The Future Is Here: Next-Generation Lrt
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THE INTERNATIONAL LIGHT RAIL MAGAZINE www.lrta.org www.tautonline.com JANUARY 2015 NO. 925 THE FUTURE IS HERE: NEXT-GENERATION LRT New Tube creator on the importance of transport design Zhuhai trams begin test running United Streetcar enters “hibernation” Nottingham opens multi-modal hub ISSN 1460-8324 £4.25 Calgary Hydrogen power 01 Recovery and A more sustainable expansion in Alberta future for light rail? 9 771460 832043 2015 INTEGRATION AND GLOBALISATION Topics and panel debates include: Funding models and financial considerations for LRT projects • Improving light rail's appeal and visibility • Low Impact Light Rail • Harnessing local suppliers • Making light rail procurement more economical • Utilities replacement and renewal • EMC approvals and standards • Off-wire and energy recovery systems • How can regional devolution benefit UK LRT? • Light rail safety and security • Optimising light rail and traffic interfaces • Track replacement & renewal – Issues and lessons learned • Removing obsolescence: Modernising the UK's second-generation systems • Revenue protection strategies • Cross-ticketing initiatives • Big data: Opportunities for transport operators • Marketing strategies for ridership and maximising revenue • LRT solutions for mid-size towns Do you have a topic you’d like to share with a forum of 300 senior decision-makers? We are still welcoming abstracts for consideration until 12 January 2015. June 17-18, 2015: Nottingham, UK Book now via www.tautonline.com SUPPORTED BY 22 CONTENTS The official journal of the Light Rail Transit Association JANUARY 2015 Vol. 78 No. 925 www.tramnews.net EDITORIAL 4 EDITOR Simon Johnston Tel: +44 (0)1733 367601 E-mail: [email protected] 13 Orton Enterprise Centre, Bakewell Road, Peterborough PE2 6XU, UK ASSOCIATE EDITOR 24 Tony Streeter E-mail: [email protected] WORLDWIDE EDITOR Michael Taplin Flat 1, 10 Hope Road, Shanklin, Isle of Wight PO37 6EA, UK. E-mail: [email protected] NEWS EDITOR John Symons 17 Whitmore Avenue, Werrington, Stoke-on-Trent, Staffs ST9 0LW, UK. E-mail: [email protected] NEWS 4 THE NEW TUBE FOR LONDON 24 SENIOR CONTRIBUTOR Neil Pulling Zhuhai begins test tunning; Hitachi bids for The unique challenges of designing a WORLDWIDE CONTRIBUTORS Finmeccannica rail assets; UK tram-train new Tube for London are discussed by its Tony Bailey, James Chuang, Paul Nicholson, Richard project faces further delays; Bombardier designer, Paul Priestman. Felski, Ed Havens, Bill Vigrass, Andrew Moglestue, wins 156 tram order for Vienna; United Mike Russell, Nikolai Semyonov, Vic Simons, Streetcar enters ‘hibernation’ phase. HYDROGEN OPERATION 27 Alain Senut, Thomas Wagner. TIG/m is pioneering a new generation of PRODUCTION Lanna Blyth CALGARY: SUCCESS AND AMBITION 9 ultra-sustainable vehicles; Julia Wahnsiedler Tel: +44 (0)1733 367604 E-mail: [email protected] One of the world’s busiest tramways has not looks at the future for hydrogen power. DESIGN only recovered after the 2013 floods, but has Debbie Nolan also expanded yet further. SYSTEMS FACTFILE: HELSINKI 31 ADVERTISING The tramway in Finland’s capital is its COMMERCIAL MANAGER TRAM DESIGN CONSIDERATIONS 15 primary mode of public transport; Neil Geoff Butler Scott McIntosh looks at tramcar evolution, Pulling reports from the elegant city. Tel: +44 (0)1733 367610 E-mail: [email protected] and asks if there is a ‘perfect’ low-floor car. PUBLISHER WORLDWIDE REVIEW 37 Howard Johnston MULTI-SENSORY TRANSPORT 18 Manchester’s relocation works nears Tramways & Urban Transit is jointly published by the RCP Design Global’s Régine Charvet- Pello completion; Maryland Governor threatens LRTA and LRTA Publishing on the third Friday of each month preceding the cover date. considers the emotional impact of transport. new LRT lines; Budapest line 17 contracts LRTA WEBSITE AND DIARY awarded; tenders invited for Luxembourg. Brian Lomas LRT'S TECHNICAL FUTURE 20 E-mail: [email protected], [email protected] Mott MacDonald’s LRT rolling stock team MAILBOX 42 LRTA MEMBERSHIP (with TAUT subscription) looks at what the future may hold in Comments on Pyongyang; Are the Chinese Tramways & Urban Transit is sent free to all paid-up operational and technical considerations. manufacturers set to gain further ground in members of the Light Rail Transit Association. the US?; Dubai’s technical masterpiece. SUBSCRIPTIONS AND MEMBERSHIP ENQUIRIES INSIDE THE BAT-TRAM 22 LRTA Membership Secretary (Dept T06), 38 Wolseley Road, Sale M33 7AU, UK. It shook up the design world in 2014, now CLASSICS: GOTHA 44 Tel: +44 (0)117 9517785 the designer of the Uraltransmash R1, talks A weekend of nostalgia celebrated a double BACK ISSUES to TAUT about his very different approach. anniversary – Mike Russell reports. Tel: +44 (0)1406 373070 PRINT AND DISTRIBUTION Warners (Midlands) plc, The Maltings, West Street, Bourne, Lincs PE10 9PH, UK. Tel: +44 (0)1778 391000. The art and the science of moving people LRTA REGISTERED OFFICE What is it about great design that moves people? Whether it is the clothes c/o 138 Radnor Avenue, Welling, Kent DA16 2BY, UK. Private company limited by guarantee, No. 5072319 on your back, the furniture in your house, or even the mobile phone in your in England and Wales. pocket or bag, the art of good design crosses boundaries and can unite whole LRTA CHAIRMAN cities, even nations, under a single cultural identity. Andrew Braddock It is certainly true in the western world that the shape, style and features E-mail: [email protected] of the vehicle that transports us to work and back and also in our leisure time is a wider LRTA DEPUTY CHAIRMAN symbol of our attitudes to the world in general. A wise man once told me that great Paul Rowen public transport should be both a highly visible statement about the identity of the area LRTA PUBLISHING REGISTERED OFFICE: it serves, and at the same time the invisible backbone that props it up. c/o 8 Berwick Place, Welwyn Garden City, Herts AL7 4TU, UK. Private Limited Company, No. 06169422 In recent years we’ve seen cities really expressing themselves with sleek and stylish in England and Wales. vehicles incorporating the latest passenger comforts and technologies, that really have © LRTA Publishing 2015. the ‘X’ factor that makes passengers proud of their choice to use public transport. Articles are submitted on the understanding they may also This all helps to encourage greater uptake and civic pride. In some cities I’ve seen later be used on our websites or other media. A contribution vandals taken to task by members of the public outraged that they dare deface tramtops, is accepted on the basis that its author is responsible for the opinions expressed in it, and such opinions are not those of stations and vehicles. Scratching windows? Not on your life. Feet on seats? No way, LRTA Publishing or the LRTA. All rights reserved. not in my town. In this sense, I think there’s a transport enthusiast in all of us. No part of this magazine may be reproduced or transmitted in This month we’ve spent a lot of time talking to the industry’s leading designers, any form by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording or by any information storage and asking them what good light rail design looks like, where they draw their inspiration retrieval system, without prior permission in writing from from, and what the future holds. But now it’s over to you. the copyright owner. Multiple copying of the contents of the What is your favourite vehicle design – and why? What is it that inspires you and what magazine without prior written approval is not permitted. features and innovations would you like to see in the future? I’d love to hear your thoughts, so please let us know and we’ll publish them in the coming months. Simon Johnston, Editor COVER: This progressive design for the Riyadh metro project is courtesy of RCP Design Global. RCP www.tautonline.com . www.lrta.org JANUARY 2015 / 3 News Suriname LRT plan for 2016 Zhuhai begins trial running The Government of Suriname VIPs given first test rides on China’s latest modern tramway system has selected Strukton Systems as preferred bidder for a EUR130m hina’s latest tramway remaining eight will be supply system, supplied by a joint contract to build a 29km opening took place assembled from basic structures venture of CNR Dalian subsidiary (18-mile) diesel-operated light in mid-November shipped from Italy at CNR CNR Equipment Engineering rail line linking the capital in Zhuhai, on the Dalian’s facility located in the and Taiwanese company GRC, Paramaribo with the suburb of Csouthern coast of Guangdong Doumen district to the west to permit operation without an Onverwacht within 18 months. province in the Pearl River Delta, of Zhuhai under the terms overhead wire. The contract includes the near Macau. Trial operation on of a technology licensing It is understood that major construction of a double-track 1.7km (1.1 miles) of the first line agreement. The RMB10bn infrastructure construction line, eight stops, 16 level crossings began on 7 November when (approx USD1.55bn) facility was is largely complete with road and a rail bridge and includes the VIPs were taken for a ride as the established under an agreement reconstruction and landscaping supply of five diesel LRVs, each city prepared to host the 10th signed in 2012 and is due to be still to finish before passenger accommodating 250 passengers China International Aviation finished early in 2015 when two services begin. to operate a 15-minute headway. and Aerospace Exhibition on further trams will be constructed Preliminary engineering for Strukton has already 11-16 November. entirely locally. lines two and three are reported undertaken feasibility studies The first phase of the The five-section standard- to be underway. Line two will be and detailed engineering design, double-track line 1 to serve this gauge trams are bi-directional, 6km (3.7 miles) long, running allowing major construction city of 1.5 million inhabitants with two powered bogies and along Jiuzhou Avenue East before works to begin as soon as the runs for 8.9km (5.5 miles) from one trailer bogie, and can arriving at Jiuzhou Port.