The Detroit People Mover: technology upgrades and rehabilitation plans on a middle-aged urban AGT

The Detroit People Mover (DPM) is an automated guideway transit (AGT) system operating in downtown Detroit. Through the Detroit Transportation Corporation, the City of Detroit has embarked on a concerted effort to restore the DPM as an important downtown link circulator. This program includes restoring the system to a well-maintained status and upgrading various subsystems to more modern levels of technology. The project includes work on essentially all subsystems including the vehicles, ATC, trackwork, SCADA and communications. Work began in 2002 and will continue into 2004 and will result in a fully modernized transit system. That upgraded transit system is an important building block in the City's revitalization of the downtown area.