US Standard Light Rail Vehicle

US Standard Light Rail Vehicle
A Boeing Vertol US SLRV in service for the San Francisco Municipal Railway in 1980, on the then-newly opened Muni Metro
In service1976-1998 (MUNI)
1976-2007 (MBTA)
Constructed1976–1979
Entered service1976–1984
Scrapped1987–2012
Number built275
Capacityseated 52 (MBTA, later reduced to 48 to provide room for wheelchairs) or 68 (Muni), with crush load of 219
Specifications
Car length71 ft (21.64 m)[1]
Width8 ft 10+14 in (2,699 mm)[1]
Height11 ft 4 in (3.454 m)[1] ATOR
Floor height34 in (86.4 cm)[1] ATOR
Maximum speed50 mph (80.5 km/h) with multiple units
Weight67,000 lb (30,391 kg)[1] empty
Traction systemGarrett AiResearch chopper control[2]
Traction motors2x Garrett AiResearch 210 hp (157 kW), 152 kV, 280 V, 600 A DC motor, 1 per truck[2]
Acceleration3.1 mi/h/s (1.4 m/s/s)[1]
UIC classificationBo’2Bo’
AAR wheel arrangementB-2-B
Braking system(s)Air/Hydraulic NY Air Brake
Track gauge4 ft 8+12 in (1,435 mm) standard gauge

The US Standard Light Rail Vehicle (SLRV) was a light rail vehicle (LRV) built by Boeing Vertol in the 1970s. The Urban Mass Transportation Administration (UMTA) of the United States Department of Transportation (USDOT) promoted it as a standardized vehicle for U.S. cities. Part of a series of defense conversion projects in the waning days of the Vietnam War, the SLRV was seen as both a replacement for older PCC streetcars in many cities and as a catalyst for cities to construct new light rail systems. The US SLRV was marketed as and is popularly known as the Boeing LRV or SLRV, and should not be confused with their prior lunar roving vehicles for NASA.

The SLRV was purchased by the public transportation operators of Boston and San Francisco; in service by 1976, the US SLRV proved to be unreliable and scrapping started as early as 1987, but the SLRV were not completely replaced in both systems until 2007. Although the SLRV itself was not successful due to poor reliability, it did set the general size and configuration for succeeding LRVs in the United States.

  1. ^ a b c d e f Cite error: The named reference SLRV-I was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  2. ^ a b Museum, Western Railway. "San Francisco Municipal Railway 1258 - Western Railway Museum". www.wrm.org. Retrieved June 28, 2024.