Workers to Begin Laying Streetcar Rail in June

By Armando Landin   

The streetcar project in Downtown El Paso has been chugging along for months, but has mostly been focused on utility relocation. That will change in June when crews begin laying rail along the streetcar route.

This cross section shows how the streetcar rail will be embedded in a concrete slab. Rail recently arrived in El Paso and will soon be laid for the streetcar project. (CRRMA)

The first shipment of rail has arrived in El Paso and will be kept in storage until needed. The rail pieces were manufactured in Austria and brought by train from the Port of Houston.

A length of rail spans 59 feet and weighs over a ton at 2,300 pounds. In all, around 900 pieces will be used in El Paso's streetcar project.

Construction crews recently receive streetcar rail in
El Paso. (CRRMA)

The Camino Real Regional Mobility Authority (CRRMA) is heading the $97 million project which will create a 4.8 mile looping route that will connect the Downtown area to the University of Texas at El Paso. An inner circulator loop will stay Downtown.

In all, there will be 27 stops along the route. Refurbished Presidents' Conference Committee streetcars will be used, the same units that stopped running in El Paso in 1974.

Previously: Official Route Map Released for El Paso Streetcar Line