Posted by Cardinal Fang on April 22, 2011 · Leave a Comment
Railway Gazette 14 April 2010
France, Artois-Gohelle
http://www.railwaygazette.com/news/single-view/view/tram-projects-planned-in-northern-france/browse/2.html
A consortium comprising Systra, Inexia, Eccta, Ilex and Urbanica has been appointed to manage two tram projects in northern France. The contract was awarded by the Artois-Gohelle local transport authority, which is responsible for public transport in an area comprising 115 towns and villages with a total population of 600 000.
The first route connecting LiAi??vin, Lens and HAi??nin-Beaumont will be 20Ai??8 km long with 30 stops. The second will be 17Ai??4 km long, running from Bruay-la-BuissiA?re to BAi??thune and Beuvry and will have 24 stops. The tram lines will serve key destinations in 18 towns and villages and are part of an initiative to regenerate the former mining area.
Systra will be responsible for project management and, with Inexia, for engineering and systems. Eccta is in charge of infrastructure, roads and services, while Ilex and Urbanica will handle architecture, landscaping and urban design.
http://www.smt-artois-gohelle.fr/content/download/12635/112773/file/Dossier%20de%20rAi??fAi??rence%20LLHB.pdf
The consortium is due to present its proposals for the two routes by autumn 2010. Construction is expected to start in 2011 with revenue service set for 2014. The project will cost around ai??i??657m.
SMT Artois ai??i?? Gohelle http://www.smt-artois-gohelle.fr/montram/le_projet
Posted by Cardinal Fang on April 22, 2011 · 1 Comment
From the Toronto LRT Information Blog
http://lrt.daxack.ca/blog/
Discussions on Toronto and GTHA LRT Possibilities
Much of this site is devoted to promoting LRT as a viable alternative to Subway for rapid transit expansion within the GTA where capacity needs exceed or will exceed that of bus operation, but do not warrant a Subway level of capacity. While Subway construction requires a minimum peak requirement of 10,000 people per hour per direction to be justified, LRT operation can easily support up to 12,000 in a roadway median, and even greater than 20,000 in a fully separated right of way.
http://lrt.daxack.ca/LRTvsHRT/CostCompare.html
The major advantage of LRT is that its capacity is high enough for most every outer corridor within the GTA for today and for well beyond the foreseeable future. Furthermore, the capacity of one Subway line can be exceeded with two parallel LRT lines with numerous advantages:
- a single rapid transit line requires funnelling all users to the single line; while feeder bus routes would be ideal, the reality is that many new users will drive to this single line and will require parking; stations must be built with giant parking facilities
- when a service disruption occurs, the entire corridor served by a single line is affected, with little or no alternatives
- single lines involve single point-to-point operation; few, if any, opportunities exist for route interlining that can provide service that provides more convenient travel options for users with a reduced need to transfer in order to reach one's destination
An Engineer is someone who can do for fifty cents what any damn fool can do for a dollar
Posted by zweisystem on April 22, 2011 · 2 Comments
Bombardier and their friends on the Skyscraper blog must be weeping a sad song. After many years, carefully cultivating a case for an elevatedAi??SkyTrain light metro in Honolulu, the Ansaldo company of Italy, pipped Bombardier and SkyTrain at the post, by winning the Honolulu light metro contract.
The main difference between SkyTrain and the Ansaldo metros is that the SkyTrain light metro system is powered by Linear Induction Motors, whichAi??need reaction rails which are very expensive toAi??to install and maintain.
Like Vancouver’s Canada Line, Bombardier’s proprietary SkyTrain light metro system proved to be too expensive for the job.
That Honolulu needs an elevated light-metro is another question altogether, yet the smear campaign against modern LRT was so great, by the light metro crowd,Ai??the politicians caved in and only light metro was planned for. This is how TransLink continues with SkyTrain and light metro in Vancouver, an ongoing smear campaign, abetted by the mainstream media has made the mode almost unbuildable here, but now with Surrey demanding LRT, there is going to be a lot of red faces at TransLink.
http://www.finmeccanica.it/Corporate/EN/Corporate/Press_and_Media/Comunicati_stampa/args/detail/details~press~Comunicati_Stampa~2011~press_dettaglio_00528.shtml///index.sdo
The Ansaldo light metro inAi??Thessalonika Greece, which will be similar to the Honolulu metro.
Posted by Cardinal Fang on April 22, 2011 · Leave a Comment
Following the March announcement from Transport for London, that ten new Light Rail vehicles were to be procured for the successful Croydon Tramlink system.
http://www.tfl.gov.uk/corporate/media/newscentre/archive/19308.aspx
The mayor of London Boris Johnson has announced the shortlisted bidders to supply Transport for London (TfL) with up to ten more trams, which will increase services on the Tramlink network. City of Edinburgh Council and CAF, who constructed the trams as part of the BSC consortium, have been shortlisted, as have Swiss manufacturer Stadler and Polish manufacture Pesa.
This week it was announced that, in the near future, the following improvements and upgrades to the Tramlink system will take place:
- The 'twining' of the sections of single line tracks on the Wimbledon line should start this year – with the section between Mitcham and Mitcham Junction being completed first.
- Reconstruction of the Carshalton Road Bridge to enable twin tracks to pass underneath.
- Demolition of the Willow Lane single lane carriageway road bridge, which has been closed to all traffic and pedestrians.
- Construction of an additional tram stop between Mitcham and Mitcham Junction to serve the Willow Lane Industrial Estate.
Posted by Cardinal Fang on April 22, 2011 · Leave a Comment
In the 19th & 20th centuries, Trams & Streetcars were part of the streetscape in towns and cities in Canada, Europe & America.
Studying contemporary postcards, it can be seen how well this form of urban transport fitted in with homes, businesses & people.
ThisAi??coloured postcardAi??of post World War One Karlsruhe, Germany, shows a typical street scene.
The postcard is taken from a website called The Daily Postcard http://postcardparadise.blogspot.com/2011/04/streetcar-sunday-karlsruhe-germany.html
and an aptly named series of postings titled Streetcar Sunday.
The Karlsruhe Light Rail & Tram-Train network is rightly held as a model for the city of Surrey and the Lower Fraser Valley to aspire to with Interurban Tram-Trains, Light Rail & tram systems.
Finally for this Good Friday posting, the Cardinal brings you a video of San Francisco.
A camera was mounted on the front of a street car in San Francisco 105 years ago (1906). Perhaps the oldest “home movie” that you will ever see!
This film was originally thought to be from 1905 until David Kiehn, with the Niles Essanay Silent Film Museum figured out exactly when it was shot.
Ai??From New York trade papers announcing the film showing to the wet streets from recent heavy rainfall & shadows indicating time of year & actual weather and conditions on historical record, even when the cars were registered (he even knows who owned them and when the plates wereAi??Ai??issued!). It was filmed only four days before the Great California Earthquake of April 18th 1906 and shipped by train to NY for processing.
Enjoy: http://www.youtube.com/watch_popup?v=NINOxRxze9k
Experience is not what happens to you;
it is what you do with what happens to you.
— Aldous Huxley
Posted by Cardinal Fang on April 21, 2011 · Leave a Comment
Light rail vehicle unveiled
http://www.railwaygazette.com/nc/news/single-view/view/bielefeld-vamos-lrv-unveiled.html
21 April 2011
Ai??Ai??Ai??Ai??Ai??Ai??Ai??
GERMANY: The first of 16 high-floor light rail vehicles for Bielefeld city transport operator MoBiel was presented to a select audience at HeiterBlickai??i??s Leipzig plant on April 14.Ai??
MoBiel placed a ai??i??47m order for the cars with a consortium of Vossloh Kiepe and HeiterBlick on January 26 2009. Vossloh Kiepe has supplied the electrical equipment for the vehicles, which have been assembled by HeiterBlick. The contract includes options for a further 25 vehicles.
The three-section bi-directional vehicles, branded Vamos, are 34 m long, about 7 m longer than the existing M8C and M8D cars working Bielefeldai??i??s metre-gauge network. As the platforms are designed for 2 300 mm wide cars, the Vamos design widens to 2 650 mm above platform height, creating space for 230 passengers.Ai??Ai??
The first vehicle will be delivered to Bielefeld in June for testing before entering revenue service in the autumn.
Perth light rail gains momentum
http://www.sbs.com.au/news/article/1522701/latest-from-wire/
http://www.perthlightrail.org/
A light rail system in Perth’s CBD seems inevitable with the state opposition putting forward its own proposal which would run east to west across the city.
Perth Light Rail to connect East to West
http://www.watoday.com.au/wa-news/perth-light-rail-to-connect-east-to-west-20110419-1dmkr.html?from=watoday_sb
On April 26, Federal Transit Administration and Minnesota state officials plan to sign a full-funding grant agreement that will commit millions of federal dollars to the Central Corridor Light-Rail Transit project, which will connect the downtowns of St. Paul and Minneapolis.
The agreement will require the federal government to reimburse the projectai??i??s funding partners for half the cost to build the $957 million line, which will link the two cities along Washington and University avenues via the state Capitol and University of Minnesota.
The Metropolitan Council will serve as the grantee of the federal funds. The regional agency is charged with building the line in partnership with the Minnesota Department of Transportation.
Construction began in 2010 along the 11-mile line, which will connect with the Hiawatha light-rail line at the Metrodome station and the Northstar commuter-rail line at the new Target Field station in Minneapolis.
To date, $185 million has been spent on the projectai??i??s design, property acquisition and construction. The project is slated for completion in 2014.Ai??
Politicians should not be entrusted to be in charge of public transport in any sense!
Posted by zweisystem on April 21, 2011 · Leave a Comment
London's Post Office Railway, also known as Mail Rail, was a narrow-gauge driverless private underground railway in London built by the Post Office with assistance from the Underground Electric Railways Company of London to move mail between sorting offices. Inspired by the Chicago Tunnel Company, it was in operation from 3 December 1927 until 31 May 2003.
The following is the Post Office today, an underground museum piece, waiting to be rediscovered..
http://www.silentuk.com/?p=2792
Posted by Cardinal Fang on April 17, 2011 · 2 Comments
The fall out from Surrey Mayor Dianne Watts State of the City report Tuesday, has raged far & wide in the BC papers and on the blogosphere, not unexpectedly much of the debate has centered on the link between transport or transit, development or land use and city planning, residential unit design or population density.
D.M. Johnston, perchance too provocatively wrote in Stephen Reesai??i??s blog `Transit is to move people, not shape land use. This is the mistake we have made and continue to make with our transit planningai??i??
Stephen roundly criticised Johnston for down playing the link between transit & development, which in my view was a tad iniquitous as Johnston was merely in my view, albeit simplistically, making the point that too often city planners have used transit as an excuse to advocate for high rise, high density residential dwellings; no where is this more prevalent than in Vancouver.
The trouble with Vancouver is that the politicians want to redevelop lands into high rise apartments and condos, to provide customers for the SkyTrain metro system – the rest of the transit system has been left to rot with indifference. After thirty one years of SkyTrain only thinking; our regional planning has been left completely warped to such an extent, that it is all but useless. The years of SkyTrain building have perverted land use planning so much that it supports the SkyTrain system rather than looking at what is actually desirable and environmentally sustainable, massive high-rises being not.
Transit Orientated Development TOD, is not a 21st century phenomena; from the humble beginnings of transport infrastructure expansion ai??i?? roads, canals & waterways initially in Europe andAi??latterly in North America; residential and commercial expansion soon followed the horse and cart, stage coach and river boat.
With the arrival of the railways in the mid 19th century the growth gathered pace
In Britain, the coming of the railways was manifested by Railway Mania, an instance of speculative frenzy in the 1840s. It followed a common pattern: as the price of railway shares increased, more and more money was poured in by speculators, until the inevitable collapse. It reached its zenith in 1846, when no fewer than 272 Acts of Parliament were passed, setting up new railway companies, and the proposed routes totalled 9,500Ai??miles (15,300Ai??km) of new railway. Stephen Rees will be aware of the London Metropolitan Railway, which opened in 1863 and was progressively expanded over the next sixty years. Metroland is a name given to the suburban areas that were built to the north west of London in the counties of Buckinghamshire, Hertfordshire and Middlesex in the early part of the 20th century, and were served by the Metropolitan Railway.
Metroland, so beloved by poet John Betjeman was “a country with elastic borders that each visitor can draw for himself”. In 1903 the Metropolitan Railway developed a housing estate in Middlesex and formed its own Country Estates Company in 1919, the first of many such enterprises over the next thirty years.
Fast forward to the 20th/21st century; surface Light Rail systems developed in Croydon, Manchester & Nottingham have regenerated & rejuvenated areas of depravation and have brought inward economic investment to those cities with employment; civic, retail & commercial developments and an improved sense of community well being & civic pride.
The Grade separated ALRT system, the Docklands Light Railway DLR, originally opened in the 80ai??i??s and with several extensions already in operation and with further routes planned, has been an important catalyst in the London Docklands regeneration. Built predominantly on the formation of former heavy freight railway routes, the DLR is an excellent example of the reuse of an existing transport infrastructure to meet the planning requirements of later generations.
The 19th century in North America was characterised by the opening up of the continental interior, linking existing communities & developing new towns & cities, the new railroads were the key to the expansion and economic growth.
In the US, the Overland route – Central Pacific Railroad of California & the Union Pacific Railroad constructed between1863 ai??i?? 1869 and the Canadian Pacific Railroad completed 1885 were instrumental in the settlement and development of the West;Ai??Omaha, Cheyenne, Denver, Salt Lake City & Las Vegas; Winnipeg, Saskatoon, Regina, Calgary & Edmonton.
The successors to the 19th century transcontinental railroads, the Intercity & International High Speed railways, have not so far had the same impact on economic expansion & growth. In Britain the rural Nimbys are challenging the case for the high speed HS.2 line between London, the Midlands & the North West, citing an insufficient financial & economic case, disruption and property blight. In the US Obamaai??i??s plans for 17,000 miles of high speed railway linking the continent, is being delay by Federal spending cuts, Congressional & State opposition from the Republican Party.
Only in France, has the TGV Train Ai?? Grande Vitesse building programme gone relatively smoothly, with the mayors of Communes lobbying Paris, for their town or city to be linked to the TGV network.
In the 20th century, constructing a National road network, with miles of motorway, freeways & autobahns, linking towns & cityai??i??s became policy for governments in Europe, Canada and America as the clamour for the individual freedom that the automobile promised grew.
The result was the strip development and malls, linking the suburbs of many Canadian & US towns & cityai??i??s and Ribbon Development in Britain.
The Restriction of Ribbon Development Act of 1935 was designed to prevent the sprawl of towns and cities across the countryside. ‘Ribbon development’ is linear development of long rows of buildings built along main roads leading out of towns.
In the second decade of the 21st century, it can be hoped that city & town legislators and planners, have recognised the errors that were made in the past and will devise schemes that take into consideration:
Ai??Ai??Ai??Ai??Ai??Ai??Ai??Ai??Ai?? The community
Ai??Ai??Ai??Ai??Ai??Ai??Ai??Ai??Ai?? The environment
Ai??Ai??Ai??Ai??Ai??Ai??Ai??Ai??Ai?? Residents
Ai??Ai??Ai??Ai??Ai??Ai??Ai??Ai??Ai?? Businesses
Ai??Ai??Ai??Ai??Ai??Ai??Ai??Ai??Ai?? Visitors
In British Columbia, Mayor Watts of Surrey has taken the first step in the redefining of her community, by calling for surface Light Rail and rejecting the push to extend SkyTrain in to Surrey, by TransLink.
The Rail for the Valley organisation, in concert with the Fraser Valley Mayors, has been advocating for the restoration of the Fraser Valley Interurban, which will go along way to realising the goals of many, which is that it is the community & the transit customer that matters.
We build transit systems to move people; to provide a quality alternative to the car; we should not build transit to further increase population densities in already heavily populated areas or destroy neighbour hoods with the mantra, density is good.
I been involved in transit projects since 1986 and nowhere else except Vancouver has taken such an active role to tie land use to transit, yet at the same time fore go all but cosmetic transit improvements on heavily congested routes.
European colleagues have questioned our preoccupation with land use over the legitimate needs of the transit customer in providing a quality public transit service.
Our growth in the region has been shaped and transit isn’t going to affect it much. While everyone is debating land use, farmland is being destroyed at a prodigious rate in the region, with the TFN announcement being a good example.
Mayor Watts, her staff and advisors are well advised to consider the two following criteriaai??i??s, when they begin the `Redefining of the Community of Surreyai??i?? programme.
Transit trip-generators, which they should consider many, if not all of the following:-
A?Ai??Surrey Museum
A?Ai??City Hall
A?Ai??Central City Plaza
A?Ai??Central City Shopping centre
A?Ai??Guildford Mall
A?Ai??Surrey Memorial hospital
A?Ai??Surrey Public library
A?Ai??Cloverdale Fairground
A?Ai??Millennium Amphitheatre Park
A?Ai??SFU, Kwantlen campus
Transit stop spacing.
Recently on Jarrett Walkerai??i??s Blog, Zoltan expressed the view that the ideal transit stop spacing was 400m. This appears too close, even for a Light metro in a built up urban environment.
In the context of the cities of Surrey, 400 m is approximately every other block, by contrast on Skytrain the average station interval is 730 m in the city centre area and 1750 m in other areas.
Accepted transit design & planning criteria, argue that people will generally be prepared to walk 500 m to a transit stop ai??i?? bus, LRT, Tram or ALRT, 2-3 Surrey block so a figure of 500 to 700 m is likely to be closer to the ideal.
Transit does indeed shape land use, but in Vancouver we have created a bureaucratic monster, with hundreds of people shuffling paper and achieving very little over land use; what has been left out of the mix, is the transit customer.
Vancouver is obsessed with high rise skyscraper living & working and expanding the SkyTrain ALRT system to provide ridership.
On the aptly titled Skyscraper forum Skytrain apparatchiks, including Mezzanine, Vooney, Vonny & xd advocate for further SkyTrain building including in to Surrey, but then argue that BHLS, BRT & Express buses are all that Surrey needs.
The budget saving that the bus would give over a SkyTrain extension is one thing; but to argue that Surrey and SoF deserves little more than a second class service because you advocate for higher TransLink spending in Metro Vancouver and compound it by posting a link to a French BHLS consultancy in order to rubbish surface Light Rail/trams is just perverse and dishonest.
Posted by Cardinal Fang on April 16, 2011 · Leave a Comment
On April 16th the 11.2 kmAi??Ai?? Light Rail/tramway in the city of Reims, in the French region of Champagne-Ardenne was opened with much publicity.
Reims is the twenty secondAi??Ai??of the new generationAi??Ai??of tramways to be opened in France since 1986
http://champagne-ardenne.france3.fr/evenements/Inauguration-tramway-reims/
Ai??Ai??
Details on the following sites:
http://www.tramwaydereims.fr/start.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reims_tramway
http://www.subways.net/france/reims.html
Ai??Ai??
Posted by Cardinal Fang on April 14, 2011 · Leave a Comment
Light rail proponents say it's less expensive than SkyTrain
They are cheering Surrey mayor Dianne Watts for her call for street-level rapid transit in her city
Dan Burritt Apr 13, 2011 19:24:20 PM News1130
http://www.news1130.com/news/local/article/212086–light-rail-proponents-say-it-s-less-expensive-than-skytrain
SURREY (NEWS1130) – Surrey's plan for street-level rapid transit is welcome news to people who want to bring back street cars to the Fraser Valley. Mayor Dianne Watts says they're envisioning light rail down the Fraser Highway to Langley and from City Centre in Whalley to South Surrey.
Malcolm Johnston with Rail for the Valley says it ought to link up with the old Interurban Line they want resurrected.
"Compare 140 kilometres of SkyTrain at $125 million a kilometre versus ours at $7 million a kilometre, and that's the big difference with light rail, it's much cheaper. You can penetrate into less densely populated areas affordably to collect the ridership."
Johnston says a lot more companies build streetcars and light rail trains than SkyTrain cars, which are Bombardier's specialty.
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