Ongoing improvements project replaces 40-year-old electrical substations, the first located in a 140-year-old basement under Pioneer Square
Hidden beneath the brick plaza of Pioneer Courthouse Square, inside rooms once used by Portland’s grandest hotel, TriMet crews have finished replacing a critical part of the MAX system.
The months-long effort resulted in a major upgrade of one of our system’s oldest – and most important – electrical substations. Substations serve as the power source for MAX trains. The replacement is the first step in the Banfield Substations Replacement Project, a multi-year effort to improve reliability along the original stretch of TriMet’s MAX system.
Our original light rail line – opened in 1986 – stretches 15 miles between Downtown Portland and Gresham and now serves as the MAX Blue Line. The 14 substations in this area were built when the system was still under development, making them more than 40 years old. Many of the critical components are obsolete and are no longer manufactured. To keep trains moving and our light rail system in a state of good repair, all of them will be replaced with newer versions during the project.
TriMet crews started with the most unusual and challenging location first.
Echoing Portland’s rail heritage
Located underground, our substation at Pioneer Square occupies the foundation of the historic Portland Hotel. Opened in 1890 as a railroad-era hotel, it once boasted that it had hosted 11 U.S. presidents. Each made the journey via train.
The opulence was fleeting, however. The hotel fell victim to its Gilded Age excesses and became costly to operate. In 1951, after falling into disrepair and with automobile ownership reaching record highs, the hotel was demolished and paved over. A parking lot took its place.
That’s how it remained, a hotel for parked cars, until attitudes again shifted in the 1980s, when it became Pioneer Courthouse Square, flanked on its north and south sides by MAX stations. Through all these changes over the decades, a portion of the historic basement remained largely unseen.
For decades, it’s been home to one of the most important power centers in our entire light rail system, tucked below as thousands of MAX riders pass above. In partnership with Pioneer Square and Portland Parks & Recreation, we are pleased to have completed the most complex phase of the Banfield Substation Replacement Project without disrupting MAX service or affecting the square’s day-to-day operations.
At Pioneer Square, replacing the equipment required crews to remove an aging transformer weighing more than 8,000 pounds through a hatch located in the middle of the Pioneer Square South MAX Station. The substation had faced significant structural decay, with aging walls and ceilings requiring urgent attention.
Power up MAX
The scope of work involved a comprehensive overhaul, including repairs to light fixtures, electrical wiring and internal machinery. It was a total modernization of the original equipment.
Future substation replacements will be simpler, as all the others are above ground. They will be assembled off-site, then lifted into place by crane and connected to existing infrastructure. The next replacement is planned near East 181st Avenue, with the remaining substations scheduled over the next two years.
Despite the extensive work, riders should not expect service disruptions. The MAX electrical system is designed with overlapping coverage. This allows neighboring substations to supply power while one is taken offline.
The Banfield Substation Replacement Project is part of TriMet’s ongoing effort to keep the system in a state of good repair. It comes as TriMet has replaced all our original MAX vehicles — what we called the Type 1 — with our newest trains, the Type 6. It’s another example of TriMet’s commitment to preserving a system that has served riders since 1986.