Sound Transit Brokers Streetcar Swap Between Portland and Tacoma
Three streetcars are set to swap states, under a purchase agreement that is on track to be approved by the Sound Transit board later this month. The City of Portland is looking to offload three Brookville streetcar vehicles that had been running along its 7.2 mile Portland Streetcar network, cars that are just two years old. And Sound Transit could use some additional Brookville cars to match the rest of its fleet used for Tacoma’s T Line streetcar, in place of aging Skoda cars that have been in use since 2003.
The move will help to standardize the fleets within the two cities, giving Sound Transit just one type of streetcar to maintain in Tacoma and the larger Portland Streetcar system two types of cars rather than three.
“Our preventive maintenance schedule will be reduced to only one type vehicle, which doesn’t sound like much on the start of it, but it will be a major reduction and simplification of our vehicle maintenance program,” T Line Light Rail Director Robert Blackburn told the Sound Transit board’s rider experience committee last week. “Vehicle systems will also be one type of maintenance for our maintenance department to troubleshoot and repair operations and maintenance staff will only have one vehicle to be trained on, which will substantially reduce operator and maintenance training. Also safety and emergency procedures will be simplified down to one vehicle.”
On its face, the deal is a great opportunity for Sound Transit, which will be able to receive virtually brand new streetcars at a 30-40% discount, and offload aging cars that only have a few years of life left in them. Sound Transit will pay $6.6 million for each Brookville. In exchange Portland will pay $500,000 for each Skoda, deduct the cost of retrofitting the Skodas for the Portland Streetcar network from its overall payment from Sound Transit, and split transport costs. All told, Sound Transit is expecting to fork over $16.6 million in addition to its three Skoda cars.
https://www.theurbanist.org/2025/12/08/sound-transit-brokers-streetcar-swap-between-portland-and-tacoma/