THE INTERNATIONAL LIGHT RAIL MAGAZINE www.lrta.org www.tautonline.com AUGUST 2019 NO. 980 MAKING TRACKS... A NEW WAY AHEAD UITP: Why radical thinking is key to future urban mobility Waterloo Region launches ION service London selects CAF for new DLR fleet More cities to trial autonomous trams More MARTA Reims £4.60 Atlanta backs bold Style = substance 40-year transit plan for small city LRT 2019 ENTRIES OPEN NOW! SUPPORTED BY ColTram www.lightrailawards.com CONTENTS 284 The official journal of the Light Rail 294 Transit Association AUGUST 2019 Vol. 82 No. 980 www.tautonline.com EDITORIAL EDITOR – Simon Johnston [email protected] ASSOCIATE EDITOr – Tony Streeter [email protected] A. Grahl WORLDWIDE EDITOR – Michael Taplin [email protected] NewS EDITOr – John Symons [email protected] SenIOR CONTRIBUTOR – Neil Pulling WORLDWIDE CONTRIBUTORS Tony Bailey, Richard Felski, Ed Havens, Andrew Moglestue, Paul Nicholson, Herbert Pence, Mike Russell, Nikolai Semyonov, Alain Senut, Vic Simons, Witold Urbanowicz, Bill Vigrass, Francis Wagner, Thomas Wagner, Philip Webb, Rick Wilson T 316 PRODUCTION – Lanna Blyth MP A. Murray A. Murray Tel: +44 (0)1733 367604 [email protected] NEWS 284 reneWals and maintenance 301 Waterloo opens ION light rail; CAF chosen UK engineers and industry experts share DESIGN – Debbie Nolan for DLR fleet replacement order; English their lessons from recent infrastructure ADVertiSING systems set new records; Hyundai Rotem to projects, and outline future innovations. COMMERCIAL ManageR – Geoff Butler Tel: +44 (0)1733 367610 build hydrogen LRV by 2020; More German [email protected] cities trial autonomous trams; UITP Summit: SYSTEMS FACTFILE: reims 305 PUBLISheR – Matt Johnston ‘Redefining transport, redefining cities’; Eight years after opening, Neil Pulling revisits MBTA rail funding plan agreed. one of France’s most striking tramways. Tramways & Urban Transit 13 Orton Enterprise Centre, Bakewell Road, Peterborough PE2 6XU, UK COMMENT 288 WORLDWIDE REVIEW 310 Keolis UK CEO Alistair Gordon on the Funding confirmed for Gatineau LRT project; Tramways & Urban Transit is published by Mainspring importance of integration and imagination. new metro routes in Hangzhou, Urumqui, on behalf of the LRTA on the third Friday of each month preceding the cover date. Nanning and Ningbo; Berlin plans to MORE MARTA ATLANTA 290 reinstate Siemensstadt S-Bahn services; Tram MARTA CEO Jeffrey A. Parker explains service planned for Tokyo freight lines; First to TAUT the projects that will improve tests on London’s Northern line extension to connectivity and cut congestion in Atlanta. Battersea; San Diego unveils sales tax plan for PRINT AND DISTRIBUTION six-fold transit ridership increase. Warners (Midlands), Bourne, Lincs PE10 9PH, UK trafford parK line progress 294 LRTA MEMBERSHIP (with TAUT subscription) The latest news on Metrolink’s GBP350m MAILBOX 315 Tramways & Urban Transit is sent free to all paid-up extension into Europe’s largest trading estate. Challenging vinyl advertising liveries; members of the Light Rail Transit Association. Why light rail should stay on the surface. LRTA WEBSITE AND DIARY tracKWorK: melbourne-stYLE 297 Brian Lomas Australia’s Yarra Trams has a reputation for CLASSICS: Brussels @ 150 316 [email protected] [email protected] high-quality and super-quick asset renewal; Mike Russell’s first in a series of articles, on SuBSCriPtioNS, MEMBERSHIP AND BACK ISSueS the organisation explains its tips for success. the magnificent pageant in Belgium’s capital. LRTA Membership Secretary (Dept T06), 38 Wolseley Road, Sale M33 7AU, UK. Tel: +44 (0)117 951 7785 [email protected] Website: www.lrta.info Searching for the wonder fuel of the future FOR CORPORATE SuBSCriPtioNS VISIT It is the most abundant element in the Universe; it’s also the simplest – being www.mainspring.co.uk the first entry on the periodic table. It’s incredibly light, and has no colour or LRTA REGISTERED OFFICE odour. Although currently quite expensive to produce commercially, it is the 138 Radnor Avenue, Welling DA16 2BY, UK. latest wonder-fuel that experts believe may solve our power needs in coming Private company limited by guarantee, No. 5072319 decades. Yes, we’re talking about hydrogen. in England and Wales. Both trams and road vehicles have been using hydrogen as a fuel for a few LRTA ChaIRMAN – Paul Rowen years already, and rail passengers in northern Germany have ridden on trains powered [email protected] by it over the last year – although many probably don’t even realise it. More is to come. © LRTA 2019 However, hydrogen is just one solution for running trams and light rail vehicles Articles are submitted on the understanding they may also without overhead wires – and until now most of the headlines have been devoted to later be used on our websites or other media. A contribution more ‘conventional’ approaches such as batteries or supercapacitors. Yet it now seems is accepted on the basis that its author is responsible for the that hardly a month goes by without an announcement about a new manufacturer opinions expressed in it, and such opinions are not those of the LRTA or Mainspring. All rights reserved. getting in on the hydrogen act, or a government looking to do more research on this No part of this magazine may be reproduced or transmitted in most basic of elements as the fuel of the future. any form by any means, electronic or mechanical, including That is just one aspect that ensures that innovation in our industry keeps rolling on, photocopying, recording or by any information storage and whether it be how to power trams and trains themselves, or how best to look after the retrieval system, without prior permission in writing from assets they run on – the focus of a series of fascinating articles this issue. the copyright owner. Multiple copying of the contents of the Alternative traction sources and innovative trackforms are just two of topics up for magazine without prior written approval is not permitted. debate at this month’s UK Light Rail Conference in Manchester, bringing together key COVER: Tracklaying is 70% complete on Metrolink’s industry decision-makers all under one roof. See you there? Simon Johnston, Editor new Trafford Park Line, due to open in 2020. MPT www.tautonline.com . www.lrta.org AUGUST 2019 / 283 News ION light rail welcomes passengers First stage of a planned regional LRT network in Canada’s Region of Waterloo opens on 21 June he first stage of the Aecon in March 2014, including ION light rail line ten years of operations and 30 in the Region of years of maintenance. Waterloo, Canada, was Originally planned to open in Tinaugurated at a ceremony at Spring 2018, delays related the Fairway stop in Kitchener on delivery of 14 Bombardier Flexity 21 June. The 19km (11.8-mile) Freedom low-floor LRVs (built route in Quebec’s ‘silicon valley’ at the manufacturer’s Thunder features 19 stops on a mostly- Bay and Kingston plants under segregated route between a CAD66m (EUR45m) contract Congestoga Mall in Waterloo and signed in 2013m that includes Fairview Park Mall in Kitchener. options for a further 14 vehicles), Travel was free until 1 July and saw the opening date pushed peak services run every eight back, first to the end of last year minutes, reduced to every 15 and then into summer 2019. minutes at other times, starting The 30.2m five-section ION car 506 on King Street South, approaching Waterloo Public Square station. at 04.36 and running until vehicles have a capacity for 200 Framed with new apartment buildings under construction, more than CAD3.2bn 01.45. Over 73 000 passengers passengers, 57 seated. (EUR2.17bn) has been invested in construction along the ION line. Andrew Grahl were recorded on the opening Stage 1 also includes a 17km weekend. (10.5-mile) Bus Rapid Transit Stage 2, which is still in the stations, between Waterloo and The project was awarded on route that continues from planning stage, will see this Cambridge. a PPP basis to the GrandLinq Fairview Park Mall to Ainslie converted to light rail operation consortium of Keolis, Plenary Street in Cambridge, which to provide a seamless 36km For more project background and Group, Meridiam, Kiewit and opened in September 2015. (22.4-mile) journey, with 26 construction detail, see TAUT 966. Transport for London has chosen Although only slightly longer CAF selected for DLR CAF to build 43 driverless trains than an existing three-car set, for East London’s Docklands the new 88m walk-through Light Railway (DLR), with the trains will add around 20% fleet replacement first vehicles replacing the capacity, real-time digital travel oldest B90/B92 units – some of information, air-conditioning, which will soon be 30 years old USB charging points, and more – by 2023. The approximately dedicated wheelchair, bicycle GBP350m (EUR390m) contract, and luggage space. announced on 12 June, includes Based upon the latest CAF technical support and spares. Metro design, 33 trains will DLR ridership has grown by replace the B90/B92 units, with over 65% since 2010, despite its ten more to increase frequency fleet of 149 driverless trainsets and capacity. Completion of the remaining the same. The network order is due in 2024. Options exist carried 121.8m passengers last for up to 34 more trains; these year, with forecasts suggesting would be required if a suggested a further 20m annually in the night service is introduced. coming decade. Reconfiguring The main depot at Beckton the Thales-supplied CBTC will also require expansion, signalling system has added with additional stabling and test around 12% in capacity since tracks, and a new substation and 2014, with the main limiting trainwash. This is subject to a factor now being the number separate GBP100m (EUR112m) An artist’s impression of the CAF cars due to enter service on the DLR in 2023.