Ultra Light Rail Claims Lower Risk and Lower Cost than Traditional Light Rail

[cplchanb]

the author of this article conveniently forgot to mention that he is the founder of the only company that claims to use this "technology" (so far, no clients).

they lobbied the TTC recently to replace their SRT with this as a deputation during their board meeting..

ill bet that went just as smoothly when some nobody company suddenly came up with the bright idea that that Avro Arrow can be revived to replace the CF18s and lobbied that idea to the feds

 

[robmausser]

This can self drive in a way buses can't?

My mistake I thought it was this

Autonomous Rail Rapid Transit - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

 

[syn]

Super Duper Mega Ultra Light Rail

 

[nfitz]

I never thought of suing the TTC for getting caught in a streetcar track. Heard of a success with that?

I'd almost not be surprised there was no lawsuit, if there was a death. Such at that one up on Wychwood in 2012.

There are examples though:

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/toronto/toronto-cyclist-wins-damages-injuries-cased-ttc-streetcar-tracks-1.5201820

 

[MisterF]

ill bet that went just as smoothly when some nobody company suddenly came up with the bright idea that that Avro Arrow can be revived to replace the CF18s and lobbied that idea to the feds

Or that lady from Dragon's Den with her Home Depot screen door idea for subway stations.

 

[Haljackey]

It's BRT on rails.

Still a bus.

Buses suck.

 

[afransen]

It's BRT on rails.

Still a bus.

Buses suck.

What about buses suck?

The diesel power train is bad. But BEV buses are coming.

The poor ride quality is bad. But there are things that can be done from a suspension and control standpoint to mitigate this.

I think we should have open minds. It's not steel wheels good, rubber wheels bad. Buses make transit in Toronto function.

 

[44 North]

The company behind it seems eager to test it on the Orangeville-Brampton Railway, which I would honestly love to see. I don't see the point in laying down any new rail for such an infant and niche technology, though. Not yet.

Interesting! ORBY has a good future in it I think. A DMU or battery variant would be more logical than this tho. Real hurdle, at least on these boards, is those who denounce a "forced transfer".

 

[ssiguy2]

One of the problems is that the supposed savings of these Guided Buses over standard LRT by not requiring the tearing up the roadway didn't materialise. The issue was that the buses when running down regular roads with a physical guidance resulted in an indentation of the asphalt and then the guiding mechanisms didn't work. Several cities had to shut down the routes and repave the streets with concrete which is much harder. Of course this cost a fortune and was very disruptive negating many of the supposed advantages. Being labelled 'ultra-light' perhaps these vehicles do not suffer from this problem.

There are 2 very significant attributes that such systems offer that standard LRT/streetcar cannot....................reliability and flexibility. Due to the nature of LRT running on dedicated track, it makes such systems very dependent upon a smooth running road system. If there is an accident or one of the trains breaks down, the entire system comes to a screeching halt. Of course buses can just go around such obstacles. Also for longer distance trips, such vehicles can get rid of the dreaded last mile by running rail to a certain station and then going 'off steel grid' to get the people closer to their actual destinations without the need for more very costly rail expansions. Once the core system is built, expanding the service only requires new vehicles but no new infrastructure.