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THE INTERNATIONAL LIGHT RAIL MAGAZINE YOUR WINDOW ON THE LIGHT RAIL WORLD – EVERY MONTH THE INTERNATIONAL LIGHT RAIL MAGAZINE THE INTERNATIONAL LIGHT RAIL MAGAZINE www.lrta.org www.tautonline.com www.lrta.org JULY 2019 N O. 979 www.tautonline.com O. 980 AUGUST 2019 N GROWING LONDON’S MAKING TRACKS... TRAM POTENTIAL A NEW WAY AHEAD Brussels congress debates urban rail safety and sustainability UITP: Why radical thinking is key to future urban mobility Waterloo Region launches ION service Doha launches Metro Red line service London selects CAF for new DLR eet US raises Chinese security concerns More cities to trial autonomous trams India plans ‘Metrolite’ for smaller cities Canberra Energy e ciency Realising a 100-year Reims Reduced waste and More MARTA light rail ambition Style = substance greater pro tability Atlanta backs bold for small city LRT 40-year transit plan 07/07/2019 17:08 TAUT1907_cover.indd 1 TAUT1908_cover.indd 1 07/07/2019 17:10 Established in 1937 – now in its 82nd year Published monthly, available in both print and PDF versions Covers tramway, light rail, metro and all urban rail modes All the latest news, analysis and industry updates Comprehensive system and project factfiles Global industry coverage Subscribe at www.mainspring.co.uk/tramways-and-urban-transit/ THE INTERNATIONAL LIGHT RAIL MAGAZINE www.lrta.org www.tautonline.com SEPTEMBER 2019 NO. 981 NICE: LIGHT RAIL’S NEW TRAILBLAZER Why green mobility solutions also need a touch of style Caen completes bus to LRT conversion Yorkshire’s ambitious urban rail plans VDV tram-train draws Austrian interest Charlotte UK Conference £4.60 LRT success sparks ‘We want cities built new ten-year plan for people, not cars’ CONTENTS 324 The official journal of the Light Rail Transit Association SEPTEMBER 2019 Vol. 82 No. 981 www.tautonline.com EDITORIAL EDITOR – Simon Johnston [email protected] ASSOCIATE EDITOr – Tony Streeter [email protected] WORLDWIDE EDITOR – Michael Taplin [email protected] 330 NewS EDITOr – John Symons [email protected] SenIOR CONTRIBUTOR – Neil Pulling WORLDWIDE CONTRIBUTORS Richard Felski, Ed Havens, Andrew Moglestue, Paul Nicholson, Herbert Pence, Mike Russell, Nikolai idier Quillon idier D Semyonov, Alain Senut, Vic Simons, A / Witold Urbanowicz, Bill Vigrass, Francis Wagner, C Thomas Wagner, Philip Webb, Rick Wilson PRODUCTION – Lanna Blyth 342 Tel: +44 (0)1733 367604 Metropole N Metropole [email protected] NEWS 324 SYstems factfile: augsburg 345 DESIGN – Debbie Nolan Caen tramway replaces rubber-tyred TVR A prosperous German city with a 2500-year ADVertiSING system; Alstom unveils T9 ‘tramway lumière’; history is working on extensive tramway COMMERCIAL ManageR – Geoff Butler Melbourne report urges major urban rail expansion. Neil Pulling takes us to Bavaria. Tel: +44 (0)1733 367610 [email protected] expansion; French tramways deliver best value; Linz to join VDV tram-train ‘standard’? WORLDWIDE REVIEW 350 PUBLISheR – Matt Johnston Antwerp’s Noorderlaan line on test; more Tramways & Urban Transit 14TH UK LIGHT RAIL CONFERENCE 330 Chinese metro lines open in Nanchang, 13 Orton Enterprise Centre, Bakewell Road, Progressive transport policies, boosting Lingbo and Xiamen; Calgary announces Peterborough PE2 6XU, UK LRT’s image, and innovative funding design shortlist for 45 new trams; Auckland City Rail Tramways & Urban Transit is published by Mainspring and construction techniques – all this Link agreement; exploratory works begin on on behalf of the LRTA on the third Friday of each and more from two days in Manchester. Edinburgh extension; Seattle deals signed. month preceding the cover date. charlotte’S ten-Year plan 337 MAILBOX 355 Driving substantial Transit Oriented Arguments for maintaining a deregulated PRINT AND DISTRIBUTION Development, Charlotte’s light rail success is bus system; why we shouldn’t rule out Warners (Midlands), Bourne, Lincs PE10 9PH, UK the spark for a major future investment plan. putting light rail underground. LRTA MEMBERSHIP (with TAUT subscription) Tramways & Urban Transit is sent free to all paid-up NEXT-GENERATION LRT: NICE T2 342 CLASSICS: Brussels VICINAL 356 members of the Light Rail Transit Association. Already a showpiece LRT system, Nice is The second in Mike Russell’s series of articles, embarking on major expansion to treble its on the magnificent recent pageant in LRTA WEBSITE AND DIARY Brian Lomas network, using innovative technology. Belgium’s capital and related activities. [email protected] [email protected] SuBSCriPtioNS, MEMBERSHIP AND BACK ISSueS How do we make light rail a ‘must have’ for cities? LRTA Membership Secretary (Dept T06), 38 Wolseley Road, Sale M33 7AU, UK. Tel: +44 (0)117 951 7785 So many thought-provoking things came out of the latest UK Light Rail [email protected] Website: www.lrta.info Conference (see pages 330-336) – but I want to pick up on just one here. FOR CORPORATE SuBSCriPtioNS VISIT Among the high-powered speakers in Manchester was Luxembourg’s Minister www.mainspring.co.uk of Mobility and Public Works, François Bausch. He explained the detail of his country’s groundbreaking policy to make public transport free from 1 March LRTA REGISTERED OFFICE 138 Radnor Avenue, Welling DA16 2BY, UK. 2020, but he also raised a more profound question: Do trams have an image problem? Private company limited by guarantee, No. 5072319 The argument is simple. How will our industry fight automobile usage if we’re unable in England and Wales. to make trams objects of desire for cities and users alike? Mr Bausch used the example of LRTA ChaIRMAN – Paul Rowen how Tesla’s Elon Musk has transformed the image of electric vehicles from something [email protected] for engineers and environmentalists into the latest ‘must have’. You just have to look © LRTA 2019 at the futuristic new trams for Paris (page 325) to see how appealing light rail can be... Articles are submitted on the understanding they may also We’ve also said before that it’s a sign of just how safe trams are, that any accident is later be used on our websites or other media. A contribution big news. Even so, when the vehicle involved in a fatal accident with a pedestrian in is accepted on the basis that its author is responsible for the Edinburgh (see page 353) is described by some in the media as a ‘death tram’, it’s worth opinions expressed in it, and such opinions are not those of asking whether the same approach would be taken to a road accident. Indeed, given that the LRTA or Mainspring. All rights reserved. the UK Government has now recognised the impact of non-tailpipe emissions, and is No part of this magazine may be reproduced or transmitted in any form by any means, electronic or mechanical, including expected to make them the subject of legislation, can we expect the papers to soon refer photocopying, recording or by any information storage and to rubber-tyred vehicles as ‘death cars’ or ‘killer buses’ – and maybe even campaign for retrieval system, without prior permission in writing from their removal…? the copyright owner. Multiple copying of the contents of the A positive note to end on: At the conference, former MD of London Rail Ian Brown magazine without prior written approval is not permitted. said he believed LRT was at a “turning point”. Just days later, new Prime Minister Boris Johnson visited Metrolink’s under-construction Trafford Park line. Mr Johnson is famed COVER: Using ground-breaking construction and for supporting ambitious public schemes, so could his appointment mark the start of operational technology, Nice T2 sets a new marker that new era we’ve been talking about for so long in the UK? Simon Johnston, Editor for modern light rail. Metropole NCA / Didier Quillon www.tautonline.com . www.lrta.org SEPTEMBER 2019 / 323 News Caen opens after 19-month build New tramway in northern French city replaces CAEN T2 Campus 2 Côte de Nacre HÉROUVille- Parc de la rubber-tyred system that closed in 2018 Fossette CITIS saint-clair Campus 4 CHU Château HÉROUVILLE Cité U T1 St-Clair Calvaire Lebisey d’Eau St-Pierre Copernic Pl. de Pierre l’Europe Café des Heuzé Images CROUS suaps Université Pl. de la Mare Saint- Pierre CAEN T3 Château Quatrans Bernières CAEN T2 Résistance Presqu’Île Saint-Jean Quai de Gare-Rives de l’Orne Juillet SNCF The first passengers are about to board specially-wrapped Alstom Citadis 1009 CAEN to ride the new tramway in Caen on 27 July. J. C. Vaudois Gare SNCF Leroy Parc du he new 16.2km requiring 144 drivers. The three Biez (ten-mile) tramway in lines are T1, Hérouville St-Clair Lux-Lépine MOndeVille the French city of Caen – IFS Jean Vilar; T2, Campus 2 – Guynemer was formally opened at Presqu’Île; T3, Château Quatrans Grâce de T11.30 on 27 July at Blvd Maréchal – Fleury College Hawking. Aviation Dieu Poincaré Leclerc by Joël Bruneau, Président The depot and maintenance Rostand of Caen-la-mer. Services were facility is at Fleury-sur-Orne. Fresnel Liberté free for the rest of the weekend All lines operate through the city FLEURY T3 Collége Hawking (the tramway had been carrying centre and both T1 and T3 serve passengers from start of service), the city’s main railway station. Concorde and there were numerous Service was to be boosted Modigliani celebrations along the line, from 26 August, and the bus COrmelles- lasting into the evening. network reorganised to feed the IFS T1 Jean Vilar le-ROYal Following just 19 months of new tramway from 2 September construction, the city’s new when the schools re-opened tramway opened six weeks after the summer holidays; 2018. This service carried 42 000 département and EUR15m from earlier than forecast, despite the 64 000 passengers/day are passengers/day.