THE INTERNATIONAL LIGHT RAIL MAGAZINE HEADLINES l Toronto council takes key LRT vote l Bombardier close to 775-car BART order l Alstom demonstrates Citadis in Moscow SIEMENS BOLSTERS GLOBAL URBAN RAIL CAPABILITIES London Tramlink: Special 20-page review The end for paper? Driver safety: Easier for riders, Latest research better for operators: on managing 75 Smart ticketing driver risk for systems explained safer systems MAY 2012 No. 893 1937–2012 WWW. LRTA . ORG l WWW. TRAMNEWS . NET £3.80 TAUT_April12_Cover.indd 1 3/4/12 12:12:59 XX_TAUT1205_UITPAD.indd 1 2/4/12 09:58:22 Contents The official journal of the Light Rail Transit Association 168 News 168 MAY 2012 Vol. 75 No. 893 Toronto light rail supporters win key vote; Siemens www.tramnews.net announces global expansion ambitions; Alstom EDITORIAL demonstrates its Citadis tram in Moscow; Bombardier Editor: Simon Johnston preferred bidder for USD3.4bn, 775-car BART order. Tel: +44 (0)1832 281131 E-mail: [email protected] Eaglethorpe Barns, Warmington, Peterborough PE8 6TJ, UK. 174 Smart ticketing technologies Associate Editor: Tony Streeter John Austin examines the strategies operators can and are E-mail: [email protected] employing to drive ridership – and looks to the future. Worldwide Editor: Michael Taplin 174 Flat 1, 10 Hope Road, Shanklin, Isle of Wight PO37 6EA, UK. 179 Creating safer journeys E-mail: [email protected] Dr Lisa Dorn explains how detailed research is shaping News Editor: John Symons tram driver employment and training regimes. 17 Whitmore Avenue, Werrington, Stoke-on-Trent, Staffs ST9 0LW, UK. Systems Factfile: Valencia E-mail: [email protected] 183 Contributor: Neil Pulling Introducing modern trams to Spain was just one part of a project to drastically restructure public transport in its Design: Debbie Nolan third-largest city. Production: Carla Corrado Tel: +44 (0)1832 281134 E-mail: [email protected] 188 Mixed fortunes in Ukraine 188 Worldwide Contributors: Aare Olander, Nikolai Concluding TAUT’s comprehensive review of Ukraine’s Semyonov, Sergei Tarkhov (CIS), Mike Russell, Norman Bartlett, tramway landscape, Mike Russell turns his attention to the Thomas Wagner, Pedro Costa, Richard Felski, Jordi Ibanez (Europe), nation’s central and southern regions. Yoshiri Nogi (Japan), Anthony Bailey, Ian Hammond, Paul Nicholson (Australia), Vic Simons, Charles Lietwiler, Steve Morgan, Tom Swinney, 193 Worldwide Review Julian Wolinsky (North America). Bangalore metro expansion approved; Work starts on Kuala LRTA Website and Diary: Brian Lomas Lumpur light metro extension; City ring and Soleilmont E-mail: [email protected], [email protected] line open in Charleroi; Paris orders more metro cars. Commercial Manager: Vicky Binley 200 Tel: +44 (0)1832 281132 E-mail: [email protected] 198 Letters Advertising Manager: Andy Adams More views on the high-speed versus urban rail Tel: +44 (0)1832 281135 E-mail: [email protected] investment debate and questions over the distribution of Eaglethorpe Barns, Warmington, Peterborough PE8 6TJ, UK. EU funding for tramways. Publisher: Howard Johnston 200 Classic Trams: Ballarat’s trams live on Tramways & Urban Transit is jointly published by the LRTA and LRTA Mike Russell reports from Southern Australia on how Publishing on the third Friday of each month preceding the cover date. dedicated enthusiasts run a unique heritage operation. LRTA MEMBERSHIP (with TAUT subscription) Tramways & Urban Transit is sent free to all paid-up members of the Light Rail Transit Association. You are welcome to join the LRTA. Cars catch up with trams... 100 years later SUBSCRIPTIONS: LRTA Membership Secretary (Dept T06), 38 Wolseley Road, Sale M33 7AU, UK. simON JOhnstON, editOR BACK ISSUES: Tel: +44 (0)1406 373070 PRINT AND DISTRIBUTION: Warners (Midlands) plc, The Maltings, Flicking through one of the UK’s major Yet no matter how ‘revolutionary’ West Street, Bourne, Lincs PE10 9PH, UK. Tel: +44 (0)1778 391000. newspapers this month I was stopped in automobiles become, you still have LRTA REGISTERED OFFICE: c/o 138 Radnor Avenue, Welling, my tracks by a road test of one of the the problem that more vehicles on the Kent DA16 2BY. Private company limited by guarantee, No. 5072319 in England and Wales. latest cars from a major multinational roads globally will cause unquestioned Chairman: Andrew Braddock. Deputy Chairman: Vic Simons automaker extolling its green credentials. congestion. While cars and vans will LRTA PUBLISHING REGISTERED OFFICE: c/o 8 Berwick Place, Welwyn The report compared the new Vauxhall always have their place, mass transit Garden City, Herts AL7 4TU. Private Limited Company, No. 06169422 Ampera – recently voted European Car of is the obvious way forward as we in England and Wales. the Year for 2012 – to a tram from 1909, approach the age of the mega-city. © LRTA Publishing 2012. saying: “Despite the century between Quickly moving commuters and leisure Articles are submitted on the understanding they may also later be used on our websites or other media. A contribution is accepted on the basis that them, both are electric – proving there users around the crowded urban spaces its author is responsible for the opinions expressed in it, and such opinions is nothing new in the world of transport. of the modern age simply cannot be are not those of LRTA Publishing or the LRTA. All rights reserved. The Ampera may be a modern tour de accomplished efficiently in vehicles that No part of this magazine may be reproduced or transmitted in any form by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording force but the 1909 tram is an amazing carry a handful of passengers. or by any information storage and retrieval system, without prior machine too. So let’s hope the automotive industry permission in writing from the copyright owner. Multiple copying of the “The tram [in this case, Wolverhampton pinches more of our ideas – eventually contents of the magazine without prior written approval is not permitted. double-decker 49] has a top speed of creating marvellous electric machines THE INTERNATIONAL LIGHT RAIL MAGAZINE HEADLINES 50mph [80km/h] and is powered by two that run quickly, quietly and efficiently, l Toronto council takes key LRT vote l Bombardier close to 775-car BART order electric motors that deliver 45bhp each – carrying hundreds of passengers. I’ll l Alstom demonstrates Citadis in Moscow Siemens’ new Inspiro and, like the Ampera, it has regenerative even suggest a name. Why don’t we call metro design. The braking, which means that during braking them ‘trams’? company is investing EUR50m in its or coasting, energy from the wheels is l Siemens' latest analysis suggests that Simmering facility in converted back into electricity...” the light and urban rail vehicle sectors Austria that is building This description of what seems like the globally are worth a staggering EUR7bn SIEMENS BOLSTERS GLOBAL very latest technology amazed me in that annually – and that this is set to grow by URBAN RAIL CAPABILITIES them, beginning with London Tramlink: Special 20-page review the automotive industry is increasingly up to 5% a year. In a world still seemingly The end for paper? Driver safety: a EUR272m order for Easier for riders, Latest research better for operators: on managing 75 Smart ticketing driver risk for taking inspiration from over a century of reeling from one economic crisis to the systems explained safer systems Warsaw. MAY 2012 No. 893 1937–2012 WWW. LRTA . ORG l WWW. TRAMNEWS . NET £3.80 Siemens development in the rail sector. next, I think we can all be optimistic... TAUT_April12_Cover.indd 1 3/4/12 12:12:59 www.tramnews.net . www.Irta.org MAY 2012 167 167_TAUT1205_Contents.indd 1 3/4/12 12:25:32 News TORONTO ARGUMENTS CONTINUE, LIGHT RAIL WINS IMPORTANT VOTE POLITICAL moves in the ongoing saga of Toronto Mayor Rob Ford and transit contin- ued in March. After his election in 2010, the mayor scrapped the LRT plans for Eglinton and Sheppard Avenue in favour of subway construction, and later sacked Toronto Tran- sit Commission Chief General Manager Gary Webster, an opponent of his plans. On Monday 5 March the city council voted 29-15 to dissolve the TTC board and replace it with a restructured body, chaired by TTC Chariman Karen Stintz. The new Commis- sion comprises four private citizens and seven councillors, and Ford supporters no longer have a majority. On 13 March, Andy Byford was appointed the new TTC CEO; a transit professional, who arrived in Toronto from Sydney only in 2011, he had been Gary Webster’s deputy. The report of the study panel appointed by the city council to look into transit options for the 13km (eight-mile) Sheppard Avenue East (where the mayor had declared he would build a subway using private finance) was published on 15 March and concluded that surface light rail was the best option, scoring Surface light rail already exists in the Toronto suburbs, as seen here on the rebuilt St Clair line, and its 87/100 compared with 59/100 for a subway. expansion now looks more likely following a city vote in late March. J. May The report added that there was a CAD1bn shortfall in funds to build a subway. A special meeting of the city council on hours of debate, light rail was endorsed by The mayor dismissed the report as 21 March, expected to vote in favour of LRT, the City Council 24-19. ‘hogwash’, calling for a referendum, and was filibustered by the Ford camp so that the Mayor Ford called the city council dysfunc- saying a subway could be built if property vote took place at a re-convened meeting on tional and light rail “a boondoggle of billions”, taxes were increased (despite campaigning in 22 March. An attempt to postpone the vote adding: “You can call them what you want, but 2010 on the basis of no tax increases).