Early 1800s -- Pittsburgh Coal Co. built rail lines to transport coal from the mines of the Saw Mill Run Valley.
1871 -- Pittsburgh & Castle Shannon Railroad (P&CSRR) was created and purchased property and rail right of way from Pittsburgh Coal Co.
1873 -- A single-track extension to Castle Shannon was completed and P&CSRR began commuter rail service from the South Hills to Pittsburgh along the Overbrook Line.
1905 -- Pittsburgh Railways Co. leased the P&CSRR and began converting the Overbrook Line into an electric route.
1912 to 1916 -- Pittsburgh Railways made major right of way upgrades and improvements.
1951 -- Pittsburgh Railways Co. combined with Pittsburgh Motor Coach Co. and much of Pittsburgh's existing trolley system began a gradual conversion to bus routes.
1959 -- The Port Authority of Allegheny County was created.
1964 -- Port Authority consolidated the assets of Pittsburgh Railways Co. along with many other transit entities.
1967 -- The Overbrook Line carried three of only 16 remaining trolley routes, down from the 90 routes that traveled Pittsburgh's streets in the 1930s.
1976 -- Preliminary engineering was initiated to reconstruct 13 miles of the 25-mile South Hills rail line to modern light rail standards. Port Authority promised to seek future funding to reconstruct and modernize the Overbrook, Drake and Library lines.
1977 -- The Port Authority opened its first busway, the South Busway, on which both trolley and bus traffic shared a portion of the Overbrook Line between South Bank and Glenbury.
1980 -- Port Authority began construction on Stage I Light Rail Transit improvements. Electrical modifications occurred along the Overbrook Line to sustain operation using old streetcars.
1987 -- Completion of Stage I, which included the Downtown subway systems and the South Hills Village Rail Center.
1988 -- Environmental studies began for Stage II, the first step toward the modernization of the Overbrook Line.
1993 -- Port Authority was forced to replace trolley service with bus service along the Overbrook Line because of growing maintenance demands and the rising costs of renovations.
1996 -- Preliminary engineering began for Stage II.
Yesterday -- The groundbreaking for Stage II construction to rebuild the five miles from South Hills Junction to Castle Shannon.
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