CATS hoped to ease crowds on light rail trains. Those plans will wait eight years.

At rush hour and for Carolina Panthers games, passengers pack into Lynx Blue Line trains shoulder to shoulder.

The Charlotte Area Transit System had hoped to soon operate three-car trains to relieve crowding, but a lack of funding has caused the transit system to shelve those plans, likely for eight years, according to a letter sent to the Federal Transit Administration.

The Lynx Blue Line extension from uptown to UNC Charlotte is being built with train platforms long enough to handle three-car trains.

The existing light-rail line, however, was built a decade ago with stations long enough to handle only two-car trains.

Read more here: http://www.charlotteobserver.com/news/politics-government/article139256098.html