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On Friday, crews completed the placement of the first traction-power substation along the Central Corridor light-rail transit (LRT) line in the Twin Cities.

The first of the substations arrived on a 32-axle track, requiring a full day to install just south of the Raymond Avenue Station, Metropolitan Council officials said in a prepared statement.

Fourteen substations, located about a mile apart, will convert alternating electrical current to direct current, which will power the light-rail vehicles using a system of catenary wires. The remaining 13 substations will be installed at a rate of one per month over the next year, council officials said.

Each substation weighs about 80,000 pounds and costs about $1 million, they said.

The 11-mile Central Corridor LRT line will link downtown St. Paul and downtown Minneapolis along Washington and University avenues via the state Capitol and the University of Minnesota. Service is slated to begin in 2014. The Metropolitan Council is the grantee of the project’s federal funding.