Hands on Learning

Graduate students from the University of Missouri - Kansas City (UMKC) toured the project site on Friday, February 4, 2022 to learn more about the rail welding process.

Students from the University of Kansas City – Missouri took a visit to the rail welding site on Friday, February 4.

The students are in Professor Bill Yord’s Introduction to Railroading and Transit class. Professor Yord serves as an adjunct professor for the School of Computing and Engineering. He also serves as a Senior Project Manager with the Kansas City Area Transportation Authority and as a utility manager with the KC Streetcar Main Street Extension.

The graduate students were able to get an up-close and personal look at the rail weld. Crews from KC Streetcar Constructors and Holland LP answered questions and walked the students through every step of the rail welding process.

The KC Streetcar Main Street Extension will extend the streetcar 3.6 miles south on Main Street, adding 16 stops and connecting the Downtown starter line to Midtown, Westport, the Art Museum District, the Plaza and UMKC. Last semester one of Yord’s classes worked on design ideas for the UMKC stop as a senior project.

Shamar Wiltshire, KC Streetcar Constructors, explains the testing process after a string is welded.

Yord’s class plans to visit the work site later in the semester to learn more about the construction process. The construction of the KC Streetcar Main Street Extension is expected to take two and a half years with passengers ready to ride in 2025.