A year after Tucson streetcar collision, one returns to the rails

That was the corner where it collided with another streetcar, No. 103, on Aug. 16, 2025, sending both out of service for the last year.

But after a minute, No. 105 dinged and rolled onto North Fourth Avenue. Streetcar 105 was back in service.

That means not just that Tucson’s mass transit service was able to repair a streetcar, but that service can return to normal timing after a year of less frequent service. During that year, only five streetcars have been in use, rather than the normal six, but that will return to normal now that 105 is back.

Repairing both streetcars has been a challenge, in part because the company that built them, United Streetcar, folded in 2014-15. However, Sun Tran mechanics, aided by local auto body mechanics from CarStar and WSP engineers, were able to put 105 together for the low price of $75,000, said Mikel Oglesby, the general manager of Sun Tran.

“This wasn’t a simple matter of taking a streetcar into the shop and repairing it," he said. “105 is back because people refused to give up on it.”

Streetcar 103 is a different story. It suffered more damage because it was struck from the side by No. 105 and is still in the shop. One of the difficulties, Oglesby said, is that moving the streetcar somewhere else to repair it is in itself very costly.

While many of the parts in Tucson’s streetcars were made by subcontractors that still exist, not by United Streetcar itself, No. 103 still suffers from the manufacturer’s closure.

“We’re having more of an issue fixing the 103, because there was more internal damage and getting OEM (original equipment manufacturer) parts is impossible, so we’re having to refurbish a lot,” Oglesby said.

A federal investigation determined operator error on the part of the person driving streetcar 105 caused the collision. That operator resigned after the collision, Oglesby said.

Before the collision in August, the Sun Link line would run six streetcars and keep two out of service at a time. Now, even with 103 out, Sun Link will run six streetcars again and keep just one out of service.