Hudson-Bergen Light Rail Extension
BAYONNE AND BEYOND
Background
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Hudson-Bergen Light Rail (HBLR) is a vital light rail connection that links the growing cities of the Hudson River waterfront. HBLR serves the high-density commercial and residential centers in Jersey City and Hoboken and connects to ferries, PATH, and commuter rail. Beginning in Bayonne, the operating corridor extends through some of the nation’s most densely populated municipalities, a region noted for significant dependence on transit. New, 70 percent low-floor, electric-powered light rail vehicles are already serving the waterfront towns of Jersey City, Hoboken, Bayonne and Weehawken and will soon reach North Bergen and Union City. Traveling both on city streets and along separate rights of way, HBLR is the first public transit project in the nation to use the Design, Build, Operate and Maintain (DBOM) construction methodology. In September 2000, NJ TRANSIT was awarded the American Public Transportation Association’s prestigious “Innovation Award” for use of the DBOM methodology. Click here to view a map of the system . |
Project Scope
HBLR is being realized in distinct segments. The first Minimum Operating Segment (MOS1) runs from 34th Street, Bayonne, to Hoboken Terminal. MOS2 runs from Hoboken Terminal to Tonnelle Avenue Park-N-Ride in North Bergen and also extends to 22nd St. in Bayonne.
Project Cost
MOS1: $992 million;
MOS2: $1.2 billion;
The project is funded by the FTA and the State of New Jersey. NJ TRANSIT has secured Full Funding Grant Agreements with FTA to fund 61 percent of the cost of MOS1 and 41 percent of the cost of MOS2.
Current Status
The first portion of MOS1 from Bayonne opened to Exchange Place in April 2000, and to Newport Mall in November 2000. Construction of MOS1 to Hoboken was completed in September 2002. Bayonne’s 22nd Street Station, the first of seven MOS2 stations, opened in November 2003. Service to Lincoln Harbor in Weehawken opened in September of 2004. MOS 2 was completed to Tonnelle Avenue on February 25, 2006.
Benefits
Hudson-Bergen Light Rail provides public transit service to the towns along the Hudson waterfront. The project supports the significant economic development that has taken place in this region of the state.
http://world.nycsubway.org/us/hudson-bergen/
Streetcar Named Swing:Object of Desire
The Warsaw Voice
http://www.warsawvoice.pl/WVpageTest/pages/article.php/22661/article#
Swing trams manufactured by the PESA rolling stock company in the northern city of Bydgoszcz have a chance to become a flagship Polish export. The trams stole the show at the recent InnoTrans trade fair for rail transport technology in Berlin, according to Polish free daily newspaper Metro. The trams attracted huge interest not only from experts and transport companies but also local governments responsible for buying means of public transportation for their cities.
PESA has signed its first foreign contractai??i??for the delivery of nine trams to the Hungarian city of Szeged. The trams, to be called Csardas, will be delivered by September next year. There is every indication that another Hungarian city will order Swing trams from PESA. Two Turkish cities are also seriously interested in buying them.
The Swing is a wheelchair-accessible air-conditioned tram with many modern features for higher travel comfort and easier maintenance work. Travel comfort is ensured by a two-level spring suspension system. The driverai??i??s cabin is ergonomic and ensures comfortable working conditions while the online diagnostics system makes it possible to monitor the fleetai??i??s work in real time. Thanks to its modular design, the tram may be configured to meet the customerai??i??s specific requirements. Depending on the operatorai??i??s transport needs, PESA offers trams composed of three, five or seven sections, including a bi-directional version. The trams can run on tracks with a gauge of 1,435 and 1,000 millimeters.
The Swings have already gained popularity on the Polish market. Last year, PESA won the largest contract on the European tram marketai??i??for the delivery of 186 trams for Warsaw. Thirty-three Swing trams are expected to be delivered to the city by the end of the year. Their number will rise to 120 by the time the Euro 2012 soccer tournament begins in Poland. The coastal city of GdaAi??ai??zsk has also ordered 35 Swing trams.
Braunschweig Tram-Train Scheme, Germany
railway-technology.com
The website for the railway industry
http://www.railway-technology.com/projects/braunschweig/
RSB interest groups signed a letter of intent in September 2008, with construction to start during 2009. The current main rail interests are DB’s regional train operations (DB Regio) and infrastructure (DB Netz) arms, and the city transport organisation Braunschweiger Verkehrs AG.
Project aims include upgrading the present facilities, improving accessibility and increasing the number of services. The main roads around Braunschweig are known for their traffic congestion, and the RSB could offset this by making rail journeys more feasible.
The RSB will be formed mainly on a north-south axis, with the northern limit at Uelzen – 80km (50 miles) north of Braunschweig – providing an interchange with the Hamburg-Hannover main line.
The southwards line will branch at WolfenbA?ttel; southwestwards, the line will stop at several stations on the way to Salzgitter, while the southeastern arm will connect Goslar, Bad Harzburg and SchAi??ppenstedt.
Funding for the project was finalised in July 2009. Planning and construction is estimated at ai??i??232.5m, of which ai??i??197.4m was allocated to modernisation and the construction of railway tracks, stations and planned stops. The contributors are the federal (60%) and Niedersachsen (22.5%) governments, administration union (7.5%) and the affected municipalities, cities and counties (10%).
Project planning costs amounted to ai??i??35.1m. This was chiefly financed by Greater Brunswick Zweckverband ($30.1m), with the remainder coming from the affected cities and municipalities.
Infrastructure
Braunschweig trams use an unusual 1,100mm gauge, while the national rail network uses the standard 1,435mm gauge.
Three rail sections have been created as part of other works, well in advance of the commitment being made to start work on this project. These include the large combined bus and tram stop at Berliner Platz in front of Braunschweig Hauptbahnhof (the central station). This stop will have much higher frequency levels than at present, being on the core section which would accommodate all four RSB routes in the initial scheme.
South of Braunschweig city centre, a link between heavy rail and tram tracks will be installed just to the west of the main station. The other will involve use of an industrial siding for Braunschweig Nordbahnhof, a through station that will also be a terminus for two routes extending south of the city. New trackwork will also be needed in western Salzgitter.
The majority of the proposed 185km (116-mile), four-route RSB will service 63 stations (some new) and would mainly use existing DB Netz heavy rail tracks, currently covered by a mix of regional train types.
The first stage involves construction of the four lines – S1, S2, S3 and S10:
- Line S1 will connect Uelzen to Bad Harzburg via Braunschweig (city centre).
- Line S2 will connect Braunschweig north station to SchAi??ppenstedt via Braunschweig (city centre).
- Line S3 starts from Braunschweig north station, connecting Braunschweig (city centre), Salzgitter Thiede, Salzgitter town centre gate and Salzgitter-Fredenberg.
- Line S10 will start from Sitting Castle Triangle and connects GIF horn (city centre), Braunschweig (city centre), Wolfenbuttel-Vienenburg and Goslar.
Rolling stock
Dual-system vehicles capable of operating on main lines and tram tracks as well as under their respective control systems will be required. Unlike the fully electrified pioneer among German tram-train operations at Karlsruhe that began two-system track sharing in September 1992, as unwired DB tracks would be involved for the RSB, units with diesel power will be needed.
The Alstom Regio Citadis appears to be a strong candidate
Featuring in promotional materials for the RSB project, a strong candidate appears to be the Alstom Regio Citadis, an Alstom Deutschland product from Salzgitter (also on the proposed RSB network), location of the former Linke-Hoffman-Busch plant. An established specialist in regional and urban rail vehicles, Linke-Hoffman-Busch has previously supplied trams to Braunschweig.
Two variants of the three-section Alstom Regio Citadis ai??i?? the 15kV DC/750V AC and diesel/750V AC – are the basis of the Kassel tram-train system in the neighbouring state of Hessen that became fully operational in 2007. Procurement of vehicles for the RSB was not part of the late 2008 announcement.
Signalling and communications
Tram signals and light-of-sight principles apply on the Braunschweig tramway, but elsewhere they run under DB Netz signalling. The RSB would become part of the integrated ticketing arrangements of the individual communities and the region.
The future
Construction was expected to begin during late 2009 with a target start of services in 2012, but due to political reasons, the start of services has now been postponed to 2014.
The construction schedule is also yet to be announced. The potential exists for more of the Braunschweig region’s lines to be incorporated in the RSB. Supporters of the scheme in Wolfsburg, 33km (21 miles) north-east of Braunschweig are seeking to have the project extended to their city at an early stage.
Bergen Bybanen extension blasts off
11 January 2011
Railway Gazette
http://www.railwaygazette.com/nc/news/single-view/view/bergen-bybanen-extension-blasts-off.html
Bergen Stadler Variobahn Tram
NORWAY: A blast of dynamite at midday on January 7 triggered the official start of work on a NKr1·4bn project to expand Bergen’s Bybanen light rail line. The ceremony was attended by the chairman of Hordaland County Council Torill Selsvold Nyborg, Commissioner Lisbeth Iversen, local politicians and dignitaries.
Construction of the 3·6 km extension from Nesttun to Lagunen via Fanavegen and Skjold is expected to take two years. Contracts worth NKr360m were awarded to Norwegian contracting group Mesta in December for work on two sections of route totalling 3·1 km. Testing is due to start in late 2012 with opening envisaged in summer 2013.
The project is being financed with funds from Hordaland Council and revenue from the local road toll. The extension will serve residential and business areas south of the city as well as Lagunen shopping centre, where car parking facilities will be provided.
The initial 9·8 km line between Bergen city centre and Nesttun was opened by Queen Sonja on June 22 2010. A further extension to Flesland is also planned.
Long-awaited tram system for Tampere (Finland) is under consideration
Residents are now being polled on their route preferences
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The construction of a light rail system for Tampere has been discussed for decades.
It has finally been decided that the construction of tracks could commence in 2015, provided that the city can reach a binding political decision on the necessity of the system.
On the other hand, the City of Tampere is also calling for a state subsidy for the project.
The tram system that will possibly be set up in Tampere in the next few years would in some places run through very narrow streets, including the city centre and for example Pispalanharju, the residential district on the Pispala ridge.
The construction of the planned tram system would call for a reduction in the number of cars particularly on Hämeenkatu, the main street of Tampere.
On Thursday, the City of Tampere presented preliminary route alternatives for a tram system that would run between the districts of Hervanta and Lentävänniemi, asking all potential passengers to give their opinions online about the alternative routes.
The residents may say along which roads and streets and through which districts they would like the planned trams to run.
The civil servants even promised that the results of the survey would weigh a great deal in the final decision-making.
”The results of the survey will be significant, even if this is not an actual referendum. We are just asking advice for our planning”, says Manager Mika Periviita of Tampere City Public Transport.
If the project materialises and Tampere does get its own tram system, it would be a little longer and faster than that in Helsinki. The stops would be further apart and the trams would run at a frequency of every five minutes.
”The targeted speed would be more than 20 km/h, compared with Helsinki’s 13 km/h”, Periviita notes.
In Helsinki, the tram network is in some places more than 100 years old.
In Tampere, most of the network could be built in more open areas, meaning for instance that tight curves and hills could be avoided. The plan is to get some expertise for example from Switzerland.
Quite a lot of details in the tram project still remain open. Moreover, the project has also been opposed, as some people have regarded buses as an adequate mode of public transport in proportion to Tampere’s size.
For the route survey, see Tampereen kaupunkiraitiotie (only in Finnish) at http://www.tampere.fi/liikennejakadut/projektit/kaupunkiraitiotie.html.
At present, only Helsinki has a working tram network.
Previously there were trams in Turku (horsedrawn from 1890-1902, and an electric tram service that was terminated in 1972) and in the city of Vyborg, formerly Viipuri in Finnish, where the Soviets eventually pulled up the tracks in 1957.
Turku has also considered a return to a light rail system for local transport.
"Sinners always have a future, saints always have a past." – Oscar Wilde
European Light Rail news
Light Rail/Tramways in France.
Four new Light Rail/Tramways are currently under contruction in France and are scheduled to be opened between 2011 and 2013.
The 11.2 km Reims Tramway – 2011
http://www.tramwaydereims.fr/start.html
A 12 km Tramway in Angers – 2012
http://tramway.angersloiremetropole.fr/
A 14.3 km Tramway in Brest – 2012
A two line, 20 km Tramway in Dijon – 2013
Reims Citadis 302
The four new systems along with the extensions opened in late 2010:-
Mulhouse Tram-Train Line 3
Toulouse Line T1
Strasbourg F Line
will bring the total number of Light Rail/Trams systems in France to 37
US Light Rail news
Summary from Trains News Wire:
Feds fund more streetcars and light rail
Published: January 21, 2011
WASHINGTON, D.C.
The Federal Transit Authority, a part of the U.S. Department of Transportation, announced that it had signed agreements to fund five rail transit projects on Friday. The grant includes funds for a unique light rail project in Detroit.
The projects include refinements and expansions of streetcar lines in Portland, Ore., and New Orleans; new modern streetcar services in Dallas and in Tucson, Ariz.; and a new light rail line for Detroit. Funds came from the Transportation Investment Generating Economic Recovery (TIGER) fund, part of the American Recovery & Reinvestment Act of 2009.
The project in Detroit is unique for its public-private partnership. Local and regional businesses have formed a consortium called M1 Rail, Inc., which will help fund and construct the line. The route consists of an initial 3.4 mile line with twelve stations located along Woodward Avenue. The street is notable in transportation history, being the first to be paved in concrete and the first street to utilize modern traffic signals. Eventually, the line is planned to reach 9.3 miles in length, connecting downtown Detroit to the Michigan State Fairgrounds.
Detroit
http://money.cnn.com/2010/02/15/smallbusiness/detroit_m1_light_rail/index.htm
New Orleans http://www.fta.dot.gov/news/news_events_12292.html
Tucson http://www.fta.dot.gov/news/news_events_12291.html
Dallas http://www.fta.dot.gov/news/news_events_12290.html
Portland http://www.fta.dot.gov/news/news_events_12289.html
Portland LRV
Last Weeks Snowfall Stalls The Canada Line Again!
Not reported in the mainstream media is that a Canada Line Train stalled again during last weeks snow storm!
The timed out explanation, given by officials doesn't make sense, as we have a near new metro systems, operating on a totally segregated rights-of-way – what could possibly go wrong?
I'm sorry, but there seems to be a lot of gremlins affecting the Canada Line and one wonders, like the rest of the Canada Line which design was greatly truncated to reduce costs, that smaller motors were installed on the trains to again reduce costs?
Small motors + heavy traffic loads due to lengthy headways + snow = taking too long to respond to propulsion!
Snow crews focus on flood
Canada Line's late-night stall not weather related
By Alan Campbell, Richmond News – Jan. 14, 2011
The City of Richmond didn't wait until it was too late to react to Tuesday night's heavy snowfall.
Around 15 centimetres of snow fell over Tuesday into Wednesday, quickly turning into heavy slush as the mercury rose and drizzle kicked in.
But in a measured proactive effort, city teams were out in force early on Tuesday evening to prepare roads and access points for the expected conditions come the Wednesday morning commute.
The city declared a "stage 3" snow response at 1:30 p.m. on Tuesday, with more than five centimetres of snow forecast at the time.
City crews were out on Tuesday afternoon pre-treating first priority routes, community centres, fire halls and city hall. The pre-treatment was complete by 3 p.m. that day.
The city's snow removal fleet of 11 trucks, four backhoes, two bobcats and a holder (which is used to attend to pathways) was then prepared and on standby.
And the entire fleet was on the roads by 8 p.m. and worked throughout the evening, plowing first and second priority routes using 200-250 tonnes of salt.
By Wednesday morning, snow removal trucks were cleaning up some remaining areas and starting on third priority routes. At that point, the city turned its attention to preparing for the rain, melting snow and the potential for flooding.
At 7 a.m. Wednesday, the transition from snow removal to flood prevention began as 15 to 18 crews started clearing catch basins, gutters and storm inlets at pump stations.
A city press release said, "All efforts will be continued throughout the day and the situation will be reassessed this afternoon."
Unlike during the last heavy snowfall in November, the Canada Line experienced only one minor service interruption Wednesday morning, unrelated to the weather.
However, around midnight on Tuesday, passengers en route from Waterfront to Richmond had to be bussed over the river from Marine Drive station after a train stalled just before getting onto the Fraser River bridge.
Jason Chan, spokesman for the line's operators Protrans BC, said a train had "timed out" just before it entered the bridge.
"When a train takes too long to respond to propulsion, it times out and is unable to move," said Chan.
"There were a few people on board for a period of time." Chan added that the "timing out" was a rare occurrence.
The wife of a passenger trying to get home from work, said her husband was forced to get off the train at Marine Drive with no explanation of what was going on.
"There was no staff directing people, nothing," said Lisa Forrster.
Chan said that passengers on the stalled train were stranded for half an hour before a crew pulled the train back to a station.
Canada Line workers take a strike vote – Is The Driverless Myth About To Be Exposed? (Updated)
Well, well, well, the 180 control room workers, maintenance personnel and attendants for the Canada Line are taking a strike vote and TransLink is very worried. Since the SkyTrain light-metro was built over 30 years ago, the mainstream media and politicians sang in chorus that automatic metros were good because they did not need drivers and therefore were cheap to operate and impervious to strikes.
Ha, ha, ha!
What of course is true is that the automatic metro needs large control room with lots of operators and large maintenance staff to keep the 19 km., 16 station metro running. What happens if they go on strike?
The answer is simple, if there is a strike, there will be very limited management operation and the Canada Line would operate, but at reduced speed and capacity, for safety reasons. Then there is the question of liability for TransLink if an accident causing injury or death due to the strike and management only operation. The fact is, automatic transit systems are just as susceptible as light rail systems to strikes and if the Canada Line employees go on strike, it will explode another driverless metro myth, which seem all to common in Vancouver.
It is also interesting that this news article gives a hint to the number of people needed to operate the Canada Line, more than a comparable light rail line; you just do not flip a switch and the trains run by themselves.
Cardinal Fang comment if you wish!
Canada Line workers take a strike vote
By Frank Luba, The Province
A Fix for Fraser Valley Transit, or is the Fix In?
By Daniel van der Kroon, UFV Students for Sustainability
Original article can be viewed here:Ai??http://www.footprintpress.ca/2011/01/winter-2011-issue-of-the-footprint-press/
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