THE INTERNATIONAL LIGHT RAIL MAGAZINE www.lrta.org www.tautonline.com FEBRUARY 2015 NO. 926 NEW TRAMWAYS: CHINA EMBRACES LIGHT RAIL Houston: Two new lines for 2015 and more to come Atlanta Streetcar launches service Paris opens T6 and T8 tramlines Honolulu metro begins tracklaying ISSN 1460-8324 UK devolution San Diego 02 £4.25 Will regional powers Siemens and partners benefit light rail? set new World Record 9 771460 832043 2015 INTEGRATION AND GLOBALISATION Topics and panel debates include: Funding models and financial considerations for LRT projects • Improving light rail's appeal and visibility • Low Impact Light Rail • Harnessing local suppliers • Making light rail procurement more economical • Utilities replacement and renewal • EMC approvals and standards • Off-wire and energy recovery systems • How can regional devolution benefit UK LRT? • Light rail safety and security • Optimising light rail and traffic interfaces • Track replacement & renewal – Issues and lessons learned • Removing obsolescence: Modernising the UK's second-generation systems • Revenue protection strategies • Big data: Opportunities for transport operators • Marketing strategies for ridership and maximising revenue • LRT solutions for mid-size towns Do you have a topic you’d like to share with a forum of 300 senior decision-makers? We are still welcoming abstracts for consideration until 12 January 2015. June 17-18, 2015: Nottingham, UK Book now via www.tautonline.com SUPPORTED BY 72 CONTENTS The official journal of the Light Rail Transit Association FEBRUARY 2015 Vol. 78 No. 926 www.tramnews.net EDITORIAL 52 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 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 64 WORLDWIDE CONTRIBUTORS Tony Bailey, James Chuang, Paul Nicholson, Richard NEWS 52 DEVOLUTION IN THE UK 69 Felski, Ed Havens, Bill Vigrass, Andrew Moglestue, Mike Russell, Nikolai Semyonov, Vic Simons, Atlanta Streetcar opens; Seoul to merge Paul Rowen looks at the opportunities posed Alain Senut, Thomas Wagner. metro operations; Honolulu tracklaying by regional devolution in the UK, and what PRODUCTION begins; Paris opens T6 and T8 tramlines. it means for the future of light rail systems. Lanna Blyth Tel: +44 (0)1733 367604 E-mail: [email protected] NEW TRAMWAYS FOR 2015 57 SYSTEMS FACTFILE: RHEIN-NECKAR 72 DESIGN Michael Taplin presents his annual round-up The giant metre-gauge system in Germany Debbie Nolan of predictions for the new systems due to is a sprawling network of interurban and ADVERTISING open this year, as well as some of the more light rail lines – Neil Pulling explores. COMMERCIAL MANAGER Geoff Butler significant expansions. Tel: +44 (0)1733 367610 E-mail: [email protected] WORLDWIDE REVIEW 77 PUBLISHER COMMENT: THE APP CHALLENGE 61 Toronto awards subway design contract; Howard Johnston Micah Bergdale of Bytemark on why Beijing orders 60 automated trains for Tramways & Urban Transit is jointly published by the smartphone ticketing is now an essential Yanfang metro line; Cairo metro line 3 LRTA and LRTA Publishing on the third Friday of each expectation for transit passengers. funding confirmed; Tram extensions open month preceding the cover date. in Frankfurt-am-Main and Hannover. LRTA WEBSITE AND DIARY SIEMENS WORLD RECORD 62 Brian Lomas E-mail: [email protected], [email protected] Now officially recognised, Siemens and its MAILBOX 82 partners set a new World Record for battery Discussion on tram vehicle design; Further LRTA MEMBERSHIP (with TAUT subscription) Tramways & Urban Transit is sent free to all paid-up operation in 2014; they explain how to TAUT. information on Helsinki tramways. members of the Light Rail Transit Association. SUBSCRIPTIONS AND MEMBERSHIP ENQUIRIES HOUSTON: LRT’S BIG BANG 64 CLASSIC TRAMS: AMSTERDAM 84 LRTA Membership Secretary (Dept T06), Following a decade of consolidation, the US The museum line in Amsterdam shows off 38 Wolseley Road, Sale M33 7AU, UK. oil capital has seen huge LRT expansion in not just Netherlands’ heritage, but Dutch Tel: +44 (0)117 9517785 recent years – Vic Simons reports from Texas. trams too – Mike Russell reports. BACK ISSUES Tel: +44 (0)1406 373070 PRINT AND DISTRIBUTION Warners (Midlands) plc, The Maltings, West Street, Bourne, 2015 – more new systems and new technologies Lincs PE10 9PH, UK. Tel: +44 (0)1778 391000. LRTA REGISTERED OFFICE As I write this on New Year’s Eve, we welcome Atlanta, GA, to the list of cities c/o 138 Radnor Avenue, Welling, Kent DA16 2BY, UK. with a modern light rail system, opening its first Streetcar line just the day Private company limited by guarantee, No. 5072319 before. Entering a new year it is encouraging to see that the LRT rollercoaster in England and Wales. is moving forward and delivering the benefits that keep it at the top of the LRTA CHAIRMAN wishlist of many politicians and local authorities. There is still work to be Andrew Braddock E-mail: [email protected] done to convince the non-believers that investment in clean, sustainable transport ’ LRTA DEPUTY CHAIRMAN needs to be prioritised – but a quick glance at Michael Taplins round-up of the systems Paul Rowen due to open this year shows that it is the developing markets getting the message across. LRTA PUBLISHING REGISTERED OFFICE: As populations swell and industries agglomerate, resources become strained and cities c/o 8 Berwick Place, Welwyn Garden City, Herts AL7 4TU, start to choke under their own weight. This is only going to increase, and the technology UK. Private Limited Company, No. 06169422 to enable remote and ‘global working’ can only take you so far before you have to start in England and Wales. looking back at base principles – efficient, affordable mass transit is one of these bases. © LRTA Publishing 2015. Articles are submitted on the understanding they may also We also see that 2015 is going to be the year that ‘off-wire’ technologies really later be used on our websites or other media. A contribution take off. For years TAUT has advocated the use of onboard energy storage – batteries, is accepted on the basis that its author is responsible for the supercapacitors, flywheels and hydrogen fuel cells – but only now have the solutions opinions expressed in it, and such opinions are not those of matured and proven themselves to the point of serious adoption. Refer again to the ‘New LRTA Publishing or the LRTA. All rights reserved. No part of this magazine may be reproduced or transmitted in Tramways for 2015’ article to see that the majority of the new systems opening in the any form by any means, electronic or mechanical, including next 12 months have specified some form of capability to run away from overhead lines. photocopying, recording or by any information storage and Siemens engineers have contributed to this edition with a description of how one new retrieval system, without prior permission in writing from LRV in San Diego ran for over 25km on a single battery charge – this technology will only the copyright owner. Multiple copying of the contents of the magazine without prior written approval is not permitted. get better. So as we see the first second-generation systems looking at fleet replacements, will 2016, 2017 and beyond see the technology roll out even further? We believe so – COVER: A five-section low-floor Shenyang tram entering the Olympic Centre terminal point at the retrofitting existing vehilces make take longer however... Simon Johnston, Editor end of a journey from the airport on line 2. M. Russell www.tautonline.com . www.lrta.org FEBRUARY 2015 / 51 News Seoul to Alstom/BAM consortium merge metro operations to build Liège tramway Seoul’s metropolitan Construction could begin in Spring on 11.5km north bank tramline government has announced a plan to merge the city’s two metro operators into a single entity by 2016 to enhance efficiency, combine procurement and help reduce the combined deficit of KRW4.6trn (USD4.2bn). Currently, Seoul Metro, established in 1974, runs lines 1-4, while the Seoul Metropolitan Rapid Transit Corporation operates lines 5-8. The latter was set up in 1994 to increase competition and provide a better service, but the system has come under criticism for overlapping maintenance works and duplication of spending. Artist’s impression of the Alstom tram on Place St Lambert in central Liège, showing the overhead line-free section. keskitram Mayor Park Won-soon promised “sweeping reforms” to address “poor and sloppy n 10 December it river Meuse from Standard Liège a 3.5-year construction period management”, and that every was announced (Val Benoît) to Coronmeuse starting this Spring. Opening for aspect of both businesses that the contractor via Gare des Guillemains (with service could be in autumn 2018. would be addressed by the selected by Wallonia’s a 1km cross-river branch to A Bombardier-led consortium merger except for manpower. Oregional transport authority Bressoux depot) will require (LiegiaExpress) remains in reserve The new operator will handle SWRT as preferred bidder for the 19 45m Citadis trams, with a if the negotiations should not 6.8m passengers/day across a tramway project is MobiLiège, a section in Place St-Lambert and come to fruition. Expansion plans network of 300 route km. consortium led by Alstom and the city centre using the APS will result in an 18.9km (11.7-mile) The merger will not affect line construction group BAM. surface current collection system. line from Jemeppe to Herstal 9, run by the SML9 consortium The Belgian 11.5km (7.2-mile) Negotiations will now take place in the next decade.