by mid-June in the west Texas city for the 4.8 mile heritage PCC streetcar line that will link the area just north of the Mexican border at Juarez with downtown and the University of Texas-El Paso [UTEP] campus.

The contractors are Granite Construction and RailWorks, the same firms that built the Tucson modern streetcar line. The difference is that El Paso is a state-funded project and has bought girder rail from Europe whereas Tucson, using federal funding, had to buy T-rail under "Made in USA" regulations as no girder rail is manufactured in the U.S.

Brookville Equipment Corp. of western Pennsylvania is rehabilitating six ex-El Paso City Lines PCCs for the new service.

As construction ramps up street and intersections will be closed regularly and email alerts will be published weekly advising residents and businesses the time and locaton of closures.