Detroit People Mover lands $10 million to swap in 12 refurbished Toronto rail cars

The Detroit People Mover's next fleet is coming from Toronto, and the money to make the swap is now in hand.

Gov. Gretchen Whitmer announced $10 million for the Detroit Transportation Corporation, the agency that runs the elevated downtown loop, as part of a $65 million round of statewide transit grants distributed through the Infrastructure Projects Authority Fund. The grant funds what the state calls the "People Mover 1.5: Rail Car Project." The Detroit Transportation Corporation will bring in 12 refurbished rail cars from the Toronto Transit Commission to replace the 9 aging cars running the loop today.

The money covers "evaluation, reconditioning, systems integration and certification of the refurbished cars, which builds on work already completed," according to the state.

The Toronto cars are a deliberate choice. The Scarborough Rapid Transit cars once used by the Toronto Transit Commission are almost identical to the trains already running on the People Mover, both built on linear induction motor technology, Hoodline reported, citing December 2023 reporting by Outlier Media.

That shared engineering is a big part of why the deal pencils out.

"From rural to urban communities across the state, these investments will help expand vital public transit services and get people where they need to go," Whitmer said.

Detroit wasn't the only winner in this round either. The Regional Transit Authority of Southeast Michigan picked up a separate $2 million grant for a downtown transit planning and engineering study.

The governor's office laid out the full slate of awards in its October 13 announcement.