UPDATE: In a lightning fast reversal, the Council has restored $47 million to the streetcar project. Story here.

Following a last-minute change to D.C. Council Chairman Vince Gray’s budget proposal, the council voted Wednesday to strip $49 million in funds that had been designated for the city’s streetcar project.

The move essentially means that there is no way streetcars will begin running in 2012 as planned.

Council sources estimate the earliest the streetcar program could be resurrected would be 2014. From the dais this morning, streetcar proponent Tommy Wells (D-Ward 6) was even more pessimistic.

“I believe this action today will kill the streetcars for another generation,” Wells said.

Gray reiterated his belief that the streetcar system, which he said he supports in theory, needs more study and planning. “We’re still having debates about a power source,” he said, as well as continued discussion about how and whether to connect the system to Union Station.

The money that had been meant for streetcars would be distributed among a variety of other programs, including playgrounds in Ward 8 and Georgetown.

The District has already spent millions on a planned 37-mile streetcar network. Three streetcars purchased from the Czech Republic more than three years ago cost $10 million, and the first few miles of track have already been laid down. The city also hosted a Streetcar Showcase earlier this month, designed to show off one of the cars and get residents excited about the project.