subsidiary of oregon iron works industry transportation founded 2005 defunct 2015 headquarters clackamas oregon united states products streetcars trams website www.unitedstreetcar.com united streetcar llc was an american manufacturer of modern streetcars located in the clackamas area in the southeastern suburbs of portland oregon founded in 2005 . it was the only u.s. company building modern streetcars 1 2 3 as distinct from light rail cars 3 4 or new replicas of historic streetcars until 2013 when brookville received its first order for a modern as opposed to faux historic streetcar for the dallas streetcar . 5 united streetcar was a limited liability company and was a wholly owned subsidiary of oregon iron works inc. oiw which has been in business since 1944 . it was originally reported to have been established in early 2007 after oiw was the successful bidder for a contract to construct a prototype streetcar for the city of portland 1 but in 2010 the company clarified that it had been formed in december 2005 . 6 the company completed its first streetcar in 2009 . 7 8 it was dissolved in february 2015 . contents 1 history 2 prototype vehicle completion 2.1 change in propulsion system 3 cars constructed 4 demise 5 see also 6 references history edit oregon iron works a specialized manufacturer of complex structural components and systems began considering entering the field of streetcar manufacturing in 2004 after realizing that the portland streetcar system had purchased vehicles built only by foreign manufacturers possibly due to the absence of any u.s. based manufacturers of modern streetcars . 9 the prototype streetcar built by united streetcar at its unveiling in portland in july 2009 in 2005 congress approved a federal transportation spending bill which included a us 4 million grant to trimet for the acquisition on behalf of the city of portland of a prototype domestically manufactured streetcar . with a goal of fostering the domestic production of modern streetcars 1 the grant had been added into the 286 billion spending bill by oregon congressman peter defazio but did not specify a particular company to be the recipient . 10 in august 2006 the city of portland issued a request for proposals for the provision of a prototype low floor streetcar compatible with portland streetcar s existing fleet . 11 in anticipation of this oiw signed a technology transfer agreement in february 2006 with koda the czech company which had built portland s first seven streetcars in order to permit oiw to manufacture a streetcar to the existing koda 10t design but with mostly u.s. components and assembly . 12 only two formal proposals were received by the city and after that of the other bidder was deemed not to have met the minimum requirement 10 11 the contract was awarded to oregon iron works in january 2007 . 1 oiw then announced that it had created a new subsidiary united streetcar llc to handle streetcar manufacturing . the value of the contract was 3.2 million 13 with the balance of the special 4 million federal grant being used to fund the city s costs to administer the grant and oversee the project . 11 prototype vehicle completion edit see also portland streetcar u.s. built streetcars construction of the prototype streetcar was undertaken at oiw s clackamas facility one of two oiw manufacturing facilities . 13 the car was completed in june 2009 and was introduced to the public and the media at a ceremony held in portland s south waterfront district on july 1 2009 . 7 14 15 numbered 015 in the portland streetcar fleet it was the first modern streetcar built in the united states since 1952 8 16 since the last pcc streetcar for the san francisco municipal railway . 4 it uses the koda 10t design under license from the czech manufacturer and is model variant 10t3 . 17 the propulsion equipment the motors and electronic control system were fabricated by koda 18 but installation took place at oiw s united streetcar s plant in the united states and most other components were fabricated by united streetcar or supplied by other u.s. companies . 13 overall the prototype streetcar has about 70 percent u.s. content 18 enough to make the car s procurement compliant with federal buy america provisions 49 u.s.c. 5323j . 13 as with the earlier czech built versions of the koda 10t the united streetcar 10t3 is a four axle bi directional low floor streetcar with three doors on each side and wheelchair ramps extending on demand from one door per side . it is 66 feet 20.13 m long and 8 feet 2.46 m wide 17 and has a maximum speed of 44 mph 70 km h . 19 in 2010 the company dropped the 10t3 designation in favor of a new model designation 100 in connection with a decision to use different propulsion equipment in future orders as described below . 20 change in propulsion system edit in 2010 the city of portland decided to amend its contract with united streetcar oregon iron works to replace the prototype car s koda made propulsion control system with a new system to be designed by rockwell automation a u.s. company based in milwaukee wisconsin . the propulsion system is the high tech electronic equipment which controls and coordinates the operation of the car s motors and other key operating components . car 015 s propulsion control system was made by koda whereas all 10 earlier portland streetcars even the seven cars built by koda had control systems supplied by elin ebg traction an austrian company and only installed by koda . 21 during acceptance testing of car 015 in late summer and autumn 2009 certain unspecified problems were encountered and koda and portland streetcar were unable to reach agreement on resolving them . 21 this issue together with a desire by ps united streetcar and others to increase further the u.s. content of streetcars built by united streetcar led to discussions between rockwell automation and the various interested parties in portland on the possibility and feasibility of rockwell designing a control system for the united streetcar design . 21 in april 2010 the federal transit administration fta approved a 2.4 million grant to be matched by 600 000 in local money to fund the replacement of car 015 s control equipment with new equipment to be designed by rockwell automation . 22 23 24 the intention was that if the partnership with rockwell proved successful eventually all streetcars built by united streetcar would use the u.s. made rockwell propulsion system . it was stated that the change would increase the overall u.s. content of the car from around 70 % to around 90 % 24 25 and this was the main factor in gaining federal officials approval of the 2.4 million in research funds needed to allow project to proceed . 22 prototype streetcar 015 was transported back to the oiw united streetcar factory in may 2010 26 to await design and then installation of the rockwell system . with the installation completed in late 2011 it returned to the portland streetcar carhouse on april 30 2012 to begin acceptance testing . 27 it entered service on september 22 2012 . 28 cars constructed edit the first production series united streetcar built streetcar portland s car 021 entered service in 2013 . in spring 2009 the city of portland announced that it had chosen united streetcar for an order of six streetcars for a planned expansion of the portland streetcar system to the city s east side 13 and a 20 million contract for this order was signed in august 2009 . 8 in light of portland s subsequent dissatisfaction with the koda propulsion system the city decided in 2010 to modify the oiw united streetcar contract for these six cars to substitute equipment from elin ebg traction for the originally planned koda equipment 26 which delayed their completion . the cars would receive motors supplied by siemens which has a u.s. factory instead of by koda . 20 in mid 2011 the order was reduced from six cars to five ; 29 purchase of a sixth car was reinstated in 2014 . 30 these were united streetcar model 100 . 20 delivery began in january 2013 and the first car entered service on june 11 2013 . 31 the city of tucson signed a 26 million contract with united streetcar on june 7 2010 ordering seven streetcars 26 32 for the sun link modern streetcar line that opened july 25 2014 . 33 an eighth car was added to the order in 2012 . the original announcement was made in may 2009 34 but the tucson project was still awaiting fta approval at that time . 2 fta approved the plans in late september 2009 and jointly with the us dot granted 69 million in early 2010 to help complete the project . 35 the tucson cars are model variant 200 the main difference from model 100 being a more powerful air conditioning system . 36 the first streetcar for sun link arrived in tucson on august 30 2013 . 37 in april 2012 the district of columbia department of transportation in washington d.c. placed an order for two model 100 streetcars for use on the dc streetcar s h street benning road line under construction for opening in 2015 38 and the order was expanded to three cars in august 2012 . 39 the three cars were delivered between january 2014 40 and june 2014 . 41 all three orders were completed in 2014 the last car being delivered to portland in november of that year . demise edit the delays with the car deliveries as well as teething issues experienced with the cars in service created tensions with the company s clients . 42 as a relative newcomer to the market with a single design offering the company found it difficult to compete with more well established builders such as siemens and bombardier . consequently the company received no further orders and ceased production after the final car was delivered . united streetcar president kevin clarke left the company in december 2014 43 and parent oregon iron works has re purposed the u.s. facilities for boat construction though the company has stated that they may return to rail based equipment in the future streetcars or otherwise . 44 united streetcar was dissolved in february 2015 as it had declined to produce an annual report . 45 see also edit electric transit inc. another joint venture between a us company and koda list of tram builders streetcars in north america koda 03 t koda 10 t koda 15 t references edit a b c d oregon iron works gets contract for streetcar . portland business journal . january 26 2007 . retrieved 2010 11 08 . a b city of tucson announces contractor to build modern streetcars press release . tucson department of transportation . may 27 2009 . archived from the original on may 29 2009 . retrieved 2012 12 22 . a b simons vic april 2013 . the us built 21st century streetcar . tramways & urban transit . uk lrta publishing . pp. 136 137 . a b redden jim august 29 2013 . streetcar firm on busy track . portland tribune . retrieved january 31 2016 . dallas signs liberty deal may 2013 . tramways & urban transit magazine p. 166 . uk lrta publishing . history & mission . united streetcar . retrieved 2010 11 08 . a b brugger joe july 1 2009 . transportation secretary watches as made in usa streetcar makes debut . the oregonian . retrieved 2009 11 15 . a b c rivera dylan august 14 2009 . portland inks 20 million deal for locally made streetcars . the oregonian . retrieved september 17 2015 . hamilton don august 5 2005 . iron firm