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Light Rail Progress can be contacted at: Light Rail Progress |
 The worldwide surge in the development of light rail transit (LRT) is nowhere as vigorous as in Europe, where enthusiasm for LRT – especially urban tramways (high-quality streetcar services) – just keeps mounting. As in the USA and other nations, this seems to represent a strong vote of confidence by urban planners and decisionmakers in LRT as a particularly effective public transport solution to the mobility problems of their urban areas and interurban regions. Europe's widespread deployment of tramway technology is of particular interest because, in most cases, it utilizes this relatively very cost-effective mode as a rapid tramway (rapid streetcar, in North American parlance). This means that the tram, or streetcar, is deployed not merely as a street-based, relatively slow, circulator or shuttle system, confined to a central area, but rather as a moderate-speed means of efficient, "green" surface transport, reaching out and connecting more far-flung sections of the urban area with relatively frequent stops to enhance accessibility to the service. It should be noted that, because of this relatively very short average station spacing – significantly shorter than is typical for North American LRT systems – and also the constraint of the old, narrow streets found in most European cities, average schedule speeds on European surface public transport (including LRT tramways) is typically lower than in North American cities. Buses often operate at average schedule speeds in the range of 8-10 kph (5-6 mph). Thus, tramway speeds of 15-20 kph (9-12 mph, more typical of the systemwide base norm in North America) often represent a significant improvement in public transport service. Since the beginning of 2004 alone, Europe has seen no less than four totally new LRT tramway startup systems go into public service. Here's a quick overview of developments in Nottingham, Barcelona, Dublin, and Athens.
Newest British tramway is a big hit As Light Rail Now! reported earlier (see our article
Nottingham Opens Latest New British LRT Tramway), on 8-9 March
2004 the medium-sized East Midlands city of Nottingham launched
its new tramway system, marking the return of trams (light rail) to
Nottingham for the first time in nearly 70 years. Nottingham Express Transit (NET) Line 1 runs from the city center's railway station
northwards some 14 km (about 8.7 miles) to the communities of
Bulwell and Hucknall, with a short westward branch serving the
suburb of Cinderhill and a park-and-ride site at Phoenix Park. In total, the line has 23 stations. While ridership for this first line is forecast at 11 million boardings per year (roughly, about 35,500 per day),
passenger-trip figures for the first six months of operation have been so encouraging that in August NET
decided to improve the system timetable by nearly 10% to cope with demand. Beginning on
September 6th, NET starting running more trams, more often, on both weekdays and weekends.
Two separate tramway systems launched "With over 100 trains running simultaneously during rush hours,
Barcelona is one of Europe's foremost Metro cities" reports
Tramways & Urban Transit (Sep. 2004). Certainly, it's an urban area
which can readily justify an extensive multi-modal public transport
network. Spain's second-largest city, and the capital of Catalonia, Barcelona
has a population of 1,510,000, with its total metro area population coming to more than
4,000,000 when outlying regional communities are also included. According to T&UT, the metropolitan area not only has dozens of miles of interurban and regional railways, but an 84-km (52-mile) urban metro system; and, in December 2003, the first 2 km (1.2 miles) of "mini-metro" (a light-capacity metro) opened. (The "mini-metro" is targeted for imminent conversion to fully automatic operation.) But grade-separated metros, even "mini-metros", are extremely expensive. So, with an eye on the massive expansion of light rail tramway systems taking place in other European cities like Nantes and Strasbourg – and, undoubtedly, Paris (which has begun reinstalling tramways to supplement its own metros) – Barcelona's transportation authorities opted to start reinstalling what their predecessors had ripped out decades before – a tramway system, aimed at providing fast, efficient, high-quality, and attractive transit over predominantly surface alignments (where most of the people spend most of their time). In a hurry to put these systems in place where they were most needed, in the spring of 2004
Barcelona opened, not one, but two totally separate, albeit technically identical, LRT tramway
systems, both mostly utilizing existing major arterial road right-of-way. With a total line mileage
of 29.3 km (19.2 miles), Barcelona's two LRT startup projects cost a combined total of Eur 451
– amounting to about $19 million/km, or $30 million/mile.
For more information: · Transports Metropolitans de Barcelona · Associació per a la Promoció del Transport Públic (Barcelona) · Barcelona Tramway page · UrbanRail.net - Barcelona
Tramway mobility returns to ireland On 30 June 2004, the irish capital city of Dublin opened the Green
Line – the first of several new lines in its Luas ("Speed") tramway
network. Marking the return to Dublin of the unique, quality mobility provided by tramway service after an absence of 45 years, this historic event was followed by the opening of the Red Line on 4
October. Both systems serve an urban area with a population slightly over one million, with about 200,000 residents located within one km of the Luas "catchment area". Ultimately, a network of several surface light rail lines is envisioned, with a mixture of street
running, reserved track, and dedicated exclusive right-of-way. This will be complemented by a
metro system (also under construction) on totally grade-separated track including underground
tunnels in the city center. All these systems will be integrated into Dublin's already-existing
network of regional rail and urban and regional bus services. With a total route length of 24 km (15 mi), the Luas project has cost Eur 800 million, or about US$1.04 billion. That calculates to a unit capital cost of about $43 million/km, or $69 million/mile – certainly, one of the more expensive surface LRT projects in the world.
· Green Line – Opened on 30 June 2004, this 9-km (5.6-mile) line follows the former route of the now-closed Harcourt Street railway line from the city center to Sandyford, serving Balally, Dundrum, Milltown, and Ranelagh. There is a short section (1 km, or about 0.6 mile) of street running along Harcourt Street and St. Stephen's Green West in the city center. According to the system plan, 13 low-floor trams are expected to carry 3,000 passengers/hour in each direction with 5-minute intervals between vehicles at peak time (15 minutes at offpeak times). End-to-end trip time over the Green Line is 22 minutes, resulting in an average schedule speed of about 24 kph (15 mph). it should be noted that, in an unusual practice, the Green Line has been built to a standard to accommodate "heavy rail" metro trains which, at a future date, may tunnel underground through the city center from Ranelagh. · Red Line – Opened on 4 October 2004, this 15-km (9.3-mile) travels from Connolly Station in downtown Dublin, through the north inner-city, crossing the river south at Heuston rail station, and then serving the neighborhoods and communities of St. James, Rialto, Drimnagh, Bluebell, Red Cow, Cookstown, and Tallaght. Of the total alignment, 8 km (5 mi) of track is on-street, the balance being on dedicated alignments and on the central reservation of the main Naas road (N7). Ultimately, 20 low-floor trams are expected to carry 2,800 passengers/hour in each direction, with 5-minute headways, at peak times. End-to-end journey time is 38 minutes, resulting in an average schedule speed of about 24 kph (15 mph) – the same as for the Green Line. The Luas trams (light rail vehicles) are designed for a maximum speed of 70 kph (about 45
mph). Because the first two LRT lines have been built physically separate, there are two vehicle
storage-maintenance depots accessible to each tramway, at Red Cow on the Red Line and at
Sandyford for the Green Line. The Luas LRT system was projected to carry 6 million rider-trips by the end of its first year of
full operation. That's roughly 20,000 boardings per day. Currently both Green and Red Lines
together are carrying about about 40,000 passenger-trips each day. For additional information and photos, see: · Railway Procurement Agency · Luas Passenger information · LRTA Dublin news · Bustravel ireland · Buses in ireland
New LRT tramway system performs Olympic service
One of Europe's oldest and largest capitals, with more than 3 million inhabitants,
Athens already has a metro network consisting of three lines. These include one line
in operation since 1869, plus two modern lines opened only a few years ago. The
total length of the metro network is 52 km (approximately 32 miles) with a total of 48 stations.
In consonance with its position as host city for the Summer 2004
Olympics, Athens gave its public transport a major overhaul. in
particular, the city's remaining archaic metro facilities were brought into the 21st
century, and a modern light rail tramway system was installed. Thus, 44 years after the tram last ran in central Athens, on Monday, 19 July 2004, light rail transit made what the LRTA calls "a triumphal reappearance". Within the
first three hours alone, the new tramway had carried more than 20,000 people, according to officials.
The project cost Eur 380 million, or about US $494 million –
approximately $19 million/km, or $31 million/mile. Certainly, this an
amazingly moderate capital cost for a predominantly in-street rail transit
facility within one of the largest cities in Europe. Expansion plans for the tramway system have already been unveiled. These include
extensions of the service to Piraeus (from Neo Faliron), along Patission Avenue to Ano
Patissia, and from Larissis Station to the university campus at Zografou via Goudi. For additional information and photos, see: · Athens Tram · Athens Urban Transport Organization · UrbanRail.net - Athens Light Rail Now! website Updated 2004/11/26 |
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Nottingham
Dublin
Athens