Univ. spends $8 million on PRT updates

West Virginia University's Personal Rapid Transit will have its operating system updated throughout the next five years.

The updates will make more PRT vehicles available to students and increase its reliability.

"We've put $7 (million) or $8 million into (the project) so far," said Hugh Kierig, director of Transportation and Parking at WVU.

Most of the money has come from the Federal Transit Administration, he said. The Administration issues grants to states and organizations to improve their transportations systems.

A portion of the funding came from fees generated by the University through student fees, he said.

Currently, the money has been used to replace a portion of the PRT's boiler systems and to keep up with normal maintenance, Kierig said.

Additional remodeling will include guideway heat pipe repair, painting the maintenance facility on Beechurst, replacing windows on the maintenance facility, installing an uninterruptible power supply at the Walnut Station, repairing stairs at the Walnut Station and
repairing the concrete heat system in the test loop at the Maintenance Facility, said Arlie Forman, associate director of the PRT.

The University is waiting on funding from additional federal transportation grants to pay for more expensive portions of the project, such as installing an
automatic train control system and onboard computers, he said.

The University submitted its application for funding on Aug. 19, Kierig said. WVU will be competing with other transportation projects around the country for the funds.

"We'll have some idea in the next two months whether we received all of the grants we applied for or just a portion of them," Kierig said.

He added the reason parts for the PRT are so expensive is due to the uniqueness of the transportation system.

"There aren't any companies that make parts for the PRT," Kierig said. "The parts have to be designed specifically to fit our operating constraints."

Overall, total costs to upgrade the PRT are projected to be $92.8 million, he said.

The PRT has been in service since 1975, and its 73 cars are built on Dodge truck chassis, according to WVU's transportation and parking website.

Both the vehicle control and communications subsystem as well as the propulsion system are still analog and have seen little change since construction in the 1970s.