130-693: The DC Streetcar is a surface streetcar network in Washington, D.C. that consists of a single line running 2.2 miles (3.5 km) in mixed traffic along H Street and Benning Road in the city's Northeast quadrant. The streetcars are the first to run in the District of Columbia since the dismantling of the previous streetcar system in 1962 . The District of Columbia began laying track in 2009, for two lines whose locations in Anacostia and Benning were chosen to revitalize blighted commercial corridors. The system
260-423: A car barn for the line extension. DDOT applied for a $ 20 million National Infrastructure Investments — Consolidated Appropriations Act grant to assist it in building the extension. However, as of January 2023, no further work has taken place on the line. In October 2010, D.C. officials unveiled tentative plans to build a streetcar line up Georgia Avenue . The city began holding public hearings on construction of
390-603: A tram engine in the UK) at the head of a line of one or more carriages, similar to a small train. Systems with such steam trams included Christchurch , New Zealand; Sydney, Australia; other city systems in New South Wales ; Munich , Germany (from August 1883 on), British India (from 1885) and the Dublin & Blessington Steam Tramway (from 1888) in Ireland. Steam tramways also were used on
520-532: A 710-acre (290-hectare) area in 1694 which became the first land grant in Bethesda. Tobacco farming was the primary way of life in Bethesda throughout the 1700s. The city avoided seeing action during the Revolutionary War , although it became a supply region for the fledgling Continental Navy . The establishment of Washington, D.C. , in 1790 deprived Montgomery County of its economic center at Georgetown, although
650-515: A Vermont blacksmith, had invented a battery-powered electric motor which he later patented. The following year he used it to operate a small model electric car on a short section of track four feet in diameter. Attempts to use batteries as a source of electricity were made from the 1880s and 1890s, with unsuccessful trials conducted in among other places Bendigo and Adelaide in Australia, and for about 14 years as The Hague accutram of HTM in
780-529: A blacksmith shop, a church and school, and a few houses and stores. In 1871, postmaster Robert Franck renamed the settlement for the church. A streetcar line was established in 1890 and suburbanization increased in the early 1900s, and Bethesda grew in population. Communities near railroad lines had grown the fastest during the 19th century. In 1910, the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad completed its Georgetown Branch line from Silver Spring to Georgetown , including
910-462: A common mode of transportation, but the system was dismantled in the early 1960s as part of a switch to bus service. In the late 1990s, Metro began considering a series of rapid bus , light rail, and streetcar projects throughout the Washington, D.C., metropolitan region as a means of providing intra-city and intra-regional mass transit and to meet the transit needs of the quickly growing population of
1040-704: A guest or prisoner (historical accounts differ). Fleet eventually secured funding for another expedition to the region and was later granted proprietary rights to 2,000 acres of land in the nascent colony and became a member of Maryland's colonial legislature. Raids from the Senecas and Susquehannock resulted in the creation of the Maryland division of Rangers in 1694 to patrol the frontier . Most settlers in colonial Maryland were tenant farmers who paid their rent in tobacco, and colonists continued to expand farther north in search of fertile land. Henry Darnall (1645–1711) surveyed
1170-722: A mixed-use district including residential apartments and condos (100,000 ft ), retail (300,000 ft ), dining, office space (100,000 ft ), hotels, entertainment, public art and fountains, forming the new core of revitalized downtown Bethesda. Retail stores include an Apple Store , Anthropologie , and Bethesda Bagels. Bethesda is located in the Montgomery County Public School District . Public primary schools located in Bethesda include: Public middle schools located in Bethesda include: Public high schools located in Bethesda include: Private schools located in Bethesda include: Bethesda
1300-627: A number of other military medical and research institutions. Other federal institutions include the Consumer Product Safety Commission and the Naval Surface Warfare Center Carderock Division . The headquarters of defense conglomerate Lockheed Martin , managed health care company Coventry Health Care and hotel and resort chains Marriott International and Host Hotels & Resorts, Inc. are located in Bethesda. Software company Bethesda Softworks
1430-579: A nursing school. National Intelligence University is also in Bethesda. The Washington Japanese Language School, a supplementary weekend Japanese school , holds its classes at the Stone Ridge School of the Sacred Heart in Bethesda. The WJLS maintains its school office in North Bethesda , adjacent to Garrett Park . The institution, giving supplemental education to Japanese-speaking children in
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#17328550328611560-605: A plan that would lay out how K Street should be reconfigured for streetcars, and how a K Street streetcar line would be planned, constructed, maintained, and serviced. The board of directors of the Downtown BID proposed a self-imposed $ 258 million tax on hotels and commercial property within the district to fund BID projects, which included the streetcar design proposal. It is included in the Constrained Long-Range Transportation Plan. Another streetcar line
1690-695: A similar technology, Pirotsky put into service the first public electric tramway in St. Petersburg, which operated only during September 1880. The second demonstration tramway was presented by Siemens & Halske at the 1879 Berlin Industrial Exposition. The first public electric tramway used for permanent service was the Gross-Lichterfelde tramway in Lichterfelde near Berlin in Germany, which opened in 1881. It
1820-918: A speedier, more cost-effective way to link the neighborhood with the rest of the city. Initially, the line was planned to run along the abandoned CSX railway tracks (known as the Shepherd Industrial Spur) from the Minnesota Avenue Metro station to the Anacostia Metro station , then cross the 11th Street Bridges before connecting with the Navy Yard–Ballpark and Waterfront Metro stations. DDOT originally planned to purchase diesel multiple unit cars (self-propelled rail cars powered by diesel engines ) from Colorado Railcar . Layton Lyndsey, reporting in The Washington Post , asserted
1950-512: A storage yard there and multiple sidings serving industries in Bethesda. B&O successor CSX ceased train service on the line in 1985, so the county transformed it into a trail in the rails-to-trails movement. The tracks were removed in 1994, and the first part of the trail was opened in 1998; it has become the most used rail-trail in the United States, averaging over one million users per year. Subdivisions began to appear on old farmland in
2080-911: A well-known tourist attraction . A single cable line also survives in Wellington (rebuilt in 1979 as a funicular but still called the " Wellington Cable Car "). Another system, with two separate cable lines and a shared power station in the middle, operates from the Welsh town of Llandudno up to the top of the Great Orme hill in North Wales , UK. Hastings and some other tramways, for example Stockholms Spårvägar in Sweden and some lines in Karachi , used petrol trams. Galveston Island Trolley in Texas operated diesel trams due to
2210-655: A writer for the Greater Greater Washington website, reported on July 10, 2015, that a review prepared for the DDOT had identified 33 causes for continued delay in rolling out fare service. He said that none of the reported causes for delay were considered "fatal" , but the DDOT had not yet responded to the report with a prediction as to when all the problems would be attended to. The DC Streetcar's H Street/Benning line eventually began public service operations on February 27, 2016. As of December 2021, DDOT intends to extend
2340-665: A year. Track to the Anacostia station finally began to be laid in September 2009, with a completion date in the fall of 2012. On August 26, 2010, DDOT officials ordered construction of the Anacostia Line shut down after city officials refused to extend the construction contract or give a new contract to another firm. Although $ 25 million had been spent over the past two years, rails at the intersection of Firth Stirling Avenue SE and Suitland Parkway were buried under asphalt and weeds grew among
2470-404: Is a type of urban rail transit consisting of either individual railcars or self-propelled multiple unit trains that run on tramway tracks on urban public streets; some include segments on segregated right-of-way . The tramlines or tram networks operated as public transport are called tramways or simply trams/streetcars. Because of their close similarities, trams are commonly included in
2600-544: Is about two and one-half miles from Washington, D.C.'s western boundary, making Bethesda a close-in suburb of the nation's capital. Other focal points of downtown Bethesda include the Woodmont Triangle, bordered by Old Georgetown Road (Maryland Route 187), Woodmont and Rugby Avenues, and the Bethesda Row, centered at the intersection of Woodmont Avenue and Bethesda Avenue. Much of the dense construction in that area followed
2730-404: Is an unincorporated , census-designated place in southern Montgomery County, Maryland , United States. Located just northwest of Washington, D.C. , it is a major business and government center of the Washington metropolitan region and a national center for medical research. According to the 2020 census , the community had a total population of 68,056. It takes its name from a local church,
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#17328550328612860-726: Is home to a federally funded and operated health science university, the Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences (USU). The primary mission of USU is to prepare graduates for service in the Medical Corps of the U.S. Army , Navy , and Air Force , and the Public Health Service . The university consists of the F. Edward Hebert School of Medicine, a medical school, and the Graduate School of Nursing,
2990-811: Is one of the Madonna of the Trail monuments, erected by the National Old Trails Association with the Daughters of the American Revolution ; U.S. President Harry S. Truman presided over the dedication of the Bethesda monument, on April 19, 1929. Nearby is the Bethesda Post Office. Also starting in the heart of downtown Bethesda is the Capital Crescent Trail , which follows the old tracks of
3120-617: Is owned by the District of Columbia Department of Transportation (DDOT); the RATP Dev USA, the US arm of the French transportation company, RATP Dev , has been operating and managing the streetcar since its inception. The system's H Street/Benning Road Line began public service on February 27, 2016. In 2023, the line had a ridership of 721,700. Between 1862 and 1962, streetcars in Washington, D.C. , were
3250-577: Is still in operation in modernised form. The earliest tram system in Canada was built by John Joseph Wright , brother of the famous mining entrepreneur Whitaker Wright , in Toronto in 1883, introducing electric trams in 1892. In the US, multiple experimental electric trams were exhibited at the 1884 World Cotton Centennial World's Fair in New Orleans, Louisiana , but they were not deemed good enough to replace
3380-729: Is the sole survivor of the fleet). In Italy, in Trieste , the Trieste–Opicina tramway was opened in 1902, with the steepest section of the route being negotiated with the help of a funicular and its cables. Cable cars suffered from high infrastructure costs, since an expensive system of cables , pulleys , stationary engines and lengthy underground vault structures beneath the rails had to be provided. They also required physical strength and skill to operate, and alert operators to avoid obstructions and other cable cars. The cable had to be disconnected ("dropped") at designated locations to allow
3510-605: The 2011 U.S. Open , won by Rory McIlroy . The National , a golf tournament hosted by Tiger Woods , was played at Congressional seven times between 2007 and 2016. Bethesda is also home of the exclusive Burning Tree Club , Bethesda Country Club, and the Bethesda Big Train , a summer collegiate baseball team. A number of ambassador residences are in Bethesda, including those of Bangladesh , Haiti , Cape Verde , Guyana , Honduras , Lesotho , Morocco , Nicaragua , Uruguay , and Zimbabwe . Also located in downtown Bethesda
3640-404: The Anacostia neighborhood. DDOT issued a favorable report, and the D.C. Council approved an expenditure of $ 310 million for the streetcar project in September 2002. The first line to be built would be a 7.2-mile (11.6 km) "starter" streetcar line in Anacostia. The goal of the project was to bring light rail to Anacostia first (rather than last, as had happened with Metrorail), and to provide
3770-464: The Baltimore and Ohio Railroad from Georgetown in Washington, D.C. , to Silver Spring. Walter Reed Medical Center and the Bethesda Theater are two important Art Deco architectural structures in the suburbs of Washington, D.C. Federal Realty Investment Trust has developed much of the west side of downtown Bethesda into an area called Bethesda Row , incorporating principles of new urbanism and
3900-617: The Bethesda Meeting House (1820, rebuilt 1849), which in turn took its name from Jerusalem 's Pool of Bethesda . Bethesda is located in the traditional territory of the indigenous Native Piscataway and Nacotchtank at the time of European colonization . Fur trader Henry Fleet became the first European to visit the area, reaching it by sailing up the Potomac River . He stayed with the Piscataway tribe from 1623 to 1627, either as
4030-688: The Bleecker Street Line until its closure in 1917. Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania , had its Sarah Street line drawn by horses until 1923. The last regular mule-drawn cars in the US ran in Sulphur Rock, Arkansas , until 1926 and were commemorated by a U.S. postage stamp issued in 1983. The last mule tram service in Mexico City ended in 1932, and a mule tram in Celaya, Mexico , survived until 1954. The last horse-drawn tram to be withdrawn from public service in
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4160-823: The Lamm fireless engines then propelling the St. Charles Avenue Streetcar in that city. The first commercial installation of an electric streetcar in the United States was built in 1884 in Cleveland, Ohio , and operated for a period of one year by the East Cleveland Street Railway Company. The first city-wide electric streetcar system was implemented in 1886 in Montgomery, Alabama , by the Capital City Street Railway Company, and ran for 50 years. In 1888,
4290-692: The Richmond Union Passenger Railway began to operate trams in Richmond, Virginia , that Frank J. Sprague had built. Sprague later developed multiple unit control, first demonstrated in Chicago in 1897, allowing multiple cars to be coupled together and operated by a single motorman. This gave rise to the modern subway train. Following the improvement of an overhead "trolley" system on streetcars for collecting electricity from overhead wires by Sprague, electric tram systems were rapidly adopted across
4420-524: The U.S. Census Bureau , the CDP has a total area of 13.2 square miles (34 km ), of which 13.1 square miles (34 km ) is land and 0.1 square miles (0.26 km ) (0.38%) is water. The main commercial corridor that passes through Bethesda is Maryland Route 355 (known as Wisconsin Avenue in Bethesda and as Rockville Pike and Hungerford Drive in more northern communities), which, to the north, connects Bethesda with
4550-648: The Washington, D.C., area , was founded in 1958, making it the oldest Japanese government-sponsored supplementary school in the U.S. The Writer's Center in Bethesda publishes Poet Lore , the longest continuously running poetry journal in the United States. Notable companies based in Bethesda include: Downtown Bethesda is managed by the Bethesda Urban Partnership, a non-profit organization established in 1994 by Montgomery County. Washington Metro 's Red Line services two primary locations in Bethesda:
4680-785: The West Midlands Metro in Birmingham , England adopted battery-powered trams on sections through the city centre close to Grade I listed Birmingham Town Hall . Paris and Berne (Switzerland) operated trams that were powered by compressed air using the Mekarski system . Trials on street tramways in Britain, including by the North Metropolitan Tramway Company between Kings Cross and Holloway, London (1883), achieved acceptable results but were found not to be economic because of
4810-1202: The 1850s, after which the "animal railway" became an increasingly common feature in the larger towns. The first permanent tram line in continental Europe was opened in Paris in 1855 by Alphonse Loubat who had previously worked on American streetcar lines. The tram was developed in numerous cities of Europe (some of the most extensive systems were found in Berlin, Budapest , Birmingham , Saint Petersburg , Lisbon , London , Manchester , Paris , Kyiv ). The first tram in South America opened in 1858 in Santiago, Chile . The first trams in Australia opened in 1860 in Sydney . Africa's first tram service started in Alexandria on 8 January 1863. The first trams in Asia opened in 1869 in Batavia (Jakarta), Netherlands East Indies (Indonesia) . Limitations of horsecars included
4940-430: The 1894-built horse tram at Victor Harbor in South Australia . New horse-drawn systems have been established at the Hokkaidō Museum in Japan and also in Disneyland . A horse-tram route in Polish gmina Mrozy , first built in 1902, was reopened in 2012. The first mechanical trams were powered by steam . Generally, there were two types of steam tram. The first and most common had a small steam locomotive (called
5070-420: The 1980s. The history of passenger trams, streetcars and trolley systems, began in the early nineteenth century. It can be divided into several distinct periods defined by the principal means of power used. Precursors to the tramway included the wooden or stone wagonways that were used in central Europe to transport mine carts with unflanged wheels since the 1500s, and the paved limestone trackways designed by
5200-421: The 1984 expansion of Metrorail with a station in Bethesda. The Bethesda Metro Center was built over the Red line metro rail, which opened up further commercial and residential development in the immediate vicinity. In the 2000s, the strict height limits on construction in the District of Columbia led to the development of mid-and high-rise office and residential towers around the Bethesda Metro stop. According to
5330-455: The 2000 census, Bethesda was the best-educated city in the United States of America, with a population of 50,000 or more. 79% of residents 25 or older have bachelor's degrees, and 49% have graduate or professional degrees. According to a 2007 estimate, the median income for a household in the CDP was $ 117,723, and the median income for a family was $ 168,385. Males had a median income of $ 84,797 versus $ 57,569 for females. The per capita income for
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5460-410: The Anacostia line, but because of delays in the start of construction of the line in Washington, they were stored in the Czech Republic until December 2009. They are model 12 Trio. The second set of streetcars, initially numbered 13-001 through 13-003 (subsequently renumbered 201–203), were built in the U.S. in 2013 by United Streetcar , of Oregon , based on a Skoda design (model Skoda 10T ) that
5590-422: The Australian state of Queensland between 1909 and 1939. Stockholm , Sweden, had a steam tram line at the island of Södermalm between 1887 and 1901. Tram engines usually had modifications to make them suitable for street running in residential areas. The wheels, and other moving parts of the machinery, were usually enclosed for safety reasons and to make the engines quieter. Measures were often taken to prevent
5720-469: The Bradley Woods subdivision of Bethesda said, "No part of the land hereby conveyed, shall ever be used, or occupied by or sold, demised, transferred, conveyed, unto, or in trust for, leased, or rented, or given to negroes, or any person or persons of negro blood or extraction or to any person of the Semitic Race, blood, or origin, which racial description shall be deemed to include Armenians, Jews, Hebrews, Persians, Syrians, Greeks and Turks, or to any person of
5850-407: The British newspaper Newcastle Daily Chronicle reported that, "A large number of London's discarded horse tramcars have been sent to Lincolnshire where they are used as sleeping rooms for potato pickers ". Horses continued to be used for light shunting well into the 20th century, and many large metropolitan lines lasted into the early 20th century. New York City had a regular horsecar service on
5980-576: The CDP was $ 58,479. About 1.7% of families and 3.3% of the population were below the poverty line , including 1.8% of those under age 18 and 4.1% of those age 65 or over. Many commute to Washington, D.C. , for work. The average price of a four-bedroom, two-bath home in Bethesda in 2010 was $ 806,817 (which ranks it as the twentieth most expensive community in America). Bethesda is often associated with its neighboring communities, Potomac , Chevy Chase , Great Falls , Virginia , and McLean , Virginia, for their similar demographics. The ethnic makeup in 2020
6110-400: The D.C. area. Metro proposed allocating half the total amount to build the D.C. streetcar line, complete the Silver Line , build a streetcar line on Columbia Pike in Arlington County in Virginia, and build a Purple Line light rail link between Bethesda and New Carrollton in Maryland. However, state and local governments said they were unable to fund Metro's proposal at that time, and
6240-460: The District of Columbia Department of Transportation announced that it would build a $ 13 million streetcar line on H Street NE, from Union Station to Benning Road and the Minnesota Avenue Metro station as part of its Great Streets initiative, on much of the same route established by the Columbia Railway Company in 1870. By 2008, the extension to the Minnesota Avenue Metro station had been dropped. Streetcar tracks were installed on H Street as part of
6370-477: The Entertainment Centre, and work is progressing on further extensions. Sydney re-introduced trams (or light rail) on 31 August 1997. A completely new system, known as G:link , was introduced on the Gold Coast, Queensland , on 20 July 2014. The Newcastle Light Rail opened in February 2019, while the Canberra light rail opened on 20 April 2019. This is the first time that there have been trams in Canberra, even though Walter Burley Griffin 's 1914–1920 plans for
6500-486: The H Street line remained to be completed, and that they anticipated streetcars to be rolling in October 2013. Testing on the H Street-Benning Road Line began in August 2014, with a planned opening date for the line in late 2014. After more delays, the line had been tentatively projected to open in January 2015, but on January 16 the DDOT's director Leif Dormsjo announced that the Department would no longer issue any estimates for an opening date and that he intended to reorganize
6630-550: The H Street/Benning Road Great Streets project that was started in December 2007 and ended on June 30, 2011. In late August 2011, DDOT announced the H Street Line would begin operation in the summer of 2013. City officials said all platform stops had been constructed along the route, but overhead electricity lines, turnarounds at each end of the line, a streetcar overnight holding facility ("car barn"), maintenance facility, and three power substations remained to be built. On December 17, 2012, DC Streetcar officials said only 20 percent of
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#17328550328616760-474: The H Street/Benning Road Line at Union Station via a pedestrian bridge which would require passengers to alight at Union Station and board an unconnected line. The two lines would thus form a cross-city streetcar line, although not directly. DDOT officials confirmed in August 2011 that linking to the H Street Line was still the option. To help move the K Street line forward, the Downtown D.C. Business Improvement District (Downtown BID) proposed in March 2012 to fund
6890-531: The Health Sciences . As of the census of 2000, there were 55,277 people, 23,659 households, and 14,455 families residing in the CDP. The population density was 4,205.8 inhabitants per square mile (1,623.9/km ). There were 24,368 housing units at an average density of 1,854.1 per square mile (715.9/km ). The racial makeup of the CDP was 85.86% White , 2.67% Black or African American , 0.17% Native American , 7.92% Asian , 0.05% Pacific Islander , 1.23% from other races , and 2.11% from two or more races. 5.43% of
7020-416: The Irish coach builder John Stephenson , in New York City which began service in the year 1832. The New York and Harlem Railroad's Fourth Avenue Line ran along the Bowery and Fourth Avenue in New York City. It was followed in 1835 by the New Orleans and Carrollton Railroad in New Orleans, Louisiana , which still operates as the St. Charles Streetcar Line . Other American cities did not follow until
7150-447: The Mongolian Race, blood, or origin, which racial description shall be deemed to include Chinese, Japanese, and Mongolians, except that this paragraph shall not be held to exclude partial occupancy of the premises by domestic servants of the purchaser or purchasers." In practice, covenants excluding "Semitic races" were generally used to exclude Jews as Montgomery County did not have notable Armenian, Greek, Syrian, or Turkish populations at
7280-441: The Montgomery Farm Woman's Cooperative Market and the Bethesda Central Farmer's Market. In summer 2021, Fox Television Stations moved the broadcast facilities of its Washington-area television stations, WTTG and WDCA , to Bethesda. Bethesda is the home of Congressional Country Club , which is recognized as one of the world's most prestigious private country clubs. Congressional has hosted four major golf championships, including
7410-430: The Netherlands. The first trams in Bendigo, Australia, in 1892, were battery-powered, but within as little as three months they were replaced with horse-drawn trams. In New York City some minor lines also used storage batteries. Then, more recently during the 1950s, a longer battery-operated tramway line ran from Milan to Bergamo . In China there is a Nanjing battery Tram line and has been running since 2014. In 2019,
7540-436: The North Sydney line from 1886 to 1900, and the King Street line from 1892 to 1905. In Dresden , Germany, in 1901 an elevated suspended cable car following the Eugen Langen one-railed floating tram system started operating. Cable cars operated on Highgate Hill in North London and Kennington to Brixton Hill in South London. They also worked around "Upper Douglas" in the Isle of Man from 1897 to 1929 (cable car 72/73
7670-463: The Romans for heavy horse and ox-drawn transportation. By the 1700s, paved plateways with cast iron rails were introduced in England for transporting coal, stone or iron ore from the mines to the urban factories and docks. The world's first passenger train or tram was the Swansea and Mumbles Railway , in Wales , UK. The British Parliament passed the Mumbles Railway Act in 1804, and horse-drawn service started in 1807. The service closed in 1827, but
7800-413: The Second Street Cable Railroad, which operated from 1885 to 1889, and the Temple Street Cable Railway, which operated from 1886 to 1898. From 1885 to 1940, the city of Melbourne , Victoria, Australia operated one of the largest cable systems in the world, at its peak running 592 trams on 75 kilometres (47 mi) of track. There were also two isolated cable lines in Sydney , New South Wales, Australia;
7930-562: The UK at Lytham St Annes , Trafford Park , Manchester (1897–1908) and Neath , Wales (1896–1920). Comparatively little has been published about gas trams. However, research on the subject was carried out for an article in the October 2011 edition of "The Times", the historical journal of the Australian Association of Timetable Collectors, later renamed the Australian Timetable Association. The world's first electric tram line operated in Sestroretsk near Saint Petersburg invented and tested by inventor Fyodor Pirotsky in 1875. Later, using
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#17328550328618060-410: The UK took passengers from Fintona railway station to Fintona Junction one mile away on the main Omagh to Enniskillen railway in Northern Ireland. The tram made its last journey on 30 September 1957 when the Omagh to Enniskillen line closed. The "van" is preserved at the Ulster Transport Museum . Horse-drawn trams still operate on the 1876-built Douglas Bay Horse Tramway on the Isle of Man , and at
8190-508: The advantages over earlier forms of transit was the low rolling resistance of metal wheels on steel rails, allowing the trams to haul a greater load for a given effort. Another factor which contributed to the rise of trams was the high total cost of ownership of horses. Electric trams largely replaced animal power in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Improvements in other vehicles such as buses led to decline of trams in early to mid 20th century. However, trams have seen resurgence since
8320-487: The area. The first project was proposed for Alexandria, Virginia , in 1999. In January 2002, District of Columbia officials began studying the economic feasibility and costs of constructing a 33-mile (53.1 km) long system of streetcars throughout the city. The project received Metro's backing. DDOT studied the feasibility of both a citywide system and one or more "starter" lines. D.C. Council Member David Catania specifically requested that DDOT study adding streetcars in
8450-460: The busiest tram line in Europe, with a tram running once per minute at rush hour. Bucharest and Belgrade ran a regular service from 1894. Ljubljana introduced its tram system in 1901 – it closed in 1958. Oslo had the first tramway in Scandinavia , starting operation on 2 March 1894. The first electric tramway in Australia was a Sprague system demonstrated at the 1888 Melbourne Centennial Exhibition in Melbourne ; afterwards, this
8580-439: The capital then in the planning stage did propose a Canberra tram system. In Japan, the Kyoto Electric railroad was the first tram system, starting operation in 1895. By 1932, the network had grown to 82 railway companies in 65 cities, with a total network length of 1,479 km (919 mi). By the 1960s the tram had generally died out in Japan. Two rare but significant alternatives were conduit current collection , which
8710-458: The car up the hill at a steady pace, unlike a low-powered steam or horse-drawn car. Cable cars do have wheel brakes and track brakes , but the cable also helps restrain the car to going downhill at a constant speed. Performance in steep terrain partially explains the survival of cable cars in San Francisco. The San Francisco cable cars , though significantly reduced in number, continue to provide regular transportation service, in addition to being
8840-402: The cars to coast by inertia, for example when crossing another cable line. The cable then had to be "picked up" to resume progress, the whole operation requiring precise timing to avoid damage to the cable and the grip mechanism. Breaks and frays in the cable, which occurred frequently, required the complete cessation of services over a cable route while the cable was repaired. Due to overall wear,
8970-423: The cars would be the first of their kind to be built in the United States and approved by the Federal Railroad Administration . Financing for the plan proved problematic. In November 2002, the same month that the D.C. government agreed to co-fund the streetcar project, Metro formally changed its strategic plan and proposed spending $ 12 billion over 10 years on rapid bus, light rail, and streetcar projects throughout
9100-422: The city for $ 16 million. Subsequently, DDOT announced that the streetcars would run on city streets instead of heavy railroad track, angering local residents who said the streetcars would worsen traffic congestion, eliminate parking, and reduce bus service. DDOT and Metro announced in April 2006 that work on the revised streetcar line in Anacostia would start again in a few months. The new deadline for completion of
9230-435: The city to use it for the streetcar project. DDOT officials say they believed that only the city and CSX owned the land under the tracks, but a legal review found that CSX was not the only private owner. The city was unwilling to build the project on the CSX tracks, only to have the other owners demand payment in the future. CSX disputed these claims, saying that it had the legal right to lease the tracks and land in perpetuity to
9360-460: The city's hurricane-prone location, which would have resulted in frequent damage to an electrical supply system. Although Portland, Victoria promotes its tourist tram as being a cable car it actually operates using a diesel motor. The tram, which runs on a circular route around the town of Portland, uses dummies and salons formerly used on the Melbourne cable tramway system and since restored. In
9490-474: The classic tramway built in the early 20th century with the tram system operating in mixed traffic, and the later type which is most often associated with the tram system having its own right of way. Tram systems that have their own right of way are often called light rail but this does not always hold true. Though these two systems differ in their operation, their equipment is much the same. Bethesda, Maryland Bethesda ( / b ə ˈ θ ɛ z d ə / )
9620-829: The clubhouse of the Woodmont Country Club on land that is now part of the National Institutes of Health (NIH) campus. Merle Thorpe 's mansion "Pook's Hill" (1927, razed 1948) became the home-in-exile of the Norwegian royal family during World War II . Before the passage of the Fair Housing Act of 1968 , restrictive covenants were used in Bethesda to exclude racial and ethnic minorities—primarily African-Americans, but also Asian-Americans and ethnic groups regarded as "Semitic", including Armenians, Jews, Iranians, Greeks, Turks, and Syrians. One 1938 restrictive covenant in
9750-416: The combined coal consumption of the stationary compressor and the onboard steam boiler. The Trieste–Opicina tramway in Trieste operates a hybrid funicular tramway system. Conventional electric trams are operated in street running and on reserved track for most of their route. However, on one steep segment of track, they are assisted by cable tractors, which push the trams uphill and act as brakes for
9880-675: The communities of North Bethesda and Rockville , ending, after several name changes, in Frederick . Toward the South, Rockville Pike becomes Wisconsin Avenue near the NIH Campus and continues beyond Bethesda through Chevy Chase , Friendship Heights and into Washington, D.C. , ending in Georgetown . The area commonly known as Downtown Bethesda is centered at the intersection of Wisconsin Avenue, Old Georgetown Road and East-West Highway. This intersection
10010-448: The contract process was found to be flawed. D.C. City Council member Mary Cheh , chair of the council's transportation committee, said the DDOT's management of the streetcar project had lost the confidence of the public and that she would seek legislation establishing an independent authority to run the system. A new contract was awarded to United Streetcar in April 2012, for two streetcars, and
10140-652: The downhill run. For safety, the cable tractors are always deployed on the downhill side of the tram vehicle. Similar systems were used elsewhere in the past, notably on the Queen Anne Counterbalance in Seattle and the Darling Street wharf line in Sydney. In the mid-20th century many tram systems were disbanded, replaced by buses, trolleybuses , automobiles or rapid transit . The General Motors streetcar conspiracy
10270-697: The downtown area at the Bethesda station , and the area near the National Institutes of Health and the Walter Reed Medical Center at the Medical Center station . The Maryland Transit Administration 's Purple Line , a light rail line currently under construction, will provide a direct connection from Bethesda to Silver Spring , the University of Maryland , College Park , and New Carrollton . The Purple Line will allow riders from Bethesda to move between
10400-459: The effect streetcars had on Portland's economic development. On August 22, 2011, DDOT announced the first streetcars would roll on the H Street line in the summer of 2013. In April 2014, DDOT estimated that the H Street Line would open in the fall of 2014. A temporary car barn at the former Spingarn High School was scheduled for completion in July. Testing of the system would take several weeks, and then
10530-446: The engines from emitting visible smoke or steam. Usually the engines used coke rather than coal as fuel to avoid emitting smoke; condensers or superheating were used to avoid emitting visible steam. A major drawback of this style of tram was the limited space for the engine, so that these trams were usually underpowered. Steam trams faded out around the 1890s to 1900s, being replaced by electric trams. Another motive system for trams
10660-429: The entire length of cable (typically several kilometres) had to be replaced on a regular schedule. After the development of reliable electrically powered trams, the costly high-maintenance cable car systems were rapidly replaced in most locations. Cable cars remained especially effective in hilly cities, since their nondriven wheels did not lose traction as they climbed or descended a steep hill. The moving cable pulled
10790-402: The event had little effect on the small farmers throughout Bethesda. Between 1805 and 1821, Bethesda became a rural way station after the development of the Washington and Rockville Turnpike , which carried tobacco and other products between Georgetown and Rockville , and north to Frederick . The Bethesda Meeting House, a Presbyterian church, was built in 1820. The church burned in 1849 and
10920-439: The fact that any given animal could only work so many hours on a given day, had to be housed, groomed, fed and cared for day in and day out, and produced prodigious amounts of manure, which the streetcar company was charged with storing and then disposing. Since a typical horse pulled a streetcar for about a dozen miles a day and worked for four or five hours, many systems needed ten or more horses in stable for each horsecar. In 1905
11050-542: The late 19th and early 20th centuries a number of systems in various parts of the world employed trams powered by gas, naphtha gas or coal gas in particular. Gas trams are known to have operated between Alphington and Clifton Hill in the northern suburbs of Melbourne , Australia (1886–1888); in Berlin and Dresden , Germany; in Estonia (1921–1951); between Jelenia Góra , Cieplice , and Sobieszów in Poland (from 1897); and in
11180-402: The late 19th and early 20th centuries. There was one particular hazard associated with trams powered from a trolley pole off an overhead line on the early electrified systems. Since the tram relies on contact with the rails for the current return path, a problem arises if the tram is derailed or (more usually) if it halts on a section of track that has been heavily sanded by a previous tram, and
11310-629: The late 19th century, becoming the neighborhoods of Drummond, Woodmont, Edgemoor, and Battery Park. Farther north, several wealthy men made Rockville Pike famous for its mansions. These included Brainard W. Parker ("Cedarcroft", 1892), James Oyster ( "Strathmore", 1899 ), George E. Hamilton ("Hamilton House", 1904; now the Stone Ridge School ), Luke I. Wilson ("Tree Tops", 1926), Gilbert Hovey Grosvenor ("Wild Acres", 1928–29), and George Freeland Peter ("Stone House", 1930). In 1930, Armistead Peter 's pioneering manor house "Winona" (1873) became
11440-552: The line ahead of schedule, due to the imminent 2011 closing of Walter Reed Army Medical Center . The streetcar line was part of a proposed $ 500 million, 62-acre (25 ha) mixed-use housing, office, and retail development that would begin construction in 2013. D.C. officials moved up hearings on (and potential construction of) the Georgia Avenue Line because the redevelopment of the Walter Reed site would be heavily dependent on
11570-483: The line by two miles (3.2 km) to the Benning Road Metro stop. Construction would begin in spring 2023 and be completed by 2026 if the plan is fully approved. Ground was broken for the Anacostia Line on November 13, 2004. However, 10 months into the project, DDOT and Metro temporarily mothballed the streetcar line. Two days after the groundbreaking, CSX announced it would abandon the railway track but refuse to allow
11700-541: The local business community would support the streetcar project, several local real estate and commercial developers visited the Portland Streetcar system which operates in Portland, Oregon . The goal of the trip was to investigate whether streetcars had the intended positive economic consequences and whether the return on investment seemed worthwhile. Local media reports indicated that the D.C. developers were impressed by
11830-528: The necessity of overhead wire and a trolley pole for street cars and railways. While at the University of Denver he conducted experiments which established that multiple unit powered cars were a better way to operate trains and trolleys. Electric tramways spread to many European cities in the 1890s, such as: Sarajevo built a citywide system of electric trams in 1895. Budapest established its tramway system in 1887, and its ring line has grown to be
11960-492: The now-$ 10 million, 1.1-mile (1.7 km) line was set for the spring of 2008. DDOT opened bids for the now-$ 45 million contract to construct the Anacostia Line's tracks and infrastructure in August 2008. In April 2009, DDOT announced that the Anacostia streetcar line would not be complete until at least 2012. The delays had caused the warranty on the mothballed Czech-produced streetcars to expire, and storage costs were running $ 860,000
12090-523: The oldest operating electric tramway in the world. Also in 1883, Mödling and Hinterbrühl Tram was opened near Vienna in Austria. It was the first tram in the world in regular service that was run with electricity served by an overhead line with pantograph current collectors . The Blackpool Tramway was opened in Blackpool, UK on 29 September 1885 using conduit collection along Blackpool Promenade. This system
12220-730: The opening of the Bethesda station on the Red Line of the Washington Metro rapid transit system, also located at this intersection and the centerpiece of the Bethesda Metro Center development. The Medical Center Metro stop lies about 0.7 miles north of the Bethesda stop, Medical Center , which serves the NIH Campus, the Walter Reed National Military Medical Center , and the Uniformed Services University of
12350-404: The order was expanded to three cars in August 2012. In 2003, then- Mayor Anthony A. Williams unveiled a draft Strategic Development Plan which proposed redeveloping and revitalizing six blighted areas of the city, including H Street NE and Benning Road. Among the proposals to revitalize H Street was the construction of a streetcar line to downtown D.C. in five to 10 years. On January 20, 2006,
12480-399: The overall dimensions are identical. Each car is eight ft (2.438 metres) wide and 66 feet (20.12 m) long, and each car consists of three connected sections , a design known as an articulated streetcar. Although DDOT awarded contracts to United Streetcar to build streetcars for the H Street/Benning Road line in mid-2011, these contracts were withdrawn and new bids solicited after
12610-510: The planned projects died. (Metro opened a portion of the Silver Line in 2014 and the remainder of the line opened in late 2022. The Purple line project was later funded through Maryland state and local funds and federal grants, and is scheduled to open in 2027.) The District of Columbia subsequently decided to build the initial components of the DC Streetcar system on its own. The Anacostia line
12740-566: The poor paving of the streets in American cities which made them unsuitable for horsebuses , which were then common on the well-paved streets of European cities. Running the horsecars on rails allowed for a much smoother ride. There are records of a street railway running in Baltimore as early as 1828, however the first authenticated streetcar in America, was the New York and Harlem Railroad developed by
12870-436: The population were Hispanic or Latino of any race. There were 23,659 households, out of which 28.0% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 53.4% were married couples living together, 6.0% had a female householder with no husband present, and 38.9% were non-families. 32.2% of all households were made up of individuals, and 11.6% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size
13000-538: The project (whose $ 45 million cost was now being funded completely by the District of Columbia), with construction to start in November 2004 and end in 2006. In December 2009, D.C. Councilmember Jim Graham proposed establishing a D.C. Transit Board to oversee the DC Circulator bus system as well as the DC Streetcar system. The board would oversee the establishment of routes and transit fares. In order to determine whether
13130-496: The project's management team. On February 21, 2015, a brief flash fire was ignited on the top of a streetcar in simulated service. In early March 2015, DDOT suggested that the project may be scrapped entirely, if an outside review being conducted by the American Public Transportation Association found "fatal flaws", but the findings, released on March 16, found no "fatal flaws" in the project. Dan Malouff,
13260-525: The rails at South Capitol Street and Bolling Air Force Base. In 2014, DDOT said it was planning to spend $ 64 million to begin construction on the Anacostia Line Extension from the Anacostia Metro station to the 11th Street Bridges. The agency said it would also spend another $ 16 million to acquire the right-of-way currently owned by railroad company CSX Transportation and $ 15 million to build
13390-486: The rider subsidy was too high and that the $ 800 million planned for construction of the remaining lines could be better used for road maintenance and school construction. The D.C. government owns six streetcars that serve the system, built by two manufacturers to very similar designs. The first three streetcars, numbered 101 through 103, were ordered in 2005 and built in the Czech Republic in 2007 by Inekon Trams , for
13520-632: The streetcar reaching the area by the time the new homes and businesses opened. In March 2011, the Washington Business Journal said that the city's reuse plan for its portion of the Walter Reed Campus included a retail hub serviced by a streetcar line. In January 2010, The Washington Post reported that the K Street Line would probably be the third line to be constructed. The K Street Line would extend from Union Station to K Street NE , then run west to 26th Street NW. It would link with
13650-529: The suburban tramway lines around Milan and Padua ; the last Gamba de Legn ("Peg-Leg") tramway ran on the Milan- Magenta -Castano Primo route in late 1957. The other style of steam tram had the steam engine in the body of the tram, referred to as a tram engine (UK) or steam dummy (US). The most notable system to adopt such trams was in Paris. French-designed steam trams also operated in Rockhampton , in
13780-540: The system would need to be certified for operation by the Federal Transit Administration (FTA), which would take another 60 to 80 days. DDOT also said it needed to take delivery of a sixth streetcar, likely in June, before any testing could begin. With a decision on the fare structure still months off, Council Member Marion Barry threatened to cancel all funding for all planned DC Streetcar lines. Barry argued that
13910-586: The time. World War II and the subsequent expansion of government fed the rapid growth of Bethesda. Both the National Naval Medical Center (1940–42) and the NIH complex (1948) were built just to the north of the developing downtown, and this drew government contractors, medical professionals, and other businesses to the area. Bethesda became the major urban core and employment center of southwestern Montgomery County. This recent vigorous growth followed
14040-545: The tracks. Siemens later designed his own version of overhead current collection, called the bow collector . One of the first systems to use it was in Thorold, Ontario , opened in 1887, and it was considered quite successful. While this line proved quite versatile as one of the earliest fully functional electric streetcar installations, it required horse-drawn support while climbing the Niagara Escarpment and for two months of
14170-416: The tram and completing the earth return circuit with their body could receive a serious electric shock. If "grounded", the driver was required to jump off the tram (avoiding simultaneous contact with the tram and the ground) and pull down the trolley pole, before allowing passengers off the tram. Unless derailed, the tram could usually be recovered by running water down the running rails from a point higher than
14300-460: The tram loses electrical contact with the rails. In this event, the underframe of the tram, by virtue of a circuit path through ancillary loads (such as interior lighting), is live at the full supply voltage, typically 600 volts DC. In British terminology, such a tram was said to be 'grounded'—not to be confused with the US English use of the term, which means the exact opposite. Any person stepping off
14430-427: The tram, the water providing a conducting bridge between the tram and the rails. With improved technology, this ceased to be an problem. In the 2000s, several companies introduced catenary-free designs: Alstom's Citadis line uses a third rail, Bombardier's PRIMOVE LRV is charged by contactless induction plates embedded in the trackway and CAF URBOS tram uses ultracaps technology As early as 1834, Thomas Davenport ,
14560-804: The wider term light rail , which also includes systems separated from other traffic. Tram vehicles are usually lighter and shorter than main line and rapid transit trains. Most trams use electrical power, usually fed by a pantograph sliding on an overhead line ; older systems may use a trolley pole or a bow collector . In some cases, a contact shoe on a third rail is used. If necessary, they may have dual power systems—electricity in city streets and diesel in more rural environments. Occasionally, trams also carry freight . Some trams, known as tram-trains , may have segments that run on mainline railway tracks, similar to interurban systems. The differences between these modes of rail transport are often indistinct, and systems may combine multiple features. One of
14690-409: The winter when hydroelectricity was not available. It continued in service in its original form into the 1950s. Sidney Howe Short designed and produced the first electric motor that operated a streetcar without gears. The motor had its armature direct-connected to the streetcar 's axle for the driving force. Short pioneered "use of a conduit system of concealed feed" thereby eliminating
14820-524: The world's first hydrogen fuel cell vehicle tramcar at an assembly facility in Qingdao . The chief engineer of the CSR subsidiary CSR Sifang Co Ltd. , Liang Jianying, said that the company is studying how to reduce the running costs of the tram. Trams have been used for two main purposes: for carrying passengers and for carrying cargo. There are several types of passenger tram: There are two main types of tramways,
14950-401: The world. Earlier electric trains proved difficult or unreliable and experienced limited success until the second half of the 1880s, when new types of current collectors were developed. Siemens' line, for example, provided power through a live rail and a return rail, like a model train , limiting the voltage that could be used, and delivering electric shocks to people and animals crossing
15080-415: Was 2.30, and the average family size was 2.92. In the CDP, 21.8% of the population was under the age of 18, 4.6% from 18 to 24, 29.2% from 25 to 44, 27.1% from 45 to 64, and 17.2% was 65 years of age or older. The median age was 41 years. For every 100 females, there were 87.7 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 84.0 males. Bethesda is a very wealthy and well-educated area. According to
15210-413: Was 69.5% non-Hispanic white, 8.9% Hispanic or Latino, 4.9% black, 11.7% Asian, 0.3% American Indian, and 8.2% of two or more races. 24.4% of the population was foreign-born. Important medical institutions located in Bethesda include the National Institutes of Health campus , Walter Reed National Military Medical Center , and the adjoining Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences , as well as
15340-665: Was a case study of the decline of trams in the United States. In the 21st century, trams have been re-introduced in cities where they had been closed down for decades (such as Tramlink in London), or kept in heritage use (such as Spårväg City in Stockholm). Most trams made since the 1990s (such as the Bombardier Flexity series and Alstom Citadis ) are articulated low-floor trams with features such as regenerative braking . In March 2015, China South Rail Corporation (CSR) demonstrated
15470-486: Was built by Werner von Siemens who contacted Pirotsky. This was the world's first commercially successful electric tram. It drew current from the rails at first, with overhead wire being installed in 1883. In Britain, Volk's Electric Railway was opened in 1883 in Brighton. This two kilometer line along the seafront, re-gauged to 2 ft 8 + 1 ⁄ 2 in ( 825 mm ) in 1884, remains in service as
15600-482: Was installed as a commercial venture operating between the outer Melbourne suburb of Box Hill and the then tourist-oriented country town Doncaster from 1889 to 1896. Electric systems were also built in Adelaide , Ballarat , Bendigo , Brisbane , Fremantle , Geelong , Hobart , Kalgoorlie , Launceston , Leonora , Newcastle , Perth , and Sydney . By the 1970s, the only full tramway system remaining in Australia
15730-556: Was originally developed jointly by Inekon and Skoda, and the shared design history explains the similarity between the two designs. They are United Streetcar model 100. The first United car was delivered to DC Streetcar in January 2014 and the third and last in June 2014. Visually, the United units differ from the Inekon cars in appearance with different fiberglass driver compartments, and cowling , but
15860-466: Was originally located in Bethesda but moved to Rockville in 1990. The Discovery Channel also had its headquarters in Bethesda before it moved to Silver Spring in 2004. On the professional services side, numerous banks (PNC, Capital One Bank) brokerage firms (MorganStanley, Merrill Lynch, Charles Schwab, Fidelity) and law firms (Ballard Spahr, JDKatz, Paley Rothman, Lerch Early & Brewer) maintain offices in Bethesda. Bethesda has two farmers markets :
15990-522: Was proposed for Maine Avenue SW . In October 2010, the D.C. government unveiled its long-awaited, $ 1.5 billion development proposal for the city's southwest waterfront district. This proposal included a DC Streetcar line down the middle of the entire length of Maine Avenue. Other transit in the United States: Tram A tram (also known as a streetcar or trolley in the United States)
16120-545: Was rebuilt the same year about 100 yards (91 m) south, and its former location became the Cemetery of the Bethesda Meeting House. In 1852, the postmaster general established a post office in the area and appointed Rev. A. R. Smith its first postmaster. By 1862, a small settlement had grown around a store and tollhouse along the turnpike known as "Darcy's Store" for the store's owner, William E. Darcy. It consisted of
16250-548: Was restarted in 1860, again using horses. It was worked by steam from 1877, and then, from 1929, by very large (106-seat) electric tramcars, until closure in 1960. The Swansea and Mumbles Railway was something of a one-off however, and no street tramway appeared in Britain until 1860 when one was built in Birkenhead by the American George Francis Train . Street railways developed in America before Europe, due to
16380-565: Was scaled back to a demonstration project just 2.7 miles (4.3 km) in length with only four stations: Bolling Air Force Base , the Anacostia Metro station, the intersection of Martin Luther King, Jr. Avenue SE and Good Hope Road SE, and the Minnesota Avenue Metro station. DDOT began an environmental assessment of the CSX tracks in July 2003. In September 2004, Metro agreed to move ahead with
16510-616: Was tested in San Francisco , in 1873. Part of its success is attributed to the development of an effective and reliable cable grip mechanism, to grab and release the moving cable without damage. The second city to operate cable trams was Dunedin , from 1881 to 1957. The most extensive cable system in the US was built in Chicago in stages between 1859 and 1892. New York City developed multiple cable car lines, that operated from 1883 to 1909. Los Angeles also had several cable car lines, including
16640-616: Was the Melbourne tram system. However, there were also a few single lines remaining elsewhere: the Glenelg tram line , connecting Adelaide to the beachside suburb of Glenelg , and tourist trams in the Victorian Goldfields cities of Bendigo and Ballarat. In recent years the Melbourne system, generally recognised as the largest urban tram network in the world, has been considerably modernised and expanded. The Adelaide line has been extended to
16770-411: Was the cable car, which was pulled along a fixed track by a moving steel cable, the cable usually running in a slot below the street level. The power to move the cable was normally provided at a "powerhouse" site a distance away from the actual vehicle. The London and Blackwall Railway , which opened for passengers in east London, England, in 1840 used such a system. The first practical cable car line
16900-851: Was widely used in London, Washington, D.C., and New York City, and the surface contact collection method, used in Wolverhampton (the Lorain system), Torquay and Hastings in the UK (the Dolter stud system), and in Bordeaux , France (the ground-level power supply system). The convenience and economy of electricity resulted in its rapid adoption once the technical problems of production and transmission of electricity were solved. Electric trams largely replaced animal power and other forms of motive power including cable and steam, in
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