Calgary Light Rail- Safer Than Buses.

This interesting bit of information comes from Light Rail Transit in Calgary, The First 25 Years. Contrary to the LRT naysayers, Calgary's trams are safer than buses. What isn't shown is how many accidents were caused by auto drivers deliberately ignoring crossing gates and lights or red lights.

http://www.calgarytransit.com/pdf/Calgarys_LRT_1st_25Years_TRB_revised.pdf

Table 1 – Calgary Transit LRT and Bus Collisions and Passenger Accidents

                                                                   1995                        2005

Collisions per million km

Bus Collisions                                            23.0                         17.8

LRT Collisions                                          11.3                          10.3

Passenger Accidents per million

boardings

Bus Passenger Accidents                           5.6                              1.6

LRT Passenger Accidents .                       0.40                               0.06

Lessons Learned

1. Surface LRT operations can be safely and effectively integrated within city streets by using conventional traffic, pedestrian and railway controls.

2. LRT signal pre-emption in arterial streets provides reduced transit travel time without compromising roadway safety

3. LRT is safer than bus.  On the basis of Calgary Transit’s experience, LRT vehicle collision and passenger accident rates are significantly lower than those for the bus system.

  4. Systems fail –  Manage failure. Design your LRT system with replacement in mind and embrace formal asset management principles as soon as possible. Five to ten year forecasts of resources necessary to ensure stable infrastructure are mandatory for good management of the system. Key maintenance people should be in place during the system design and construction stages. Numerous design and construction deficiencies can be avoided with this approach. In Calgary’s operating and weather environment, the need for major infrastructure replacement increased exponentially during the 20 to 25 year age window. Good ride quality and wear characteristics in the LRT environment demand track tolerances well beyond those in the typical mainline heavy rail environment. Track designers and constructors with bona fide LRT experience should be engaged in design and construction, wherever possible. Locate facing point switches and bi-directional interlocked signaling to facilitate maintenance and failure management.