STV has signed a contract with the San Diego Metropolitan Transit System (MTS) to support the replacement of five traction power substations (TPSS) crucial for powering the agency’s electric-powered trolley system.
The project team, led by STV as the overall task lead and subconsultant to Chen Ryan Associates (CRA), will design plans to replace the existing TPSS while minimizing impacts and delays to the system, maintaining the operational efficiency of San Diego MTS’s extensive 65-mile track network and keeping the system’s 300,000 weekday trips on schedule. STV will provide comprehensive systems, civil and structural engineering services for the traction power site layout design, substation building foundations and retaining walls.
“While STV has provided maintenance facility design for [San Diego] MTS in the past, this marks the first collaboration between [San Diego] MTS and our systems team,” said Ja-Mie Luey, P.E., vice president and West Coast rail and transit systems lead at STV. “We look forward to leveraging our extensive experience in substations design to help [San Diego] MTS rehabilitate its transit system, which plays a crucial role in empowering the San Diego community.”
San Diego MTS’s initiative to replace and decommission aging TPSS, some of which have been in place for more than 30 years, addresses the challenges posed by aging infrastructure that is surpassing its life expectancy. With replacement parts becoming increasingly difficult to procure and structural deterioration emerging, this project is crucial for ensuring the continued safe and reliable operation of the trolley system.
