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 #1052575  by Paul1705
 
Some of San Diego's first batch of Siemens-Duewag U2s are now getting a second life on a new light-rail line in Mendoza, Argentina.

http://www.urbanfreak.net/showthread.ph ... Da-Mendoza

It looks like they're going to keep the original red paint scheme.

Those cars must have been well-built and maintained if they are still useful after thirty years of service.
 #1052608  by electricron
 
It's surprising how cheaply light rail can be implemented in an abandoned rail corridor through a city if you're willing to buy used train sets and build minimum station amenities. Mendoza, Argentina only has a population around 120,000. The light rail corridor initially constructed is only 12 kilometers (8 miles) in length, and they only bought 11 ex-trolleys from San Diego.
I'm not aware how much the entire light rail project costs, but Mendoza only paid San Diego $3.3 Million for the 11 trolleys.
 #1052839  by kaitoku
 
With good maintenance and rigorous periodic overhauls and upgrades, trolley cars (trams) can be used almost indefinitely. Here in Sapporo some of the active fleet of trolleys are more than 50 years old. They will gradually be replaced not so much due to age but due to the fact they lack low floors.
 #1057128  by Paul1705
 
A lot of equipment in the U.S. reaches the age of forty or more. I just can't think of any resales to foreign countries in recent years.

In the past a number of American streetcars and some intercity cars would be sold, particularly to Latin America. The San Diego sale seems to the the first of this kind in a very long time (unless I've missed something).
 #1057760  by tommyboy6181
 
I haven't heard of too many sales in a while. But yes, if trains are maintained well, they can run for a long time. A perfect example would be the R32 cars in NYC which are well over 40 years old now and have outlasted some of the newer cars (R40, 42, 44). Also, the A/B cars for BART are 40 years old this year and the 1000 series cars for the Washington Metro will reach 40 in 2016 (if they're not fully replaced by that point).
 #1324152  by Tom6921
 
Paul1705 wrote:Some of San Diego's first batch of Siemens-Duewag U2s are now getting a second life on a new light-rail line in Mendoza, Argentina.

http://www.urbanfreak.net/showthread.ph ... Da-Mendoza

It looks like they're going to keep the original red paint scheme.

Those cars must have been well-built and maintained if they are still useful after thirty years of service.
I've clicked the link and it keeps taking me to a survey
 #1324975  by electricron
 
electricron wrote:It's surprising how cheaply light rail can be implemented in an abandoned rail corridor through a city if you're willing to buy used train sets and build minimum station amenities. Mendoza, Argentina only has a population around 120,000. The light rail corridor initially constructed is only 12 kilometers (8 miles) in length, and they only bought 11 ex-trolleys from San Diego.
I'm not aware how much the entire light rail project costs, but Mendoza only paid San Diego $3.3 Million for the 11 trolleys.
Mendoza as a city may have a population around 120,000, but the metro area is around 1,000,000. This train is being funded by the regional state government, not by the city.
Phase 1 costs for the 12 km light rail line came in under 63 million pesos reportably. I believe the total costs for phase 1 was nearer to 100 million pesos. The 5+ km phase two light rail extension is projected to be 225 million pesos. An Argentina pesos is worth 11 cents US. For a quick approximation, move the decimal point to the left one digit.
Phase 2 costs are higher because they're buying more than twice as many light rail vehicles, refurbishing (rebuilding) the Mendoza Central train station into an office building, building an 1,000 unit apartment complex, repositioning the existing broad gauge freight line in the corridor, and rebuilding around a km of road.
They have purchased 35 light rail vehicles from San Diego. They are Siemens-Duewag U2 light rail vehicles that were delivered to San Diego between 1980 and 1989. They are rated for a maximum speed around 50 mph (80 km/h) if a catenary rigging supported the trolley wire. But Mendoza built a trolley wire overhead without a catenary rigging, with pole spacing around 30 m, which limits maximum speeds to around 40 mph. Most of the vehicles Mendoza bought are from those arriving in San Diego after 1986, so they should be less than 30 years in age.