Like many American communities, Omaha, Nebraska has been debating the pros and cons of whether or not to invest in a modern streetcar system for the downtown. City leaders and planners have observed what has happened in other cities that did invest in light rail and/or streetcars, especially as an economic development tool where businesses begin to develop and thrive along the rail corridor.
But also like many communities whose budgets are stressed to the breaking point, the cost of building and operating system is daunting, running in the tens to hundreds of millions of dollars, not an easy sell to a fiscally-conservative city council or citizens. Still, the prospects of reinvigorating the city's central core is very appealing, so planners continue to explore avenues to finance the system.
A key component of the planning process is investigating various technology options from improving the current diesel bus-based public transit system to light rail, the most expensive option. At this point in time, one system being evaluated is a streetcar that would run from the downtown district along the banks of the Missouri River west some 30 blocks to the University of Nebraska Medical Center (UNMC) and back. One manufacturer being considered is Kawasaki Heavy Industries, which has built and tested since 2007 a battery-powered, articulated street car dubbed "SWIMO."
The car holds 28 seated passengers and 34 standing, for a total of 62 passengers. Each three-segment, three boggie car measures 15 m. The floor of the car is just 330 mm (12 inches) off the ground.
While designed to operate from overhead electric power cables, the car can also run for up to 10 km on its bipolar NiMH Gigacell (illustrated below) battery pack, which is located under the passenger seats. Total battery capacity is 274Ah.
One of the challenges the proposed phase one route West faces are the series of rolling hills west of the river. The approximately 5 mile system (2.5 miles from 10th Street to 42nd St) would have to climb several hundred feet of elevation. Climbing these grades will require more energy than running on a level grade, especially if running on battery power alone.
But here, options are available including installing overhead lines on the grades. The rest of the line could be run on battery power alone. Another possibility is quick charging at stops on the system. Hitachi is experimenting with five-minute charges that will recharge 20% of the battery capacity. The connection to the grid could be through the overhead wire at each selected stops, or inductively from the roadbed below the car. In the proposed Omaha system, the recharge points could be at the Medical Center, at the Mutual of Omaha complex and at the downtown terminus.
At the moment, the city is hoping to line up funding to permit a more comprehensive study of its project funding options. And not everyone is convinced this is will be an intelligent investment given the costs and uncertainty of the eventual pay-off.
The irony here, of course, is that like many American cities a century ago, Omaha once had a successful streetcar system. Recent reconstruction of a street near the downtown area uncovered some of the original track system, the last car (#1011) of which was retired in 1955. To learn more about Omaha's street car history and citizen efforts to resurrect the system, visit Omaha Street Car.
