Detroit M-1 Rail Dedicates Service Base

An artist rendering of the Penske Tech Center.

The maintenance and operations center for Detroit M-1 Rail was dedicated this week.

Known as the Penske Tech Center, the facility will maintain the city’s QLINE streetcars. Penske Corporation is the sponsor of the center.

The center also will house the agency’s administrative staff, M-1 Rail officials said in a news release.

M-1 Rail said that the Penske Center will be country’s first vehicle storage and maintenance facility to operate off-wire.

The first streetcar is expected to be delivered to the center by the fourth quarter of this year where it will undergo testing and safety certification.

M-1 Rail Shows Off Penske Facility Concept

The parent organization of the Detroit streetcar line has released conceptual renderings of the nearly 19,000 square feet Penske Tech Center facility that will serve as an operations and maintenance center.

The center will be located between Bethune and Custer avenues, at the northern end of the 3.3-mile streetcar system.

“We have communicated extensively with the residents and business owners from the neighborhood where the Tech Center will be located, and their input has been invaluable in making sure that the new Tech Center becomes a vibrant part of the community,” says Paul Childs, Chief Operating Officer of M-1 Rail. “From the types of vegetation we use on the grounds, to the building’s actual design and location on the property, the voices from the community have given M-1 Rail terrific guidance.”

The facility is named in recognition of Roger Penske’s leadership of M-1 Rail and Penske Corp., as one of the major donors to the project.