#4303
US Standard Light Rail Vehicle
🇺🇸 United States ·built by Boeing Rotorcraft Systems· from 1976· light Rail Vehicle
1 photo from Wikimedia Commons · credits & licences
- 1. San Francisco Boeing LRV at Duboce & Church, March 1980: Steve Morgan· CC BY-SA 3.0
what is it?
The US Standard Light Rail Vehicle (SLRV) was a light rail vehicle (LRV) built by Boeing Vertol in the 1970s. The Urban Mass Transportation Administration (UMTA) of the United States Department of Transportation (USDOT) promoted it as a standardized vehicle for U.S. cities. Part of a series of defense conversion projects in the waning days of the Vietnam War, the SLRV was seen as both a replacement for older PCC streetcars in many cities and a catalyst for cities to construct new light rail systems.
base stats
Bars compare against all trains: 600 km/h (maglev), 1,700 seats; power, weight and number built on a log scale up to 20 MW, 1,000 t and 20,000 built.
fun facts
- First built 50 years ago, in 1976.
- Weighs about as much as 5 African elephants (~6 t each).
- 21.6 m long: about 5 cars parked nose to tail.
- Served for 44 years (1976–2020).
tram / light rail: Street-running or light-rail vehicles that share or skirt the road.
spec sheet
- built
- 1976
- in service from
- 1976
- retired
- 2020
- status
- retired
- number built
- 275
- kind
- tram / light rail
- origin
- 🇺🇸 United States
- builders
- Boeing Rotorcraft Systems, Boeing
- top speed
- 80 km/h
- power
- —
- gauge
- 1,435 mm standard gauge
- wheel arrangement
- Bo’2Bo’
- length
- 21.6 m
- weight
- 30.4 t
From the Wikipedia infobox and Wikidata. Blank means the sources don't say.
Sources: Wikidata Q890187, Wikipedia: US Standard Light Rail Vehicle (CC BY-SA 4.0).Updated 2026-10-25.