Cincinnati: Streetcar scheme to hit the buffers? THE INTERNATIONAL LIGHT RAIL MAGAZINE www.lrta.org www.tramnews.net MARCH 2014 NO. 915 BRUSSELS: GROWING AND CHANGING FAST Manchester expands again... it’s Rochdale next Paris pledges big metro expansion Izmir plans two more LRT routes Vossloh to supply Gmunden trams ISSN 1460-8324 £4.10 Miami progress Solaris in Jena 03 A model of transit First Tramino for diversity in the US Germany unveiled 9 771460 832036 FOR BOOKINGS AND SPONSORSHIP OPPORTUNITIES CALL +44 (0) 1733 367603 11-12 June 2014 – Nottingham, UK 2014 Nottingham Conference Centre OVER 65 SPEAKERS AND PANELLISTS – INCLUDING: ❱ Howard Smith: Operations Director, Crossrail ❱ David Hand: Divisional Director & LRT Practice Leader, Mott MacDonald ❱ Councillor Jane Urquhart: Portfolio Holder for Planning and ❱ Matthew Hudson: Head of Business Development, Customer Transportation, Nottingham City Council Experience, Transport for London ❱ Phil Hewitt: Chief Executive, Tramlink Nottingham ❱ James Hammett: General Manager, UKTram ❱ Nils Jänig: Deputy Director, TransportTechnologie-Consult Karlsruhe ❱ Paul Griffiths: Metro Programme Director, Centro ❱ Chris Coleman: Managing Director, Metrolink RATP Dev ❱ Mark Cartwright: General Manager, RTIG-Inform ❱ LRT’s strategic role as a city-building tool ❱ Marketing: Getting road users onto public transport ❱ Tramways as creators of green corridors ❱ Manchester Metrolink expansion: The ‘Network Effect’ ❱ The value of small-start/heritage systems ❱ The role of social media and new technology ❱ Funding light rail in a climate of austerity ❱ Ticketing and fare collection innovation ❱ HS2: A golden opportunity for light rail development ❱ Track and trackform: Challenges and solutions ❱ Beyond 2015: Where are the new UK systems? ❱ New perspectives on mixed fleet operations ❱ Future interchanges and additional revenue streams ❱ LRT vehicle design forum ❱ Tram-train: A proven model, so why wait for Sheffield? ❱ Safety and security forum ❱ RTPI: Giving our customers the right information ❱ UK project updates SUPPORTED BY CONTENTS The official journal of the Light Rail Transit Association MARCH 2014 Vol. 77 No. 915 www.tramnews.net EDITORIAL EDITOR Simon Johnston Tel: +44 (0)1733 367601 E-mail: [email protected] 13 Orton Enterprise Centre, Bakewell Road, 106 Peterborough PE2 6XU, UK ASSOCIATE EDITOR 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] SENIOR CONTRIBUTOR Neil Pulling 123 136 WORLDWIDE CONTRIBUTORS Tony Bailey, James Chuang, Paul Nicholson NEWS 104 SYSTEMS FACTFILE: ROTTERDAM 123 (Australia), Richard Felski (Spain), Ed Havens, Bill Vigrass (USA), Andrew Moglestue (Switzerland), Izmir plans two more lines; French cities Neil Pulling explores Rotterdam's public Mike Russell, Nikolai Semyonov (Russia), Vic Simons, partner to reduce costs; Oldham town route transport network and looks at the scope of Alain Senut (France), Thomas Wagner (Germany). opens; Vossloh to supply trams to Gmunden. operator RET. PRODUCTION Tel: +44 (0)1733 367604 E-mail: [email protected] COMMENT 109 WORLDWIDE REVIEW 128 DESIGN Paul Griffiths examines how to make future Budapest automated metro line 4 testing Debbie Nolan development more affordable. begins; Morocco’s tramway plans for El Jadida ADVERTISING and Zanata; ground-breaking ceremony held COMMERCIAL MANAGER Vicky Binley TRAMINO: JENA’S FUTURE ARRIVES 110 for Los Angeles’ Crenshaw LRT. Tel: +44 (0)1733 367602 E-mail: [email protected] Witold Urbanowicz witnesses the launch of ADVERTISING MANAGER the first SolarisTramino for Germany. MAILBOX 134 Andy Adams Why Toronto didn’t make the UK mistake Tel: +44 (0)1733 367605 E-mail: [email protected] BRUSSELS’ TRAMWAY EXPANDS 112 post-war, revenue protection in Edinburgh PUBLISHER Geoffey Skelsey and Yves-Laurent Hansart and elsewhere... and why TAUT is right on Howard Johnston report on the network in Belgium's capital. 'bustition'. Tramways & Urban Transit is jointly published by the LRTA and LRTA Publishing on the third Friday of each month preceding the cover date. MIAMI: A MODEL OF DIVERSITY 117 CLASSIC TRAMS: RVZ-6 TWILIGHT 136 LRTA WEBSITE AND DIARY The Sunshine State's largest conurbation is The end cannot now be long delayed for a Brian Lomas moving forward, as Vic Simons reports. classic Soviet design. Mike Russell reports. E-mail: [email protected], [email protected] LRTA MEMBERSHIP (with TAUT subscription) Tramways & Urban Transit is sent free to all paid-up How can you avoid innovation 'block'? members of the Light Rail Transit Association. Why is it that humans could put man on the moon within just a few SUBSCRIPTIONS LRTA Membership Secretary (Dept T06), years of launching a space programme, yet take such a dreadfully long 38 Wolseley Road, Sale M33 7AU, UK. time to innovate in something as straightforward as light rail? BACK ISSUES You may think the answer is obvious - money - and to an extent you'd Tel: +44 (0)1406 373070 be right. Or, you may consider the comparison a sweeping one - and to a PRINT AND DISTRIBUTION degree it is. Depending on where you live on this planet, you might think Warners (Midlands) plc, The Maltings, West Street, Bourne, innovation that results in practical application is a) happening all the time, or b) almost Lincs PE10 9PH, UK. Tel: +44 (0)1778 391000. impossible to bring to fruition. How much harder is it to introduce tram-train in some LRTA REGISTERED OFFICE administrations than others, for example? c/o 138 Radnor Avenue, Welling, Kent DA16 2BY, UK. Clearly, some countries are more risk averse than others. Many grounds for Private company limited by guarantee, No. 5072319 in England and Wales. conservatism are worthy of course - wanting to ensure new ways of doing things are safe LRTA CHAIRMAN and reliable being just two. Yet as Paul Grffiths from Centro, the transport management Andrew Braddock body of the West Midlands in the UK points out (page 109 of this issue), the reasons LRTA DEPUTY CHAIRMAN sometimes have much to do with a choice of structure that actually breeds a risk averse Vic Simons culture. Paul is dealing with a country known for its cautious approach (and this is the LRTA PUBLISHING REGISTERED OFFICE: sector he considers the innovative end of the rail industry!). c/o 8 Berwick Place, Welwyn Garden City, Herts AL7 4TU, As Paul explains, there are now efforts to unblock processes; the Enabling Innovation UK. Private Limited Company, No. 06169422 Team project is running a GBP3m (around EUR3.6m) competition, so there is in England and Wales. recognition that something needs to be done ­­­ - once and for all. If light rail is to keep up © LRTA Publishing 2014. Articles are submitted on the understanding they may also later be with other sectors (look how innovative the automotive industry can be when it sees the used on our websites or other media. A contribution is accepted on benefits) it must keep moving forward. Specifically in the UK context, much has been the basis that its author is responsible for the opinions expressed in it, and such opinions are not those of LRTA Publishing or the LRTA. made of the need to drive costs down. Otherwise, warns the country's government, light All rights reserved. No part of this magazine may be reproduced or rail may be priced out of much future transport thinking. However, it has already been transmitted in any form by any means, electronic or mechanical, proven that its tramway schemes are often cheaper than overseas. including photocopying, recording or by any information storage and retrieval system, without prior permission in writing from the It ultimately comes down to political choice. Which UK mayor will soon be copyright owner. Multiple copying of the contents of the magazine empowered to launch - say - an innovative tram-train product requiring development of without prior written approval is not permitted. vehicles, in a way their counterparts on the Continent were able to years ago...? COVER: Pont de Woluwe, Brussels. Working the Howard Johnston, Publisher service in May 2011 was 2043. Geoffrey Skelsey www.tramnews.net . www.lrta.org MARCH 2014 / 103 News Izmir plans two further tramlines Turkish city unveils EUR195m scheme for 22km of light rail using 21 low-floor vehicles zmir in western Anatolia A first 12.6km (7.8-mile) line shortly). The city will provide but tramway service will be (until 1930 known as with 21 stops will link Fahrettin 25% of the funding and the integrated with bus and ferry Smyrna), the third most Altay Meydani with Halkapinar state the remainder as a treasury lines. The project is not without populous Turkish city with via Konak; a second 9.7km loan. A third route is planned its critics, especially due the Ifour million inhabitants, has (six-mile) line with 16 stops will from Sirinyer to Dokuz Eylül proposed uprooting of the operated a 16.2km (ten-mile) run from Alaybey to Mavisehir University, requiring extending famous mulberry trees on the light rail line (partly in subway) via Karsiyaka. The project is the tram fleet to 37 cars. city’s seafront boulevard, a since May 2000, as well as expected to cost TKL591m Construction time is estimated at factor that stands to become a electric commuter rail. Now the (EUR195m), including TKL128m 36 months. particular political issue in the city has announced plans to (EUR42.3m) for 21 low-floor The two lines are separate, municipality, especially around build two tramlines by 2017. trams (tenders will be issued on opposite sides of the bay, election time. Göteborg invites tenders for 40 trams Oslo trams returned to Bekkestua Tenders have now been invited for the supply of 40 new single- On 19 January Oslo trams on ended trams, with an option for a line 13 reached Bekkestua further 60.