Two new, four-car CTrains will remain in service now that the testing phase is complete and more of the cars are on the way to help ease congestion and improve LRT service.

The two cars have completed a successful three-week training period on the 201 Red Line between Tuscany and Somerset and were put permanently into service on Friday.

The longer trains were originally scheduled to join the system in December but officials say good project management allowed them to start running the cars immediately.

The longer cars can carry about 200 more riders per trip than the smaller trains and have a capacity to move about 800 passengers per trip.

‘I cannot describe to you enough what a big deal this is. This is the largest increase to the CTrain network since the building of the West LRT and some would argue even bigger than that. Every single one of these longer trains will carry an additional 200 passengers per trip, that means that we've increased capacity on the Red Line to begin with by 33 percent,” said Calgary Mayor Naheed Nenshi.

Crews have extended all 45 stations and adjustments have been made to the signal system and new power substations have been built to accommodate the longer trains.

Calgary Transit has ordered 63 of the new, four-car trains and says 28 of them will replace the older U2 models that have been in service for 34 years and are starting to show their age.

The new cars will start arriving in 2016 and the last ones are expected to be delivered by early 2017.

“We have new trains coming, another 63 cars will come over the next few years to help us expand four-car service so it’s not just two trains we’re going to have, but the entire lines, we’ll start to see those new trains coming on over the next two years. We’re especially excited when special events come like Flames games, Stampeders’ games and the Stampede, that we have this capacity to help Calgarians get to the places they want to go and to make life better every day by having that new customer experience,” said Doug Morgan Director of Calgary Transit.

Officials say the service will expand as the new cars arrive and will provide more comfort for customers especially during peak periods.

Four-car CTrain facts:

  • Capacity is increased by 33 percent on four-car CTrains
  • Calgary Transit is expecting its first new “Mask” CTrain car in January
  • The  city currently has 192 CTrain cars
  • As of the end of October, all of the 80 cars in the original U2 Fleet have travelled more than 2 million km
  • The lowest used U2 has travelled 2,118,160 km
  • Car no. 2008, in service since 1981, is the highest used U2 and has travelled 2,772,650 km, which is equal to 69 times around the globe or three and a half trips to the moon and back

Over 325,000 people ride the CTrain every weekday.

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