Light rail transit was a dream for years before it became a reality in 1978. Edmonton Transit System (ETS) Superintendent D.L. MacDonald first proposed a vision for a rapid transit system in Edmonton in 1960.

The story is told in fascinating detail in Ken Tingley’s book Journey of the Century, a history of the first 100 years of the ETS, to be published in early November. MacDonald recommended that "a new system must be developed for the transportation of people within approximately a four-mile core of the central area of Edmonton, involving people traveling at different levels for safe efficient movement."

In 1962, the city commissioned another study called the Canadian Bechtel plan. It envisioned a rapid rail system to shuttle passengers between downtown and the University of Alberta campus, using railway right of ways, and with an underground line along 102nd Avenue.

The J.J. Bakker report in 1968 also included a rapid rail transit system and, that year, City Council unanimously supported the concept of a rapid transit system for Edmonton. The Rapid Transit Feasability Study, completed in November 1970 by De Leuw Cather, favoured using the existing CNR right-of-way connecting 118th Avenue and Kingsway Avenue and the Edmonton Exhibition Grounds with a 5.2-mile route.

Three months later, another feasibility study recommended a 4.1 mile route south to the University of Alberta, beginning at 72nd Ave. and 114th St., and then travelling by tunnel to cross the upper deck of the High Level Bridge.

As Tingley notes in his book, “An LRT system was an ambitious project for a city the size of Edmonton. In particular, it was financially ambitious. It was not until 1974, when the Alberta government committed to significant funding in support of the project, that fully comprehensive planning for its design and implementation commenced with The Edmonton Transportation Master Plan.”

Compared with other North American cities that had put public transit on rails, Edmonton was much smaller, but no less ambitious. Toronto began operating its subway system in 1954, and Montréal had finished its metro in 1966, just in time for Expo 67 the following year.

Edmonton’s vision was helped along considerably by advocates including Dr. Gerry Wright, an associate professor at the University of Alberta. Wright’s 1972 report, embraced light rapid transit as a responsible answer to many problems created by unrestrained car culture on Edmonton, Tingley writes.

Construction on Edmonton’s LRT line began in March 1974. That fall, work began on a 1.6 mile long tunnel using an open cut and cover method, which had been pioneered by the Metropolitan Railway during its construction of the London subway in 1860.

The system involved digging a trench, installation of a concrete tunnel box and the return of fill to cover the trench. Where the line passed beneath existing structures, circular underground boring was employed, using a “mole” fabricated by the Lovat Tunnel Equipment Company of Toronto.

“The Lovat excavator consisted of a circular steel tunneling shield enclosing a six-blade cutting wheel equipped with carbaloid teeth suitable for chewing up the subsoil,” Tingley writes. A conveyor belt and haulage system carried away the spoil. A laser beam and computer arrangement kept the direction of the mole straight and true.”

The decision to go underground rather than build the lines on the surface was contentious and ETS was roundly criticized for the expense. Tingley writes that the decision was based on discussions with officials in Frankfurt, Hanover and Rotterdam, who recommended going underground to avoid being constrained by the amount of surface traffic likely in the future.

The five LRT stations were given their official names by June 1975 – Central, Churchill, Stadium, Coliseum, and Belvedere. Edmonton transit felt that definite names were important so the public could “refer to these stations with clarity and consistency from the early construction stage through to public use in 1978.”

The rolling stock chosen for the system was lightweight electrically powered vehicles, traveling on steel rails, isolated from residential areas, commercial buildings and traffic routes. As Tingley writes, this made the Edmonton LRT more like European systems and “quite different from most rapid transit systems in North America, where the vehicles were much heavier, noisier, and caused more vibration.”

The city ordered its first 14 rail cars from the West German manufacturer Waggonfabrik Uerdingen (better known as Duewag). The cars, designated as RTE1, were each powered by two Siemens 150 kW motors.

In an ironic twist, Tingley notes that the LRT was “in some fundamental ways a return to the future, sharing many characteristics with the original streetcars that had been abandoned by ETS in 1951. Some of the senior operators on the LRT had actually driven streetcars, bringing their experience full circle.

The tunneling phase was completed in mid-1977, along with several overpasses, and an underpass near 66th Street for The tracks along the Canadian National Railway right-of-way. Edmonton’s Northeast Light Rail Transit line was officially opened at a ribbon cutting ceremony in Central Station on April 22, 1978, and the system carried its first scheduled passengers the following day.

That summer, the system had its first major workout as it carried hundreds of thousands of spectators and participants for the XI Commonwealth Games, August 4th to 12th.

The following year, City Council approved a further extension of the line from Belvedere Station to the Clareview Station. The new station was built in modular design, so it could be dismantled and relocated as part of a projected Clareview Town Centre complex. LRT to Clareview went into service in April 1981.

Next week: Keeping LRT on track.