DC Streetcar

DC Streetcar

DC Streetcar at Union Station stop at the end of the H Street NE line.
Overview
Owner	Government of the District of Columbia
Locale	Washington, D.C., U.S.
Transit type	Streetcar
Number of lines	1 (5 planned)
Operation
Began operation	February 27, 2016 (2016-02-27)
Operator(s)	RATP Group
Character	Street running
Technical
System length	2.4 mi (3.9 km); 37 mi (60 km) planned
Track gauge	1,435 mm (4 ft 8 1⁄2 in) standard gauge
Electrification	750 V DC, overhead wires
Route diagram Union Station 3rd Street 5th Street 8th Street 13th Street H Street Benning Road 15th Street 19th Street Oklahoma Avenue This diagram:

The DC Streetcar is a surface streetcar network in Washington, D.C. As of 2016^[update], it consists of only one line: a 2.2-mile segment running 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 is owned by the District of Columbia Department of Transportation (DDOT), and the RATP Group, a French transportation company, has been chosen as the initial operators.

The system's H Street/Benning Road Line began public service on February 27, 2016.

Between 1862 and 1962, streetcars in Washington, D.C., were 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 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 city-wide system and one or more "starter" lines. D.C. Council Member David Catania specifically requested that DDOT study adding streetcars in the Anacostia neighborhood.