THE INTERNATIONAL LIGHT RAIL MAGAZINE www.lrta.org www.tautonline.com JUNE 2016 NO. 942 IS VIENNA THE WORLD’S BEST TRAMWAY CITY? Trams’ role in cutting pollution – and saving lives Kansas City welcomes its streetcar German vision of a driverless tram Toshkent mayor closes tramway ISSN 1460-8324 £4.25 COTS Romania 06 Using ‘Components The daunting task Off The Shelf’ for LRT of modernisation 9 771460 832043 “On behalf of UKTram specifically Voices from the industry… and the industry as a whole I send V my sincere thanks for such a great event. Everything about it oozed quality. I think that such an event shows any doubters that light rail in the UK can present itself in a way that is second to none.” Colin Robey – Managing Director, UKTram The 11th Annual UK Light Rail Conference brings together over 250 decision-makers for two days of open debate covering all aspects of light rail 27-28 July 2016 operations and development. Delegates can explore the latest industry Conference Aston innovation within the event’s exhibition area and examine LRT’s role in alleviating congestion in our towns and cities and driving economic growth. Birmingham, UK Topics and themes for 2016 include: > Safety and security in street-running environments > Refurbishment vs renewal? BOOK NOW! > Low Impact Light Rail To secure your place > Delivering added value from construction and modernisation please call > Managing timetable change and passenger disruption +44 (0) 1733 367600 > Environmental considerations for LRT construction or visit > Selling light rail: Who? When? How? www.mainspring.co.uk > What the Luxembourg Rail Protocol means for light rail > Tram-Train: Alternative perspectives > Where next for UK LRT? > Major project updates SUPPORTED BY 204 CONTENTS The ocial journal of the Light Rail Transit Association JUNE 2016 Vol. 79 No. 942 www.tautonline.com EDITORIAL 212 EDITOR Simon Johnston Tel: +44 (0)1733 367601 E-mail: [email protected] 13 Orton Enterprise Centre, Bakewell Road, Peterborough PE2 6XU, UK ASSOCIATE EDITOR Tony Streeter E-mail: [email protected] WORLDWIDE EDITOR Michael Taplin 210 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, Stas ST9 0LW, UK. E-mail: [email protected] SENIOR CONTRIBUTOR Neil Pulling WORLDWIDE CONTRIBUTORS Tony Bailey, James Chuang, Paul Nicholson, Richard Felski, Ed Havens, Bill Vigrass, Andrew Moglestue, Mike Russell, Nikolai Semyonov, Vic Simons, Herbert Pence, Alain Senut, Thomas Wagner. NEWS 204 SYSTEMS FACTFILE: VIENNA 224 PRODUCTION KC Streetcar opens; UITP calls for MENA Neil Pulling explores one of the world’s Rick Wilson vision; Toshkent tramway to close; warnings great tramways, where transport provision is Tel: +44 (0)1733 367604 E-mail: [email protected] over the future for Russian systems; six placed at the heart of the city’s appeal. DESIGN new lines planned for Miami-Dade; Debbie Nolan battery trams for Charlotte’s Gold line? WORLDWIDE REVIEW 229 ADVERTISING Changsha maglev opens; Dresden COMMERCIAL MANAGER Geo Butler TRAMS: AN AIR QUALITY SOLUTION 210 CarGoTram operations cease; Oslo opens Tel: +44 (0)1733 367610 E-mail: [email protected] James Harkins looks at the public health metro connection; Wimbledon Tramlink PUBLISHER issues surrounding our pollution-choked upgrade is nished; Hitachi/AnsaldoBreda Howard Johnston cities and considers how light rail can save cars arrive in Honolulu. Tramways & Urban Transit is jointly published by the lives – and money. LRTA and LRTA Publishing on the third Friday of each MAILBOX 234 month preceding the cover date. ROMANIA’S TRAMWAY REVIVAL 212 A Swiss perspective on project delays; Soa’s LRTA WEBSITE AND DIARY Mike Russell concludes his two-part review unusual gauge explained and more thoughts Brian Lomas E-mail: [email protected], [email protected] of tramway operations in modern-day on the proposal to convert the Isle of Wight LRTA MEMBERSHIP (with TAUT subscription) Romania. railway to tramway operation. Tramways & Urban Transit is sent free to all paid-up members of the Light Rail Transit Association. RAIDING THE PARTS BIN 220 CLASSIC TRAMS: HAGEN’S LEGACY 236 SUBSCRIPTIONS AND MEMBERSHIP ENQUIRIES Scott McIntosh considers the future – and Trams last ran in the German city of Hagen LRTA Membership Secretary (Dept T06), past – prospects of using ‘off the shelf’ 40 years ago, but many vehicles are still in use 38 Wolseley Road, Sale M33 7AU, UK. components in urban rail. elsewhere in Europe, as Mike Russell reports. Tel: +44 (0)117 9517785 BACK ISSUES Tel: +44 (0)117 951 7785 Cleaning the air while creating great cities PRINT AND DISTRIBUTION Warners (Midlands) plc, The Maltings, West Street, Bourne, Lincs PE10 9PH, UK. Tel: +44 (0)1778 391000. While climate change campaigners shout loudly about the effects of LRTA REGISTERED OFFICE pollution on Mother Earth, and how shifts in temperature are affecting c/o 138 Radnor Avenue, Welling, Kent DA16 2BY, UK. crops and weather systems, why is it that we don’t hear enough about the Private company limited by guarantee, No. 5072319 effects of emissions on public health? While surely no sensible person in England and Wales. could argue that we are not having a denite and possibly irreversible effect LRTA CHAIRMAN on the planet’s ecosystems through our rapacious consumption of natural Andrew Braddock resources, we must also remember that we as a species are far from immune. E-mail: [email protected] The effects are obvious for anyone who has spent time wandering around the busiest LRTA DEPUTY CHAIRMAN streets of any major city. As well as the images we see of face-masks being the compulsory Paul Rowen fashion accessory for many Asian cities, I can think of at least ve occasions over the past LRTA PUBLISHING REGISTERED OFFICE c/o 8 Berwick Place, Welwyn Garden City, Herts AL7 4TU, 12 months when I have been noticeably out of breath and with blackened shirt collars UK. Private Limited Company, No. 06169422 after no more than half an hour’s exposure to some of Europe’s ‘greatest’ thoroughfares. in England and Wales. The main cause is always fumes from the legion of internal combustion-engined vehicles © LRTA Publishing 2016 (many of which are nowhere near as clean as we’ve been led to believe). Articles are submitted on the understanding they may also No-one would also pretend that light rail solutions are cheap, but they are effective later be used on our websites or other media. A contribution is accepted on the basis that its author is responsible for the and do so much more than just offering transport that people like. After all, what price opinions expressed in it, and such opinions are not those of do you put on the future health of our cities – and of our children? LRTA Publishing or the LRTA. All rights reserved. Meanwhile, Kansas City has opened its new streetcar – a short starter line that No part of this magazine may be reproduced or transmitted in bisects the heart of the city, connecting key businesses and tourism hot-spots. What any form by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording or by any information storage and makes this project particularly interesting is its part in the grand vision of a ‘connected retrieval system, without prior permission in writing from city’; its introduction is a small facet of a ground-breaking scheme that also includes the copyright owner. Multiple copying of the contents of the free public Wi-Fi over a new ‘technology spine’ that cover 5.2km2 (two square miles) magazine without prior written approval is not permitted. of the downtown area. Best of all, it’s free. A perfect example of light rail’s role in COVER: Wiener Linien ULF-B1 757 passes the transforming a city, we hope it realises its expansion plans. Simon Johnston, Editor Austrian Parliament building, August 2015. N. Pulling www.tautonline.com . www.lrta.org JUNE 2016 / 203 News UITP calls for MENA transport vision Cities urged to act now to combat congestion and emissions driven by cheaper car ownership eeting at its Middle to invest in new skills and adapt East and North their structures to include and Africa Transport facilitate data-based decisions. Congress and “The big issue in the MENA ExhibitionM in Dubai on 25-27 region is that we have cheap April, UITP (the International oil which has pushed against Association for Public Transport) public transport for decades, called for urgent action to cut but congestion is something we congestion in cities across the need to deal with, whatever the region by developing a public oil price,” said Khalid Alhogail, transport vision to cope with Chairman of the UITP MENA rapid urbanisation. Region and CEO-Board Director Cities are facing the issue of of Saudi Public Transport sprawl, as economic growth Company. “Here we see the combined with relatively low challenge because we need to cost car ownership is leading to build big networks in a very short a substantial increase in private time and cities are becoming transport. With populations Dubai has increased public transport patronage by 215% between 2006 and crowded and congested because and urbanisation expected to 2015, by providing a metro, tramway and improved bus system. N. Pulling of an absence of transport.” continue rising, public transport The role of governance was and integrated masterplans New light rail systems have been and non-motorised modes will debated at the event and the and to develop diverse public built in Algeria, Morocco, Tunisia, be crucial to limit trafc and main recommendations were transport infrastructure, Israel, Iran, Saudi Arabia and the congestion, which has already for cities to take the lead in supported by policies to reduce United Arab Emirates, with more reached alarming levels in many establishing a transport vision, car use.