Cincinnati ready to install overhead wire for new streetcar

The Cincinnati Streetcar project will reach a milestone this week when the first segment of overhead wire to power the train will be installed.

The segment will be installed along Elm Street, streetcar officials said in a newsletter. The overhead contact system wire will carry a 750-volt DC electric current produced by the traction power substations along the route.

Cincinnati is constructing the streetcar system's $147.8 million first phase, which will be 3.6-miles long and travel on a loop from Second Street to Henry Street, just north of the Findlay Market in Over-the-Rhine. When completed, the streetcar will operate 18 hours a day, 365 days per year.

CAF USA will provide the streetcar vehicles.