PA: PRT officials provide updates on light rail projects, service closures for 2025

More service changes affecting Pittsburgh's public transit will begin early next year during the latest phase of the city's multi-year T modernization effort, according to Pittsburgh Regional Transit officials.

The PRT's Light Rail Transit Investment Program, first announced in March, began this year and is expected to run through 2028 at a cost of more than $150 million.

The wide-ranging project is designed to address Pittsburgh's aging public transit infrastructure, PRT Chief Executive Officer Katharine Kelleman said during a meeting Wednesday.

"It is completely safe, but it is also vintage," she said. "Some of our [railroad] switches are old enough to be in the Pennsylvania Trolley Museum."

In January and February, PRT will finish replacing the plinths — the concrete beams that the T tracks rest on — in the Central Business District, which will lead to closures, said Chief Engineer Greg O'Hare.

In the interim, PRT will run a bus shuttle from First Avenue Station along Grant Street to Steel Plaza Station, said Special Services Events & Detours Manager Chuck Rompala.

The Mount Washington Transit Tunnel will be closed from Feb. 23 through October 2025 for a rail replacement project. All three rail lines and 10 bus routes will be affected and will take a detour through Allentown that will add around 8 minutes to passengers' commutes, said Director of Transit Scheduling Philip St. Pierre.

So far this year, PRT said that it has replaced 10,000 feet of light rail track around the city. In the next few weeks, it will finish replacing the ventilation fans inside the Mt. Lebanon Transit Tunnel, said Chief Engineer Greg O'Hare.

PRT shut down a section of the Red Line between Mt. Lebanon Station and Palm Garden Station between June 16 and Aug. 31. During that time, it stabilized the trackway at Kelton St. and improved rail ties at Willow Ave., among several other projects, said Mr. O'Hare.

Ms. Kelleman said that shutting down an entire section of the Red Line instead of continuing operations using a single track would allow PRT to work more efficiently and reduce the inconvenience for passengers.

She noted that the Silver Line shut down Wednesday due to faulty welds in the electrical system, and said that the planned mass improvements are intended to prevent those kinds of minor incidents in the future.

Mr. O'Hare also touched on projects that are still in the design stage and slated to begin construction late next year or in 2026. The PRT intends to rehabilitate the light rail infrastructure along the Panhandle Bridge — which connects Downtown with Station Square on the South Shore — at an estimated cost of $65 million. PRT anticipates that there will be a 3-minute outbound delay and no inbound delay during the project.

Another $16 million will go towards refurbishing the Station Square and Dormont stops. Lastly, Belasco Station will be closed for one week and run on a single track for 11 weeks during its refresh.

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