By admin 
TUCSON, Ariz. (13 News) – Streetcar 105 is back in service more than a year after it crashed into Streetcar 103 in downtown Tucson.
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Sun Tran, Sun Van and Sun Link General Manager Mikel Oglesby said the call informing him of the crash still plays back in his head.
“I thought I really didn’t hear what he said. It was, uh… It was surreal,” Oglesby said.
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An investigation report completed months after the crash found the incident was caused by driver error rather than a problem with track condition, equipment or weather.
“I can say that we went 10 years, we’ve had one accident – one major accident,” Oglesby said.
Oglesby said there is no reason for riders to have safety concerns, as the company has implemented new techniques to minimize human error.
“We enhanced procedures governing switch position changes. We added track sites to provide verification in critical situations. We revamped operator changeover procedures and strengthened daily safety assurance, operational testing, and oversight,” Oglesby said.
Repairs to Streetcar 105 took place in Tucson following a months-long investigation.
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Sun Link Assistant General Manager Ruben Montenegro said his team inspected and evaluated the equipment and worked on it mechanically. Montenegro was hired as Sun Link’s assistant general manager after the crash, tasked specifically with repairs.
“The testing that we did, the re-testing that we did. Taking it out on the alignment, bringing it back, taking it apart. We did inspections on top of inspections to get it back where it is now,” Montenegro said.
With two cars out of commission for a year, five cars, rather than six, had been operating on a daily basis throughout Tucson, resulting in 15 to 17 minutes between cars.
With Streetcar 105 back in service, headways are expected to return to 10 to 12 minutes as University of Arizona students return to town.
Streetcar 103, the other car involved in last year’s crash, remains out of commission. That car took the brunt of the damage and will need parts that are no longer sold. Sun Link is still planning to get the car back in service but has no time estimate for when that might happen.
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