Metropolitan Council officials say 84 percent of the work is done on the Central Corridor light rail line, which will run between downtown St. Paul and downtown Minneapolis via University Avenue.
Still remaining is systems work and completion of the operations and maintenance facility, but the track is laid and the 18 stations are built.
Service is scheduled to start in 2014. Testing at the end of 2013 will determine just how quickly the trains start running for real.
This winter, workers will continue:
- Construction inside the operation and maintenance facility.
- Electrical work at the 18 stations.
- Installation of poles that will hold the overhead wires along the alignment.
And in 2013 they'll be:
- Installing miles and miles of overhead electrical wires.
- Installing the traction power substations that will convert the alternating current from Xcel Energy’s lines to the direct current used by light rail vehicles.
- Installing signal bungalows holding the signaling and communication systems.
- Completing the expanded Rail Control Center.
- Building the operations and maintenance facility.
- Installing station art.
- Assembling, delivering and testing the light rail vehicles.
They warn that there still may be occasional lane closures along the route.