WVU students wait to unload as a PRT car pulls into the Downtown Campus station on Beechurst Avenue.
MORGANTOWN, W.Va. — WVU officials are working on the next phase of the PRT modernization plan and have already seen an uptick in service from the first project.
Associate Vice President of WVU Facilities and Services Randy Hudak said for Phase I of the plan they installed a new on-board vehicle computer system at a cost of about $15 million.
At one point the number of cars that could run at one time was in the teens, Hudak said. Now, they have 40-50 cars at a time and have a maximum of 70 operate at once.
The university is working on finalizing details for phase II, which includes improving the train controls and software electronics, Hudak, said. Phase II will need Board of Governors’ approval for funding before moving forward.
The third phase will look at replacing the PRT cars, which can have upwards of 400,000 miles on them, Hudak said. The final phase will work on the infrastructure transformers…
