KC streetcar resumes service, picks up passengers after derailment

The Kansas City streetcar resumed service Monday evening, about 5  1/2 hours after one of its cars experienced an issue with a switch along the track at Union Station.

The streetcars were picking up passengers again shortly before 9 p.m., officials announced via Twitter. The incident, however, was still being investigated.

It was the first major glitch since the $100 million streetcar line started running May 6. More than 100,000 passengers have used the system since the grand opening, far exceeding expectations.

About 3:30 p.m. Monday, several wheels on Streetcar 804 came off the track after unloading passengers at Union Station and then inching out of that stop with about 10 riders on board. No one was injured.

While the service was down, buses were called in to ferry passengers along the streetcar’s Main Street route between Union Station and the River Market area.

About 5 p.m., that derailed streetcar was hooked up to a truck from Midwest Tow. Shortly before 6 p.m., the streetcar was pulled forward a few feet and back onto the tracks.

In the afternoon, the glitch had engineers on their bellies outside Union Station peering under the dislodged streetcar — bent in its middle where its three cars would normally line up straight — attempting to diagnose the problem.

Donna Mandelbaum, spokeswoman for the Kansas City Streetcar Authority, said the shutdown looked to be triggered by a problem with a switch that moves the southbound streetcar, which travels along the west side of Main Street, to tracks that carry it north on the east side of the road.

It wasn’t immediately clear, she said, what had caused a malfunction with the switch. The streetcar did not appear to be damaged, but that was also under investigation.

Before it began service, the streetcar was projected to carry about 2,700 people a day. Initial ridership has been higher, likely largely because of the novelty. But it carried about 10,000 people on May 14, boosted by Rockfest and a ballet at the Kauffman Center for the Performing Arts along the 2.2-mile system.

This story was originally published May 23, 2016 at 4:10 PM with the headline "KC streetcar resumes service, picks up passengers after derailment."