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Tram/Train Hybrid Technology

P

pw20

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Pretty cool and could be very revolutionary especially for a city like Toronto.

http://www.psfk.com/2014/02/hybrid-...source=twitter.com&utm_campaign=buffer#!u6Y4f

Aside from giving people better or more convenient commuting connections, tram-trains can mean lower maintenance costs and more flexibility for the transit authorities. Tram-trains can allow the authorities to add more services or routes and help reduce transportation congestion.

Set to be completed in 2016, the project will have tram-trains running eight miles from Rotherham Parkgate to Sheffield. The design for the tram-train was developed at the Institute of Railway Research at University of Huddersfield.

Tram-trains are new in the UK, but Karlsruhe, Germany has used tram-trains in their public transport system since 1992. In fact, the concept of tram and trains running on the same tracks is referred to as the “Karlsruhe model.â€

The Sheffield-Rotherham Tram-Train project is a $98 million trial run to determine whether it would work in the rest of the country.
 
Ottawa's LRT will use an Alstom vehicle based on their "Dualis" tram-train platform. It has a top speed of 100 KPH as opposed to the 70 or 80 typical of trams. Some extensions of the line will have 2 miles or more between stations and run along highways, so a faster speed is required. There aren't any sections planned for on-street operation at the moment, but it could be done in the future.
 
There is a discussion about this on the DRL Facebook page. Assuming the gauge is identical, there is some controversy as to whether light rail trains can operate on heavy rail tracks or vice versa without rolling surface. Apparently the first subway trains were transported to the Davisville Yard by our streetcar tracks. And while not mainline, Cleveland's heavy and light rail trains both share the same track in sections.

What we really need on Sheppard are dual mode trains which can switch between third rail and overhead wires.
 
I brought this up ages ago!

This is what Toronto should be building instead of yet more slow, inflexible DMU monsters. They are great because they get rid of the dreaded "last mile" and would work well on the current GO rail corridors and not be a burden on Union because if Union reaches capacity the trains can always be diverted to a parrellel track down, for instance, Front.
 
One other thing needs to be said: FRA rules. Or Transport Canada rules, which are probably similar, and don't allow light rail trains on heavy rail tracks.
 
Hipster Duck said:
One other thing needs to be said: FRA rules. Or Transport Canada rules, which are probably similar, and don't allow light rail trains on heavy rail tracks.
Click to expand...

The US seems to be getting a bit more flexible with these things. Austin's new Cap Metrorail is, in most ways, a tram-train. Maybe a bit more "train" than "tram" though.

Austin_Metrorail.jpg


I've felt like this could be a good addition for branching GO services. For instance, a service to Orangeville could run along the OBR until Mayfield Rd, then just run at grade, more or less, in the median of Hwy10. Given commuter rail frequencies, most of the line could probably be single tracked. Using these kinds of DMUs there would be no electrification and stops would be, basically, LRT "stops" so the entire cost of the project should be pretty low.
 
diminutive said:
The US seems to be getting a bit more flexible with these things. Austin's new Cap Metrorail is, in most ways, a tram-train. Maybe a bit more "train" than "tram" though.
Click to expand...

Nope, they're not. MetroRail runs under the same terms as the River Line and Sprinter (and any of the multitude of places where heavy rail trains need to access light rail tracks) - there needs to be a temporal separation between the light rail and the heavy rail. This has been in the FRA's rulebooks since the mid-1990s, and doesn't appear to be going anywhere anytime soon.

Dan
Toronto, Ont.
 
I may be totally off-base on this but I can see a few places where this might work with existing trackage.

GO tracks in the east end - interchanges with Gerrard and Queen streetcars, Scarborough GO, Danforth GO/Main station?

Tracks in the Portlands, Cherry St LRT, new carhouse at Lake Shore & Leslie?

GO lines in the west end - Dufferin, Dundas, Bathurst? Something at St Clair & Keele? The Weston line at St Clair?

The line running from York U through Downsview in particular seems underutilized.

I noticed that the TTC's Greenwood yard is connected to the GO/VIA line - is that mostly for subway car deliveries?
 
the lemur said:
I noticed that the TTC's Greenwood yard is connected to the GO/VIA line - is that mostly for subway car deliveries?
Click to expand...
Unless that connection has been recently restored, it's been removed for years. There is no longer a switch on the Metrolinx-owned line. Subway car deliveries come in on a truck.
 
the lemur said:
It looks a little overgrown but possibly still in use, on Google Maps' satellite view:

http://goo.gl/maps/7584Y
Click to expand...
That's an old aerial photograph - not sure if it's August/September 2008 or August/September 2009. Probably not overgrown now, after Metrolinx cleared all the brush last year. Still, even in that photograph, you can't see the connection to the track. If you look in older photographs, it used to be there, and if I remember correctly, part of what's overgrown in that photo is standard guage, with the transition being further up. It's pretty clear when you go by it, that it's not usable.
 
Until FRA (who do Transport Canada's thinking for them as part of a single rail market) thinks that running Euro street vehicles on FRA rail is okay, this discussion is wholly moot.

While Citadis Spirit (Ottawa LRT) is based on the Citadis platform, I think it's probably a stretch to claim it is based on Dualis specifically rather than being more of a first-cousin, though probably more closely related than some of what falls under the Bombardier Flexity brand!
 
I don't agree. The only real difference I can see between the "Spirit" and the "Dualis" is that it has been configured to run on a single power source, apart from the more Americas-friendly name.
 
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