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Calgary
Light Rail and heritage tramway
Calgary's light rail line, one of the first in the North American continent's light rail renaissance of the 1980's, is known for it's Siemens cars which are identical to those of the San Diego trolley. Opened in 1981, the system currently has 3 lines totaling 32.9 km and 33 stations, all of which are above ground. Only a small portion of the line is subsurface. All stations are above ground, though Barlow is built into a hill and the zoo station is partially underground.
There's also been some question about whether or not any part of the line is subsurface. According to the Technical Information section of the Calgary Transit website, http://www.calgarytransit.com/html/technical_information.html, 8% of the system is underground. According to others who've ridden the system, it is entirely surface-bound, with the exception of the 794 foot tunnel on the Northeast line and the 3000 foot tunnel between 39th Avenue and Erlton. This would account for the 8% reported by CT. And, according to a third party conversation with a senior CT official, "very long term plans do contemplate a subway through the city centre. One recently built or renovated government building has a provision for a future station in its basement." This building is alleged to be the convention centre. However, a subway was begun in Calgary in the 1980's. The section below City Hall has been visited by urban explorers. The tunnel goes under the CP rail tracks south of 9th Ave. downtown. This tunnel in use and has a stub (the "secret tunnel") that veers west under city hall. The entrance to the stub is a hatch in the aldermen's parkade. There's a red sign near it that says "special procedures apply". Under the parkade, there's a concrete half-completed station with room for 4 tracks (1 island platform, 2 side platforms). The plan is to eventually have a tunnel under 8th Ave downtown.
Don't forget to visit the Heritage Park Street Railway, which runs 1 km from 14th Street SW to Heritage Park.
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