Date: Thu May 24 10:30:06 2001
Subject: C-Train Turns 20 Years Old 
From: Calgary Transit Public Information

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             CITYBEAT - CITY OF CALGARY PRESS RELEASE
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C-Train Turns 20 Years Old 


CALGARY--The City of Calgary's popular Light Rail Transit
system celebrates 20 years of service Friday, May 25 with the
C-Train having moved more than half a billion riders over the
past two decades.

As our LRT service celebrates this 20-year milestone, C-Train
ridership numbers posted a dramatic 73 per cent increase over
the past five years.

"Light Rail Transit has been the backbone of our system--a
real workhorse for our customers," said Calgary Transit
General Manager John Hubbell, noting each LRT car has quietly
logged more than one million kilometres along 29.3 kilometres
of rail.  

Since its inception May 25, 1981, 555 million riders have
used the LRT system. 
The C-Train carries about 187,700 riders every workday and
about 110,000 on weekends. Statistics show 42 per cent of
Calgarians that work downtown use Calgary Transit.

"We're extremely proud of our Light Rail Transit System which
will continue to provide an efficient and safe service for
our customers for many years to come," Hubbell said.  

Today's C-Train fleet is made up 85 light rail vehicles. An
additional 32 new LRVs are on order from Siemens to be put
into service between now and 2003.

A chronological history of our popular and efficient C-train
service includes:

1978--Construction of the first leg of the C-Train began.

1981--The 10.9 kilometre south line from Anderson Road to 7th
Avenue S.W. was officially opened May 25. 

1985--Service commenced on the northeast leg of the C-Train.


1987--The third leg of the C-Train system was completed in
the northwest from the west end of 7th Avenue across the Bow
River and north to the University of Calgary.

1990--The northwest leg was extended to Brentwood Station,
increasing the line to 6.6 km.

Calgary Transit's integrated system has been keeping
Calgarians on the move since 1909. Over the next century we
will continue to change and grow to meet service demands of a
growing city and the C-Train will continue to play a key
role.

Calgary Transit had a total C-Train and bus ridership of 74.9
million last year which represented a 33 per cent increase
since 1995 while the city's population grew by 15 per cent
during the same period.

2001 year-to-date transit ridership statistics won't be
available until early June.

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Public Email Contact: 

    ccelbb@gov.calgary.ab.ca

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