Buffalo Metro Rail

Streetcars and interurban railways existed in Buffalo from the 1830s to 1950, with several lines also radiating into surrounding communities such as Tonawanda, Niagara Falls and even the Niagara Peninsula in Canada. These lines merged in 1902 to form the International Railway Company in 1902.[4] With the rise in bus usage starting in the mid-1930s, streetcar ridership declined rapidly until 1950, with several streetcar lines being shuttered over time until the rail system was eliminated altogether.[5]

1975 "Projected rail transit route alignment"

Despite the decline of Buffalo's industry and population over the next few decades, federal funds and a desire to revitalize downtown spurred the Niagara Frontier Transportation Authority, the IRC's successor, to construct the modern Metro Rail line, starting in 1979. It came amid a surge in light rail construction in mid-sized cities nationwide, as Denver, Portland, Sacramento, and San Jose also built systems at the same time.[6]

The line opened in stages: the surface portion opened on October 9, 1984,[7] while the subway opened as far as Amherst Street Station on May 20, 1985,[8] following an opening ceremony on May 18. The line was further extended to University Station, serving the University at Buffalo, on November 10, 1986, due to construction issues at LaSalle Station.[9] At the time of the start of construction, the line was intended to be the first line for an extensive heavy rail system that would spread throughout the city and suburbs. However, during the construction of the line and afterward, Buffalo's population declined significantly by approximately 55% from around 580,000 in 1950 to about 261,000 in 2010 and the new line's ridership was much lower than originally anticipated. The cost of the urban section was so high that no funding was available to extend the lines into the suburbs, including the Amherst campus of the University at Buffalo. Efforts to obtain funding for feeder lines have historically been met with little to no success.

Although a centerpiece of the original line, the downtown transit mall did not live up to expectations. Because of poor traffic patterns on Main Street, some business groups occasionally called for the removal of the transit system so that they can return to normal vehicle traffic and curbside parking.

In 2008, Buffalo began a project to reintroduce cars to Main Street.[10] The project in question involved creating a shared trackbed/roadway with curbside parking, as well as the permanent closure of the Theater Station, which occurred on February 18, 2013. The closure of Theater Station meant that Fountain Plaza Station, located 546 feet (166 m) south in the 500 block of Main Street, now serves as the northern terminus of the Free Fare Zone. On January 23, 2015, after less than two years of construction, traffic was reintroduced to the 600 block of Main Street, between Tupper and Chippewa Streets, in the Theater District.[11][12] On December 15, 2015, traffic was reintroduced to the 500 block of Main Street, between Chippewa and Mohawk streets, in the Central Business District.

On January 9, 2017, then-Governor Andrew Cuomo announced in his State of the State address that funding would be secured for the Amherst and Cobblestone line extensions. If successful, this would be the first extension in the service's history.[13] Funding for an environmental review into the Amherst extension was approved in 2018. The study is expected to take between 24 and 30 months.[14]

Metro Rail near Shea's Performing Arts Center

A light rail train departing Amherst Street station

Metro Rail is a light rail transit (LRT) system as characterized by the American Public Transportation Association[15] although it shares many characteristics with "heavy rail" metro systems and could be considered a "light metro."[16] 80% of its track (5.2 miles (8.4 km)) is an underground subway with high-level platforms. This section has eight stations that are spaced fairly widely apart, comparable to subway systems elsewhere. This section is cut-and-cover from Allen/Medical Campus to Utica, then deep-bored from Delavan/Canisius College to University.

The remaining 20% of its track (1.2 miles (1.9 km)) are on the surface on Main Street in downtown Buffalo, which includes a brief underpass of Buffalo’s tallest building, the Seneca One Tower.[17] On the surface section, trains interact with automobile traffic from the theater district where it emerges from the tunnel until Mohawk Street where it reverts to a transit mall and at cross streets, where movements are governed by traffic signals. Catenary poles are spaced every 130 feet (40 m) to support the overhead electrical lines.[18] Metro Rail operates electric multiple-unit light rail vehicles (LRVs) in two-to-four car trains with power drawn from an overhead catenary system. Three-car trains are limited to rush hour and special events and four-car trains to special events.[17][19] The Buffalo trains join Philadelphia's SEPTA light rail cars as the only modern non-articulated LRVs operating in the United States.

Fares are collected through a proof-of-payment system, enforced through random ticket inspections. Travel is free on the above ground portion of the system.[21] Regular fare is $2; various passes are also available for sale. All stations have ticket machines.[22] Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, NFTA temporarily suspended fare collection starting in late March 2020. Fare collection resumed on June 29, 2020.[23]

Metro Rail runs as follows: Monday-Friday from 5:10 am-12:50 am, Saturdays from 7:05 am-12:50 am and Sundays and holidays from 8:00 am-11:50 pm (although most bus service is available until approximately 12:30 am). Trains run as often as once every ten minutes at rush hour and generally no less often than once every twenty minutes. In July 2008, the NFTA reported that the passenger count "eclipsed the previous year's tally by 23%."[24] As a result, the following September, the NFTA implemented an earlier start for the weekday schedule in response to an 11% increase in ridership over eight months of growth.

Annual ridership statistics are from the Federal Transit Administration's National Transit Database, which contains data from 1996 to 2011:[25]

In the December 4, 2006, edition of The Spectrum, a publication of the University at Buffalo (UB), it was announced that then-school president John B. Simpson was planning to get a project underway that would connect UB's North, South and downtown campuses via a transportation system. The proposed systems included a subway, trolley or light rail. A study that was published in 2014 detailed four alternatives chosen for the corridor, including a light rail corridor and three bus rapid transit corridors. The light rail corridor would extend from a turnout at University station, head north to Niagara Falls Boulevard past the Boulevard Mall, turn to Sweet Home Road, enter the University at Buffalo North Campus and parallel Interstate 990 ending at the Crosspoint Business Park in Getzville.[29]

Planning and funding is currently underway for a northbound Niagara Falls Boulevard extension to the University at Buffalo North Campus.[30] As of 2019, the proposed turnout tunnel to Niagara Falls Boulevard has been shortened, increasing the overall length of the street-side light rail portion of the route, and a new tunnel has been added to the design near I-290. In addition, the chosen corridor would parallel Audubon Boulevard and end at a park-and-ride after passing under I-990, rather than continuing to the Crosspoint Business Park.[31] The NFTA has also released a finalized scoping report and a draft environmental study report,[32] and has been receiving community input on the project.[33][34]

The Airport corridor would begin in Downtown Buffalo, near Church station and continue in an easterly direction in/out Division Streets, diagonally in a northeastern direction near Jefferson Avenue toward the Buffalo Central Terminal, cross Broadway and then continue eastbound in its private right-of-way to the Thruway Plaza, Walden Galleria and Buffalo-Niagara International Airport.

The Tonawandas corridor would operate from LaSalle station northwesterly to the city of Tonawanda using the abandoned Erie Railroad tracks. The NFTA purchased 12 Presidents' Conference Committee (PCC) streetcars in the 1980s to serve the Tonawanda turn-out, a proposed Metro Rail extension to Tonawanda and North Tonawanda. These cars were built by the St. Louis Car Company and acquired by Cleveland, Ohio's Greater Cleveland Regional Transit Authority second-hand in 1953. It was determined after initial trial runs that the PCCs were too wide for existing station platforms and the plan was abandoned. The PCCs were sold to the Brooklyn Historic Railway Association (BHRA) and scrapped in 2003 when the BHRA folded.

NFTA is repurposing the DL&W Terminal with plans for a new indoor Metro Rail DL&W Station on the first floor of the terminal, on the Buffalo River side, with direct Buffalo Bricks Walkway access to Canalside,[35] with staircases and escalators to the second floor of the terminal and the elimination of the Special Events Station. On the second floor, NFTA has assigned private developer Savarino Cos, to plan the $30 million redevelopment[36] of the enormous amount of first and second floor floor-space, along with direct access to the KeyBank Center,[37][38] with a $3 million sheltered pedestrian skybridge from the second floor, near the intersection of South Park Avenue and Main Street, from the terminal to the KeyBank Center, with $2 million of that financed with federal aid.[39][40]

In May 2006, it was announced that all of the LRVs would be rehabilitated by AnsaldoBreda. The rehabilitation featured many improvements, including enhanced video monitoring of the railcar interiors, an upgraded braking system, rebuilt HVAC systems, rebuilt door systems, a new interior closely representing the agency's new look, upgraded propulsion systems and repairs to the body shells. In addition, the rail cars were to receive new monitoring systems, an automated announcement system calling out stations, new door chimes and interior/exterior LED signage to replace existing roll signs. The total project cost was estimated at $40 million for rehabilitation of the 27 cars.[42]

Because the refurbished cars have new car-to-car communications equipment, they are not compatible with unrefurbished cars and cannot run with them on the same line.[43] The project originally planned to use SuperSteel's manufacturing facilities in Schenectady, New York, for the overhaul. However, due to the loss of orders and a dip in the economy, SuperSteel closed the facility in April 2009. The closure cost 175 jobs and delayed the rehabilitation.[44] The project later was moved to Gray Manufacturing Industries, located in Hornell, New York.[45] The first two cars were due back in revenue service in July 2010.[46]

After a lengthy delay, which put the project years behind the original schedule, the first two cars (fleet numbers 114 and 123) were returned to service on March 9, 2012. However, the cost of refurbishment per car had since gone up and now averaged $1.7 million per car with a total cost of $45 million to complete all cars in the fleet. Three more cars (numbers 110, 111 and 126) were sent out and were expected to be completed before the end of 2012, but did not return to service until the fall of 2013.[47] On October 1, 2014, car 113 also returned to service. Since then, 20 more cars (fleet numbers 101, 102, 103, 104, 105, 106, 108, 109, 112, 115, 116, 117, 118, 119, 120, 121, 122, 124, 125 and 127) have returned to service, bringing the total number of refurbished rail cars to 26 as of February 1, 2022. It is not known what happened to car 107, which has not been refurbished.