Q-Line (Detroit)

[140 Southshore]

Starting this thread off with an announcement from several days ago that the under-construction M-1 Rail in Detroit will now be officially called "QLINE". This comes as a result of Quicken Loans receiving naming rights for the line as a whole, in addition to the naming rights to the southern terminus station.

http://m-1rail.com/qline-is-name-of-detroit-streetcar/

[140 Southshore]

The first of the six Brookville Liberty streetcars that will be used on the Q-Line is now being built right now!

http://www.freep.com/story/news/local/michigan/detroit/2016/06/13/m1-rail-qline-streetcars-factory-tour/85841102/

[140 Southshore]

The Q-Line may cause side effects for bus routes along Woodward though, according to this article:

http://motorcitymuckraker.com/2016/06/15/qline-may-headache-transportation-convenience/

The photo also reveals that SMART is now placing advertisements of the exteriors of their D40LFs.

[140 Southshore]

A $15.5 million contract has been awarded to Transdev for Q-Line operations.

http://www.freep.com/story/news/local/michigan/detroit/2016/06/30/155-million-contract-announced-qline-operator/86557750/

[140 Southshore]

The first Q-Line Brookville Liberty car will be delivered this week, marking the second major milestone for M-1 Rail within this past while (the first being test trains running on the M-1 Rail track but I didn't initially report on that).

http://www.clickondetroit.com/flashpoint/new-sufrace-transit-to-begin-in-november-new-qline-car-revelaed

[140 Southshore]

The first Q-Line car was delivered this evening. It's arrival into Detroit came with great fanfare as you'll see in this article.

http://www.clickondetroit.com/news/first-qline-rail-car-arrives-in-detroit-1

[140 Southshore]

Take a virtual walk inside a Q-Line car with this Detroit Free Press photo gallery.

http://www.freep.com/picture-gallery/news/2016/09/21/photos-qlines-first-streetcar/90810336/

[140 Southshore]

A big milestone was reached yesterday: the final portion of trackage was installed. Service will start in April.

http://www.clickondetroit.com/news/watch-live-final-pieces-of-qline-track-installed-along-woodward

[RailBus63]

Too bad this is the only bright spot in Detroit transit for the foreseeable future.

[140 Southshore]

One of the Q-Line streetcars will travel along the entire 3.3-mile-long route for the first time on Tuesday unless severe weather intervenes. It'll only drive out of the Penske Tech Center on it's own, however, a tow truck will drive it the rest of the way and for the entire trip back north.

http://www.freep.com/story/news/local/michigan/detroit/2016/12/11/qline-first-road-test-tuesday/95220070/

In other Q-Line news, a rendering of what the stations will look like when the system opens has been released.

http://www.freep.com/story/news/local/michigan/detroit/2016/12/08/qline-station-image-released/95156946/

Here's what the progress was as of October 19 at the southbound Grand Circus station.

 

[140 Southshore]

Some bad news, even though it's a bit old by now...one of the streetcars got vandalized with graffiti.

http://detroit.cbslocal.com/2017/02/13/detroit-qline-rail-car-defaced-with-anti-police-slogan/

[140 Southshore]

The official opening date has been announced and it's May 12th. Walk-up fares will be $1.50. It runs 6-11 Monday-Thursday, 6-midnight Fridays, 8-midnight Saturdays and 8-8 Sundays.

http://www.detroitnews.com/story/news/local/detroit-city/2017/03/09/qline-woodward-street-cars/98968860/

[MAX BRT]

Thanks for keeping us up to date! This is a big deal for transit in the Detroit Metro area.

[140 Southshore]

Veteran news anchor Carmen Harlan, spending 38 years with WDIV (Local 4) before retiring back in November, will provide the voice for the Q-Line's automated announcements.

http://www.detroitnews.com/story/news/local/detroit-city/2017/04/18/carmen-harlan-onboard-voice-qline/100622710/

[TheAverageJoe]

All the cars have been delivered to Q-Line, last one was delivered in the past one to two weeks.

[140 Southshore]

The Q-Line officially opens today with grand opening ceremonies extending throughout the entire weekend. Here is a complete list of the deals that are taking place in conjunction with the ceremonies.

https://m-1rail.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/03/QLINE-Detroit-Grand-Opening-Schedule-5.9.17.pdf

In addition, the main website has been completely redesigned and is now found here: https://qlinedetroit.com/

New features of the website include a streetcar tracker among other things.

[2044]

 

[dtwtransit]

The "Gogh to the DIA" livery that has been on all the trams since September is now going away, following the closure of the DIA's Van Gogh exhibit. As of yesterday only #289 still had it; the others had already returned to the usual red scheme.

[dtwtransit]

#289 is now back in red so the DIA livery is now officially gone. A couple of the units still have a labelscar on the front where the DIA emblem once was.

[dtwtransit]

The entire operating fleet is now wrapped in a purple scheme celebrating the 100th anniversary of the Kresge Foundation, a philanthropic organization that has been one of the system's largest financial supporters since opening.

This livery debuted on #292 about a month ago and has expanded to all units except #288, which has been out of service for over a month.

[dtwtransit]

The system also saw three special liveries for the NFL Draft.

#287 and #292 wore this one (similar to the SMART and People Mover liveries):

This football patterned one was on #290 and #291:

and #289 was wrapped in this scheme, a mosaic of the teams' logos:

#288 did not get one of these either, as it was parked in the yard during the Draft.

[dtwtransit]

All of the trams are now back in the red wrap, and as part of the RTA takeover, they have now removed the M-1 Rail logo from each one. #290 was the last to operate with the logo, while #291 is the first, and currently only, unit to bear the new RTA logo on the exterior.

[ns8401]

9 minutes ago, dtwtransit said:

All of the trams are now back in the red wrap, and as part of the RTA takeover, they have now removed the M-1 Rail logo from each one. #290 was the last to operate with the logo, while #291 is the first, and currently only, unit to bear the new RTA logo on the exterior.

The D2A2 and DAX buses I imagine will get that logo at some point. It beats RTA spelled out on the buses. We have signs about federal right inside with the new logos already. 

[dtwtransit]

Logo has now been switched on all six trams, and on the support trucks. Looks pretty nice on these if you ask me...

[dtwtransit]

New wrap debuted in mid-late December for the state's "You Can in Michigan" talent attraction ad campaign.

#288 and #290 have so far appeared in this wrap, and it seems like there's a different image on the center section for each tram.
#292 is still red as of writing, as is #289, which is out long-term.