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5064 | dbpedia | 0 | 75 | https://travel.stackexchange.com/questions/39568/what-is-the-advantage-reason-for-many-trams-being-high-floored-and-non-accessi | en | What is the advantage / reason for many trams being high floored and non-accessible? | [
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] | null | [] | 2014-12-09T03:16:44 | In the last few weeks, I've taken a lot more trams than I normally do, in a few different countries. Some of those trams have had low floors, allowing me to just step on / step on wheeling some lug... | en | https://cdn.sstatic.net/Sites/travel/Img/favicon.ico?v=d46bb43d5893 | Travel Stack Exchange | https://travel.stackexchange.com/questions/39568/what-is-the-advantage-reason-for-many-trams-being-high-floored-and-non-accessi | From an engineering point of view, a tram is a vehicle that takes electricity from somewhere (overhead wires or third rail underneath), use motors to convert this into torque, and spins wheels to move the tram. The obvious solution is put all this machinery at ground level, right next to the wheels, and put the passengers on top. Ta-dah, a high-floor tram.
If, on the other hand, you want a low-floor tram, you've got to figure out some way to hide this machinery somewhere else, so passengers can use the space near the ground, but still feed the power to the wheels. This is tricky and expensive, plus the tram can get top-heavy and unstable if you stack everything on top. One mitigation is to fix some of the wheels in place, so they require less space, but then the turning radius of the tram also becomes larger, because the wheels can't turn sideways.
That said, this is largely considered a solved problem these days, so virtually all new trams are low-floor. However, trams are expensive and last decades, so replacing old rolling stock takes a good long time. And if you've attacked the problem from a different angle and built elevated stops to make high-floor trams accessible, the same high stop is no longer compatible with low-floor trams!
The general answer is, because rail-borne rolling stock is expensive, it is only rational to expect trams to have a long life cycle. It is not unusual to see trams which are 30 years old, and in some places you can meet trams built in something like the 1930s and still in use.
Thus, because low-floor tram designs are relatively new (introduced in 1980s and only ripened in 2000s), the share of high-floor trams must necessarily be sufficiently high still, even in the most advanced cities.
However, some tramway systems have features that make it impossible to use low-floor cars. For example, San Francisco's Muni Metro or Düsseldorf's Stadbahn have underground stretches where stations have high platforms. Unless those stations are rebuilt (which may be prohibitively expensive), they are bound to use high-floor cars.
There may also be less obvious reasons to use high-floor trams.
We might go into further specific details if you tell us about which particular cities made you ask your question.
Update:
The particular cities named were Budapest and Melbourne.
Both cities have very extensive tram networks (Melbourne's is the largest in the world). Their fleets are numbered in hundreds of cars and can only be replaced gradually.
Budapest, as far as I know, has not been showing a quick progress in this matter because most of their money went into the construction of a new metro line.
There are no special features impeding the use of low-floor trams that I ever heard of. | ||||
5064 | dbpedia | 3 | 2 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Public_transport_in_Helsinki | en | Public transport in Helsinki | [
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] | 2006-01-30T19:52:35+00:00 | en | /static/apple-touch/wikipedia.png | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Public_transport_in_Helsinki | Public transport in Helsinki consists of bus, tram, metro, local railway and ferry services. The system is managed by the Helsinki Regional Transport Authority (Finnish: Helsingin seudun liikenne, or HSL) and covers Helsinki, Espoo, Kauniainen, Vantaa and the outlying Kerava, Kirkkonummi, Sipoo and Tuusula.
Until the August 9, 2021 opening of the Tampere light rail, Helsinki was the only Finnish city to have a tram system. The city of Turku dismantled its tram system in 1972, and Finland lost the city of Vyborg to the USSR in World War II and the city subsequently withdrew its trams in 1957. In 2017, construction started on a tram line in the city of Tampere; services are scheduled to initiate in 2021.[1]
50% of commuting trips within the city limits of Helsinki are made using public transport and only 28% using a private car,[2] while 48% of the households have access to a car. For comparison, Helsinki's public transport system has a higher ridership than any city in the U.S. except New York.[citation needed]
The Helsinki Metro, opened in 1982, was the first, and so far the only, rapid-transit metro system in all of Finland. The metro currently serves the eastern suburbs of Helsinki, some areas close to the city center, and parts of southern Espoo. For the first 16 years of its existence, the line was topologically only one straight line, but in 1998 a branch to the eastern suburb of Vuosaari was opened. The construction of the long-debated western extension of the metro system into southern parts of Espoo was approved by Espoo City Council in 2006. The eight-station first phase was opened in November 2017, and the second phase, extending metro service west to Kivenlahti, opened in December 2022.[3] Helsinki is also planning to extend the existing metro line from its eastern terminus at Mellunkylä to Östersundom, an area annexed from Sipoo by Helsinki in 2009 for the purpose of building a large new planned community.
Local trains operate on grade-separated, dedicated tracks on three rail lines that radiate out from the Helsinki Central railway station. Most routes offer rapid-transit-like service with a peak headway of 10 or 15 minutes, the last trains departing from Helsinki city center only after 1 am, or 4 am on weekend nights. A service to the Helsinki Airport began in July 2015, when the Ring Rail Line extension to the system opened. A number of the local and regional trains run further out to towns as far north as Riihimäki and Lahti and as far west as Karis on tracks shared with long-distance trains. These regional services have headways of up to one hour and often more limited operating hours.
Long-distance trains depart from the Central Railway Station and Pasila railway station to destinations across Finland. Intercity trains offer connections to major Finnish cities.
A railway tunnel has been proposed to connect Helsinki with Tallinn, though the proposal is still in the investigation phase.
Main article: Buses in Helsinki
In August 2013, HSL launched the first trunk bus route, the orbital line 550, formerly branded Jokeri. The trunk lines are meant to provide "metro-like" service with very short headways and a distinguishable fleet. The second orbital trunk line, number 560, opened in August 2015.[4] Trunk lines 500 and 510 started in August 2019.[5] August 2020 saw the addition of trunk line 200, while August 2021 was the start date of trunk buses 20, 30, 40 and 570. Trunk lines 300, 400 and 600 started in August 2022.[6] In August 2023, lines 520 and 530 started.
Internal bus routes of Helsinki can be found almost anywhere in Helsinki. For some parts of the city, even high-density, these buses provide the backbone of the public transportation system.[7]
The routes are drawn and the timetables set by HSL, but operated by independent companies. HSL tenders a route or a set of routes and the company offering to operate the route for the best quality-price ratio will get the contract. The quality is measured with a pointing system which gives points for such aspects as the quietness, environmental efficiency and the size of the buses that would be used. The biggest bus operators are Nobina Finland,the VR (state rail) owned Pohjolan Liikenne, and Helsingin Bussiliikenne (HelB). These companies run a majority of the contract services.[8][9]
Many of the buses operating in eastern Helsinki and Southern Espoo act as feeder lines for the Helsinki Metro. Nearly all other routes have the other end of their lines in the downtown near the Helsinki Central railway station. Such exceptions are present as dedicated lines operating directly from a suburb to another past the centre (for example Helsinki buses 51–54, 56–59).
The line numbers for the internal lines contain two or three digits and sometimes one or two letters.
Most lines are operated between 5:30 and 23:30, the most popular between 5:00 and 1:30. In daytime outside of rush hours the basic interval for buses is mostly either 10, 15, 20, 30 or 60 minutes depending on the length and the demand of the line. Nighttime lines that operate only from 23:30 to 1:30 (and sometimes early morning) are signified by the additional letter N. Recently the tradition of having designated night routes has been broken and replaced with N-variants of daytime routes.
Other letters include:
A: lengthened route, often to Kamppi, Elielinaukio or Rautatientori
B: shortened, less direct route, often a feeder to a nearby metro station
H: trams to/from Koskela and Töölö depots
K: exception in route, often a lengthier route through a neighbourhood or termination somewhere different
R: robot bus
T: exception in route, often involving serving long cul-de-sacs or
V: rush hour route (usually along a highway or busier roads)
Z: faster or more direct route (usually along a highway or busier roads)
Helsinki bus terminals include Kamppi (mainly used for night and rush-hour buses), Rautatientori, Elielinaukio and Hakaniemi. Larger metro stations have their own feeder bus terminals.
Most daytime bus lines run between the hours of 5:30 and 23:45, with the most popular lines running until 1:30. On weekends, night buses operate between 1:30 and 4:00. During these times, there is a direct bus connection to all areas from the centre of Helsinki, while during the daytime for many of the same areas it would require a combination of train and bus or metro and bus to get to the same places. At least 40 such night routes are part of the Helsinki bus network.[10][11] As with daytime buses, the bus drivers do not sell tickets or cards onboard and they must be purchased in advance.[12] Helsinki Central Station is the local transport hub for night buses in the city centre.
The regional bus lines are today managed by HSL in similar manner to the management of the internal lines of Helsinki. The regional lines are specially designed for moving people between important points in the metropolitan area and for the sole purpose of getting to downtown Helsinki. These lines tend to use the fastest possible way to get out of Helsinki, usually through motorways.
Lines from southern Espoo terminate at Kampin keskus during peak hours only, the ones from central Espoo and western Vantaa terminate at Elielinaukio and the ones from northern Vantaa and Kerava terminate at Rautatientori. The last two mentioned are located next to the central railway station. Some lines from central Espoo terminate at Kamppi instead of Elielinaukio.
The operating hours for regional lines are similar to those of internal lines, but the departures are often not as frequent.
At most times, the line numbers are composed of three digits and occasionally a letter or two accompanying them. Two-number regional lines are rare, and thus far only two have been created: 39 Kamppi-Myyrmäki (replaced by trunk bus 30) and 74 Hakaniemi-Porttipuisto (IKEA).
Main article: Helsinki tram network
Helsinki's tram network has been operated continuously with electric drive since 1900 and it is mostly of a traditional type, with all of the tramways located on the streets, on both dedicated tram lanes and in mixed traffic. The network covers the densely populated central districts and some of the adjacent areas, but it has been expanded only very modestly after the 1950s. The network is composed of 10 lines, all of which except one (line 8) run through some part of the city centre. Over 50 million trips are made with the trams each year.
In addition to the streetcar style tram network in and near the city center, Helsinki has a single light rail line (line 15 connecting Keilaniemi and Itäkeskus), with several projects in various stages of planning and construction. The current line 15 is separate from downtown tram lines, but the systems are compatible with each other.[13][14]
All tram and light rail lines are currently operated by Metropolitan Area Transport Ltd.
Main article: Helsinki Metro
The metro is the backbone for traffic east and west of central Helsinki. The system consists of two lines, M1 and M2, with a total of 30 stations.
The metro is managed and operated by HKL.
Main article: Helsinki commuter rail
The commuter rail system is the backbone for the areas northeast and northwest from downtown. The network reaches relatively far from Helsinki with metro-like services from Helsinki to Kerava, Kirkkonummi and the Helsinki Airport. The network is managed by HSL and operated by VR. Trains not managed by HSL reach even further, to Lahti, Tampere via Riihimäki and Kouvola.
Helsinki has three ferry lines, all operated by Suomenlinnan Liikenne Oy. One ferry line connects Suomenlinna to the Market Square. There is also a maintenance ferry to Suomenlinna on weekdays that leaves from Katajanokka. The ferries are the only connection to the mainland for the residents of Suomenlinna, though a tunnel for emergency vehicle access is in place. The third line connects the mainland (from Meritullintori) to the Kruunuvuorenranta.
There is also ferry to the Korkeasaari Zoo, although is not part of the general ticket system. There is a land access to the Zoo with bus number 16.
Main article: Helsinki City Bikes
Helsinki's city bike system was opened in May 2016 with 50 city bike stations and 500 bikes serving the inner city area. The system was expanded in 2017 to cover an additional 100 stations and 1000 bikes.[15][16] Currently the network consists of 345 stations with 3450 bikes. The annual ridership in 2018 was 3,218,800.
Under the new fare system adopted in April 2019 the region is divided onto four arch shaped zones: A, B, C and D. Zone A covers the inner Helsinki to about five kilometers from the Helsinki Central Station. Zone B covers rest of Helsinki (excluding areas in the east added to Helsinki in 2003) and parts of Vantaa and Espoo and whole Kauniainen. It covers up to 14 km from the Central station. Zone C covers the east most parts of Helsinki, rest of Espoo and Vantaa, including the airport, and small parts of Sipoo and Tuusula. Zone D covers most of Sipoo, Tuusula and all of Kerava in the northeast, and Siuntio and Kirkkonummi in the west.
One has to buy at least two zones, although one can buy the D zone separately. One can also buy three or four zones. If one has a pass for 2-3 zones, one can buy additional zones at a reduced price.
The transport system offers a vast number of different tickets and several ways to get them.
Single fare tickets can be bought from ticket machines or by a mobile app. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic the sale of single tickets in buses ended in 2020 and it was later decided to make that permanent. The sale of tickets in trams had ended already in 2018. Each metro station and ferry stop, and most railway stations, are equipped with at least one ticket machine. The cost of an AB or BC ticket for an adult in 2021 is €2.80. For zones ABC it then price is €4.10.
Most users of the public transport have a Travel Card, an RFID card used as an electronic ticket. Users can load period and value on their cards. Period ticket offers unlimited travel for the dates paid for. Value is used to pay for one trip, which may contain changes.
Two zone single trip tickets are valid for one 80–110 minutes depending on the zones used. AB, BC and D tickets have 80 minutes and ABCD has 110 minutes.
On most buses, the driver checks tickets as passengers board. The metro, local trains, trams, ferries, and nine bus lines classified as trunk lines use a proof-of-payment system: fare inspectors check tickets on randomly selected vehicles, and charge a fine of €100 and the price of a single ticket to those who do not have one.[17] If a passenger has forgotten his/her Travel Card with valid travel period, the passenger may later visit a service point of the transport company and will not have to pay the fine.
Public transport
Public transport in Tampere
Urban sprawl | ||||||
5064 | dbpedia | 1 | 78 | https://www.linkedin.com/posts/recogine_how-did-helsinki-make-transit-work-in-the-activity-7199300682590396416-wMFM | en | Recogine on LinkedIn: How did Helsinki make transit work in the suburbs? | https://media.licdn.com/dms/image/sync/v2/D4E27AQH9BjOfD_h-rA/articleshare-shrink_800/articleshare-shrink_800/0/1716301362591?e=2147483647&v=beta&t=JskZrVqZf7KPcrt6t4yFhPJoDk0vbuJyjObqYFNCNJs | https://media.licdn.com/dms/image/sync/v2/D4E27AQH9BjOfD_h-rA/articleshare-shrink_800/articleshare-shrink_800/0/1716301362591?e=2147483647&v=beta&t=JskZrVqZf7KPcrt6t4yFhPJoDk0vbuJyjObqYFNCNJs | [
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] | 2024-05-23T06:50:39.239000+00:00 | 🚇 Helsinki's Public Transit Success Story 🚌
In Helsinki, an efficient public transit system thrives despite low-density suburbs and limited metro coverage… | en | https://static.licdn.com/aero-v1/sc/h/al2o9zrvru7aqj8e1x2rzsrca | https://www.linkedin.com/posts/recogine_how-did-helsinki-make-transit-work-in-the-activity-7199300682590396416-wMFM | Finland: How did Helsinki make transit work in the suburbs? How can efficient suburban transit be achieved with limited metro lines and bus services? Helsinki (Finland) offers an inspiring example and George Liu went there to see it. By optimising bus routes and enhancing its single metro line, Helsinki has successfully created a reliable and cohesive transit system for its suburban areas. This approach highlights the importance of strategic planning and resourceful use of existing infrastructure. Join us in this UMX video as we explore the transformative impact of Helsinki's transit solutions on suburban mobility. Comments: @paulorocky 2 days ago As an Australian, I wish I could pin this to every State and Commonwealth infrastructure agency. But they’ll ignore it as always. @andrijapfc 2 days ago Isn't this...obvious? Toronto has been running transit in this way for decades. Almost every subway station outside of the wider downtown area is a large bus terminus.
🚀 Exciting News! The Urban Road Safety Index 2023 is LIVE! 📊🚗🚲 We've just launched our Urban Road Safety Index, and it's packed with captivating insights. The report explores mobility trends and traffic safety in 25 European cities, and the findings are eye-opening. On top of the list 🥇 is Tallinn, congratulations City of Tallinn! In Istanbul, on the bottom of the list, 73% of respondents have traffic safety concerns. Amsterdam's perception of traffic safety dropped from 72% to 59% in just one year. But that's not all: - In London, 60% of respondents support banning electric mobility (bikes and scooters). - 74% of Rome citizens don’t think authorities do enough when it comes to road safety in their city. - 75% of residents in Helsinki feel there are more accidents in their city since the arrival of ‘electric mobility’. - In Stockholm, 89% of its residents think it would be a good idea to ban alcohol in traffic. - In Antwerp, 53% of residents will cycle less than before due to a possible helmet requirement. Interesting insights to improve traffic safety. Let's work on this together! Curious about all the results? Download the full report free via the link in the comments 👇. #UrbanRoadSafetyIndex #RoadSafety #UrbanMobility #SafetyIndex #CityTrends #Cyclomedia
Dublin ranks the second slowest city in the world when it comes to traffic congestion 🚘 🚦 New data from TomTom, shows trips totalling 10km in Dublin take roughly 29 minutes and 30 seconds. In comparison, Bilbao in Spain, which has a similar population to Dublin, has a travel time of 13 minutes and 40 seconds for journeys of the same distance! It is MPI’s vision that Ireland develops as a global leader in shared sustainable mobility by placing the needs of transport users at the heart of transport policy, enabling innovation, promoting public health, and supporting climate action. 🌎 Shared mobility can help make Dublin a more sustainable and congestion-free urban environment. 🌟 Enterprise Mobility I GoCar Ireland I Yuko Toyota Car Club I Bleeper I MOBY I Aircoach I Payzone Ireland I FREENOW
#sustainable #urban #transit 🎉 Good news: City of #Prague comes 1st in the world as for #accessibility of #frequent #transit 🚊 🚋 🚃 89% of people in The Prague area live within 500m of a transport stop where a bus or train comes every 10 minutes or sooner. 💡 9 key indicators of #sustainable #urban #mobility are measured in 1000+ cities across the world by Institute for Transportation and Development Policy 👏 #Prague also does very well in a number of people living near car-free spaces (ranks 5th) and accessibility of high-capacity public transport within 1km (ranks 28th). 👍 Decent access to healthcare + education services (ranks 42nd) and bikeways + public transport (ranks 46th). 👎 Not so great when it comes to people / pedestrians safe from highways (ranks 574th). 📈 And – many relevant #indicators and #externalities not covered in areas of #cartraffic #emissions #parking #publicspace #safety. Find and compare your city in the Data Atlas here: https://atlas.itdp.org/ Thanks to Bloomberg CityLab for reporting on this Fola Akinnibi https://lnkd.in/eiP7AFJ7
🥇Helsinki, Amsterdam, and Stockholm have been acknowledged as leading cities in urban transportation and recognised as key players in the future of urban mobility. 🚲 According to a study by the Oliver Wyman Forum and University of California, Berkeley, these cities stand out for their robust public transit systems, significant investments in cycling infrastructure, and a commitment to transitioning to sustainable energy sources. 🌟 Cities were given credit for car-free zones and extensive cycling networks, with European cities like Amsterdam leading the way. The density of public transit stations, extensiveness of transport networks and the quality of roads were also taken into account. 🚶One primary focus of the study was to debunk the myth that a city’s transportation landscape is permanent. Cities that consistently invest in transformation have become more efficient and increased their residents’ ease of movement and quality of life. 🔗Read more here: https://lnkd.in/eFn9Fx_Z #AmsterdamRanking #Mobility #UrbanMovement
🚎 Regensburg Votes "No" to Light Rail: A Missed Opportunity for Sustainable Mobility? On Sunday, Regensburg residents voted against the city's proposed light rail system, a move that surprised many. For those unfamiliar, Regensburg is a beautiful Bavarian city on the Danube River, with a population of around 150,000, known for its medieval city center, innovative companies, and warm-hearted people. As a relatively new resident since 2017, coming from Brussels, I quickly became aware of the city's concern about traffic congestion, pollution, and the perceived dominance of cars. Despite already having a good public transport system, including electric buses, car/bike/scooter sharing, and a car-free city center, Regensburg's ambition to further improve sustainable and inclusive mobility led to the idea and intensive preparations of the implementation of a tram network. Although their was a negative vote, I come nevertheless to some very positive conclusions: 👫 Citizen engagement is crucial: The city's decision to involve its residents in this important decision was commendable. Citizen's engagement in the transformation of mobility in cities is not an option, but necessary. 👉 The pursuit of sustainable mobility should not stop: Regensburg should continue to explore and implement innovative solutions for hopefully even more sustainable and inclusive transport. 💡Embrace emerging technologies: The rapid advancements in digitalization, electrification, and automation of transport offer exciting new opportunities for the city to leverage. I want to encourage cities to further strengthen their engagement in understanding and pushing for the development and deployment of most suitable mobility solutions. The future of mobility will be strongly shaped by cities! While the outcome of the vote might be disappointing for quite a few people involved, I would like to open the view that Regensburg is already today very advanced in the implementation of sustainable and citizen-centric mobility 💪 and that such decisions present always a chance for cities to reassess and explore alternative paths towards maybe even more sustainable and inclusive mobility 👍 . Do you agree? What are your views? #Regensburg #SustainableMobility #PublicTransport #UrbanPlanning #Innovation | |||
5064 | dbpedia | 2 | 95 | https://cityofsound.com/2008/04/16/transport-infor/ | en | Sketchbook: Transport informatics | http://www.cityofsound.com/photos/uncategorized/2008/04/14/senseable_city.jpg | http://www.cityofsound.com/photos/uncategorized/2008/04/14/senseable_city.jpg | [
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] | null | [] | 2008-04-16T00:00:00 | The following is a quick survey of new informational approaches to transport, hinging on individual behaviour and engagement via public data. We'll travel from wifi on buses to designs for timetables embedded in the fabric of stations, stopping off at trams in Google Maps and proposals for roboscooter sharing schemes. Data, transported and shaped by… | en | https://s1.wp.com/i/favicon.ico | City of Sound | https://cityofsound.com/2008/04/16/transport-infor/comment-page-1/#comments | The following is a quick survey of new informational approaches to transport, hinging on individual behaviour and engagement via public data. We'll travel from wifi on buses to designs for timetables embedded in the fabric of stations, stopping off at trams in Google Maps and proposals for roboscooter sharing schemes.
Data, transported and shaped by the internet, is increasingly becoming a primary way that people expect to engage with public transport in particular. Engage, as in access and navigate through transport service information, but also explore and understand the transport service itself. This last aspect might sound initially far-fetched – “Why would people want to explore their transport networks?” – but many of these examples indicate that people do. They often go well beyond basic communications initiatives like integrated transport systems and into genuine two-way and many-to-many network-based interaction. Whilst they can do little to help if the eventual public transport service itself is poorly run, built over a well-run system (such as Helsinki’s or Zürich's) such systems might increase satisfaction amongst existing users and attract new users.
Further, engaging with the energy output of transport is something people may directly engage with too, to help shift behaviour. Studies elsewhere, such as Pacific NorthWest National Laboratory of the Energy Department indicate that when exposed to the effects of their behaviour in terms of domestic energy use (electricity, water, gas etc.) via simple PC-based feedback tools, people may change their behaviour, leading to a 15% reduction in peak load on utilities. (And more might be achieved than that, through more sophisticated and better designed schemes.) Will this carry across to transport energy?
So, here are transport systems where usage data has become available – or could become available – and is then built upon, as a way of exploring whether various ‘live dashboards’ of transport across a city will engender new levels of engagement with transport. And whether this will increase awareness of personal behaviour and impact on emissions accordingly.
Some of the examples will have been seen before, so I’d be interested in any further examples you might have of urban informatics applied to transport – please add examples/thoughts via the comment form at the bottom of this post.
A note on the importance of data
A key aspect here is to ensure that transport systems are generating rich data in real-time as a side-effect of their use I.e. not as a discrete activity, measuring performance occasionally, but that systems are in effect working as continuous broadcast networks, each node – tram, bus, bike, car – generating data about its behaviour (effectively they become large ‘spimes’, or aggregates of spimes). Having achieved that, we can measure behaviour and thus measure change. And then feed back information to users to enable them to measure their own change too. The first users of the data should be the transport networks, the public or private bodies that run or legislate them, and the public themselves. This last feedback loop becomes the most interesting, ultimately, as it not only makes the transport systems accountable for their performance, but also enables users to perceive, measure and change their own behaviour.
Each car, bus, tram becomes a node in an informational network, not just the transport network – and visible by the public. Moreover, by opening up this information, people can tinker with their own applications to monitor, explain, explore transport usage – the kind of open approach to data that has fuelled the rapid growth of internet-based systems. (Related: The Personal Well-Tempered Environment) People can engage further with the city, seeing it through the prism of transport, building stronger civic relationships.
Much of the innovation in terms of transport data is from private companies. Here’s a round-up from mainly UK and US sources, based on the work of Christopher Zegras of MIT’s Responsive City Initiative (as cited via MIT researcher supreme Fabien Girardin, who has helpfully collated and discussed many of these issues from numerous angles on his excellent site):
Inrix: data provider from stationary sources, toll systems, 650,000 vehicle probes. They then clean and sort the data and sell to TomTom, Garmin, dash.
Navteq – Traffic.com: road sensor network (the biggest in the USA).
ITIS Holdings and TrafficMaster (cctv, fixed sensors, probes)
TomTom Mobility Solutions: cellphone vehicle tracking project (with Vodafone).
TeleAtlas
Traffic from cellphone triangulation: IntelliOne, AirSage, CellInt
Public transportation real-time transit information and schedules: Hopstop, Transloc, mybus, nextbus, Google Transit
Carbon Hero calculates carbon footprints (alongside many others)
TomTom’s MapShare (user-generated maps for TomTom)
All of these rely on massive amounts of real-time data, then filtered and aggregated. The data used by most city and state governments, however, is often years old (Boston uses data from 1991, which is hopefully a worst case). Zegras suggests that most transport systems have not yet made started capturing this rich data, nor made coherent use of the data they do have. Public-private partnerships would be a good model, given the pace of the private sector’s innovation in this field, but the need for strategic overview and public responsibility lies with the state. Thus it is vital that governments retail full exposure to, and control of, the data.
An alternative approach to garnering data about mobility is that being explored by MIT’s Senseable City experiment, which uses mobile phone data to track the city in real-time. Given the near-ubiquity of mobile phones, this emerges as a statistically valid (aka near-enough) method for tracking movement. While the WikiCity Rome implementation is oriented more towards narrative, the potential for tracking movement – and therefore transport, and therefore transport energy – is there in the project:
“The Notte Bianca implementation allows people access to the real time data on dynamics that occur in the very place they find themselves in, in that moment, creating the intriguing situation that the map is drawn on the basis of dynamic elements of which the map itself is an active part … 'How does having access to real time data in the context of possible action alter the process of decision making in how to go about different activities?'”
Below, some example projects grouped into 10 categories, starting with an overview over transport systems, and then initiatives in specific modes of transport, from cars to walking via taxis, flight and more besides.
1. HOLISTIC
Helsinki
Perhaps the best case study comes from the best public transport system in Europe – as ranked by the European Commission – the Helsinki system, with nine out of ten residents satisfied or extremely satisfied. This is due to many aspects of their service, but a particular advance can be seen in their use of information – within buses and trams, but also at the level of the network itself.
“Every bus and tram in Helsinki and the surrounding cities of Vaanta and Espoo are being fitted with Linux servers and GPS units. Every bus and tram in the conurbation will not only become a wireless hotspot serving broadband internet throughout the vehicle – for free – but every bus and tram is visible on a Google map (the beta version is at tinyurl.com/2gftso) that uses the same real-time passenger information as the controllers in their command centre.”
“The Google map, moreover, is open, meaning that if someone wants to come and improve it or write some extra application, they are free to do so. Not only that, but every bus and tram stop in Helsinki is being fitted with small "near field information" tags that allow anyone with a Nokia cameraphone to take a snap of the tag and launch a Java application bespoke to that stop. This means that you don't have to have to take off your mittens or tap in tricky Finnish place names such as herttoniemenranta when it's -22C and you're faced with sleet's bitter sting.” [The Guardian]
These are all techniques to reduce time at the bus/tram stop and progressively increase time on the bus/tram versus other modes of transport. This is an informational overlay onto public transport that would help shift behaviour away from private transport.
The Guardian concludes:
“What most bus passengers want is a system that shares real-time information with them. Not just at the bus stop, but on our phones, iPods, laptops and websites. They don't want to go to the bus stop to find they have to wait 15 minutes – they want to find out how far away the bus is before they step outside. Now the controllers know where the bus is, soon the passengers will want to know too. How long will they have to wait?”
This indicates the base-level aspirations emerging around public transport now, over and above on-time, comfortable and affordable.
Note that the following map-based system – click to see buses and trams moving in real-time throughout Helsinki – is open. This is an example of this new civic engagement in public transport. Of course, if subsequent user-generated systems or displays become successful and well-implemented, they can be ‘adopted’ by the city, and made secure, resilient and reliable. It’s a common approach to innovation in the technology world.
Transport energy can clearly be displayed using the same techniques I.e. overlaid on these Google Maps-based real-time timetables. And this published to the mobile and personal platforms mentioned above, as well as on displays on bus- and tram-stops, creating an association between saving transport energy and public transport. Not even Helsinki is doing this yet, as far as I know.
Combining real-time data about the various modes of transport would enable this holistic overview of the city’s transport to be published, shared and discussed, leading to far greater engagement from the public. This, in turn, leading to potential behavioural change, particularly if conveyed with imagination, as a series of attainable goals against which progress can be judged on a daily basis. It could sit alongside reward/congestion schemes.
Journey On
“JourneyOn is a unique journey planner for Brighton & Hove. The planner helps you find a route across the city and tells you the cost, time and the number of calories you'd burn whether you walk, cycle, take the bus or go by car. To start just choose your mode of transport from the selection or fill in your journey details below.”
JourneyOn
Google Transit
Publishing the data in an open format, ideally via an API, would enable it to be usable on Google Transit. Perth has recently joined Google Transit, as the first representative of Australian cities. Interestingly from a transport planning perspective, the engineer integrating Perth’s transit data with Google noted the distinct advantage that Perth has in running the only fully integrated public transport system in Australia (in terms of ticketing, journey planning and timetable data).
Google Transit
Octopus Card, Hong Kong and Oyster, London
We often hear rather breathless descriptions of how the Octopus integrated ticketing schemes has extended into many areas of retail. But these aren’t just about ease-of-use and customer loyalty, any more than FlyBy and Tesco Clubcard are. They are far more powerful in terms of data generators, exposing patterns of use in transport networks, and even influencing patterns of use in transit – again, just as Clubcard has given Tesco unprecedented levels of information on consumer habits. As with London’s Oyster, such schemes would convey vast amounts of useful data on patterns of behaviour – suitably anonymised and with privacy taken into account of course.
See-It
In Albuquerque, New Mexico, the city commissioned Vancouver-based company Visible Strategies to use its See-It program (short for Social, Environmental, Economic-Integration Toolkits) to convey how the city was progressing in terms of sustainability strategies. This, on the premise that few citizens will actually read paper-based strategies in detail.
“If you’re interested in Albuquerque’s plans for its buses, for example, follow the “Greening Our Travel” goal to the “Vehicle Efficiency” strategy, where you can read about the fleet’s ongoing conversion to alternative fuels. You’ll also find a graph that evaluates the plan’s progress (on track!) and a form to send feedback to a city manager. “It has forced us to take a good hard look at what data we have and how we measure our success,” says Danny Nevarez, who works at Albuquerque’s Environmental Health Department.”
It relies on data from the city itself, and indicates a richer way of publishing strategy and conveying information. With a bit of imagination, this could be extended by opening up aspects of the data to enable others to re-combine it, and by embedding the displays in bus- and tram-stops etc.
Metropolis magazine on SeeIt
Travel-time maps, correlated with house prices
“UK-based non-profit MySociety teamed up with Stamen Design to develop some innovative time-travel maps. The snapshot of the map that you see above shows where you can live in London with a commute between 30 to 60 minutes where the median house price is over £230, 000. As you adjust the sliders, the map changes in realtime letting you adjust the commute times from 0 up to 90 minutes and the housing price from 0 to £990,00. The Department of Transportation, who requested the work, is the map's center (and basis for the commute times).”
O'Reilly Radar on Travel Time Maps
Stamen's Tom Carden on their Travel Time Maps
Analysing Madrid’s volume of traffic
These beautiful visualisations – called Cascade on Wheels – indicate two ways of modelling volume of traffic through Madrid’s centre. It’s based on a static data-set, but indicates an interactive system for exploring the pattern of behaviour over the terrain, in an almost tactile fashion. While the information itself could also be communicated in an Excel spreadsheet, and usually would have been for years, these new ways of visualising and handling the data do appear to add a deeper level of engagement – almost visceral – with the material.
One of the outputs is a sound-based interface, which is an interesting and under-used variant on exploring such data.
Steph Thirion, one of the creators of Cascade on Wheels, notes the importance of the visualisation:
“Most traffic mappings are realtime information for drivers, to help them trace their route depending on the current state of traffic. The broader view, which is representing the average quantities over time, is not so popular. That's a shame, because this is about something that affects every single inhabitant of the city, not just the drivers. And the existing maps that cover this subject usually have failed to make that data truly readable. So I wouldn't complain of a lack of data, but I think there's a blank space that is begging to be drawn on. I'd love to see more visualizations on this subject.“ [WorldChanging]
Here are a couple of short videos of the tool in action:
WorldChanging interview with Steph Thirion
2. CARS
Car-sharing schemes
Car-rental models could be usefully stimulated in order to reduce reliance on private cars (in a sense, just as bike-sharing schemes have). Both ZipCar and Flexicar in the US have struggled to turn a profit, despite some popularity, and ultimately merging (with not great consequences, allegedly). However, in part this is due to the established players of Hertz and Enterprise picking up on the business model. (See also Smartdrivers and GoGet in Australia; Whizzgo and CityCarClub in the UK etc. Note that Whizzgo cars are exempt from the London congestion charge, hinting at the integration with these wider strategies.) These systems tend to increasingly rely on Google Maps and access/identification systems, and could publish data about usage, enabling it to be folded into the holistic model described above.
The founder of the US’s most successful car-sharing network gave a talk last year about seeing transport systems as ‘mesh networks’, connecting in real-time in order to optimise service.
“Robin Chase: Getting cars off the road and data into the skies". See also StreetsBlog.
“From my Zipcar experience and from watching congestion pricing played out in London and Stockholm, I've learned that money — market pricing, or accurate reflection of pricing — is what turns people's behavior on a dime. If we're serious, that's where we have to go. Marketing is everything and wireless technologies bring us to a totally different world of possibility. Zipcar and car-sharing is one example of how the ability to rent a car by the hour easily and therefore pay almost full car costs for that hour causes people to drive dramatically less. You don't run out and buy your quart of ice cream, because it's going to cost you ten bucks to buy that quart of ice cream. You say OK, I'll do without, I'll eat cookies, I'll pick up ice cream tomorrow.”
See also ride-sharing, by GoLoco, enabled via the web and social-software techniques.
How route choice can be affected by real-time traffic information.
“Route Choice Behaviour of Freeway Travellers Under Real-time Traffic Information Provision – Application of the Best Route and the Habitual Route Choice Mechanisms.”
This paper investigates route choice behaviour on freeways between Taipei and Taichung in Taiwan under the provision of real-time traffic information. This hints at the effects of analytical data fed back in real-time and displayed on-street.
“The results confirm that the thresholds for changing the inertia behaviour of drivers should be larger than the ones for choosing the best routes. In addition, the drivers are more likely to choose either the best or the habitual routes once the generalised cost savings are greater than the identified threshold values.”
Congestion charging
Based on London’s and Stockholm’s experience, many other cities are also now considering congestion charging. (New York State has recently voted against introducing it, indicating a classic state/city split, perhaps, amongst other things.) Again, though, the interesting aspect here is how such systems generate date about transport in the city or state.
The technology behind London’s scheme has recently switched to IBM – there are no details thus far of plans for better feedback to users, or opening up the data and combining with other transit data, as in the idea above.
“IBM was involved in a tag and beacon trial in Stockholm in 2006 which covered 24km of the city, affected 350,000 car journeys per day and reduced car traffic by 25 per cent. According to the company, the city's bus timetables had to be redesigned because of the increased average speed of journeys. The trial allowed the city to vary charges throughout the day, with drivers paying the charge through a direct debit account as they passed the beacons.”
See also the variable pricing congestion charging system proposed as an upgrade of Singapore’s Electronic Road Pricing (ERP).
“The Singapore government has initiated a trial project to study the feasibility of a GPS based second-generation ERP system to meet the requirements of congestion pricing.”
All these systems rely on sensors generating useful data, that could be multiplied with the public transport data from other systems.
Kansas traffic monitoring
The Kansas City Scout offers visualisations of live traffic over their road networks, linked in to traffic cameras and signage displays.
In-car navigation systems
It’d be interesting to see cities liaising with manufacturers of sat-nav devices, not least to prevent the increase in accidents when lorries are led down roads not suitable for them, despite it being a quicker route. Could sat-nav systems in cities prioritise certain routes over others, to the benefit of the region as well as individual drivers? (See also Taipei/Taichung paper earlier on route-choice.)
Traffic detection
A new edition of the traffic detector handbook describes the various sensor technologies available.
The webfront retail model: displacing car traffic through home delivery
This emerging model is being trialled in a few stores now: the customer visits the store, tries on the clothes (or tries out other goods), and then orders them for immediate home delivery (you actually pay a premium if you want it immediately and carry them home yourself). It’s effectively a “physical trial space for online shopping”, which plays on its sustainability credentials as well as convenience. It enables shoppers to be downtown on foot, bike or public transport and not have to worry about the car.
“Is it greener to shop on foot or online and then have the stuff delivered? Well, surprisingly (at least to me) the answer is generally yes. Sometimes it's much greener. The ecological cost of driving a number of online purchases in one truck (a truck, I might note, that is increasingly likely to itself be more efficient than some US cars) on a pre-set route (programmed to also be highly-efficient) is a small fraction of the ecological cost of driving to and from the store to get them yourself.” [WorldChanging]
See also Brand Avenue.
A reversal of the business model of Ikea and other big box retailers, pushing the urban downtown onto the front foot again. Supported by smart web-based delivery estimate systems (“Your package is 12 minutes away, on Birrell Street …”). Becoming known as the webfront retail model, these stores need only a small footprint, and therefore fit well into older shopping streets, laneways etc. Could this be something city governments could push, as a subtle way of increasing retail mix in urban centres and helping reduce individual car traffic in favour of more efficient home delivery models?
3. SCOOTER
RoboScooter
An MIT project, which is a functioning deployed version of their more innovative CityCar research project, is a foldable and then stackable scooter (rear wheel tucks inside front) being built by Taiwan-based SYM. The interesting aspect of the model is the distributed rental model, a la ZipCar. Each scooter has its own GPS unit, thus could be trackable (and capable of generating usage data)
“Developers originally envisioned charging racks distributed throughout a city, which could double as rental stations where users would buy a one-way trip. If SYM ever decides to take that leap, adopting a business model that’s a cross between services like Zipcar in the U.S. and the successful Parisian bicycle rental program, it could be the biggest endorsement yet of one-way, short-trip vehicle rentals.” [Popular Mechanics]
See also NYT and the scooter project site at MIT.
William Mitchell, leader of the Smart Cities group at MIT, suggests a slightly different model for the USA – with scooter rented for trips to destinations, and cars rented for journey back, so the scooters should be seen in the context of their wider CityCars programme. This is more ambitious but fascinating.
“By placing stacks in urban spaces and key points of convergence, the vehicle allows the citizens the flexibility to combine mass transit effectively with individualized mobility. The stack receives incoming vehicles and electrically charges them. Similar to luggage carts at the airport, users simply take the first fully charged vehicle at the front of the stack. The City car is NOT a replacement for personal vehicles, taxis, buses, or trucks; it is a NEW vehicle type that promotes a socially responsible and more effective means of urban mobility.”
MIT: CityCar
4. CYCLING
Bicycle-sharing schemes
Velib’ in Paris, Vélo’v in Lyons, and Bicing in Barcelona have proved hugely successful (all cities with significant road systems, as well as dense urban cores). And Velib’ is now moving to London.
Photo via Inhabitat
Data underpins both systems – in terms of access and payment – but the data on usage could be revealed better to users than it is. Again, Fabien Girardin at MIT has done some great work here:
“This kind of accumulated data can help people to grasp the availability and quality of the system over space and time (e.g. do not expect to encounter available bikes in the Eixample neighborhood on a sunny sunday or it is hard to return from the beach in the evening).”
His video available here. The patterns in the data tell the story of Barcelona on a sunny Sunday evening – the bikes moving from the beach, back to the city.
Velib’ has been mapped by Girardin in the same way:
These systems (when implemented holistically, with better bike lane access enabled alongside) have already been undeniably successful, creating a new engagement with the city. Data-based experiments such as these are also manifestations of this new level of engagement in public transport that the internet can engender.
Gordon Price, in his recent PriceTags PDF on Velib’, noted the possibilities for informing urban planning that Velib’ affords:
“”Imagine the patterns and lessons to be found as the system learns more and more about how it is being used – a transportation and urban planner’s dream.”
Bike network 2.0
Boston appointed a ‘bike czar’, Nicole Freedman, and her team has used Google Maps to create a set of bike routes across the city, based on the aggregated data from actual routes that cyclists took across the city
“We found out where the actual desire lines are,” said Freedman, and has since extended the network to enable users to rate streets for bikes. It’s a little rudimentary at the moment, but shows the promise of such systems. Boston are building the city’s first official bike map from the results of the system.
View Larger Map
5. BUS
Wifi-enabled buses
Southern California has seen an influx of wifi-enabled buses (see also Helsinki, above). The Google Bus is a private system, but offers a similar level of service to that of Helsinki’s public network. Both set the bar for bus or light rail travel of the near-future (with laptops, there are issues when standing on buses/trams of course.)
“The company now ferries about 1,200 employees to and from Google daily — nearly one-fourth of its local work force — aboard 32 shuttle buses equipped with comfortable leather seats and wireless Internet access. Bicycles are allowed on exterior racks, and dogs on forward seats, or on their owners’ laps if the buses run full. Riders can sign up to receive alerts on their computers and cellphones when buses run late. They also get to burnish their green credentials, not just for ditching their cars, but because all Google shuttles run on biodiesel. Oh, and the shuttles are free.” [Wired]
Almeda County in California also runs wifi-enabled public buses now. Note the wifi is a free service.
There are some fears this might increase sprawl but they seem a little misplaced. Either way, in cities that already sprawl it’s a way of making public transport more attractive through information (particularly as phones become wifi-enabled, as well as laptops.) This is something that private transport cannot compete with.
Rethinking bus stops
MIT’s research project “Re-thinking the Paris bus line”, in conjunction with Paris RATP, provided a few prompts as to how to re-think buses and bus-stops in the context of urban informatics. Points 3 and 4 below are more do-able, initially.
Self-Organizing Bus System
In the ubiquitously networked urban environment, the increasing possibility to control complex dynamic systems in real time with computers and to be seamlessly connected to portable devices allows us to design intelligently self-organizing bus routes.
Reconfiguring the Bus
We can reconfigure the bus so that it can be structurally much more connected to the urban environment, to people and to city services. Moreover, by embedding electronic intelligence, sensors and communication systems in buses, we can escape the traditional bus design and explore innovative solutions that are more adapted to people's needs.
Electronic Guimard
We suggest new designs for bus stops that can take particular advantage of electronic displays and create a unique character for Paris, establishing new urban identities.
Neighborhood Concierge
Bus stops are not only entry points to buses, but also to local life in surrounding neighborhoods.
MIT: Rethinking bus stops
MIT: RATP
6. RAIL
Mapping real-time trains traffic
The earlier Helsinki example above is based on the transport authority’s open approach to data. These two examples from users, centred on France and Switzerland, use published timetables in a more predictive approach.
That man Fabien Girardin says:
“Since (these) train operators do not disclose the actual location of a train, these services must use indirect ways to collect these data. Where Are Trains (France) parses online schedule boards of different stations such as the one of Paris Montparnasse. The position of the train obtained in real-time upon Arrivals and with at least a 1-h delay for departures. Then the system uses pre-builded time profiles to estimate the current location of trains by-passing potential stopovers. Similarly Train Map (Switzerland) uses train timetable, and does not yet show the actual GPS-positions of the trains. “But, as Swiss trains are almost always on time, most of the time the position is accurate”
Where Are Trains (France)
Train Map (Switzerland)
See also Dublin’s trains, with data scraped from IrishRail and overlaid onto Google Maps.
“Every 15 minutes, I'm taking the realtime (not timetables) suburban rail info from IrishRail.ie, scraping it into a useful data structure, then writing it to XML. I then plot this onto Google Maps, with the help of the routes and stations data file.”
Public information design of timetables
Stamen Design in San Francisco produced designs for SOM’s new TransBay Transit Center and Tower, embedding real-time transit information into the fabric of the building.
“E.J. Marey famously demonstrated that a train schedule can be much more than a simple list of numbers and times—it can be deeply informative, rich in meaning and pattern, and a joy to use. The entranceway to the Transbay tower affords an opportunity to bring these ideas to the public in a lush new way, by using the walls of the building itself as an enormous indicator of upcoming transit activity as it passes through the terminal. Trains, buses and other transit types are tracked in this system, and their positions and times to departure are indicated by their distance from the outside edge of the building. A passenger approaching the station from the street can find out just how much time they have until their train or bus departs, without having to do the mental math of checking the current time versus a posted schedule which may or may not be accurate. Over time, passengers could develop a mental model of the transit system at various times throughout the day, and understand quickly whether they need to run to catch their ride or have time for a drink at one of the Transit Center's many cafes and restaurants.”
By opening up data, external designers can produce information design works of high quality. Of course, professional designers can be employed to embed such information into the fabric of buildings and places too. In this case, Stamen’s designs aim to create engagement with public transport and the city, while remaining useful above all, in much the same way that the Flinders Street Station clocks have become symbols for Melbourne. Again, this indicates a form of informational work possible with public transport that really doesn’t have a parallel with private transport.
Stamen: SOM Transbay Tower
VHST
The latest Very High Speed Trains (VHST) such as the Spanish AVE, provide wifi on the train. They aim to sell this to business travellers initially, but then make more widely accessible. Wifi is far easier to implement in trains than aircraft.
“Spain’s AVE trains feature Internet access with video and audio players, reclining chairs, conference rooms, superior cooling and air conditioning, and dedicated restaurant cars. What’s more, passengers are refunded their entire fare when trains are more than five minutes late (but don’t get your hopes up, AVE is on-time 98% of the time).” [Dwell]
7. TAXI
Cabspotting
As with the information design above, Stamen have also placed GPS locators in cabs in San Francisco, to produce the CabSpotting project, which provides new layers of analysis into cab movements in the city. While this appears to be more of an artwork/R&D piece than a useful real-time public service, it too indicates the creative potential in this data. If this were extended to extrapolate transport energy data, how could this be conveyed to the public?
Stamen: Cabspotting
8. AIRCRAFT
As above, external flight tracking systems are now common e.g. Flight Aware and fboweb.com.
9. MARITIME
And as above, but with ships – Sailwx. How to encourage this, make visible, and extend to map transport energy (would be interesting in context of food miles)?
See also San Francisco Bay maritime traffic in real time:
10. WALKING
Walkit
Walkit provides a platform for user-generated walking routes in London, Birmingham, Edinburgh and Newcastle/Gateshead, including a set of new air pollution-aware walking routes, in conjunction with the City of London, UK’s environment agency and several inner-London boroughs.
Londoners are used to walking – as with many European urban dwellers – but it’s generally less common in many ‘New World’ cities in USA and Australia. There it could use a little help from services like Walkit. "Check out the map above – through several parks and … with no regard for one-way streets" says one US-based site, breathlessly. "It even calculates calories and CO2 saved based on walking speed and compared to other means of transportation. You can even choose low pollution routes that avoid ambling near heavy traffic"
Finally, the following images are from two great posts at Pruned about piezo arrays and crowd farms. They discuss how pedestrian movement through spaces can generate small amounts of electricity via piezo arrays. They could also generate vast amounts of data about movement through a space, whilst usefully powering itself. | ||
5064 | dbpedia | 0 | 63 | https://www.euronews.com/travel/2021/04/12/passenger-trains-between-finland-and-sweden-moves-a-step-closer | en | These European neighbours share a 545-km border but no train line. This new route will connect them | [
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] | 2021-04-12T00:00:00 | It's been three decades since the last passenger train ran between Finland and Sweden. But that looks like it's about to change | en | /apple-touch-icon.png | euronews | https://www.euronews.com/travel/2021/04/12/passenger-trains-between-finland-and-sweden-moves-a-step-closer | Fans of slow travel might soon be able to journey all the way from central Europe, through Sweden and Finland and ending up in Lapland.
Despite sharing a 545-kilometre border, Sweden and Finland's railways are not connected.
But that looks set to change. Plans were announced in 2021 to join the two countries by connecting tracks in Laurila in northern Finland to the nearby Swedish town of Haparanda.
And preparatory work for the electrification of the line to allow this to happen is set to start this month.
It is hoped a cross-border passenger train between the two countries will lead to long-distance travel from the south.
Can you take a train from Finland to Russia or other countries?
Finland had been growing as a tourist destination before the pandemic with over seven million visitors in 2019. Yet despite the fact that the majority come from other European countries, there are currently no cross-border rail passenger routes.
Since the outbreak of the war in Ukraine passenger services to neighbours Russia have been stopped.
The most densely populated areas of Finland and Sweden are in the south where they are separated by the Baltic Sea so a railway has not been viable in the region.
And a proposed Arctic railway connecting Finland to Norway was halted after protests by the Sami community over the impact the project would have on reindeer.
What are the benefits of cross-border rail?
In 2021, rail connections between Haparanda and the rest of Sweden restarted. Once the electrification works between it and Laurila are completed, a passenger service would be able to run, linking Finland to the Swedish town and in turn to the rest of the country.
It’s part of the Laurila–Tornio–Haparanda railway project. The project will electrify the railway and the section crossing the border on the Haparanda side. The project also includes the electrification of railway bridges and other necessary sturctural changes.
The decision to run a passenger train on the line is separate, but according to Finland’s national public broadcasting company YLE, officials are optimistic.
“We will certainly get that transport, because sustainable forms of transport are needed all the time. I want to believe that the transport will start in 2025 or 2026 at the latest, when Oulu is the European Capital of Culture,” Tornio's director of development Sampo Kangastalo said in an interview with the broadcaster.
And the new line could give a boost for tourism in Lapland.
“I think that train travel is something that is more and more in demand, and we haven’t been able to offer that from international destinations so far,” says Nina Forsell, Executive Manager at the Finnish Lapland Tourist Board.
She believes air travel will remain important for the region, but it’s good to be able to offer tourists a choice. | ||||
5064 | dbpedia | 0 | 62 | https://www.wikiwand.com/en/Tram | en | Wikiwand | [
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] | null | [] | null | A tram is a type of urban rail transit consisting of either individual railcars or self-propelled multiple unit trains that run on tramway tracks on urban public streets; some include segments on segregated right-of-way. The tramlines or tram networks operated as public transport are called tramways or simply trams/streetcars. Due to their close similarities, trams are commonly included in the wider term light rail, which also includes systems separated from other traffic. | en | Wikiwand | https://www.wikiwand.com/en/Tram | "Streetcar" redirects here. For other uses, see Tram (disambiguation) and Streetcar (disambiguation).
Not to be confused with trackless train.
A tram (also known as a streetcar or trolley in the United States and Canada) is a type of urban rail transit consisting of either individual railcars or self-propelled multiple unit trains that run on tramway tracks on urban public streets; some include segments on segregated right-of-way.[1][2][3] The tramlines or tram networks operated as public transport are called tramways or simply trams/streetcars. Due to their close similarities, trams are commonly included in the wider term light rail,[4] which also includes systems separated from other traffic.
Tram vehicles are usually lighter and shorter than main line and rapid transit trains. Most trams use electrical power, usually fed by a pantograph sliding on an overhead line; older systems may use a trolley pole or a bow collector. In some cases, a contact shoe on a third rail is used. If necessary, they may have dual power systems—electricity in city streets and diesel in more rural environments. Occasionally, trams also carry freight. Some trams, known as tram-trains, may have segments that run on mainline railway tracks, similar to interurban systems. The differences between these modes of rail transport are often indistinct and a given system may combine multiple features. | |||||
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5064 | dbpedia | 1 | 80 | https://timhowgego.wordpress.com/cities_in_motion/ | en | Cities in Motion | [
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] | null | [] | 2019-09-03T17:29:11+00:00 | A gameplay guide and strategic walkthrough to the original Cities in Motion, a game developed by Colossal Order and released by Paradox Interactive in 2011. This guide is for the base Windows game with no DLC. Strategies should be applicable more widely. The introductory sections describe approaches to Network Design, Development, Engineering, Vehicles and Staff,… | en | Tim Howgego | https://timhowgego.wordpress.com/cities_in_motion/ | A gameplay guide and strategic walkthrough to the original Cities in Motion, a game developed by Colossal Order and released by Paradox Interactive in 2011. This guide is for the base Windows game with no DLC. Strategies should be applicable more widely.
The introductory sections describe approaches to Network Design, Development, Engineering, Vehicles and Staff, and Achievements.
The specifics of each campaign scenario are then outlined:
Berlin Foundations
A Relic of the Golden Age
Modernizing Vienna
A City Divided
The Heiress of Helsinki
Vienna Goes Green
Berlin Reunited
High Living in Amsterdam
Financial Crisis
Helsinki Olympic Games
Part with Petrol
The Fair City
Network Design
Cities in Motion assumes:
Modes differ in efficiency: Bus is low-volume and cheap to operate, metro is high-volume and expensive, tram in between. Ferry (mid-volume over water) and helicopter (low-volume over distance) are generally only appropriate where geography limits land-based options.
Efficiency varies with demographic density: Sparse villages may only suit bus, while dense city centres may overload even trams.
Passengers attempt to travel to places important to them: Shopping centres, colleges and railway termini typically have greatest draw.
Journeys presume interchange: Passenger journeys may switch from bus to tram to metro, and then vice versa. Consequently the more interconnected a network, the more passengers any one route will carry.
The most basic principle of efficient network design in Cities in Motion is “hub and spoke“: Use short bus routes to feed local tram routes, and then use those tram routes to feed cross-city metro routes. This keeps each mode operating efficiently, and critically maximises revenue, since passengers pay for each mode used separately.
Beginner Tip: Any network that attempts to move passengers from door-to-door without interchange will tend not to generate sufficient revenue because each journey is only charged once. Cities in Motion invites the player to mimic common principles in continental European public transport network design, and does not respond well to anything else.
Bus routes should be used to achieve full local coverage of houses and minor employers, especially on the edge of cities. They should not be used to connect popular destinations together, and should not be used in the most densely built-up areas of cities. Trams should not be relied upon for cross-city travel.
When designing the network, try to keep major interchanges within the radius of important destinations. This will tend to focus journeys to popular destinations on the modes most able to deal with larger volumes of passengers. Metro (to-tram) stations should ideally service shopping centres, colleges, hospitals, stadia, or large railway and airport termini. Tram-to-bus interchanges should try to identify local hubs, such as clusters of offices, or a local grocery store or cinema.
Beginner Tip: When starting a new map, pause and get a sense for where the main interchange hubs should be. Conceptualise at least a future metro network to link those hubs, even if only a very small part of that network is initially constructed.
All that outlines the guiding principles of network design, not hard rules. For example:
Suburban metro stations may inevitably have limited catchment areas which are best connected directly by bus.
Densely built-up inner cities may need to be entirely served by trams, or even entirely by metros, simply to convey the volume of passengers without causing traffic gridlock.
Cities with wide boulevards and large squares may allow trams a greater range than those dominated by narrow streets.
A well designed network will always trump policy (wage, fare, maintenance) micromanagement: Network design is by far the most important gameplay skill.
Development
Cities in Motion features no public transport competitors, and your reputation is based only on the services you actually provide, so there is no need to initially try and serve the entire city. It is entirely plausible to operate locally. However, without providing a network that invites interchange, revenue potential is low.
So the initial aim when developing a new city map should be a sufficiently large network to promote lucrative bus-tram-metro-tram-bus journeys. Such a network may be as simple as one pair of metro stations, with a couple of tram lines at either end, each linking to a couple of highly local bus routes. Initially focus on areas with high population density (look for tenements) and popular destinations (especially shopping centres, colleges and railway termini).
Beginner Tip: Although metro-only routes can be profitable, especially if they link popular destinations in densely built-up cities, a more limited network that promotes interchange onto metro is generally even more profitable.
The initial cost of constructing such a network can be met by taking out loans. The network should generate far greater profit than the cost of the loan repayments. Use the profits to add further blocks to the network – a metro extension with corresponding tram and bus feeder routes.
The “hub and spoke” network design outlined above should ensure a reasonable balance of vehicles to route length, to keep wait times acceptable. Excessive queues at stops likely indicate insufficient capacity: Add extra vehicles to a line until the queues at its stops fall below the capacity of the vehicles on the route. Aim to stop the queues growing, not to keep every single passenger happy. A complete redesign of local services may be required if:
Many extra vehicles are being added to manage queues at just one stop – try to find a better balance of destinations.
Vehicles start routinely queuing behind one another to enter a stop – split or partly duplicate the line.
Scenario objectives that involve building expensive metro lines need to balance the cost of any diversion against the reward. Prior awareness of upcoming objectives is (unfortunately) very helpful in strategic planning.
However most scenario objectives can be treated as bonus “free” money: Objectives that require only a connection can be completed by building a bus stop at each location, adding a temporary bus route with a vehicle temporarily borrowed from another line, claiming the reward, then immediately moving the vehicle back to its original line and selling the new bus stops. Lines that also require passengers to be transported simply need to be maintained until the objective is met.
Beginner Tip: Scenario objectives are potentially rewarding distractions to be managed. They are not tutorial guidance, and rarely suggest the most profitable routes.
Engineering
Metros can be constructed at 3 different levels below the surface, as indicated by the 1/2/3 icon that appears next to the construction toolbar. To have a metro track change level, build at the initial level, select the icon for the next level, then click on the built track and drag sufficient distance for a ramp to appear that changes level. Transitions to the surface require a similar dragging of track between level 1 and an underground-to-overground section (confusingly, underground-to-overground sections do not drop as low as level 1).
Deeper metro tracks are slightly more expensive to construct. Shallow rivers can only be crossed by metro tracks at level 2 and 3. Deep rivers and seas require level 3. Otherwise different metro track depths allow lines to cross without conflict between trains. That is useful in densely trafficked networks, for example where more than one route through the city centre is required to provide sufficient capacity.
Early century trams are short, relatively slow, and may have little road traffic to deal with, so can appear to suit a similarly simple line design to buses. However later articulated trams are far longer and faster, so particularly benefit from long sections of traffic-free running with wide turning circles and station stops that have no junction conflicts on either side: Fluid tram stop design becomes far more important with later eras, to ensure articulated trams can get in and out of stations without delay, and thus make the most of their high top speeds between stops.
Trams operate best when running out of road traffic:
Ideally, build tram tracks across roads, rather than running tracks along roads. The construction of tram tracks, especially near complex road junctions, may require some trial and error to obtain the desired alignment.
Take full advantage of boulevards to place tracks in between roads. Use green space where possible without compromising the overall length of the route too much. Parks may need clutter (lamp-posts or paths) to be removed first, especially when hilly.
Where no open space is available, watch prevailing road traffic levels and try to avoid the busiest roads. Double-carriageway roads may appear preferable to single-carriageway, but traffic conflicts with the tram can be just as intense. Remember trams can often continue along dead-end streets, which have little road traffic.
Plan conflicts with bus routes and other tram routes. Traffic jams are easily self-inflicted, and in extreme cases trams can become gridlocked, forcing a reset (toggle the red/green operating flag).
It is possible that the redevelopment of civic squares or green space destroy your tram lines – and even whole metro stations whose entrance conflicts. Some visual warning is provided by the appearance of a construction site and crane, and the scrolling update text may refer to a “zoning conflict” on a coming date, but it can be hard to judge exactly where the future buildings will appear.
Vehicles and Staff
The appendix lists all vehicles in the base game.
In general, buy the most modern vehicles available, since these tend to be faster and have greater capacity: Both factors allow more passengers to be conveyed, but at much the same (wage, fuel and maintenance) cost as older vehicles, thus generate more profit – and remain more competitive with the private car. The advantages of unreliable vehicle designs need to be balanced by the need to set a higher maintenance spend. Longer vehicles (especially articulated trams and buses) occupy more roadspace, which can raise operational problems – but this issue implies engineering or network design changes, and is often unavoidable in later eras.
Early-game, profitable operation is often premised on partial maintenance – the default is 50% spend on the policy panel:
For stops, this is a largely cosmetic option for boosting reputation: Stops won’t breakdown mid-journey as a result of poor maintenance. Reputation is, however, generally easiest to boost by providing an effective transport service (where queue times are not excessive), rather than focusing on the quality of the shelters.
For vehicles, reliability declines with age. The rate of decline depends on the maintenance spend and the quality of the vehicle. Early maintenance savings will reduce the working life of the vehicle. Generally, keep vehicle maintenance low until profitability is obtained, then raise the maintenance percentage to keep operation reliable.
Well paid drivers spend less time at stops, so operate more efficiently. Inspectors raise revenue from fines. Technicians improve reliability. Office workers add reputation. Each may be important in certain circumstances – efficiency, revenue, reliability and reputation respectively.
Achievements
Almost all the game’s achievements can be “achieved” by creating and playing a custom map prepared in such a way as to make the achievement easy. LogOutGames provides some pre-created “cheat” maps. The only exceptions are the four city-name achievements – Amsterdam Aid, Bested Berlin, Helsinki Helper, and Veteran of Vienna – which require the entire European campaign to be played through, both accepting and completing all the respective city’s objectives in every scenario featuring the city.
Caution: The campaign achievements are extremely miss-able because scenarios may offer the final (scenario-ending) objective before all other possible objectives have been offered. Accepting the completion of the final objective automatically ends the scenario, but it is possible to ignore the final objective by not pressing accept (just close any window instead) until you have been offered and completed all the other objectives. Achievement completionists will need to pay careful attention to the objectives listed in the scenario summaries below.
There are several achievements that are neither likely to be obtained in regular play, nor are easily contrived:
A Complete Collection (all vehicles): Play a map for a century from 1940 (all vehicles from the 1920s are still available in 1940) until the mid-2000s, acquiring one of every vehicle along the way (Paradox forum discussion). The appendix lists all vehicles in the base game, but DLC vehicles may also contribute to the total, so you may not need everything listed there. Acquiring vehicles through the campaign scenarios may stall progress, possibly because the timeline shifts between eras (Steam forum discussion). If stalled, try closing the game, backing-up and deleting the “Cities In Motion” user folder, and then playing through a fresh sandbox map from 1940, saving progress to just one file.
Bottom Feeder (0% coverage): At the start of a new scenario simply destroy an important civic building, such a college.
For Miles and Miles! (10 kilometre route): Loop a route around a large map.
Four Corners of the Earth (connect Berlin sites): Tempelhof (between the large airport terminal in the south-east and the neighbouring church), Alexanderplatz (large square opposite the north-east railway terminal), Schloss Charlottenburg (western town hall, just north of the hospital and department store – any bus stop must be on the northern side of the street to be in range) and Potsdamer Platz (just north of the central railway terminal, later replaced by an office complex). Narestel provides more detail.
Got It Covered (100% coverage): Cover the tutorial map (the smallest), including tram stops at the exit roads from the map. AtomicDay provides a detailed guide.
Honored Citizen (100% reputation): Some combination of no debt, good service, happy (well-paid) office staff, advertising campaigns, and scenario reputation rewards.
Overly Optimized (1000 passengers using 5 or less vehicles): Try a single metro line, with a few stations serving densely populated areas of a city. Easiest in later eras, when vehicles tend to be larger.
Progress toward Steam achievements is logged in the file state.gs, found in the user’s “Cities In Motion” folder, with each achievement awarded on Steam only when completed. Progress alone is not recorded by Steam.
1. Berlin Foundations
The campaign starts with Berlin in 1920. Berlin is well suited to metro and tram, even in 1920. Buses are best kept out of the congested city centre. The strongest market is typically the east-west axis, from the the department store on Leipzinger, past the central (Potsdamer) and western railway terminals, up slightly north-west toward the department store and hospital on the western edge of the city. There are also very viable routes from the centre to the airport and up to the north-east. Avoid the south-west initially, which is sparsely populated.
Very little network development is required to complete this scenario, although you will be back here later, so the underlying geography is worth learning. Take a loan and build a fragment of a metro line with appropriate local tram or bus feeders – preferably in the territory of the notable objectives listed below. The learning curve will be quite steep if this is your first map, but an understanding of proper network design and development (read above) will quickly turn around any rookie loss-making frustrations.
Notable objectives:
Dot to Dot – connect the 3 existing (bus) lines. As with most of these “connection” objectives, add and momentarily operate a temporary bus route to gain the 3000 cash reward. Best temporary, since maintaining the link will overload any connection not made by metro, and likely also overload the 3 original bus lines (because they carry far more passengers once attached to the network).
New Tram Line – build a tram line connecting the college next to the 2 hospitals in the north, central (Potsdamer) railway terminal, and theatre next to the western railway terminal and amusement park. “To” means these places must be in the radius of a tram stop. Build the theatre station to serve the amusement park gates (for How Amusing! later). Route the theatre-railway axis slightly north through the fields to avoid traffic, with no intermediate stops until the route can be mirrored by a metro.
More Money – have 15,000 cash. Take a loan if needed, although such should then be invested, primarily into a metro (see The Great Invention).
The Great Invention – build a metro line from the college in the north-east (opposite the theatre) to the police station in the far south (just south-west of the airfield). The college is a reasonable destination for a metro, the police station less so. Initially focus your metro-building more towards the city centre, where passenger volumes will be high and the metro most profitable, then extend the metro line towards the places required.
Raising Profile – reputation 80%. Some combination of no debt, good service, happy (well-paid) staff and advertising campaigns.
Modernize Now! – buy 10 stops and 4 vehicles (any kind).
One Last Thing (final) – transport 120 passengers and have 15,000 cash. Take a loan if needed.
A Helping Hand – buy 3 bus/tram vehicles.
End of the Line – connect bus/tram lines to both ends (college and police station) of the metro line. “Hub and spoke” feeders which you should already be providing around metro stations.
Other connection objectives can usually be completed using temporary bus routes if desired and are not important strategically, so are simply listed: Boy Scouting, Far-Away Farm, How Amusing!, The Lord’s Flock, Hotel Hotline, Jamboree!, and Agricultural Aid.
Beginner Tip: To establish a temporary route simply to meet the needs of an objective, build stops within range of the required places, connect them with a single point-to-point route, add a vehicle, open the line, advance time by a few seconds and claim the reward. Then recover the vehicle, delete the route, and demolish the stops. In some cases a certain number of passengers will first need to be transported, in which case add intermediate stops that allow interchange with the wider network.
2. A Relic of the Golden Age
Amsterdam in the 1950s is a far smaller city than Berlin, with canals forming gaps between lines of primarily residential buildings. The city is less naturally suited to metro, but its road bridges are prone to heavy congestion. The central island area contains many of the core destinations – railway terminal, department store and college. The hospital is in the east, the airport in the south-west.
Amsterdam’s suburban canal islands contain few popular destinations and any metro network would need to serve several hubs on each canal island in order to avoid trams or buses crossing congested bridges. Any metro is thus likely to require many under-used stations, implying little profit. The scenario can however be completed without any metro because trams alone are sufficient for the volume of passengers, but traffic congestion will be hard to avoid:
Buses can be used to operate feeder services within each canal island, but avoid crossing the busier bridges. Even if trams cross the canal bridges there are no good sites for tram stops, so connecting the canal islands together with trams tends to result in a lot of congestion delays. Waterbus lines offer some alternative options, but are expensive and need to be carefully focused on interchange hubs.
The final objective “Tending the Fleet” requires moderately high vehicle condition, so avoid buying vehicle designs with poor reliability.
Notable objectives:
Charity Begins at Home! – build a tram to the airport and raise tram ticket prices by 0.2 (on the policies tab of the headquarters panel).
View the View – build 2 lines serving at least one waterbus terminal. More “hub and spoke”.
Crowd Control – have a tram line between Koninklijk (central palace) and a (random?) apartment. This may mean crossing a bridge. If you don’t want the long term congestion, the tram line can be closed after completing the objective.
To Catch a Spy – close a bus line for 2 weeks. It didn’t even take that long.
Preparing for the Worst – have 15,000 cash.
Tending the Fleet (final) – no vehicle with condition below 70 and transport 120 passengers. Increase vehicle maintenance funding and replace vehicle designs with poor reliability.
Other connection objectives: Building Bus Lines, Waterway Wonders (waterbus), By Coincidence, Saving Electricity, New Housing (waterbus), Terminal Pickup, Vito’s Brush with the Police, and Office Assistant. Office Assistant can take a long time to complete, because 10 passengers need to be carried to a precise building – most passengers carried will go to nearby buildings.
3. Modernizing Vienna
Vienna’s geography tends to separate residences in the west from workplaces to the east, implying a lot of transport demand, even though the city is smaller than Berlin. On the west side of the river, popular destinations tend to focus on the north and centre – one department store (in the centre), with one college and hospital (in the north). Three railway termini also provide sites for interchange hubs, with a large airport in the far south (just too far away for an initial connection).
Vienna’s wide boulevards and large squares are well suited to trams, so metro-feeder services within the most densely populated areas should focus on trams. The starting tram route is not necessarily optimal – a more direct, largely traffic-free north-south route through the centre is possible by destroying the monument on the north-west corner of the department store. While destroying whole buildings is both expensive and bad for the company’s reputation, small measures, such as removing statues, can add considerable efficiency to operations. The starting bus routes are too long and should be split or replaced by trams.
The scenario’s objectives direct you to build a north-south metro line, and the north half of this route is a reasonable first choice. Later add a line to the east, and be sure to at least feed passengers from the eastern office complex in via tram. Extending the metro to the airport is viable but not a priority. The area west of the centre is more sparsely populated and the lowest priority for metro building in this scenario.
Notable objectives:
Going Undergound – build a metro line from Favoriten (just west of the southern railway terminal) to the college. The college site can also serve the hospital and potentially cinema, and should be the first of the two places linked by metro to the centre. Nothing at Favoriten deserves a metro station, but a station placed just north-west of the railway terminal will capture both the Favoriten objective and the terminal’s traffic, making such a metro station viable. In both places the profitability of the route depends on establishing appropriate feeder services, although practical options in the south are limited to a couple of residential buses and a loop of the factories to the south.
Study Hard! – 20% popularity with students. Prior links to the college help, as might advertising using media students read. However securing 20% almost certainly means first extending the geographic coverage of your network to cover more than 20% of Vienna’s population.
Ex Oriente Lux – build 4 luxury tram stops. Build atop existing stop sites to upgrade.
Trammin’ – “build” a tram line exclusively for Espen 1 trams. Completes if any new tram line is operated only by Espen 1 trams. There is no need to build anything.
More Metro – build a new metro line and transport 40 passengers.
Interesting Investment Opportunity – pay 1000 and get a 25% discount on all trams for 3 months. Completion appeared to involve buying a new tram.
Underground Craze – build a metro line to the amusement park (on the large eastern island). The target place is the fountain in the centre of the park. A metro station in the car park north of the gates will be sufficient, where bus/tram interchange is also possible.
The Breadwinner (final) – have 50,000 cash.
Try the New Stern-Berger – own 3 Stern-Berger 1200 buses.
Other connection objectives: The Chauffeur, Oiling it Up, Party City!, Man in the Moon?, More Movie Moving, The Sheik’s Darling, and Soviet Line. Party City can be time consuming to complete because the target apartment rarely generates passengers for the destination college.
4. A City Divided
Berlin returns, divided by a wall. Fragments of the metro network exist which can be built into the new. The wall blocks land surface connections between east and west, but does not block cross-border metro, waterbus or helicopter. The south-western half of Berlin has expanded since the earlier 1920s scenario, but the general layout of popular destination is similar. As before, the east-west axis, perhaps extended to the airport, is generally the strongest market to develop initially.
Warning: The railway terminal at Potsdamer has been replaced by a building site that will eventually become an office complex. If you use this land, or any of the Potsdamer square, for transport infrastructure, that infrastructure may be destroyed once the building site turns into offices.
There is really only one objective, 50% coverage, giving you free reign to build a network across much of the city. Don’t be afraid to take out huge loans – invested correctly, Berlin will repay them rapidly. Cross-city travel will swamp anything except metro, and multiple metro lines should be planned through the centre to provide sufficient metro capacity. The presence of the wall caps the volume of city-centre road traffic somewhat, but buses should still be avoided in the centre, since they lack capacity. Multi-car trams need reasonable length turning circles and clearance around stations to avoid causing conflict.
Notable objectives:
Working with the Split – 50% coverage. Coverage appears to be calculated based on population, making coverage easier to achieve by focusing on the most densely populated areas. An almost complete “hub and spoke” network can be gradually built. Alternatively, build a profitable core, then raise coverage to 50% with a series of local (non-connected, unprofitable) bus loops.
Raising your Profile – 80 company reputation.
Transport Triumphs! (final) – transport 1000 passengers.
Precious Cargo – no line stops at the (northern) airport terminal for 2 weeks. Temporarily delete any stop from any line serving the small airport terminal building.
Biker Problems – remove (a specific) bus stop.
Secret Message! – sell the oldest vehicle in your fleet. Sort the roster by age and sell the oldest you find.
A Raise for the Office Workers – raise (your staff) office wage by 0.50.
Other connection objectives: Open Air Festival, Artistic Vision, Art Transport, and Spread the Love.
5. The Heiress of Helsinki
Helsinki is characterised by narrow congested streets and a peninsula geography that leaves little space for off-street tram lines. Popular destinations are spread across the city: A college, railway terminal, department store and hospital in the south. A stadium, hospital/office complex and shopping centre in the north. And two airports on the northern edge. Helsinki’s population density is almost universally high, even in the modern satellite settlements in the northern suburbs, so the city is well suited to use public transport: The challenge is physically fitting public transport in to the city.
An extensive metro network is key to serving Helsinki, but the narrow streets limit the scope for “hub and spoke” feeders. Metro stations will need to be closer together than in previous cities. Limited interchange potential can easily inhibit profitability, although metro network can in themselves be profitable with sufficient density of population. Focus trams in those places where there is space available for them to operate relatively freely – both boulevards and quieter backstreets. 1990s trams are longer than those of previous eras, so ensure large turning circles are built, and try to keep stations away from busy junctions so traffic is not blocked every time a tram stops nearby.
Notable objectives:
Metro Madness – build a metro line between the small airport, city hall and department store. Note the small airport is in the north-east, not the large airport in the north. None of the existing metro stations serves the city hall or department store, so the objective suggests an entirely new metro line. The recommended route is an east-west axis through the centre at the lowest (level 3) depth, to avoid the existing metro lines and allow continuation across rivers and sea. After the city hall station (whose catchment logically includes the railway terminal and theatre), turn north and serve the eastern side of the peninsula. Serve the gates of the amusement park to complete the next objective (Metro Expansion). While the small airport is unlikely to be profitable, the southern half of the line should be busy enough.
Metro Expansion – have a metro line to the amusement park gate (mid-east).
Duppel Bus – buy 3 Stern-Berger Duppel buses and operate them on any line.
Cruise Upgrade – buy 2 Donau Caravel boats.
Pixie’s Wish – build a tram line.
Reputation Boost! – 70 company reputation.
Other connection objectives: Mobile Moves, Go Cruising (waterbus), Common Casino, A Way Out, Janne’s Request, Boy That’s It!, Luxury Lines, Big and Shiny (final), and Hospital Helper.
6. Vienna Goes Green
Vienna has expanded, especially to the west, but is otherwise familiar from our first visit. Plan for an extra metro line, and to accommodate longer articulated trams, but otherwise the city will play out much as before.
The scenario initially (mis-) guides you into shutting down the south-east metro line, but this should provide a prompt to redesign the southern section to serve the north, which generates more passenger traffic than the east. The helicopter routes are expensive (and largely redundant) so can be closed, but do not delete them until prompted by an objective.
The objective “The Green Prize” requires moderately high vehicle condition, so avoid buying vehicle designs with poor reliability. The objective “Upgrade the Tram Fleet” requires only Louis Enviro X trams, which cannot be purchased at the start, so consider delaying tram network expansion until this point: The counterpoint is that a more extensive network will also be more profitable, making new trams easier to fund.
Notable objectives:
Make Do Without the Metro – “demolish” metro line 1. This means delete metro line 1 from the lines panel. The track and stations do not need to be demolished. The vehicles can be saved in storage. Since metros are actually useful to Vienna, much of the track can then be reopened – perhaps on an alternative alignment north, by raising the height of the line from the south to pass above the east-west metro track.
Give Up Airspace – “demolish” helicopter lines 1 and 2. As above, simply delete the lines from the lines panel. However, since helicopters are largely useless, the landing pads can be demolished (to save upkeep) and the vehicles sold.
Switch to Trams – build 2 tram lines.
On the Rail – buy 3 vehicles and build a line to the southern railway terminal.
Upgrade the Tram Fleet – have only Louis Enviro X in your tram fleet, and have at least 3. Potentially expensive if your tram network has expanded across the city, but at least the old tram can be sold.
The Green Prize – no vehicle with condition below 70. Increase vehicle maintenance funding and replace vehicle designs with poor reliability.
Cater to the New Citizens – build a tram line to Vosendorf. The destination is very suburban, so unlikely to be profitable for trams. Consider building the shortest track route possible (a few track sections and a paid of stops), and then abandoning the line after completing the objective.
Alternative Fuel – pay 3000 cash.
Shout it Out Loud (final) – launch an advertising campaign and transport 80 passengers.
A New Home – sell 2 trams.
Other connection objectives: A Forgotten Promise, Be Aware, The Campus Won’t Come to the Students, Awareness Appeased, Connecting the Lord’s Rooms, All Cesar’s Hotels, Salty Sea Air (waterbus), A Threat from Above, Sheperd’s Visit, and Power Down.
7. Berlin Reunited
Largely a repeat of Berlin Divided, but with no restriction surface links and ever greater demand on metro capacity. The initial metro fragments should be built into a profitable core east-west metro axis, with plenty of tram (and then bus) feeder routes. Plan for multiple metro lines through the centre. As previously, a core profitable network can be used to fund an unsustainable, but objective-matching, coverage. The final objective, to transport 3500 passengers, can be easily achieved with a network that only covers smaller part of Berlin.
Notable objectives:
Cover Berlin – 60% coverage.
Transport Tracking (final) – transport 3500 passengers.
Other connection objectives: Office Lines, Vito’s Assistant, Customer Call, Pier Problem, Hassan’s New Offices, Soviet Tour, Artist in Need, and Home Run!
8. High Living in Amsterdam
Amsterdam returns for the 2000s. Expansion has added a few extra buildings on the periphery, including a larger airport and a stadium in the south-east. The construction site opposite the railway terminal will add further offices and a shopping centre.
This scenario will eventually require 70% coverage, which in practice means serving almost all the main areas of population and employment. The key to a smooth, efficient network is to avoid using the bridges over the canals: A deep metro can instead be used to provide the links between the canal islands, with 2 or 3 metro station hubs on each island. The roads along the islands are relatively traffic-free, and surprisingly well suited to modern trams. This makes trams ideal as feeders into each metro hub, just don’t build them along the radial roads emanating from the city centre. Buses may be used to feed passengers from the peripheral villages, where volumes are lower.
Using this strategy, the most profitable (and thus recommended first) metro line runs from the south-western airport to the centre (with stops on each island), then perhaps east to the office complex. Both airport and office complex can be fed with routes from the surrounding villages. A second metro line could run from the railway terminal in the north, through the city centre, and then south-east to the stadium (again with stops on each island). Feeder tram routes should cover the full length of each island, preferably on the outer (non-city) side, where road traffic tends to be less. The north-east can be served by tram direct from the railway terminal, since the roads on this axis are wider.
Notable objectives:
Upgrading the Fleet – have no vehicle older than a year. In short, sell or replace all 8 existing buses.
Petronilla’s Line – build a bus line at least 6 kilometres long.
The White-Collar Way – 70 reputation with white collar workers. The biggest specifically white collar employment site is in the far east, just north of the hospital – serving this well should help. Once your white collar reputation is at least 50, launch advertising campaigns (especially newspaper and television) to raise it up to 70.
Save all Living Things – remove 3 bus or tram stops.
Updating the Trams – add 3 stops to existing tram lines and establish coverage of 70%. Coverage is city-wide, using all modes, not just trams.
A Mysterious Invention – build a tram line.
New Bus Available – have 3 Jubilee Compact buses.
Tourist Attraction – 90 company reputation (final).
Missing Mister – no vehicles going to the harbor for a month. Just shut down all the lines serving the target, which will likely include anything serving the railway terminus.
Other connection objectives: Luxurious Hotels, The Trouble with the Theatre, Show Off in the Harbor, The Spectacle, A Must Have, A Remote Hotel, Take a Chopper (helicopter), A Slow Bus Needed, Sail Away (waterbus), Hotel to Hotel, Do the Dada, and A Scientist in Need.
9. Financial Crisis
Vienna again, but back to 1929. Less employment in the east, no railways terminals in the north or west, and an airport under construction: Fewer popular destinations, across a fundamentally smaller city. There’s still a solid north-south metro axis, from hospital/college to railway terminal, but the Vienna of 1929 clearly has less potential for profit than in later eras.
The starting network is a liability that demands immediate redesign: The busy east-west route relies on (slow, low capacity) buses – 10 vehicle on any route is a sure sign of problems. The only north-south tram route runs along the riverside, serving nowhere popular. The eastern factory link doesn’t serve any residences, so is all but useless. The replacement network should focus on two core metro lines – north-south and southwest-east through the centre – fed by trams, with bus feeders to the outer suburbs and villages. Concentrate initial construction in the most built-up areas of the city. In this period even relatively short metro lines can be attractive, because road transport speeds are so low.
Notable objectives:
Making Money (final) – 2000 or more monthly profit for 3 months. Use loans carefully, since repayments are tangible and over-expansion can reach the limits of loan availability. But don’t be affraid to borrow to build a just-about profitable network, that will match the required (2000 per month) profitability once those loans have been repaid. Avoid buying anything for the final 3 months, to maintain the required profitability.
Film Crisis – remove 3 stops.
Too High a Price – lower all ticket prices by 0.10. Be aware that maximum acceptable fares may decline a lot during the scenario.
Other connection objectives: Work for the Unemployed, Church Connection, Far Farming, More Visitors to the Church, Werner’s Premiere, Connecting the Quarters, and Forest Line.
10. Helsinki Olympic Games
Helsinki of 1950 is much like the Helsinki that was previously played, just without the peripheral office complexes and the large airport. As in The Heiress of Helsinki, build an extensive metro system, with a dense network of local stations, since the streets are narrow and congested. Extensive here means 3 or 4 metro lines running roughly north-south, with plenty serving the busy central area around the railway terminal. Dense means almost all the continuously built-up areas of the city within range of a metro station.
The objective “Final Preparations” requires moderately high vehicle condition, so avoid buying vehicle designs with poor reliability.
Notable objectives:
More Capacity! – build 2 lines and buy 3 new vehicles.
The Stadium – build a tram line to the stadium.
Final Preparations – buy 4 vehicles and have no vehicle with condition under 70.
British Interest – remove 3 stops.
Back to Normal – build 3 lines.
Good Coverage – 70% coverage.
Make Monitoring Easy – no lines going to [a building] near the railway terminal. Temporarily close any lines serving the target. (And then reopen them again after accepting the reward… I confess, these sort of objectives can seem quite pointless.)
Advertise! – launch an advertising campaign and transport 40 passengers.
Haul in the Pensioners – 70 reputation with pensioners. With 70% coverage already, just advertise, like you probably just did.
Securing the Business (final) – have 15,000 cash.
Other connection objectives: The Backbone of Helsinki, Casino on the Way, Soviet Interest, Pastime for the Visitors, More Air!, A Line to the Center, Top Secret, New Residential Area!, Game Craze, The Struggle, Lightbearers, and Farm Sized. Lightbearers and Farm Sized do not appear to count towards the achievement “Helsinki Helper”. Your mileage may vary.
11. Part with Petrol
Vienna in crisis again, this the oil crisis of the 1970s. In practice this means working without buses.
The first objective requires all buses are sold. You can sell all the buses, then buy a few back, and then close down the lines again to meet the second objective, Rebuilding. But by this stage of the campaign you will understand that buses are not well suited to the urban area of Vienna, and the bus network should in fact be replaced with a mix of metro and tram. Selling everything, including the bus stops, will bring your treasury up to over 54 thousand, which, if necessary, can be matched with another 100-150 thousand in loans. Pause, build an extensive metro network in the built up area, supported by local tram feeders, and profit.
Notable objectives:
The Buses Must Go – no buses in the fleet.
Rebuilding – no bus lines, and build 3 new lines.
A New Gadget – pay 2000 cash.
One More Metro – build a metro line. No new track or stations need be built – one can simply add a new line between existing stations.
One Ring to Rule Them – have a tram line connect the college (north-west), theatre (opposite western railway terminal), library (south-east of the centre, by the river) and hotel (just east of the centre, by the river). Any long-term tram on this route would quickly overload, but a temporary tram line still requires track to be laid. Some of the cost of that track can be recovered be demolishing it after completing this objective.
New Metro Train Available! – have only Brighton Roller metro vehicles. A potentially expensive upgrade.
Pretty Please? – build a bus line.
Add some Lining – build 2 non-bus lines.
What is it? It’s Great! – build a line.
Getting to Know Them (final) – reputation of at least 90%. If in doubt, advertise.
Other connection objectives: Paulie’s Plea, Rutger Needs Help, Going Camping, The Sheik’s Disgrace, and A Grain of Sand.
12. The Fair City
Welcome to contemporary Berlin, where once again you will be building a very profitable metro-centric network, and using those profits to meet an array of irrational scenario objectives.
The objective “Galaxies Galore!” will require a metro train fleet of only Galaxie Zoners. These train are relatively expensive to purchase, and their lower capacity is not entirely offset by their increased speed, so much of the metro system will function less efficiently.
Notable objectives:
How Attractive! – be profitable 2 months in a row.
Galaxies to the Airport – build a metro line to the small airport terminal in north-west and have only Galaxie Zoner trains on the line. The north-west airport is remote, with little nearby, so is one of the lowest priorities for a metro connection. This objective may be reasonably ignored until towards the end of the scenario. Any route should also include a stop at the larger terminal on the southern side of the runway.
Center Line – build a tram line connecting 3 specific hotels (western railway terminal, mid-south, and north-east of eastern railway terminal). Another invitation to lay an obscene amount of tram track across half of Berlin, to form a route that would be flooded with passengers were it to be operated long-term.
Fair Preparations – build 3 lines and buy 5 vehicles.
Optimize! – build 2 lines.
Galaxies Galore! – have only Galaxie Zoner trains in your metro fleet. As earlier, Galaxie Zoner lack capacity, so consider replacing them after meeting this objective.
Draw More! – have a metro line to the library (far west, near the hospital and department store).
A Green Magazine – pay 1000 cash.
Feed the Line – have other lines bring passengers to 2 metro stops. Two different metro stops. Interchange must be very close to the metro station entrance.
More Money – pay 10,000 cash.
Too Much to Handle! – lower all fares by 0.10.
The Blue-Plumed Pigeon – pay 2000 cash.
Boost your Reputation (final) – company reputation of 90%.
In Need of a Pay Raise – raise all wages by 0.50.
Other connection objectives: The Green Commune, A New Hotel, Hotel Hassle, The Very Important Persons (helicopter), Honey, I’m on Stage!, Ladies’ Line, A New Hamlet, A Poetry Reading, and The Hotel Line. The Hotel Line does not appear to count towards the achievement “Bested Berlin”.
Learn More
Paradox Forums – archived discussion (login for full listing).
Cities in Motion WIKI – douglasrac’s FAQ.
Installing Mods for Cities in Motion – by Paul Williams.
Cities in Motion Shared Files – archive of modifications.
Appendix: Vehicle List
Every vehicle in the base game, as posted by Two Clicks: | |||||
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] | 2019-12-08T00:00:00 | en | /static/favicon.png | Encyclopaedia Fennica | https://fennica.pohjoiseen.fi/en/2019/12/08/helsinki-area-public-transport-part1/ | Helsinki is the capital of Finland, and by far its biggest urban area. Although the population of Helsinki proper is about 650,000, it forms a contiguous urban area with several different municipalities, over 1.2 million people large (~1/5 of the population of the country). With the belt of outer commuter towns, it exceedes 1.4 million people (~1/4 of the population). In comparison, the second biggest urban area (Tampere) is home only to 335,000 people.
As such, Helsinki is currently the only city in Finland having highly developed and well-functioning public transport. As of 2019, it is the only Finnish city having any form of commuter rail, metro, trams and BRT (bus rapid transit). In other words, all other Finnish cities are limited to basic bus networks. Car traffic dominates other Finnish cities, while in Helsinki car ownership and especially car use is drastically less widespread (though still common). While other cities are undertaking some steps to improve their public transit (Tampere in particular is building a tram line, and regional train service from 2020 will be improved around Tampere and in a few other locations), they are still completely incomparable to Helsinki.
Since summer 2019, I've been living in Espoo (Helsinki suburb) and as such, have an ample opportunity to experience Helsinki public transport on my own. Previously I also lived in Vaasa (a much smaller Finnish city), Yekaterinburg (a Russian city roughly comparable to Helsinki in size), and in St. Petersburg (a Russian city much bigger than Helsinki), which all form useful reference points. In this two-part article, I'll try to explain Helsinki public transport as best as possible.
Let's start with a short summary:
Helsinki should in most regards be considered only as a single entity with its nearest suburbs, Espoo and Vantaa; all three of them form a contiguous urban area ("capital region") with 1.2 million population
All public transport in the capital region and nearest cities is managed by a single authority, HSL (Helsingin seudun liikenne, Helsinki region transport). This allows to have unified tariffs, coordinated timetables, transfer hubs etc.
HSL-serviced territory is split into four tariff zones, from A to D. Tickets can be valid for one or several zones, but normally at least two (available options are AB, BC, CD, D, ABC, BCD and ABCD)
With the exception of buses, tickets for all kinds of transport are not sold aboard and must be bought beforehand. There are paper tickets sold at ticket machines; tickets loaded on HSL cards; and tickets bought through an app. There is no difference in price between these options
There are single tickets (allowing unlimited transfers within at least 80 min), day tickets (unlimited pass for 1-7 days) and season tickets (unlimited pass for 30+ days). All these tickets are valid on all kinds of transport. Single ticket for AB or BC zone costs 2.80â¬, for ABC 4.60â¬. 30 days season ticket is 59.70⬠for AB or BC, 107.50⬠for ABC. Buying a season ticket at this cost require being resident at one of the HSL area municipalities. Season ticket allows buying a single ticket outside its zones with a discount
Children under 7, people with baby prams, blind people, military invalids and war veterans travel for free. Children 7-17, pensioners and disabled people get a 50% discount. Students get a 45% discount only for season tickets
There are no conductors or barriers in any transport. Only on buses drivers check tickets at the entrance. In general there are only fairly rare random checks by ticket inspectors, which can issue a 80⬠fee to people without a valid ticket
All HSL public transport operation and maintenance costs about 750 million ⬠per year. Half of this amount comes from ticket sales, and the second half from municipal budgets, proportional to actual transport use in them
The main transport in Helsinki center is its tram network, and to a lesser extent also buses and a part of the metro line. There are aggressive measures to reduce car use (tolled street parking everywhere, off-street parking also at steep fees, dedicated bus lanes and tram tracks, low speed limits, bike tracks). They are effective, and statistics show that, despite rapid population growth of the capital region, amount of car trips to Helsinki center is continuously dropping
Outside of the inner city there is a trunk route network, including two and a half commuter train lines, one metro line and a few special trunk bus routes. They have low intervals (within capital region on weekdays mostly 2.5-10 min), and in practice form the principal axes of city growth and multi-storeyed construction. Trunk transport stations can be reached on buses, and some of these stations have large bus transfer terminals. There are also cheap or free park-and-ride facilities available
Car use outside of the inner city is not really limited, and good roads make car trips fairly convenient (two half-ring and six radial roads, with motorway or near-motorway quality, 80-100 km/h limits and no in-grade intersections or pedestrian crossings); however street parking is still mostly time-limited, although free
All HSL transport is partially or completely low-floor. All train and metro stations having stairs or escalators are also equipped with elevators
Apart from using the bike track network, bikes can also be carried on commuter and metro trains for free. A few years ago also city bike rental has been launched at very attractive tariffs. Still bikes do not constitute a particularly large share of transport (a few percent of all trips)
For navigation there is an app, a route-finding website, and ample information at stops and stations. For real-time tracking there is information in the app and displays at stations and even some bus stops
Most routes operate between about 05-06 in the morning and 00-01 at night. Late at night when no other routes are operating there are night buses
With very rare exceptions public transport vehicles, stations and stops are clean and safe
Public transport is being actively developed; the biggest finished projects of the 2010s are the new commuter train ring line through the airport, and the extension of Helsinki metro to the west in Espoo. Metro construction is still ongoing, and light rail construction has started. Major plans for the near future are the extension of Helsinki tram network to the east using massive tram bridges over the sea, and the construction of the 3rd and 4th tracks for commuter trains in Espoo
Please note that this description is up to date as of December 2019, and I do not guarantee that I will continue updating it, as the Helsinki public transport continues expanding and developing. This is a purely educational effort made as a hobby (as no comparable descriptions in English or Russian are currently available anywhere online), and you should always refer to official websites and other sources for up-to-date information.
Please also note that in several places in these articles I show maps from other sources, mostly from HSL (Helsinki public transport authority). It would have been quite difficult to avoid that, and I would have needed to basically redraw these maps myself. All maps are reproduced in their original form and have sources attributed. Since this is a non-commercial work (not even ad-supported), I hope HSL and other entities quoted take no issue with that. All pictures however are my own work.
A bit of geography and history
Helsinki is located on the south coast of Finland, on quite low but rocky terrain, originally covered with mostly coniferous forests, with many low but steep rocky hills still visible in the cityscape. The coastline is quite irregularly-shaped, broken with small and big bays, with skerry guards and bigger islands off the coast. Founded in 1550, Helsinki became the capital of Finland in 1812, and really started growing only in the second half of the 19th century. Its location is quite advantageous, with good sea harbors, international connections, and milder climate than most of the rest of the country enjoys. Finnish road and railroad networks have developed around Helsinki, although since the country is quite large (over 1200 km long) and Helsinki is right on its southern edge, Helsinki is not as prominent transit bottleneck as many country capitals are.
What exactly constitutes "Helsinki" may mean different things in some contexts, and it is important to define them particularly in regard to public transport.
Inner city (kantakaupunki), population about 200,000, is Helsinki core and surrounding areas on the Helsinki peninsula, roughly circular and 5-7 km across. Downtown, if you will. Most tourists in Helsinki only ever see the inner city; this is where most of the sights, and also all passenger harbors are. So are most jobs, predominantly office ones. Inner city own population is also quite sizable, although these days it is expensive to live there. Inner city is where the public transport coverage is the best, and car use is conversely severely (and intentionally) hampered. There is no exact definition of where the inner city ends, but it is widely considered to roughly correspond with the tram network coverage. Ticket zone A.
Helsinki proper, population about 650,000, is the municipality of Helsinki. It spreads to the north and especially to the east of the inner city, reaching in particular forested unbuilt areas in the east. Although most of Helsinki is still built up fairly densely by Finnish standards, most of it is much less dense than the inner city, and includes nature areas, industry and even some agriculture. Ticket zones A and B.
Capital region (pääkaupunkiseutu, pk-seutu), population about 1.2 million, is Helsinki along with three other municipalities: Espoo, Vantaa and Kauniainen. All of them are legally independent cities, but mostly just blend into Helsinki and each other with no natural border. Espoo is west of Helsinki, Vantaa is in the north, and Kauniainen is a peculiar small enclave of Espoo. Capital region is what is most often meant by "Helsinki area", and it has a single unified public transport system. Geographically, it is a roughly semi-circular area, centered on the inner city and 15-20 km in radius. Ring III (Kehä III), the outer ring road of Helsinki (technically semi-circular), is often colloquially referred to as the border of the capital region, which is roughly true for western and eastern direction, but in the north most of Vantaa actually lies beyond the Ring III. Ticket zones B and C.
Greater Helsinki (Helsingin seutu, Helsinki region) is capital region plus commuter towns. According to the common definition, it is over 1.4 million in population, and its biggest city outside the capital region would be Hyvinkää (46,500). However its boundaries are fairly imprecise, and some people commute to Helsinki from as far as Tampere, Kouvola and Jyväskylä (240 km away!). Greater Helsinki towns closer to the capital region (like Kirkkonummi and Kerava) are part of the Helsinki public transport system, but more distant ones aren't. Those are accessible by regional transport, which in practice means regional trains along the railroad Main Line, and limited bus service everywhere else. Within HSL area ticket zone D.
Public transport has existed in Helsinki since 1888, originally as horse-drawn carriages, although the railroad was originally built in 1862 and can probably be also thought of as a form of public transport. First trams appeared in 1900, and first buses in 1921. In 1969 came electric commuter trains, and in 1982 metro. Currently the public tranport modes in Helsinki are commuter trains, metro, trams, buses and a ferry. Some bus routes are designated as "trunk lines", forming a primitive BRT (bus rapid transit) system, and a light rail line distinct from regular trams is currently under construction. The only discontinued public tranport mode is trolleybuses, used in Helsinki in 1949-1974 and again 1979-1985.
Overview
All modes of public transport form a single highly integrated system, coordinated under a single authority, named HSL (Helsingin seudun liikenne, Helsinki region transport). HSL is a company jointly owned by municipalities where it is active. It is responsible for overall planning and coordination of the public transport, ticket sales and control, and information services. All actual transport services are bought by HSL from other providers, which currently are:
Commuter trains: Pääkaupunkiseutu Junakalusto Oy (Capital Region Train Stock Company, joint municipal company, owns and maintains trains) + VR (State Railways, state-owned company, operates trains)
Trams and metro: HKL (Helsinkin kaupungin liikennelaitos, Helsinki City Transport Facility; a municipal company)
Buses: a number of mostly private bus companies, including Helsingin Bussiliikenne, Nobina, Pohjolan Liikenne, Transdev and some small ones
Ferries: Suomenlinnan Liikenne Oy (Suomenlinna Transport Company; a company owned by the city of Helsinki)
Tight integration under HSL umbrella provides many benefits, including a unified ticket and zone model, synchronized timetables, transfer hubs and others.
Tickets and prices
Tickets can be bought as paper tickets, loaded on a HSL card, or through a phone app. Paper tickets buying and HSL card loading is generally done through a ticket machine, or possibly in another place like a HSL service point or R-Kioski chain store. As of 2019, only non-"trunk line" (non-BRT) bus drivers still sell tickets on boards for cash, at a higher price than normal. With all other kinds of transport tickets have to be bought before boarding. Tickets can be valid for a single trip, for one or several days, or for a season (30+ days). Season tickets require a HSL card or an app, they are not sold as paper tickets.
A HSL card can be bought at their service point (there are only a few in Helsinki center) or online. The card itself costs 5â¬. Cards are generally personified. Loading cards (season tickets, or balance for buying single tickets) can be done in ticket machines; oddly enough there is still no opportunity to do this online, although this has been promised for some time. When using the HSL app, tickets can be paid for from the phone balance or directly from a bank card, if you specify your bank card data in it. Tickets and balance cannot be transferred between the card and the app. Tariffs are completely equivalent, and the choice between the card and the app is a matter of personal preference; I for example trust the card more, but many people don't enjoy carrying an extra card on them.
Ticket costs vary by zone. The new zone system is quite recent, having been introduced in spring 2019. The previous system was strictly based on municipal boundaries, which did not make much sense anymore (eastern Espoo is much closer to Helsinki center than eastern Helsinki is, but it cost more to travel there). The new system is mostly based just on distances from the center: A is the inner city, B and C is the rest of the capital region, and D is for outer towns of Greater Helsinki.
It is possible to buy tickets for zones AB, BC, CD, D, ABC, BCD or ABCD (so, single-zone tickets are available only for D). The prices are as follows:
Single1 day7 days30 days (season ticket) AB, BC, D2.80â¬8.00â¬32.00â¬59.70⬠CD4.20â¬11.00â¬44.00â¬87.00⬠ABC4.60â¬12.00â¬48.00â¬107.50⬠BCD5.40â¬14.00â¬56.00â¬115.80⬠ABCD6.40â¬17.00â¬68.00â¬156.40â¬
Of course the actual pricing is more flexible. Day tickets can be bought for 1-7 days, and season tickets for any number of days beyond 30 days; longer tickets get a slight discount. Children until 7, blind people, military invalids and war veterans travel for free. People accompanying a baby pram also can travel for free. Children 7-17, students, pensioners and handicapped people get discounts (45% for students and only for season tickets, 50% for everybody else).
Single tickets are more properly valid for a short period of time (80-110 minutes, depending on the zone). It is possible to change between all kinds of public transport freely within that time, and if the ticket expires it is allowed to continue the current trip (but with no more transfers obviously). Currently the only special ticket specific to one kind of transport is a return Suomenlinna ferry ticket, which allows to travel to Suomenlinna and back again with 12h time limit for 5.00â¬. There used to be tram-only tickets which were abandoned with the zone reform.
Season ticket prices are given for HSL municipalities residents. People outside of HSL areas can also buy them, but at a quite steep (2.5x) price. When travelling with a season ticket beyond its area, it is possible to buy an "extension" single ticket with a discount, with a HSL card or app.
Tickets are only checked by bus drivers, in regular non-"trunk line" buses, where passengers enter through the front door and are supposed to buy or show their ticket or validate their card at that point. In other kinds of transport there are only unattended ticket validators (in passenger compartments in commuter trains, trams and trunk line buses; at station/landing entrances for metro and the ferry). These are only necessary to use when buying a single or extension ticket with an HSL card. With a season ticket on hand, whether on a HSL card or in an app, you can ignore them and just use the transport, which is hugely convenient.
Ticket inspectors make random checks in all kinds of transport (including regular buses; even though the driver checks tickets there, it is possible e. g. to enter through middle/back doors, which are meant for exiting people and for prams). Checks are quite rare; it is possible to go a month or more using public transport every day without seeing one, but then sometimes you get several in a row; it's just luck. Without a valid ticket or if you cannot show a ticket (e. g. you bought it with the HSL app, but your phone died), ticket inspectors can charge you an inspection fee of 80⬠(in addition to the cost of a single ticket). The inspection fee is an invoice written in your name that you have to pay within a week. Legally, it is not a fine; ticket inspections are however authorized by a special Finnish law, which states that an unpaid fee can be forcibly recovered from you under distraint laws without a court order (like a fine). The same law authorizes inspectors to remove you from the vehicle, forcibly detain you and call the police in case you resist and/or your identity cannot be positively determined or there are reasons to doubt it. The inspection fee can be appealed against. Having a valid season ticket at the moment of inspection but not being able to show it (e. g. HSL card forgot at home) is one valid reason for the inspection fee cancellation.
Financing
Overall HSL budget is, as of 2019, about 750 million â¬, with incomes mostly 50/50 split between ticket sales and municipal subsidies, approximately split between municipalities according to real use. For 2019 69% of total ticket income has been estimated to come from AB-tickets, 14% from ABC-tickets, 10% from BC-tickets, and other ticket types share is 4% or below (actual figures are not yet available, because the new ticket zones have just been introduces this year). Inspection fees for 2019 have been estimated to amount to 5.2 million â¬, of which 1.8 million ⬠have been predicted to be unenforceable and written off as credit loss.
As for municipal financing, Helsinki pays the most subsidies (180 million â¬), Espoo contributes 55 million, Vantaa 39 million, and all other HSL municipalities below 5 million each. HSL currently operates debt-free and has a large sum of cash on hand.
Most of HSL spendings are operation (~70%) and infrastructure (~20%) expenses. Perhaps surprisingly, operation expenses are dominated by buses, since those necessarily employ a large number of bus drivers, and as usual for Finland, personnel wage expenses are quite significant. Infrastructure expenses are more complicated; these generally include current maintenance and infrastructure depreciation, but not major new investments, which are generally financed by municipalities and/or state rather than HSL. Bus infrastructure expenses don't include road network maintenance, and commuter rail infrastructure expenses don't include track maintenance. Expenses as of 2019:
OperationInfrastructure Buses335Mâ¬9M⬠Trams56Mâ¬20M⬠Metro44Mâ¬115M⬠Commuter rail95Mâ¬20M⬠Ferry5Mâ¬<1Mâ¬
Within inner city: trams and car use limitations
Helsinki inner city public transport is mostly represented by trams, which form a rather dense network and have low intervals; there are of course some buses as well, and the metro line provides a southwest-northeast connection. The inner city is seen by city planners and HSL as a place where car use should be particularly discouraged. The street network capacity is limited; there are few wide streets, and the amount of historical buildings makes large-scale redevelopments not feasible. Although in the 1960s there were plans for multiple motorways through the heart of Helsinki, these were (thankfully!) abandoned with the 1970s oil crisis. The same crisis prevented the shutdown of tram network, although there were plans for it, and for example in the city of Turku such plans were carried out. Ever since then, there has been a strong focus on public transport use in the inner city.
Among the measures meant to reduce car use are:
Low speed limits in the inner city (30-40 km/h)
Many dedicated bus lanes and tram tracks, especially on bigger streets
Reduced amount of car lanes due to these bus lanes and tram tracks (e. g. Mannerheimintie, the main road into the center from the northwest, while rather wide, has only one lane for cars in every direction in many places)
All street parking in the inner city is tolled (and expensive), or time-limited to a short period, or sometimes both tolled and time-limited. (Inner city residents can get a street parking permit for their area and park for free, but of course they're not guaranteed a free curbside parking place. Delivery vans etc. can get a commercial permit.)
Off-street parking is available but similarly expensive. Parking in an underground garage in Helsinki center can cost over 30⬠for a single day, or over 300⬠for a month, making this a very unattractive option for all but the most dedicated of car users
Outside of the inner city, metro and train stations have sizeable park-and-ride parking lots. Allowed time varies from 10 to 24 hours. Park-and-ride facilities closer to the inner city, especially along the metro line, can cost 1-4⬠per day; further out they are free
Biking is promoted as another alternative to car use. Finnish city planning, not limited to Helsinki area, traditionally emphasizes pedestrian and biking connections; there are bike lanes and tracks in the inner city, and outside of it it is usually possible to bike entirely on wide sidewalks and park tracks. Bikes can be carried on metro and commuter trains, and there are bike parking areas at stations. While Helsinki doesn't have a perfect climate for biking, and bike use greatly decreases in winter, a significant portion of bike users still bike throughout the year. City bike rental stations, introduced by HSL relatively recently, also proved extremely popular
The measures do have significant effect on both car ownership and car use. Finland is traditionally a heavily automobilized country, largely because of sparse population density. As of 2016, 26% of all Finnish households were car-less; 74% had at least one car, and about 20% had two or more cars. As of 2012, the car-less percentage in Helsinki was 53% and in Espoo/Vantaa 33%. Of course, the car-less percentage is the greatest for single people and the lowest for families with children.
However, in any case many car owners use their cars mostly for shopping trips, recreation, etc. These are mostly uncontroversial (and for example on Sundays most street parking in the city is completely unlimited), and car use reduction is rather targeted at commuting trips, especially to the inner city. HSL collects statistics that shows that this goal has generally been achieved pretty well. Capital region population is growing by 10-15,000 people yearly, but the share and the absolute number of car trips into the inner city are dropping. Over 2007-2017 amount of daily car trips into the inner city dropped by 42,000 (11%), and of car trips into the very city center by 51,000 (20%).
Overall as of 2017, on an autumn weekday, 736,000 people were counted as travelling into or out of the Helsinki center. 28.5% used cars, 67.9% used public transport, and 3.6% were biking.
For comparison, such calculations were also made for "crosswise" trips, between western and eastern parts of Helsinki outside of the inner city. Public transport density there is worse developed overall, and making a trip by public transport often would require multiple transfers. So for "crosswise" trips across the line extending northwards from the inner city, only 18% used public transport and the rest used cars (biking frequency was not measured). However overall only 250,000 such "crosswise" trips were made, so this is a much less busy direction. Nonetheless efforts to improve crosswise connections continue, mostly in the form of bus "trunk routes".
Outside inner city: trunk routes
Outside the inner city population density is mostly much lower. The main idea of public transport planning there is to provide a few trunk routes with as large capacity and short intervals as possible. These trunk routes are railroads, metro and certain bus routes. People living outside walking distance from trunk routes can reach them by bus (also by bike or by car, using a park-and-ride parking in the latter case). Bus terminals are built next to the most important railway and metro stations.
Railroads connect Helsinki inner city with northern Helsinki, central Espoo and large parts of Vantaa. Kerava and Kirkkonummi towns of Greater Helsinki are also reachable by commuter rail. Major bus terminals are built in Leppävaara in Espoo and Tikkurila in Vantaa. Smaller ones exist for example in Espoon keskus in Espoo, in Malmi in Helsinki, in Kirkkonummi and Kerava. Commuter rail also provides a connection to the Helsinki airport in Vantaa.
Metro has currenly only a single line, with a small fork at the eastern end. It runs from south Espoo, through Helsinki center, to eastern Helsinki. In Espoo railroad and metro line are parallel to each other, but run at about 5 km distance between them. Metro of course is often more convenient to use than trains (less interference from weather and long-distance trains) and has shorter intervals. Major bus terminals at metro stations exist at Matinkylä and Tapiola in Espoo, Kamppi in Helsinki center, and Itäkeskus in eastern Helsinki.
Trunk buses are used for crosswise connection. The most important one and the first such route launched is the bus 550, running roughly parallel to Kehä I, the inner ring road of the capital region. A few others were opened later. Unlike regular buses, trunk buses don't have ticket checks at entrance, run at very frequent intervals and sometimes use roads and connections reserved for them specifically. They however use same vehicles as regular buses, although differently colored (orange instead of blue).
Such buses are thus a form of bus rapid transit (BRT), although not a very advanced one. Bus 550 proved so popular that it is now being converted into a light rail line (Raide-Jokeri), the first project of its kind in Finland. The construction however has been started only in summer 2019, and will last five years.
Commuter train and trunk bus intervals within capital region are normally 5-10 min (on workdays, between approximately 07-19; somewhat bigger on other times). Commuter trains in most of Espoo are an exception, with 15 min intervals. Metro intervals reach 2.5 min at best.
The capital region tends to grow along railroads and the metro; in some cases it's the tracks that came first, in some cases it were population centers. Multi-storied buildings naturally cluster around railway and metro stations, and housing prices there are the highest. However not all major population centers in the capital region have trunk route connections, not yet at least. Most significantly, southwestern Espoo (Kivenlahti area) is still waiting for its metro line. This haven't necessarily been a bad thing for the inhabitants of these areas, as they tend to have straighter bus connections to central Helsinki instead; not everybody enjoys having a connecting bus to metro/train transfer.
Car use outside city center is pretty convenient. There are two ring roads (Kehä I and Kehä III), and a total of six of motorways or motorway-like radial roads leading away from the inner city, with 80-100 km/h speed limits. Regular streets with traffic lights and pedestrian crossings, on the other hand, have 40-50 km/h limits, and residential streets have 30-40 km/h. Parking, while free and generally easily available, is usually still time-limited though, so people working outside the inner city and commuting by car still often need some other arrangement than just street parking.
Other considerations
Accessibility is a major concern for all public transport operations in Helsinki area. Currently all modes of transport (excluding some regional buses and older regional trains) are accessible for wheelchair users, and use partially low-level vehicles. Commuter and metro trains have special doors in the middle which extend a small step filling the gap between the platform and the train. In case of buses and trams, the driver can provide assistance if necessary. Metro and train stations have elevators for direct access to platforms wherever necessary. (Those can also be used for bikes.) As far as I am aware of, all metro and train (wherever necessary) stations in HSL area have elevators.
For route finding, the official HSL app or the online route finder reittiopas.hsl.fi can be used. They are quite featureful, and can look up a route with any transfers and at any time of day. There are extensive settings, including preferred modes of transport, walking speed and preference, ticket zones, specific routes to avoid and so on. As an added bonus, the route finder can look up walking and biking routes, and routes made partially by car and including park-and-ride facilities.
Real-time traffic information is also available at the application and on the Reittiopas page, and also at some stops and stations. In case of more important stops and stations there can be displays showing several next arrivals; time shown with a "~" means according to the timetable, and without one means real-time information. At smaller stops there can be a somewhat archaic looking small LCD display showing a few next arrivals in a loop. Most minor bus stops outside inner city don't have any displays.
Timetable information is still generally provided at most stops, although sometimes it can be in a form of a pretty small sheet. If there's space however, then usually also a map of the nearby area is also shown. In case of train and metro stations, schemes of their platform layout are usually also provided. Even regular bus stop signs have a fair bit of useful information on them.
Working hours for public transport are generally from 05-06 in the morning to 00-01 at night, depending on the particular route. On Friday and Saturday nights, and also in case of major events (concerts, sports games etc.) in Helsinki, hours are prolonged. Very late in the evening and very early in the morning there might be alternate routes, e. g. for trains. Night service is provided by some sparse bus routes (with N letter in the name) at times when no other transport is operating, so being completely stranded at night is unlikely. Night buses use same tickets and tariffs as regular ones.
Neighborhood routes are another special uncommon kinds of bus routes, providing services especially for elderly and disabled people, with very circuitous and slow routes stopping close to many possible locations of interest, and using mini-buses. There are no restrictions or special fees for using these routes by anyone, same as with night buses.
HSL public transport virtually never has any significant problems with safety or cleanliness. There are no homeless people, etc. (there are generally extremely few homeless people in Finland). At worst there might be annoying drunk people very late in the evening, especially on Friday and Saturday. Obviously that's not an absolute rule and very rarely exceptional situations may arise even in the safest place in the world. There are guards/conductors in metro and commuter trains, particularly in the evening. As most of Finland is, HSL public transport and its infrastructure is quite clean, which is not to say there can't be cigarette butts or a very occasional piece of trash or something like that. Some older infrastructure, particularly in the center, can look dated and somewhat shabby.
Stops, stations and vehicles can have some advertisement spaces but generally a fairly limited amount, a long way from any visual overload. Whole-body vehicle ads are quite rare and seem to only appear on trams and rarely on metro trains. Overall this is a fairly minor source of income for transport operators.
In summer (mid-June to mid-August), when students have their summer break and adults often leave for long vacations, public transport has summer schedules. This in practice means a bit longer intervals for some routes, including metro and trams. Some bus routes can be changed or cancelled for summer, but not many, mostly in outer suburbs.
Common problems and complains about Helsinki public transport
Nothing is of course ever perfect, and neither is HSL public transport.
A big theme of complaints in recent years have been changes to buses in light of the Western Metro launch. Helsinki Metro got its long awaited extension to southern Espoo in 2017 (Western Metro, Länsimetro), but it hasn't turned out to be such a good thing for everyone. Southern Espoo was before mostly served by straight buses to Helsinki center, running along Western Highway (Länsiväylä, Road 51), a motorway leading directly into central Helsinki. With the completion of the first phase of Western Metro expansion, buses were rerouted to the new metro stations. For many people this meant an extra change and longer time en route. Complaints were strong enough that HSL eventually brought back some of the older buses, but still only a few routes for rush hours. This is the common mode of operation for HSL, and the same thing happened before with metro construction in eastern Helsinki, in the 1980s. The problem may subside somewhat when the rest of the Western Metro will be finished.
The punctuality of HSL transport sometimes leaves a lot to be desired. Few minutes delays are very common and perhaps not a huge problem, but sometimes, especially during snowfalls and other poor weather the delays can be much bigger. Buses leaving earlier than they should, or being cancelled outright, is also quite annoying and happens sometimes. HSL doesn't provide any compensations for delays or cancellations.
In general weather sometimes gives the public transport a bit of trouble. This autumn for example the metro at the central railway station was flooded in heavy rains. It was operational again soon enough but the elevators have been out of order ever since.
Crosswise connections, despite all measures to improve them (bus trunk routes mostly), still remain fairly slow. Even going between major bus terminals such as for example Matinkylä and Leppävaara takes significantly longer than it would seem it should, and the routes are not exactly very straight.
Ticket sale through HSL app was previously sometimes unstable, and loading tickets/value onto a HSL card is still impossible to do online, although it has been promised for a long time.
Major recent and upcoming projects
Here are some major infrastructure projects of recent past and near future related to public transport in Helsinki area. As you can notice from the "timetable" and "cost" notes, construction on this scale is slow and expensive business. Infrastructure investments proved particularly difficult for municipal budgets of Espoo and Vantaa, both of which are nowhere as rich as Helsinki and have lower tax income per capita. Both Espoo and Vantaa are significantly indebted at this point, and it is expected that after finishing projects from this list they would take a long breather.
Ring Railroad (Kehärata, Finished)
The Ring Railroad (Kehärata) is the newest major rail project in Finland, a 18 km of new double track railroad in Vantaa connecting the two old main rail lines, the Main and the Coast railroad. At the western end, Ring Railroad extended the older dead-end Vantaanlaakso line, branching from the Coast Railroad at Huopalahti, built in 1975 for a commuter train connection with western Vantaa. At the eastern end, Ring Railroad joins the Main Railroad at Hiekkaharju near Tikkurila in eastern Vantaa. Between Vantaanlaakso and Hiekkaharju the new line serves some newer Vantaa neighborhoods (like Kivistö) and more importantly, the Helsinki-Vantaa airport.
The Airport (Lentoasema) station has a direct exit into the airport building, and the only way to accomplish this was with a huge, 8 km tunnel underneath the entire airport area. Airport and the nearby Aviapolis are both underground stations, the first of their kind in Finland, built at 40 m depth. In practice they look and function a lot like metro stations. Apart from these two underground stations there are three surface ones, and reservations for four more.
The trains going to the airport are not some special airport trains, but just regular commuter trains under routes I/P, and serve both airport passengers and regular commuters using regular tickets and tariffs. Both of them make a complete loop from Helsinki central station to the airport and back, just in different directions (P clockwise and I counterclockwise). In either direction a trip from Helsinki to the airport takes about half an hour. Trains run between about 04:30 and 01:30, with 10-30 min intervals. I/P-trains also replaced the earlier M-train route of its predecessor, the Vantaanlaakso Railroad.
Long-distance trains do not use this track, but it is possible to buy a long-distance train ticket with "Helsinki Lentoasema" destination, which would include the transfer to I/P commuter train. Allegro international train passengers coming from Russia can also freely transfer to an I-train under their Allegro ticket from Tikkurila station.
A residential area for 30,000 inhabitants is under construction near the Kivistö station of this line, and a commercial area at the Aviapolis station is expected to attract as many as 50,000 jobs.
Timetable: Approved in 2005, constructed started in 2008, in operation 2015
Cost: 774Mâ¬
Paid by: 50% Vantaa city, 50% state. 18M⬠EU support
Western Metro (Länsimetro, Partially finished)
The Western Metro (Länsimetro) was probably the most awaited project in the history of the capital region. A 21 km western extension of the existing Helsinki metro, it has been planned to link together all the population centers of southern Espoo: Tapiola, Matinkylä and Kivenlahti. Currently the first phase (to Tapiola and Matinkylä) is finished and the second one (to Kivenlahti) is still under construction.
The western extension was envisioned in some shape for decades, and the specific alignment to Matinkylä was planned since 1998. Espoo council approved the project in 2006, and the first phase of construction began in 2008. The city of Espoo has been bearing most of the massive cost. Opening of the first phase was planned for January 2016, but met repeated delays. Finally Western Metro was launched in November 2017.
The first phase includes 8 stations and is 14 km long. Two of the stations are in Helsinki on the big Lauttasaari island, and the rest are in Espoo. The alignment is not entirely straight but makes a small detour to Aalto University in Otaniemi area. Skipping it could have made metro a little faster, but the university is a pretty major destination. Although much of Espoo is not especially dense, it was decided to build the entire western extension underground and not above ground (unlike the old metro), to avoid claiming too much land and making road traffic etc. more awkward. Western Metro stations are generally nicer looking than old ones, although they all look pretty similar with just decorations varying. To accomodate new travellers HSL bought 20 new metro trains (M300 series) and shortened rush hour intervals from 4 min to 2.5 min.
The Western Metro didn't exactly make everyone happy. As mentioned before, southern Espoo was formerly served by direct bus routes along the West Highway (Länsiväylä) to Kamppi bus terminal in Helsinki center. These were quite convenient for many. After the Western Metro was opened, Espoo buses were rerouted to the new bus terminals at Tapiola and Matinkylä stations (in Ainoa and Iso Omena malls), adding an extra transfer and making the overall travel time actually longer for some. The backlash was strong enough that HSL eventually had to return some bus routes for rush hours, at least until the second phase of the metro will be finished.
Nonetheless the Western Metro is here to stay, and now forms the axis for the further development of Espoo. While Tapiola, Matinkylä and Kivenlahti already were established population centers, there is currently a lot of residential and commercial construction going on near most other stations. Aalto University in Otaniemi and a high-rise office area in Keilaniemi also got properly connected to the public transport system.
The construction of the second phase of the project is still ongoing, and planned to finish in 2023. It would include five more stations and a metro depot at Sammalvuori, which would be the second depot of the overall metro system.
Timetable: Approved in 2006, first phase built in 2009-2017, second phase started in 2014, estimated to finish in 2023
Cost: 1st phase 1186Mâ¬, 2nd phase 1158Mâ¬, total 2344Mâ¬
Paid by: 85% Espoo city, 15% Helsinki city. 30% state aid
Pasila Station (Mostly finished)
Pasila is an area of the Helsinki inner city north of the center, and Pasila railway station is the first station after the Helsinki central station, in about 3 km away from it. All trains, except international ones, stop at Pasila, and the two principal railroad directions (Main and Coast Railroad) split only immediately after Pasila. It is both a very important transfer station, and a major destination in its own right, with a lot of offices, especially government ones. There is also a residential area, a stadium, an exhibition center, the main passenger car depot of Finland at Ilmala, and a car-loading station for night trains going to Lapland.
Pasila used to also have a major freight station, but all freight operations there were gradually stopped, when cargo harbors were moved from central Helsinki to Vuosaari at the eastern outskirts of the city, and harbor railroads were dismantled. (In fact, there are no freight railroad operations anywhere within Kehä III road anymore.) The freed up areas were planned for massive redevelopment.
The first redeveloped part to be finished is the new Pasila station, combined with the Mall of Tripla shopping center. This is the fourth incarnation of the Pasila station already. The previous one was built only in 1990. A temporary station was built in 2016-2017, then the old station shut down and was dismantled. The new station was built on its foundations and opened in October 2019; the temporary station is in turn being dismantled now. The new station is pretty much just a wing of the Tripla shopping center, the bulk of which is situated west of the tracks. The 1990 station, 2017 temporary station and Tripla station are all situated above all 10 tracks, with escalators and elevators down to platforms.
More Pasila public transport-related development came with Tripla. The 11th, westernmost track was constructed, with a new platform for it. Only 1.5 km of new track cost about 50 million â¬, as it necessitated construction of new bridges, changing switch configuration of other tracks, and also in general all kinds of works in tight squeezed spaces that had to avoid any interference with all regular trains. The track is meant to give more track capacity for commuter trains in Coast Railway direction, cleanly separating them long-distance trains, and reducing possibility of late trains. The new track is in use since November 2019, some works are still ongoing.
In front of the Pasila station and now also the Mall of Tripla there is a large road overpass that has also mostly been rebuilt as a bus and tram terminal, so that you can get onto a tram or bus (including trunk buses) very quickly just by exiting the station. For cars, a disused tunnel under tracks south of Pasila, formerly used for a harbor railroad, has been expanded and converted into a car tunnel.
Some space under Tripla has also been excavated and reserved for a possible station of the future second metro line. It is not at all certain that the line would be constructed at all, or that it would go through Pasila, but the likelihood is big enough that this was done now; later on costs to add it on top (or rather, on bottom) of everything else would be many times greater.
Development of the Mall of Tripla and the rest of Pasila continues. Hotel, office and residential parts of Tripla hasn't opened yet, only the station and the shopping center. Construction at other areas of the former freight station is ongoing. Overall, unlike all others projects mentioned here this one has mostly had private financing, and at least from quick googling and research it's not clear exactly how much went to actual traffic infrastructure vs. how much went to commercial real estate, particularly since in case of this project it's not easy to distinguish them. In any case the total price tag for Mall of Tripla is quite colossal at 1.2 billion â¬. This has been the second most expensive single construction project in the history of Finland, after the new unit of the Olkiluoto nuclear plant.
Timetable: Approved and construction started in 2014, temporary station in use 2017-2019, new station and most related public transport arrangements opened in 2019, some works still ongoing
Cost: 1.2B⬠for station and Mall of Tripla. 49M⬠for the extra 11th track
Paid by: Mostly private financing, except railroad parts. Ownership of the plot and the public areas of the station also bought out by YIT (prime contractor) by 137Mâ¬
Raide-Jokeri Light Rail (Under construction)
Raide-Jokeri is a project for a 25 km long light rail line (fast tram) meant to replace current trunk bus route 550. Jokeri name was used previously for the original bus 550, and means JOukkoliikenteen KEhämäinen RunkolInja (Public Transport Circular Trunk Line). Raide means simply "track".
True to its name, bus 550 has had a semi-circular route around Helsinki, roughly following the Kehä I ring road, but passing through residential and commercial areas instead of just the highway. It was the first bus "trunk route" of HSL, with short intervals and some right-of-way advantages, and has been popular enough that Raide-Jokeri was eventually devised to replace it. In fact, a light rail line was the original idea for this route in the 1990s, but it was rejected (or rather, moved to plans for the 2030s) due to being too expensive. The demand for the bus 550 grew faster than expected, however.
Raide-Jokeri would use the same 1000 km track as Helsinki trams, but would have no connection with the existing tram network, and would use a new depot and different rolling stock. 29 Artic XL trams were ordered from Transtech plant at Kajaani in East Finland for the Raide-Jokeri. These are based on existing Artic trams in use in Helsinki, but are longer (34 m with four articulation points) and bi-directional. There would be 34 stops, placed at about 800 m intervals. Timetable intervals are expected to be 5-10 min. Trams will not in fact be particularly fast, and might be somewhat slower than buses even (Raide-Jokeri has been mocked as "a slow tram marketed as a fast tram"), but still would have an advantage of greater capacity and own right-of-way.
Works on Raide-Jokeri started in summer 2019, in many places at once along the entire route. Nonetheless the construction is expected to take five years. A mostly completely new track alignment must pass through densely-built areas, requiring a lot of moving of existing communications, a lot of earthworks, and a lot of bridges (and even one tunnel) have to be constructed. Quite a few streets are at the moment closed due to Raide-Jokeri construction, affecting among other things the current bus 550 route.
Timetable: Approved in 2016, construction started in 2019, estimated to finish in 2024
Cost: 386M⬠according to current estimate, including rolling stock (92.5M⬠for 29 pcs.) and depot
Paid by: ~45% Helsinki city, ~25% Espoo city, ~30% state aid
Espoo City Railroad (Construction upcoming)
Espoo City Railroad (Espoon kaupunkirata) is the extension of the 3rd and the 4th rail track of the Coast Railroad from Leppävaara, where they currently end, to Kauklahti on the western edge of Espoo. It would be about 14 km long. Although the Main Railroad has at least four tracks all the way to Kerava (29 km), where commuter train services currently end, the Coast Railroad is currently lacking in that regard.
Espoo City Railroad, if constructed, would improve intervals between Kauklahti and Leppävaara from 15 to 10 minutes, and between Kirkkonummi and Kauklahti from 30 to 20 minutes. Travel times from most stations to Helsinki would have been reduced by about 6 minutes. It would have also improved accuracy and reduced routine delays for both commuter trains and long-distance trains to Turku; the current track is at its capacity limits and minor delays are quite common. Almost all stations on the stretch would have been rebuilt. A-train route would have been abolished as unnecessary and E-train would take its place.
The project is also a prerequirement for building the so-cased ELSA-railroad (Espoo-Lohja-SAlo), a completely new alighment for Turku trains, reducing travel time considerably and also bringing commuter rail to the city of Lohja.
The project has been in planning for considerable time. General plans and feasibility studies are finished and it awaits green light from the municipality and the government. At the moment this project seems to have very good perspectives.
The existing 81 Sm5 commuter trains fleet will not be enough to serve the entire Helsinki area once the Espoo City Railroad will be finished. As of November 2019 HSL is preparting for procurement of more trains (30-40). Their models or manufacturers will have to be determined. A new depot will also be necessary, as there is no space to expand the Ilmala depot anymore. There is no rush; a decision on new trains and depot will be made by the end of 2020, and the actual trains would arrive only in 2025 or so.
Timetable: Planning and feasibility studies finished. Awaiting approval, expected in near future. From that point can be constructed and opened in 4-5 years
Cost: 275M⬠according to current estimate. Does not include train procurement costs, which is done independently of this project
Paid by: Presumably Espoo city and state aid
Crown Bridges (Kruununsillat, Construction upcoming)
The Crown Bridges (Kruununsillat) are a project to extend Helsinki inner city tram network to the east. The bridges would be three bridges, the longest one 1200 m long (which would make it the longest in Finland), from Merihaka northeast of Helsinki center to Laajasalo, a large island of eastern Helsinki, connected to the mainland with a small bridge in the north and currently only having buses. The name comes from the sea area the big bridge would cross, Kruunuvuorenselkä (Crown Mountain Expanse), and the bridges would in particular serve the new neighboorhood of Kruunuvuorenranta (Crown Mountain Coast), in place of a former oil harbor. The Crown Mountain is just a low but steep and prominent rocky hill immediately on the coast of Laajasalo.
The bridges would only hold tram lines and pedestrian/biking tracks. Emergency services would also be able to drive on them but no car lanes are planned. Unlike Raide-Jokeri, this would be an extension of the existing tram network and would be built to the same standards and using same trams (although it would be necessary to procure more trams).
Apart from Laajasalo the project would bring a rail connection to the new neigborhood of Kalasatama in the inner city, and to Korkeasaari zoo. In total 10 km of tram track would be constructed
Timetable: Planning and feasibility studies finished. Approved by Helsinki city. Design phase started. Construction expected to start in 2021 and end in 2026
Cost: 359M⬠according to current estimate, including about 100M⬠for new trams
Paid by: Presumably Helsinki city
Sipoo Rail Connection (In planning)
Sipoo is a mostly rural municipality east of Helsinki, with a few bigger villages which now get apartment building areas due to closeness to Helsinki. Sipoo is a HSL area municipality but currently only served by buses.
The largest Sipoo village and the municipal center is Nikkilä, with a population of probably about 7000 or so (it doesn't form an own municipality or urban area so no precise figures are available), which is projected to grow rapidly. Normally it still would be far too small for a new rail connection, but it so happens that a railroad there already exists, a freight line from Kerava to an oil refinery in Sköldvik passing through Nikkilä. That railroad is in good condition, and Nikkilä is only 10 km down that railroad from Kerava. Therefore extending at least some commuter trains from Kerava to Nikkilä would not be a particularly huge project.
Nonetheless trains cannot be launched right now; some works are still necessary, mostly just constructing passenger infrastructure at Nikkilä station, and replacing existing level crossings between Kerava and Nikkilä with overpasses. According to modern standards, new lines with frequent commuter train services must not have any level crossings. Still, investments would be quite minor compared to pretty much any railroad construction project.
It is expected that trains could go to Nikkilä with 20 min intervals in rush hours and 40 min intervals outside them. Apart from Nikkilä, two other stations would be opened on the line. Travel time between Nikkilä and Helsinki would improve from current 48-56 min to 36-37 min.
Timetable: Planning and feasibility studies finished. Not approved yet. Could be constructed in early 2020s
Cost: 31M⬠according to current estimate
Paid by: Sipoo and Kerava municipalities, state aid
Drop Railroad (Pisararata, In planning)
Drop Railroad ("drop" as in raindrop, Pisararata) is quite an unusual project. The basic idea is easy to understand from just looking at the map though. Commuter trains, some or all, instead of going to Helsinki central station, would go from Pasila to a teardrop-shaped underground tunnel, with three stations, one of them at the same place as the current aboveground station. In this way a lot more rail capacity for commuter, regional and long-distance trains could have been sustained in central Helsinki.
The project is quite extreme. It would include 8 km of new track, of which 6 km in a tunnel, which would go underneath the very center of Helsinki, stuffed with all kinds of existing tunnels and communications. Costs are estimated to be at least almost 1 billion â¬. It is not clear what the new train routes would be, and studies suggest that a lot of new infrastructure apart from the Pisara-rata proper would be necessary to actually realize the benefits. State financing was already denied once in 2015. Still the preliminary planning and discussions of the project are ongoing, and HSL considers it vital for further development.
Timetable: Some planning and feasibility studies done. Not approved yet, not at all certain to be approved. Timetable unclear, nationwide political decisions necessary. In best case would be constructed in late 2020s
Cost: 956M according to current estimate
Paid by: Mostly the state, also Helsinki city
Possible future projects
All these projects are in early planning stages, and at best work could begin only in late 2020s. Few details other than preliminary plannings and estimations have been done yet. It is not at all certain that any of these projects will be completed at all.
Eastern Metro (Itämetro). Extension of the existing metro line to the east. Current Helsinki master plan provides for massive construction in Ãstersundom in the far east of Helsinki beyond Kehä III, currenly an almost completely rural area. Eastern Metro with several new stations would be the trunk connection for Ãstersundom. It would be shorter than the Western Metro and partially above ground. Both Ãstersundom construction and Eastern Metro construction would not start until at least 2025, but still make good sense and have the best chances of succeeding out of this list. However the master plan for Ãstersundom has repeatedly encountered difficulties in regard to numerous protected nature areas there, including the Sipoonkorpi National Park
Second metro line. Most likely would go north from Helsinki center. Numerous alignments have been proposed over the years, some reservations are made on master plans, and some stub tunnels and halls even exist in a few places, including Pasila. However the project hasn't been discussed in a long time, and no attempts for even rough planning have been made. May be built some time in 2030s at best
Airport Railroad (Lentorata) is another project of a rail connection to the Helsinki-Vantaa airport. Instead of a loop route, like the current Ring Railroad has, it is planned to go straight, underground from Pasila, under the airport, and re-emerging at Kerava. It would also have a different function, carrying mostly long-distance and regional trains, not commuter ones. These trains could be sped up by as much as 20 minutes. The track would still of course have influence on commuter train timetables, namely those could become more frequent. Cost estimates are massive (2.65Bâ¬)
New higher-speed long-distance connections: Finland Railroad (Suomi-rata), an upgrade of the Main Railroad allowing a higher speed connection to Tampere; one-hour Turku train (Turun tunnin juna), a faster connection to Turku partially replacing the Coast Railroad; Eastern Railroad (Itärata), a completely new rail connection to the east of Finland, most likely through Porvoo. All of these would be extremely expensive and advantages fairly marginal; preliminary studies suggest low economic profitabilities for all of tem. Could still be realized given enough political will, but probably no earlier than 2030s in any case. Although these are meant for long-distance trains, these would also allow more regional connections, for example to Porvoo and to Lohja
Vantaa and Espoo light rail. Both Vantaa and Espoo have their own plans for light rail. For Vantaa the route under consideration is Mellunkylä-Airport, proving a crosswise connection across Vantaa. For Espoo the route would be Leppävaara-Kalajärvi, providing a trunk route for currently sparsely populated northern Espoo. In both cases the advantage against buses is not at all certain, in view of the massive costs of such projects and economies of Espoo and Vantaa already somewhat strained by existing infrastructure investments | |||||
5064 | dbpedia | 2 | 16 | https://railway-news.com/skoda-operates-autonomous-tram-in-finland/ | en | Škoda Operates Autonomous Tram in Finland | [
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] | null | [
"Tiana May"
] | 2024-07-19T12:04:35+00:00 | Using its Smart Depot ecosystem in Tampere, Finland, Škoda Group has demonstrated a tram's capabilities to operate without a driver. | en | Railway-News | https://railway-news.com/skoda-operates-autonomous-tram-in-finland/ | We'd love to send you the latest news and information from the world of Railway-News. Please tick the box if you agree to receive them.
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5064 | dbpedia | 1 | 14 | https://blog.bimajority.org/2017/04/25/every-american-transportation-planner-should-spend-a-week-in-helsinki-part-3-of-3/ | en | Every American transportation planner should spend a week in Helsinki (part 3 of 3) | [
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""
] | null | [] | 2017-04-25T00:00:00 | As I mentioned in part 1, Helsinki has trams, or as we'd say in American English, streetcars. (I try to avoid the "t" word -- "trolley" -- since to so many people that now means a diesel bus with goofy bodywork, whereas "streetcar" is unambiguous, I hope.) Actual street-running light rail vehicles, in an old,… | en | https://s1.wp.com/i/favicon.ico | Occasionally Coherent | https://blog.bimajority.org/2017/04/25/every-american-transportation-planner-should-spend-a-week-in-helsinki-part-3-of-3/ | As I mentioned in part 1, Helsinki has trams, or as we’d say in American English, streetcars. (I try to avoid the “t” word — “trolley” — since to so many people that now means a diesel bus with goofy bodywork, whereas “streetcar” is unambiguous, I hope.) Actual street-running light rail vehicles, in an old, congested central business district with narrow, winding cobblestone streets, hills, and salt water. And yet still has room for cars and on-street parking, not to mention buses, a single-line subway, and all those commuter trains I described in part 2. This post will hit some of the highlights, although I did not ride most of the lines and saw the termini of only three (the 9 in Pasila, the 7B at Senate Square, and the 6 outside my hotel in Hietalahti). I’m also going to include some other bits of Helsinki transportation that don’t have a whole post to themselves, including bike and pedestrian infrastructure, which I didn’t take nearly enough photos of. I also didn’t have time to visit the tram museum in Töölö. Given another week to spend, I would have taken all of the tram routes, spent more time on the Metro, and visited some of the outlying suburbs by bus and commuter rail — but this trip was expensive enough and thoroughly exhausting, so I was ready to head back home by day 9. One more Helsinki post after this one will wrap things up with some architecture, and then I’ll have some more architecture from my day-trip to Turku — and finally after all that, I’ll close with some photos of my not-quite-a-day in Reykjavik on the way out, if I can remember what any of the pictures were.
The photos below were taken over several days, and I mostly was not setting out to document the tram system in any great detail — there are several photos that I find I should have taken but didn’t — so you will probably have an easier time following if you open up the geographically accurate tram network map in another window while you page through the photos.
On my daily trips up to Hartwall Arena to see the World Figure Skating Championships, I would usually catch the 6 or the 9 to Helsinki Central Railway Station and then the commuter rail for the five-minute trip up to Pasila. One day when I had plenty of time, I took the 9 tram — which goes to the same place — all the way; it takes about 45 minutes, about 15 minutes longer for the one-seat ride, which is long enough that many people would probably choose to transfer. (However, if you are paying a cash fare, it’s cheaper to stay on the tram, because a tram-only ticket costs less than an all-mode Helsinki city zone ticket.) | ||||
5064 | dbpedia | 0 | 58 | https://www.guidetohelsinki.com/public-transport/ | en | Public Transport in Helsinki | [
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] | null | [
"Niko"
] | 2023-05-23T21:05:40+03:00 | We'll cover the important details of public transport in Helsinki. From tickets to stations and transportation methods. Get ready to explore the city! | en | Guide to Helsinki | https://www.guidetohelsinki.com/public-transport/ | The public transport system in the Helsinki region is comprehensive and efficient. They are boasting diverse travel options, including buses, trams, ferries, metros, trains, and taxis. One can easily reach almost every corner of Helsinki by taking Helsinki’s public transport. The extensive coverage and reliable service aim to provide you with an enjoyable and convenient commuting experience. The price level is moderate and with the right ticket types, you can save also on the costs.
The public transport is mainly operated by Helsinki Regional Transport Authority (HSL) but also a few private companies operate some of the ferries to nearby islands. The same ticket is valid for all HSL transport modes but private operators have their own ticketing systems. Especially, when heading to the popular Suomenlinna Island, make sure to check who operates the ferry before boarding and that you have the correct ticket.
HSL does not only serve the Helsinki region but also the neighbouring cities Vantaa, Espoo and Kauniainen. The public transport network is divided into zones so your ticket must include the necessary zones to travel legally. Travelling without a valid ticket results in a penalty of up to 80 euros.
Buses in the Helsinki region play a significant role in connecting the city and its surrounding areas. With over a thousand buses in operation, Helsinki aims to provide a convenient and eco-friendly commuting experience for both locals and visitors.
Helsinki’s bus routes are designed to cover all parts of the cities, from dense urban areas to suburbs. These buses operate frequently, with some running from early morning to late evening. In addition to regular buses, there are special night buses that cater to the needs of late-night commuters, especially on the weekends.
Most of the buses are low-floor vehicles, making them accessible to passengers with mobility challenges. Many buses in Helsinki run on natural gas or electricity so they are also eco-friendly.
Buses are named with numbers. To board a bus, you need to give a sign to the driver to show your intention to board. Otherwise, the bus may not stop. Enter the bus using the front door and show your ticket to the driver or the ticket reader. When you wish to exit, press the STOP button inside the bus and it will stop at the next bus stop. There is no ticket sale inside buses.
The tram system in Helsinki is one of the most iconic and recognizable modes of transport. The first tram line in Helsinki was opened in 1891, and since then, the system has grown into a network of more than 10 lines that cover the downtown and its surrounding areas. The trams in Helsinki are an essential part of the city’s public transport system and are widely used by commuters and visitors alike. The trams operate on a frequent and reliable schedule.
The Helsinki tram system is known for its punctuality, efficiency, and convenience, offering passengers a comfortable and enjoyable commuting experience. The trams are easily identifiable by their distinctive green colour scheme but sometimes, they are covered with ads. The tram lines also offer breathtaking views of the city’s landmarks and attractions, making it an ideal way to explore Helsinki. if you do not want to attend the arranged tours. The Helsinki tram service is an excellent choice for anyone looking for an efficient, affordable, and eco-friendly way to get around the Helsinki Centre.
Trams are named with numbers. Because they do not automatically stop at every stop, you need to communicate to the driver by pressing the STOP button. Make sure you have a valid ticket before boarding the tram because it is impossible to buy a ticket inside a tram. You do not need to show your ticket to the driver when boarding the tram. There is no need to validate your ticket to the HSL machine.
Helsinki has one light rail line, route 15. It runs from Keilaniemi in Espoo (western Helsinki area) to Itäkeskus (East Centre). The route conveniently intersects with all the commuter train lines, allowing for easy transfers between light rail and commuter trains.
The route 15 is long and it doesn’t reach the very centre of Helsinki. It’s good to note that at Itäkeskus, you can also transfer to the Helsinki Metro for further travel within the city. Light rail is one of the most comfortable ways to travel in Helsinki when you are outside the city centre.
You need the zone B ticket to travel on the light rail.
Helsinki Metro is a rapid transit system that serves Helsinki and Espoo cities. It has been operating since 1982 and is the world’s northernmost metro system. The metro system consists only of 2 lines, and 30 stations, and has a total length of 43 km. It is the primary rail link between the eastern suburbs of Helsinki, the western suburbs of Espoo, and downtown Helsinki.
The metro is a convenient and reliable way to get from east to west, especially during rush hours.
You will recognize metro stations from the big orange-white letter M. A metro’s end station is visible in the front of the metro train and also on the information screens at the station. You need to buy a ticket before entering the metro platform. There is no ticket sale in metros so again ensure you have a valid ticket before boarding. Ticket inspections are common in the metro stations.
Ferries are an essential mode of transport in the Helsinki region, connecting the city to its numerous islands. Ferries to the UNESCO World Heritage site, Suomenlinna, are operated by the Helsinki Regional Transport Authority (HSL) but there are also private ferry operators bringing visitors to Suomenlinna and other islands. Tickets between HSL Ferries and the other operator are not compatible.
The majority of the ferries depart from Helsinki Market Square and serve destinations such as Suomenlinna, Vallisaari, and Korkeasaari.
The ferries are reliable and run on a regular schedule during the summer, making it easy to plan your day trips to the islands. They are also comfortable, with indoor and outdoor seating options and amenities such as toilets. Private ferries have cafes or even bars on board. They also arrange lunch and dinner sightseeing cruises.
You will recognize the HSL ferries from the HSL logo. There is no ticket sale on the ferries so you need to buy one before boarding a ferry.
Commuter trains in the Helsinki region are an integral part of the city’s public transport system, providing a reliable and convenient means of transportation for commuters travelling between the suburbs and downtown Helsinki. With over 200 trains running daily, the commuter rail network is one of the most extensive and efficient in Northern Europe. The trains are operated by the Finnish national railway company VR and offer a range of services, including comfortable seating. The trains are also wheelchair accessible, making them an inclusive mode of transportation for all.
The trains run on time, making them a popular choice for commuters who need to get to work or school on time. Additionally, the commuter trains are eco-friendly, reducing congestion on the roads and helping to reduce carbon emissions.
Commuter trains are named with letters, for example, Train A heading to Leppävaara. It is important not to accidentally board a long-distance train because the HSL tickets are only valid on commuter trains. Long-distance trains do not use letter naming.
There is no ticket sale on commuter trains so you need to buy a ticket before boarding a train. A conductor is sometimes asking to see passengers’ tickets so be sure you have the right ticket type.
A visitor to Helsinki usually meets a commuter train for the first time at Helsinki Airport. The lines P and I head from the airport to Helsinki Centre.
The Helsinki area has city bikes that can be rented. Unfortunately, there are two different systems: one maintained by Helsinki Region Transport and another maintained by the Vantaa city. The HSL system is available in Helsinki and Espoo and the Vantaa system is only in Vantaa. For travellers, the HSL system is more important since it covers the Helsinki centre.
The HSL city bike system is available from April to October. It consists of 4,600 bikes and 460 stations. The bikes are not free but you have to pay the subscription fee. The subscription includes unlimited rides but a single ride can last a maximum of 1 hour. For the extra time, you need to pay more.
For a traveller, a day subscription is the perfect choice costing 5 euros. If you spend more than a day in Helsinki, you can pay 10 euros for the whole week.
Read more about the city bikes on the HSL website.
There are a few private companies offering scooters in Helsinki just like in other capitals and big cities. We do not recommend driving with them because you take a risk when driving in a strange traffic environment. However, if you still think you are a skilled enough scooter driver, you can easily find them in the Helsinki Center.
It is illegal to drive under the influence of alcohol. Scooters have mandatory insurance in case of an accident. Please be polite when driving and park them in a way that they do not disturb the other traffic.
Helsinki’s public transportation system is divided into several zones, each with its unique fare system. The zones, labelled A through D, determine the price of your ticket based on the number of zones you pass through. You must purchase a ticket for at least two zones to ride public transportation.
The downtown area is located in Zone A, while Zone B covers the rest of Helsinki and the closest parts of the neighbouring cities. If you’re travelling to the airport or other parts of Vantaa, Espoo, or Kauniainen, you’ll need to purchase a ticket including Zone C.
There are three important transport hubs in Helsinki.
Helsinki Central Station
Helsinki Central Station also known as Rautatiasema in Finnish is the most important transport hub in Helsinki. Helsinki Central Railway station is the end station for all commuter trains. It is also the main station for all commuter trains and long-distance trains departing from Helsinki. At Helsinki Central Station, you can connect to many bus lines and also the metro. Many tram lines pass Helsinki Central Railway Station.
Kamppi Bus Station
Kamppi Bus Station is about 1 kilometre from the central railway station. It is a big shopping mall where there is a bus station underground. Kamppi is the end station, especially for regional bus lines and also long-distance bus lines. The metro lines go through Kamppi, too. When the weather is bad, Kamppi Bus Station is one of the most pleasant places to have a bus connection.
Pasila Station
Pasila Railway Station is about 3 kilometres away from Helsinki Central Railway Station. All trains going to Helsinki Centre call at Pasila Station. Also, all trains leaving to different destinations call at the Pasila Station making it a popular connection point for passengers who need to connect from one train to another. The rebuilt Pasila Railway Station is attached to the popular Mall of Tripla which is the fourth largest shopping mall in Finland. | |||||
5064 | dbpedia | 2 | 41 | https://www.mdpi.com/1996-1073/14/4/1070 | en | On the Historical Development and Future Prospects of Various Types of Electric Mobility | [
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] | null | [
"Amela Ajanovic",
"Reinhard Haas",
"Manfred Schrödl"
] | 2021-02-18T00:00:00 | Environmental problems such as air pollution and greenhouse gas emissions are caused by almost all transport modes. A potential solution to these problems could be electric mobility. Currently, efforts to increase the use of various types of electric vehicles are under way virtually worldwide. While in recent years a major focus was put on the electrification of passenger cars, electricity has already, for more than hundred years, been successfully used in some public transport modes such as tramways and metros. The core objective of this paper is to analyze the historical developments and the prospects of electric mobility in different transport modes and their potential contribution to the solution of the current environmental problems. With respect to the latter, we analyze the effect of the electricity generation mix on the environmental performance of electric vehicles. In addition, we document major policies implemented to promote various types of e-mobility. Our major conclusions are: (i) The policies implemented will have a major impact on the future development of electric mobility; (ii) The environmental benignity of electric vehicles depends to a large extent on the electricity generation mix. | en | MDPI | https://www.mdpi.com/1996-1073/14/4/1070 | 1
Energy Economics Group, Vienna University of Technology (TU WIEN), 1040 Vienna, Austria
2
Institute of Energy Systems and Electrical Drives, Vienna University of Technology (TU WIEN), 1040 Vienna, Austria
*
Author to whom correspondence should be addressed.
Energies 2021, 14(4), 1070; https://doi.org/10.3390/en14041070
Submission received: 12 January 2021 / Revised: 3 February 2021 / Accepted: 7 February 2021 / Published: 18 February 2021
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Prospects for Electric Mobility: Systemic, Economic and Environmental Issues)
Abstract
:
Environmental problems such as air pollution and greenhouse gas emissions are caused by almost all transport modes. A potential solution to these problems could be electric mobility. Currently, efforts to increase the use of various types of electric vehicles are under way virtually worldwide. While in recent years a major focus was put on the electrification of passenger cars, electricity has already, for more than hundred years, been successfully used in some public transport modes such as tramways and metros. The core objective of this paper is to analyze the historical developments and the prospects of electric mobility in different transport modes and their potential contribution to the solution of the current environmental problems. With respect to the latter, we analyze the effect of the electricity generation mix on the environmental performance of electric vehicles. In addition, we document major policies implemented to promote various types of e-mobility. Our major conclusions are: (i) The policies implemented will have a major impact on the future development of electric mobility; (ii) The environmental benignity of electric vehicles depends to a large extent on the electricity generation mix.
1. Introduction
The transformation and electrification of the transport system has become a major strategy in the fight against environmental problems and climate change. In the EU, the transport sector is responsible for a quarter of total greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. The largest amount of these emissions is caused by road transport, especially passenger cars. In opposition to all other sectors, in which GHG emissions have been decreasing over the last few decades, transport has had by far the worst dynamic performance (see Figure 1). Therefore, electrification of the transportation sector would significantly reduce local air pollution that causes respiratory illnesses and cancer. Moreover, depending on the electricity used, electrification of transport could significantly reduce the amount of greenhouse gases which contribute to global warming. A major challenge today is to identify the proper solutions for the transport sector which can support the transition towards an overall more sustainable energy system. One of the mostly discussed strategies is the “Avoid-Shift-Improve” (The “Avoid” refers to the need to avoid unnecessary travel and reduce trip distances, the “Shift” refers to the need to improve trip efficiency using more sustainable transport modes, and the “Improve” refers to the need to improve transport practices and technologies.) strategy. Although a major focus is currently placed on the electrification of passenger cars, in the future, with the increasing shift to public and shared mobility, it will be important to ensure a high electrification level of almost all transport modes.
Currently, efforts to increase the use of electricity in the transport sector are underway worldwide. Since many transport modes, such as railways, tramways and metros, are already very well electrified, in the past few years a major focus has been placed on the electrification of road transport, especially passenger cars and buses. Figure 2 shows the example of Austria that the public transport (e.g., railways, underground, tramways and e-buses) contribute to more than 95% of the total kilometers driven with electric vehicles.
Although both private and public electric mobility have a long history, they are still seen as a major option for the reduction of the GHG-emissions in the future. Especially in urban areas electric mobility is considered as an important means to solve the local environmental problems. Moreover, the shift from private cars to public transport in combination with electrification is often seen as a major strategy for heading towards sustainable transport systems.
However, surprisingly, in the literature there are only very few contributions analyzing e-mobility in all dimensions and possible applications. Many papers have focused on battery electric vehicles, despite their current minor relevance in comparison to public transport (e.g., trains, railways, underground, etc.), whereas there is a very low number of studies dealing with the electrification of other transport modes.
The core objective of this paper is to document the historical development of electricity use in the transport sector, as well as to analyze the current situation with respect to electric mobility considering all relevant individual and public transport modes. Moreover, the impact of electrification on emission reduction is evaluated in view of different electricity generation portfolios.
To enable beneficial electrification, it is important that the costs of e-mobility are acceptable, that they are competitive with corresponding conventional transport modes, that e-mobility significantly contributes to emission reduction, and that, with increasing use of renewable energy sources (RES), electric vehicles can contribute to better grid management [3].
An example of how different electric transport modes are placed in the electricity system is shown in a stylized description for the case of Austria in Figure 3. The grid issue is of special interest for the electrification of mobility. On the transmission (TM) level, an almost autonomous parallel TM grid exists for Austrian railways (AR). They have their own power plants, mainly from hydro sources. Most other e-mobility applications, such as underground, buses and electric vehicles (EVs), are powered at different levels of the distribution grid. With respect to EVs charged privately, it is important to state that enforcements of network connections as well as of the distribution lines may be required for several applications.
This review paper builds on publicly available data sources and all used materials and data are cited in the corresponding sections. They are described with sufficient details to allow others to replicate and build on these results.
It builds on a comprehensive literature review, data collection and documentation by transport modes for private and public mobility, and the environmental assessments are built on methods presented in our previous publications [4,5].
This paper starts with a comprehensive documentation of the historical development of e-mobility in major private and public transport modes. In Section 3, the state of the art in view of e-mobility is presented, indicating the major current challenges. In the following section, a supporting policy framework is discussed. The environmental benefits of e-mobility in relation to the electricity generation mixes are analyzed in Section 5. The major conclusions are derived at the end of the paper.
2. History of E-Mobility
Although e-mobility had been very frequently discussed over the last decade, it is important to stress that electricity use for mobility has a long history. Electricity has been used successfully for years in different transport modes such as trams, underground, trolleybuses, and railways.
In this section, we will briefly document the history of electricity use in the transport sector and consider the major private and public transport modes.
2.1. Private Cars
The history of battery electric vehicles (BEVs) is very well documented in different papers and reports (e.g., [6,7,8,9,10,11]). The fact is that BEVs are not a new automotive technology. They have a long history of about 200 years. About 100 years ago they already played a significant role in passenger car mobility. The history of electric vehicles can be divided into four major segments: (i) 1830s, entering the markets; (ii) from about 1890 to 1920, increasing popularity of EVs; (iii) after 1920, their declining popularity; and (vi) starting in the 1970s, increasing attention [12].
As documented by Høyer (2015) [13], the early history of EVs started with the first tested lightweight electric vehicles constructed in the USA, the United Kingdom and the Netherlands in the 1830s. However, the “first golden age” of EVs was undoubtedly between 1880–1920 in the USA. In 1900, in competition with steam-powered vehicles and gasoline internal combustion engine (ICE) cars, the top-selling cars in the USA were BEVs [14]. Electric vehicles were dominant in the large and developed urban areas such as New York, Boston and Chicago. In these cities the ratio was two electric vehicles to one gasoline ICE vehicle [15].
At that time, there was no clear preference for one of the available automotive technologies, but each technology had some advantages and disadvantages [6]. For example, steam-powered vehicles were cheaper and faster but required a long time to start and frequent water filling stops. The gasoline cars were more dirty, difficult to start and slightly more expensive. However, they were able to manage long travel distances without interruption. The major advantage of BEVs was that they did not have the same disadvantages associated with gasoline cars such as noise, vibrations and smell [16], but they were slow and expensive [6]. Since cars were used mostly used in urban areas until the end of the 19th century, due to the low number of the good roads outside cities, the limited driving range of BEVs was not a problem. However, already at the beginning of the 20th century, the need for travel activity increased and car manufactures tried to find ways to make BEVs more suitable for travelling longer distances in the countryside. For example, (i) fast changeable batteries were developed to enable longer driving distances; (ii) regenerative braking systems were introduced, utilizing the capacity of the motor to act as a generator re-charging the battery in the case of driving downhill; (iii) the hybrid vehicle was invented [8,10,13,17]. Although hybrid electric vehicles were able to provide silent mobility with a longer driving range, they were never seriously considered before the early 1970s, mostly due to cost issues [8].
As shown in Figure 4, the first historical peak in EV’s global stock was reached in 1912 with about 30,000 cars on the streets [14,18]. However, this peak was followed by a fast decline, which started in the 1920s, mostly due to the beginning of the mass-production of ICE vehicles [16,19], as well as the significant decrease in gasoline prices due to the discovery of new oil fields in Texas.
Such developments, in combination with increasing electricity prices [13,16,19], were the major reasons why BEVs were no longer present in the car markets at the beginning of the 1930s. The renewed interest in EVs started with the first oil crisis in the 1970s, and was intensified with the increasing environmental problems caused by the use of fossil fuels in the transport sector. However, just at the beginning of the 21st century, due to significant technological improvements, electric cars looked more promising than ever before.
Yet, the first attempts to increase the sale of BEVs were not successful, mostly for four reasons: (i) high battery costs; (ii) rather short driving distance; (iii) limited infrastructure; and (iv) a long time to charge the batteries. The current take-up of BEVs is mainly due to supportive policies (see Section 4).
2.2. Public Transport
Although a major focus today is placed on the electrification of private cars, the use of electricity in public transport has a long and continuous history. In this section, the historical development of the major public transport modes based on electricity are presented.
2.2.1. Electric Railways
The earliest battery electric locomotive powered by galvanic cells was constructed in 1837, Scotland. A few years later a larger electric locomotive named Galvani was constructed, which was first tried out on the Edinburgh and Glasgow Railway in September 1842. However, its limited battery power prevented its general use. This first electric locomotive was demolished by railway workers, because it was seen as a threat to their job security [20,21]. The first practical AC electric locomotive was designed and demonstrated in 1891 [22].
The first electric train for passengers was invented by Werner von Siemens in Berlin in 1879. Currently, the oldest electric railway in the world, which is still in operation, is the Volk’s Electric Railway, which opened in Brighton in 1883 [23].
The earliest electrification projects in Europe were focused on mountainous regions to enable easier electricity supply in the regions where hydro power was available. Electric locomotives have been a suitable option on steeper lines.
The first electric mainline railroads were built in the first two decades of the 20th century, in North America, Japan and many European countries. However, since these were often associated with high financial expenses, which was a challenge for the private rail companies, electrification progressed very slowly. Likewise, the accompanying construction of power plants to generate the required electricity was associated with high capital costs. These mostly isolated electrification efforts slowed abruptly or came to a complete stop with the beginning of World War I, especially in Europe. At the beginning of the 20th century, however, the railroad companies started replacing the steam locomotives on some lines due to the many advantages of electric traction.
Figure 5 shows a rough picture of the development of the electrification of railways in selected countries in the period from 1931 to 2019. It can be noticed that in 1930s the level of electrification was very low all over the world. Only Switzerland managed significant progress in this period, and had electrified almost 50% of its network already by 1930.
At the beginning of the Second World War, the expansion of electric railways slowed down again, and priority was given to the production of war materials. Full railway electrification did not take place on a large scale until after the war. As Figure 5 illustrates, countries such as Sweden or Norway, which were exempted from more intensive fighting and bombing, were able to significantly increase the electrification levels of their railway lines. Destruction of infrastructure and lack of capital during the first post-war years resulted in a slow growth and even a decrease of electric lines, especially in Germany and Japan. From the 1950s onwards, an intensive electrification of railway lines took place throughout Europe, as well as in Japan. This development can be clearly seen in Figure 5. However, the increasing degree of individual motorization of the population had a sometimes drastic effect on the railway operators. The consequence was the abandonment of several thousand unprofitable line kilometers. For example, the United Kingdom and France reduced their routes on a large scale. By 1990, the share of electric lines had increased further, partly due to the general conversion to electric operation.
While in Europe, a moderate but continuous growth in electrified lines over the last three decades took place, the growth of Chinese high-speed lines took on an enormous scale from 2008 onwards, mostly due to very high investment [24], and the rapid expansion of its high-speed rail network. In Japan, the electrification of the railways was almost completed before the turn of the millennium.
Of specific interest is the development in the USA. Due to almost private ownership, no costly networks were constructed and, hence, electrification remained very low. In contrast with Europe, in the U.S., railways are mainly used for freight transport. Hence, the corresponding emission of pollutants did not play an important role.
A specific category of electric railways is high-speed trains, with the speeds of at least 250 km/h. The development of high-speed train network lengths over the last three decades in the most important regions worldwide is illustrated in Figure 6.
After the great success of the TGV in France, many countries, especially in Europe, tried to build their own High-Speed Rail (HSR) lines. In 1992 this was done in Spain and in 1997 in Belgium and Germany, and in the 2000s in Great Britain, Austria, South Korea, Taiwan, China, the Netherlands and other Western European countries. Turkey, Morocco and Saudi Arabia followed in 2017 [24].
2.2.2. Tram
Trams are transportation vehicles based on railways. They were originally derived from railway networks towards public urban passenger mobility services. Trams emerged in the first years of the 19th century in South Wales, UK, where a small part of Swansea and Mumbles Railway situated in urban areas was remodeled to be used for trams. However, that very first horse-driven model of the tram does not have many common features with modern tramways [25].
The first electric tram worldwide was invented in 1875 by Fyodor Pirotsky, and the first public electric tramway was put in service in St. Petersburg, but only in September 1880. The first public electric tramway operated in permanent service was opened in Lichterfelde, near Berlinin, in 1881. This was the first successful electric tram operated commercially, and it achieved a speed of 24 mile/h and transported 12,000 passengers in its first three months alone [26]. It initially drew its current from the rails, from an overhead wire. The basic principle of that first electric tramway system is still in operation today.
After the first successful demonstrations, electric tramways spread very quickly across European cities at the end of 19th century (see Table 1).
After the successful experiments and implementation of electric tramways in various European cities, they became a common transport mode all around the world.
Electric trams systems in Toronto, Canada were introduced in 1892. In the US, the first commercial installation of an electric tram was in 1884 in Cleveland, Ohio [34].
In Australia the first electric tramway was a Sprague system, firstly shown at the Melbourne Centennial Exhibition in 1888. It was followed by the commercial use of electric tram systems starting from 1889 in many Australian cities (e.g., Adelaide, Sydney, Brisbane, Hobart, Ballarat, Bendigo, Fremantle, Geelong, Kalgoorlie, Launceston, Leonora, Newcastle, and Perth). However, by the 1970s, only Melbourne remained operating a tram system in Australia [35].
The electric railroad system in Kyoto was the first tram system in Japan, starting the transport of passengers in 1895 [36]. However, by the 1960s, the tram had generally died out in Japan [37,38].
2.2.3. Trolleybus
The trolleybus is an electric vehicle powered by electricity using overhead electrification that first appeared at the beginning of the 20th century in Europe. However, its technological development can be traced back in the early 1880s.
In 1882 Siemens demonstrated the new concept of an EVs powered from a fixed source but was capable of being steered like other road vehicles. This vehicle, called an Electromote, was a light wagonette running without rails, and it was the first trolleybus [39]. The first trolleybus was developed in Germany and put in service in 1901 in Konigstein-Bad. The first commercial trolleybus operation in the US was in 1910 in Hollywood. Starting from 1911 the trolleybus was also in use in the United Kingdom [40]. In the early 1920s, there were efforts to establish trolleybus services in many cities. For example, Toronto used four trolleybuses for three years, starting in 1922. On New York’s Staten Inlands, 23 vehicles were in operation. However, most of these buses were in operation for just a few years [40]. These early vehicles were not particularly elegant. In contrast to the tram, which was very fast established as the major urban public transport mode, the trolleybus remained in a primitive state until the mid-1920s. Just throughout the 1930s, with improved technology, trolleybuses gained attention for reliability, speed and comfort. For example, by 1939, there were 35 trolleybus systems in operation in London involving 3429 vehicles [39]. Furthermore, in the USA, trolleybuses were widely accepted as important city transportation services. For example, in 1927, 12 trolleybuses were running in New York and in 1929 26 vehicles were in service in Salt Lake City. The largest trolleybus system with 300 trolleybuses was installed in Seattle before the Second World War.
During the war, independence of imported fossil fuels was a huge advantage for electric vehicles, including tram and trolleybuses; however, in this period their infrastructure was gravely damaged in most European urban areas. After the war, due to the development of large diesel buses, as well as increasing growth of the urban population, more flexible diesel buses appeared to be a better option for mobility in many cities. For example, in 1954, London declared its plan to replace all its trolleybuses with diesel buses, and the last trolleybus system in the UK was closed in 1972. A similar pattern was also seen in other countries. However, especially in South-Eastern Europe, e.g., in Sarajevo, trolleybuses still provide a significant contribution to public transport.
Although trolleybuses have certain advantages, such as their quietness, their vibration-free operation, their long lifetimes and low maintenance requirements, as well as their absence of local pollution, they have been ignored in many countries which have discontinued trolleybus operation due to their disadvantages, such as their operational inflexibility and costs. The trolleybus and overhead lines were expensive and energy costs were also relatively high. The cost of operating trolleybuses was becoming significantly greater than that of motor buses in the same service. The availability of mass-produced diesel buses led to a gradual decline and, in some cases, total abandonment of trolleybuses. For example, in England all trolleybus systems were abandoned by 1972. In Germany, which at one time had 50 operating trolleybuses, only six remained by 1977 [40]. Mostly Eastern European countries continued with trolleybus operations.
However, just few years after trolleybuses were banned in most cities, oil crisis and increasing petrol prices made them attractive again for some countries. The renewed interest in trolleybuses started in the early 1970s as a result of changes in the costs, as well as increased concern for the environment, and this continues to the present. In Europe, interest in the electrification of mobility, including different demonstration programs, started at the beginning of 1970s, mostly due to supporting measures provided by governments and public authorities. At that time, commercial vehicles were considered to be more suitable for the early diffusion of electric vehicles.
Some countries re-equipped existing trolleybus systems (e.g., France, The Netherland, the USA), and some opened a new system (e.g., Belgium, South America). However, this revival of the trolleybus was moderate due to the expansion of light rapid transit and underground systems worldwide. Yet, trams, underground systems, light rapid transit and trolleybuses have a lot of joint characteristics. They are quiet, powered by electricity and are locally pollution-free.
The major milestones in the development of trolleybuses are depicted in Figure 7.
2.2.4. Underground
The first underground railway system worldwide was constructed in London. It was originally opened in 1863 for steam-powered locomotive trains, and in 1890 it was the world’s first electrified underground network [41,42]. Three years later an electric railway in Liverpool was opened. On the continent, Budapest opened the first electrified underground line in 1896. The first line of the Paris Metro opened in 1900. The Berlin “U-Bahn” opened in 1902. Since many sections of the line were elevated, it was also called “Hochbahn” (high railway). Germany’s next U-Bahn was opened in Hamburg in 1904. In Vienna, and old two-line Metropolitan Railway, which was in operation since 1898, was transformed to a modern underground railway system in 1978.
New York City built its first rapid transit line in 1868, and the first section of 14.5 km of the New York subway opened in 1904 [42].
In 1913, in Buenos Aires, the first subway in the Southern Hemisphere opened as an underground tramway [41].
In Japan the first subway line opened in 1927 in Tokyo. During a time in which steam engine locomotives were the widest-used type of locomotives, the Tokyo metro started the development of the 1000 Series electric train for the use underground [43].
The construction of the Moscow metro started in 1931 and already in 1935, the first stations were opened to the citizens. This first metro line had a length of 11 km [44,45].
The first discussions about the Beijing metro system started in the early 1950s when the Chinese capital had about 5000 vehicles and a population of about three million. The then-premier, Zhou Enlai, said, “Beijing is building the subway purely for defense reasons. If it was for transport, purchasing 200 buses would solve the problem.” [45,46]. Yet, Beijing’s subway, which opened in 1971, is currently one of the most frequented in the world, transporting approximately 10 million passengers per day. In 2002 the system began its rapid expansion. However, the existing grid is still not able to adequately meet Beijing’s mass transit demand.
3. E-Mobility: State of the Art
In the past, the use of electricity in the transport sector was mostly focused on public transport. However, increasing emissions, especially from the road transport, have changed the priorities over the last few decades. Currently, major effort has been put into the electrification of road transport, especially passenger cars. With the decrease in battery prices, as well as significant technical improvements, interest in the electrification of almost all transport modes is rapidly increasing.
3.1. Road Transport
Road transport is currently on the frontline of electrification, especially passenger cars and city buses.
3.1.1. Passenger Cars
Road transport, especially light duty vehicles, cause the largest amount of transport emissions. The electrification of road transport is seen as an essential strategy for meeting the European emission reduction goals. Electrification of transport combines the advantages of more energy-efficient automotive technologies with an increasing replacement of fossil fuels by renewable energy sources. However, electrification will not just change the powertrains used, but also the conditions of its use, leading to new user behavior and preferences.
Because of this complexity, the number of BEVs on the road is still very low but is continuously increasing, mostly due to the different kinds of supporting policy measures implemented as well as the increasing installation of public charging infrastructure.
In 2010, just about 17,000 electric cars were driven worldwide. However, there were just a few countries with more than 1000 electric vehicles: China, Japan, Norway, UK and USA. The majority of electric cars were used in the scope of different pilot and demonstration projects, and they were largely supported by governments through various incentive schemes and tax waivers. In 2010, the ratio of consumer spending on EVs and government spending was about 60% to 40%. In the meantime, acceptance of EVs has significantly increased, so that the ratio of consumer spending on EVs is more than 85%. The drop in government spending is mostly due to changes in incentive schemes in the US and China [47].
In spite of this, there were about 7.2 million electric cars in 2019 worldwide, and the leading countries/regions in the electrification of passenger vehicles were China, Europe and the United States. Almost half (47%) of the world’s EVs stock was in China, 25% in Europe and 20% in the United States.
Figure 8 shows the development of the global stock of rechargeable electric vehicles. Battery electric vehicles accounted for the majority (67%) of the world’s EVs in 2019.
However, based on the share of EVs in the total vehicle stock, Norway is the worldwide leader. For example, the electric car market share in Norway was 56% in 2019, followed by The Netherlands (15%) and Sweden (12%). In most other countries, the electric car market share is well below 5% [47].
Although 25% of the global stock of EVs is in Europe, the penetration of BEVs on the EU market is relatively slow. In spite of the low numbers and market shares (just about 2 % of new registered passenger cars), new BEVs registrations in the EU have been continuously rising in recent years [47].
3.1.2. Electro Micro-Mobility
Interest in electro micro-mobility (e.g., e-scouters, e-bikes) has been rapidly increasing since their emergence in 2017 [47]. They are especially of interest in urban areas and for shared mobility. Since in most of the countries/regions (e.g., China, the EU, USA) about a half of passenger-kilometers are short trips of under 8 km, there is huge potential for electro micro-mobility [48]. Such mobility can lower local air pollution and noise in cities. Yet, their full environmental impact is dependent on their total life-cycle emissions, which are determined mostly by the carbon intensity of electricity used, as well as embodied emissions. The impact of embodied emissions is very dependent on the lifetime of the electro micro-mobility. Moreover, there is an important question: which modes are replaced by micro-mobility, e.g., public transport or private cars. For example, in most cases, e-bikes are just replacing normal bicycles.
However, besides personal mobility, some of the electric micro-mobility vehicles can play an important role in last-mile delivery in urban areas. E-cargo bikes are already being used in several European cities for different delivery and courier services.
3.1.3. Two-Wheeled Electric Vehicles
Electrification of the two-wheeled vehicles has been intensified over the last few years, especially in Asia. The low weight and energetic need of two-wheelers make them suitable for electrification. They are of special interest for use in urban areas for short distances.
Currently, China is the leader in the two-wheeled electric vehicle market, with about 300 million units on the roads [47]. Major reasons for high deployment of two-wheeled vehicles in China are regulations and modest prices. For example, electric two-wheelers are exempted from registration taxes and are allowed to be used in bicycle lanes. Moreover, several cities have banned fossil fuel powered two-wheelers from downtown areas [49].
However, in other Asian countries, which use nearly 900 million two-wheeled vehicles, electrification is still marginal. Although about 20% of CO2 emissions and 30% of particulate emissions in India are caused by motorized two-wheelers [50], India has just about 0.6 million electric two-wheelers [51]. The sales of electric two-wheelers increased from 54,800 units in 2018 to 126,000 units in 2019; however, this is still very low number compared to the total two-wheeler sale which reached a record of 21 million units in 2019 [47,52].
In Europe and the United States, electric two-wheelers are in competition with electric bikes, which do not require a driver’s license or insurance [53]. Still, an increased use of shared electric two-wheelers can be noticed in Europe.
3.1.4. Electro Buses
Urban buses are the first road transport mode where electrification over the last few years is already having a significant impact [54].
The number of electric buses is growing all over the world. However, roughly 98% of electric buses are currently deployed in Chinese urban areas. Already in 2016, China registered on average 340 electric city buses per day. At the same time, in Europe about 70 new buses were put on the road, including all bus categories (e.g., urban, intercity, coaches) and all fuel types. Europe and United States, as well as other countries, still have a minor role to play in the adoption of electric buses. The new electric bus registrations in China and other countries/regions are shown in Figure 9.
Although the number of E-bus registrations in China has been decreasing over the last few years, mostly due to the reduction of subsidies, the numbers in all other countries are negligible in comparison to China.
Worldwide, there were about 513,000 electric buses in 2019, see Figure 10. The majority of them, about 95%, were made and sold in China [47]. In China the share of e-buses in the total municipal bus fleet is about 18% [55]. The Chinese electrification plans for public transport are pretty ambitious. A good example is the city of Shenzhen in which all ICE buses have been replaced with electro buses (about 16,500 buses) [55].
Over the last few years in Europe the number of e-buses has remarkably increased. In 2019, Europe registered 1900 electric buses [47]. The percentage of e-buses in overall city bus sales was about 10%. According to ACEA, 4% of new bus registrations in 2019 were e-buses [57]. The majority of electric buses in Europe is used in four countries: the UK (800), the Netherlands (800), France (600) and Germany (450) [47]. The Netherlands and the UK are leading European countries in electric bus adoption.
In 2019, the North America’s electric bus fleet consisted of 2255 e-buses, of which about 500 were new registrations [58]. furthermore, India and South America are markets with big potential in bus electrification [47,59] (see Figure 9).
Despite the high efficiency of e-buses and their low maintenance costs, their high purchase price is a significant obstacle for faster market penetration. The share of the purchase costs in the total costs of ownership (TCO) of e-buses is about two times higher than in the case of diesel buses (see Figure 11).
However, total energy consumption can increase by 50% due to the use of e-bus climate systems, leading to a substantial reduction in the driving range.
In any case, use of e-buses in urban areas can significantly reduce local air pollution, but full environmental benefits are very dependent on emissions related to electricity generation mix, as well as manufacturing and recycling of batteries.
3.1.5. Electric Trucks
Currently, electric trucks are mostly used in niche markets and in the scope of different pilot and demonstration projects. The battery pack with its very low volumetric energy density is the major impediment of a wider dissemination of electric trucks. The energy density limits driving range and load capacity. However, when driving on an uncongested highway, e-trucks can reach powertrain-to-wheel efficiencies of about 85%, while a conventional truck can achieve efficiencies of no higher than 30%. Currently, most e-trucks operate in urban areas in the scope of different municipality operations, such as delivery or garbage collection [60].
The deployment of e-vans and e-tracks is shown in Figure 12. It is obvious that China has predominance in this vehicle segment too.
In 2019 more than 6000 medium- and heavy-duty electric trucks were sold in China, mostly due to government subsidies but also due to improvements in battery performance, their cost reductions, as well as the increasing number of truck models. Currently, the most-used type of battery in trucks is lithium-ion chemistries [61]. However, in Europe and the USA, medium- and heavy-duty electric trucks are still largely used just in demonstration projects. Figure 13 shows the numbers of medium- and heavy-duty e-trucks sold worldwide in the period 2010–2019.
3.1.6. Ropeway Transport System
The ropeways have so far mainly gained attention in mountain areas for tourist purposes. The first ropeways were constructed about 100 years ago in the Alps, in Switzerland and Austria. However, in recent years they are becoming a novel option in urban public transport. Ropeways are spreading practically all over the world. Residents of Medellín in Colombia, for example, have been using cable cars to get to work since 2004. In the Turkish capital Ankara, the largest urban ropeway project on the Eurasian continent was realized in 2014. At a height of 60 m, residents of the suburbs use it to float into the city center. The largest ropeway grid in an urban area has been in the Bolivian capital La Paz since 2014. It stretches 33 km, linking the city center to the densely built-up poor neighborhoods. It comprises ten ropeway lines with hundreds of gondolas transporting around 300,000 passengers a day [62].
In regions with a hilly topography, electric ropeways could be a good alternative to buses and trains. Since electric ropeways are generally considered an environmentally benign technology with a small ecological footprint, their popularity is increasing worldwide, particularly in developing and emerging countries.
However, as with every other technology, they have some advantages and disadvantages. Besides their low environmental footprint, they have a high capacity of up to 5000 people per hour and direction. To achieve such transport performance on the road, double-articulated buses would have to run every two minutes. Ropeways are also technically mature systems and are statistically among the safest means of transport in the world [63]. Unlike buses, they also overcome steep gradients and do not get in the way of traffic lights or other vehicles, and thus avoid traffic jams. Among the biggest advantages are their low cost and short construction times, ideally only a few months. Moreover, ropeways have a high energy efficiency. According to surveys commissioned by the German Federal Environment Agency, ropeways consume 5.8 kWh per 100 passenger kilometers—only half of the already quite efficient underground, and they are clearly favorable in comparison to electric buses or individual BEVs (see Figure 14).
Nevertheless, there are some technical limits. The rope drive is only suitable for stretches of about five kilometers in length. With several sections, distances of any length could be covered, but then another disadvantage would come into play: ropeways can hardly manage more than 25 km per hour in circulating operation [65]. At higher speeds, boarding and alighting would no longer be manageable.
3.2. Other Transport Modes
Currently major focus is placed on the electrification of road mobility, especially passenger cars. However, there are many activities also in the electrification of other transport modes.
Although not very frequently discussed, rail transport is the major electrified transport mode today. In Europe, about 60% of the railway grid is already electrified and about 80% of rail transport is running on these lines. Furthermore, almost no technical obstacles for further electrification exist. However, further electrification of the rail transport is dependent on a cost–benefits ratio. For example, there is no interest in replacing diesel trains with electric ones on the low-density lines. Considering the costs for electrification of rail infrastructure and the expected emission savings, the best solution is the electrification of busy lines.
In contrast to the problem-free electrification of rail transport, electrification of shipping and aviation is still a big challenge.
After a number of pilot projects of small battery electric aircraft flights over rather short distances, the first commercial passenger aircraft flight of a full electrified airplane took place in December 2019; however, this was just for 15 min. The major problem for the electrification of aviation is the relatively low battery energy density. In spite of the fact that a growing number of aviation companies is developing small electric planes, mostly for test and demonstration purposes, the electrification of the aviation sector is still in its very early stages [47].
Electric ship propulsion actually has a long history, reaching back more than 100 years; however, this is in very limited numbers [66,67]. What are usually considered the first generation electric propulsion ships are those built in the 1920s, although there are also earlier examples of diesel-electric propulsion ships, e.g., the river tanker Vandal launched in 1903 [68]. An example from 1935 is the passenger liner “S/S Normandie” with 4 × 29 MW synchronous electric motors, one on each of the four propeller shafts. However, until the 1980s electric propulsion was not used very often, but with the rapid development of high-power semiconductor switching devices, interest in electric ship propulsion rose again.
Currently, the electrification of shipping is making progress, yet it is still very limited due to the required ranges and battery performances. At present electricity is used just in some ferries and short-distance vessels. Norway is a worldwide leader in electrification of mobility, with about 20 electric ferries in use. However, also other countries, such as China, Finland, Denmark, the Netherlands and Sweden are starting with the use of electric ships. For river navigation and short distance maritime transport, electrification could bring significant benefits in improvement of air quality. However, the major challenge is cost competitiveness.
4. Policies
As in many other sectors of an economy also in transport private initiatives do not always bring about the optimal solution for society, e.g., due to market distortions or neglection of environmental externalities, such as local air pollution or global GHG emissions. In such cases, local or federal governments usually interfere to correct for these failures and support the change in the “right” direction. The major instruments to do so are regulations, taxes, subsidies and standards [69,70,71]. In the following, we discuss the major policy interferences regarding the progress of electrification of public and private mobility.
In the beginning of the 20th century in most USA- and European cities it was full competitiveness in the private and public passenger transport [6,13]. No subsidies for any specific vehicle type (e.g., steam, electric, petrol, etc.) were provided, no specific taxes were charged and no standards were implemented.
After this first phase, private electrification efforts virtually died out. What followed were the initiatives for electrifying national railway systems by federal governments, as well as electrification of the public transport (e.g., trams, underground trains and trolleybuses) by the municipalities of cities [72]. However, these efforts were quite different from country to country and policy framework played an important role. One of the major issues in this context is the ownership structure. Indeed, as with the provision of infrastructure in the electricity system itself, but also with respect to public transport, the infrastructure for electricity, e.g., the overhead lines, which are a major cost factor, depended on the ownership structure. For example, in the USA, where the railway companies are privately owned, up to today only a very moderate electrification has taken place [73].
Over the last decade, electrification of mobility was driven by ambitious targets and policies set with the goal to reduce fossil fuel use in the transport sector, as well as to reduce local and global environmental problems [74,75,76]. Worldwide, governments have introduced a broad portfolio of policies which should enable a more sustainable development of the transport sector including all transport modes. Mostly, used policy instruments are national GHG reduction targets, fuel efficiency targets, CO2 emissions standards, vehicle sale targets/mandated, and different kinds of supporting monetary measures (e.g., incentives, subsidies, tax exemptions or reduction, etc.) [69,70] Moreover, there is a broad portfolio of non-monetary measures such as free parking areas for EVs, possibility for EV drivers to drive on bus lanes, avoidance for EVs to drive in city centers as well as zero emission zones [77].
Besides these direct measures implemented to accelerate the uptake of EVs, diesel-emission scandals and announced bans of ICE vehicles are indirectly supporting the electrification of mobility. For example, it is announced that all new cars and vans sold in Norway should be zero-emission vehicles starting from 2025. The same goal has also been announced by other countries, starting, however, from 2030 or 2040 [47]. Moreover, European mandatory CO2 emission target for the new passenger cars—95 gCO2/km in 202—should initiate the production and dissemination of more green automotive powertrains with, in the ideal case, nearly zero emissions. Currently, very ambitious targets and more severe emission testing procedures are set for the years 2025 and 2030 [78]. For the achievement of these targets, the increasing use of more environmentally benign vehicles such as BEVs is essential.
There is a broad portfolio of the policy instruments used for the promotion and support of EVs. However, as discussed in the literature [79,80,81], measures and policies related to the purchase of EVs (e.g., tax exemptions, subsidies) are considered to be the financial instruments with the highest effectiveness, especially in countries with high registration tax rates for conventional vehicles, like Norway or the Netherlands. As discussed by Ajanovic et al. [79], consumers usually do not consider total costs of car ownership, so that benefits during the operation of the cars, such as lower or zero annual circulation taxes, often provide only a small price signal and finally, have less of an impact on ordering an electric vehicle [82].
Currently, the range of subsidies for the purchase of a BEV is between 4000 and 6000 EUR [47]. Since in most of countries these subsidies are very important and their use is increasing over time, China, as a leader in the electrification of road transport, is already in a position to reduce direct subsidies. The policy framework for EVs in China is in transition from direct to more indirect supporting measures, including the development of the charging infrastructure.
Although the USA has a long history in promotion of energy efficient vehicles, starting with the Corporate Average Fuel Economy Standards in the 1970s, they have only a 20% share in the global stock of the rechargeable EVs. With the proposed vehicle fuel-efficiency standards in 2020, the annual improvement in fuel-economy standards should be reduced from 4.7% to 1.5% for model years 2021 through to 2026. Moreover, it was decided to not extend the federal tax credit for the purchase of electric vehicles [47]. However, California is a leader in the adoption of ambitious policies for the promotion of zero-emission medium- and heavy-duty vehicles.
In the EU, many policy goals are focused on the reduction of GHG emissions and an increase of RES in electricity generation, as well as in the transport sector. Almost all policies implemented and targets set support the use of EVs, directly or indirectly, for example, EU CO2 emissions regulations (no. 333/2014) [83], the European climate and energy package [75,76], the White Paper on Transport [84], the European Green Deal [85]. Besides policies and goals at the EU level, almost all EU countries have a wide range of supporting policies for the promotion of EVs implemented on the national and local level.
5. Environmental Issues of Electricity
One of the most important reasons to increase the use of e-mobility is to reduce the local and global emissions. However, whether this effect will be reached in practice and to what extent depends almost solely on the primary energy mix used in local or national power plants for electricity generation. The environmental benignity of electric vehicles in relation to the electricity mix used is comprehensively analyzed in the literature [86,87,88,89]. Nordelöf et al. (2014) [86] provide a review article investigating the usefulness of various types of lifecycle assessment (LCA) studies of electrified vehicles. Van Mierlo et al. (2017) [87] analyze the impact of the electricity production on the overall LCA performance of EVs and how the energy source mix for electricity generation influences the impact. Moro/Helmers (2017) [88] conduct an analysis on the advantages and drawbacks of the Well-to-Wheel (WTW) methodology when compared with the life cycle approach based on the EU electricity generation mix. In the recent publication, Ajanovic et al. (2021) [89] provide assessment of CO2 emissions of various transport modes for the case study of Vienna.
In practice, a broad range of primary energy sources is available for electricity generation and there is a significant difference in electricity generation mixes across the countries. Figure 15 shows the mix of inputs for electricity production in selected countries/regions. While in China the electricity mix is dominated by coal, about 70%, in Japan and the US the share of coal is much lower, and the largest share has natural gas leading to a lower specific emission. In Europe, due to the continuously increasing use of RES, total share of fossil energy in the electricity generation mix is about 40%. However, there are significant differences across European countries. An exceptional country is Norway, with very high uses of RES, almost solely hydro, for electricity generation.
The portfolio of energy inputs for electricity generation is changeable over time, as well as the corresponding carbon intensity of the electricity mix, see Figure 16. This figure depicts the development of specific CO2 emissions of electricity generated in various countries from 2000 to 2018. As can be seen, the specific emissions have decreased in all regions shown since 2000 by almost the same percentage. The IEA expects almost continuous further decreases up to 2040 [91]. An exemption is Norway, where almost 100% of electricity is generated in hydro power plants and a further decrease of CO2 emissions of electricity is virtually not possible.
A comparison of specific CO2 emissions of electricity generated in various countries compared to gasoline and diesel is illustrated in Figure 17. This figure shows that related to kWhs, CO2 emissions are higher for electricity.
As can be seen, in some of the countries with a high use of coal in electricity generation (e.g., China and India), a specific carbon intensity of electricity mix is much higher than those of gasoline and diesel.
However, because of different efficiency of the end-use conversion systems, mainly ICEs vs. electric motors, the environmental comparison has to be conducted related to km driven. Since some of the transport modes, such as underground and tramway systems, are almost completely electrified worldwide, there is no need to compare them with corresponding fossil systems. Currently, the major focus is placed on emission reduction from the passenger car transport. In the following section we discuss the environmental benefits of electrification, taking BEV as an example.
As shown is Figure 18, whereas for 100% RES the CO2 emissions per km driven are almost zero, they are around 170 gCO2 per km driven for coal power plants, respectively about 90 gCO2/km for pure natural gas plants. For different mixes, of course, the corresponding figures are in between. The figure shows the reductions compared to gasoline cars for a share of 40% RES in a natural gas-dominated country and for 60% RES in a coal-dominated one. This graph illustrates undoubtedly that CO2 reduction is higher the bigger the share of renewables in the electricity production portfolio.
Using the same type of BEVs in different countries could lead to different total emissions, depending on the electricity used. The total CO2 emissions of BEVs in various countries, compared to gasoline and diesel cars, are illustrated in Figure 19. These emissions are calculated for different countries/regions assuming an average driving range of 15,000 km driven per year. The total emissions are split up into Well-to-Tank (WTT), Tank-to-Wheel (TTW) and lifecycle car emissions, as depicted in Figure 19. The embedded emissions of car materials and manufacturing are included in the lifecycle car emissions.
As it can be seen in Figure 19, only in Norway does e-mobility really lead to a remarkable reduction in CO2 emissions. In all other countries, CO2 emissions from e-mobility are lower, e.g., in the EU for about 50%, in the USA for about 30%, but in India, total emissions of BEVs are almost at the same level as those of conventional cars.
However, with the increasing share of RES in electricity generation, which is set as a goal in many countries, the environmental benefits of electric vehicles will be continuously improving.
6. Conclusions
Currently, there is a broad range of electricity use in the transport sector from individual private mobility such as electric cars, scooters and e-bikes, over different kinds of urban public mobility (e.g., underground, trolleybuses, cable cars, etc.) up to trucks and railways. Although the electrification of shipping and aviation is very limited, it is also progressing. That is to say, virtually every transport mode can be electrified.
However, a broader deployment of e-mobility in most applications will not be possible without more or less severe political interferences. The major policy measures currently used are different kinds of monetary and non-monetary incentives, which could have a direct as well as an indirect impact on the dissemination of e-mobility. For the faster deployment of e-mobility, it is important to have a combination of different instruments, such as (i) subsidies and tax reliefs; (ii) sometimes even more important are indirect measures, such as diesel ban in cities or the introduction of emission-free zones; (iii) implementation of CO2-taxes; (iv) tighter emission standards for the whole fleet; and (v) legislation with a “right to charge” in the garages of urban apartment buildings.
A specific challenge for the faster dissemination of e-mobility is further development of batteries and a reduction of their costs. Currently, BEVs are still more expensive than petrol cars. However, fuel costs are already lower and, due to technological learning, it is expected that by 2030 the overall costs per km driven will even out. The introduction of CO2 taxes would accelerate this development.
The most important issue for public applications will be affordability for the public, e.g., the municipality of a city. Of course, as the past has shown, this is not a problem in the rich cities of the Western world. But it is a severe one in emerging and even more in developing countries, where underground transport can hardly be financed and hence, cheaper solutions such as light rail systems or ropeways will be the more proper solutions.
Along with all types of e-mobility goes the issue of infrastructure development. The construction of the necessary crucial infrastructure, such as overhead lines or other networks for electricity, as well as fast charging stations, is of very high relevance. However, the deployment of the infrastructure is depends on regulations and policy frameworks, which means the involvement of different stakeholders and policymakers.
Besides financial and policy issues, topography also has an impact on the deployment of different kinds of e-mobility. For example, in regions with a hilly topography, electric ropeways could be a better solution than e-buses or e-trains. Their major advantages are the lower energy demands per person per km and lower investment costs in comparison with the underground. In cities with a very high population density, a light rail system above the roads could be a good solution, e.g., in Bangkok. In any case economics from society’s point of view will play a crucial and predominant role.
Finally, it has to be stressed once more that the major reason for promoting and implementing any type of e-mobility is to cope with the pressing environmental situation, local pollution, as well as global GHG emissions. In this context, for the environmental performance, it is of great relevance how the electricity used for e-mobility will be generated. Only if it is ensured by highly credible sources that the electricity is generated from RES, will e-mobility definitively contribute to a more environmentally benign and sustainable transport system. After all, the two absolutely crucial issues for the future deployment of all types of e-mobility are (i) political interferences; and (ii) electricity generation mix.
Author Contributions
Conceptualization, A.A. and R.H.; methodology, A.A.; validation, A.A., M.S. and R.H.; formal analysis, A.A., R.H.; investigation, A.A., R.H.; resources, A.A.; data curation, A.A.; writing—original draft preparation, A.A.; writing—review and editing, A.A., R.H., M.S.; visualization, A.A.; project administration, A.A.; funding acquisition, A.A. All authors have read and agreed to the published version of the manuscript.
Funding
The present work was funded by the Vienna Science and Technology Fund (WWTF) through the TransLoC project ESR17-067.
Institutional Review Board Statement
Not applicable.
Informed Consent Statement
Not applicable.
Data Availability Statement
Not applicable.
Conflicts of Interest
The authors declare no conflict of interest.
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Figure 1. Development of GHG-emissions in the EU-27 in the different sectors (and transport modes) from 1990–2018 (1990 = 1) (Data source: [1]).
Figure 2. Shares of different modes and technologies of electric mobility by the number of kilometers driven in Austria in the year 2018 (Data source: [2]).
Figure 3. A stylized figure of how different modes and technologies of electric mobility are placed in the electricity system in the example of Austria.
Figure 4. Major milestones in the history of battery electric vehicles.
Figure 5. The electrification of railways in several countries, 1930 to 2019.
Figure 6. The development of high-speed train network lengths in the period 1990 to 2020 (own analysis, [24]).
Figure 7. The major milestones in the development of trolleybuses.
Figure 8. The global stock of rechargeable EVs, 2010–2019 (Data source: [47]).
Figure 9. New e-bus registrations by country/region, 2015–2019 (Data source: [47]).
Figure 10. Development of the global stock of E-buses (Data source: [56]).
Figure 11. TCO for diesel and e-buses (Data source: [55], own analysis).
Figure 12. Development of electric vans and trucks, 2015–2019 (Data source: [56]).
Figure 13. Global sales of e-trucks (Data source: [47]).
Figure 14. Electricity intensity of various modes of e-mobility in cities (Data source: [64], own analysis).
Figure 15. Electricity generation mix in selected countries 2018 (Data source: [90], own analysis).
Figure 16. Development of specific CO2 emissions of electricity generated in various countries and world-wide 2000–2018 [91,92].
Figure 17. Specific CO2 emissions of electricity generated in various countries compared to gasoline and diesel.
Figure 18. Specific WTW-CO2-emissions of fuels (excl. LCA emissions of the vehicle) in dependence of the share of RES in the electricity generation portfolio (based on [93]).
Figure 19. Total CO2 emissions of BEVs in various countries compared to gasoline and diesel cars (based on the electricity generation mix of 2018).
Table 1. Some examples of the first electric tramways in Europe [27,28,29,30,31,32,33].
YearCountryCity1887HungaryBudapest1891Czech RepublicPrague1892UkraineKiev1893GermanyDresdenFranceLyonItalyMilanItalyGenoa1894ItalyRomeSwedenOsloGermanyPlauenSerbiaBelgrade1895United KingdomBristolBosnia and HerzegovinaSarajevo1896SpainBilbao1897DenmarkCopenhagenAustriaVienna1898ItalyFlorenceItalyTurin1899FinlandHelsinkiSpainMadrid SpainBarcelona
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5064 | dbpedia | 2 | 57 | https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2014/06/140618071729.htm | en | Finland to become a model country for sustainable transport by 2020 | [
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] | [] | [] | [
"Automotive and Transportation; Transportation Science; Vehicles; Energy and the Environment; Environmental Policy; Sustainability; Transportation Issues; Energy Issues; Retail and Services"
] | null | [] | 2024-08-19T03:15:01+00:00 | Roads in Finland in 2020 will hum to the sound of low-emission vehicles running on renewable energy, electricity, hydrogen and sustainable biofuels. The share of public transport and car pooling in densely populated urban areas will increase. Mobility arranged through easy-to-use services will become a viable alternative to buying a private car. | en | ScienceDaily | https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2014/06/140618071729.htm | VTT's TransSmart vision of a model country for sustainable transport throws the spotlight on efficiency -- in vehicles, systems, and services. Transport will be a fusion of sustainable energy sources, advanced technology, safety, high service levels, mobility alternatives and new ways of operating.
"Fine-tuning vehicles or developing renewable fuels will simply not be enough in the long run. The entire system needs revamping. You won't make the world a better place by filling Helsinki with electric cars, for example. They take up just as much room as conventional cars running on petrol or diesel. The ways to achieve change will be through increasing the share of public transport, and rethinking mobility and logistics services to include the views of the people who need the services," VTT's Research Professor and TransSmart Programme Manager Nils-Olof Nylund says with emphasis.
"Smart transport solutions create more efficient travel- and logistics chains and an overview of the status of the transport system in real-time. The idea is that the travellers will be able to select several service options and to easily combine them into suitable travel chains: private car, on foot, bicycle, bus, taxi, demand responsive transport, carpooling, car and transport joint use, tram, metro, train or aeroplane. This would lead to a reduced need for car ownership or for the construction of parking spaces and streets. The crux of the idea is to achieve an increase in the fluency, ease of use and accessibility of travel chains. Service accessibility also covers safe and trouble-free payment," says Senior Scientist Raine Hautala, leader of the TransSmart programme's Transport Services theme.
Rechargeable hybrid the new favourite
An increasing number of new cars in 2020 will run on renewable energy. The growing share of new car sales taken up by electric cars will have reached 10-15%. Rechargeable hybrids will be a particular favourite.
Electrification of bus traffic has already begun, and by 2020 the estimate is for more than 100 electric buses in the Helsinki metropolitan area.
New plants producing sustainable biofuels have already come stream line in Finland.
A downward turn is now discernible in transport energy consumption. The national 2020 target for 20% biofuels in 2020 is met.
Changes in mobility bring business opportunities
DRIVE C2X is among the leading smart transport research projects, testing and developing new smart transport services based on data transfer between vehicles. The project, coordinated by Daimler, involves the participation of European research institutes alongside a number of European car manufacturers. The most significant input in the project is supplied by VTT.
The Smart Transport Corridor between Helsinki and St. Petersburg will also create new services: for passengers, private motorists and public transport.. Development of the VEDIA Multi-Service concept, led by VTT and Vediafi Ltd, will enhance the fluency of traffic across the border between Finland and Russia, while improving transport safety and the travel experience. First to be introduced will be real-time road weather and driving conditions information service, an automatic system issuing bulletins and warnings on traffic disruption, a real-time traffic and congestion information service and a public transport information service.
One example of an ITS service offered by public authorities improving traffic safety is the eCall in-vehicle emergency call service, based on the European emergency number 112. VTT has been developing the eCall system in active collaboration with the European Commission, Member States, the industry, authorities, and other research institutes. The service will be introduced in EU Member States no later than 2017, when it will become compulsory for all new car and van models. In the event of a road accident, in-vehicle sensors detect the accident, the eCall system opens an emergency call from the vehicle to the nearest emergency response centre (ERC) and sends the minimum set of data including the vehicle's exact geographic location. After transmitting the minimum set of data, the in-vehicle system opens a voice connection between the vehicle and the emergency response centre.
Together towards the goal
The international market for intelligent transport devices has annual growth estimated at about 20%. New smart transport services also give rise to new business opportunities for Finnish enterprises. A current example is the 'Finnish Road Weather Excellence' project (Vaisala, Arctic Machine, Foreca, Teconer, VTT), which has demonstrated the sizeable extra market potential of high-level Finnish competence in road weather and winter maintenance. Realising this potential requires our competence to embrace the packaging of devices and technical systems in a way that provides more comprehensive solutions for products and services.
"Smart transport is generating a lot of interest, but we need to wait a little before we see the scale on which profitable business begins to materialise for Finland. Companies will need to be capable of developing internationally competitive products and services," Key Account Manager Karri Rantasila points out.
Cooperation among all the key actors in road transport is essential if objectives are to be reached. To this end, the TransSmart spearhead programme, launched and coordinated by VTT, brings all the main players to the same table. The programme aims at a smooth, cost-efficient and environmentally friendly transport system. Participants include the Ministry of Transport and Communications, the Ministry of Employment and the Economy, the Ministry of Finance, the Ministry of the Environment, the administrative branch of the Ministry of Transport and Communications, as well as Tekes, the municipal sector, research institutes and numerous companies. | |||||
5064 | dbpedia | 1 | 1 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Helsinki_light_rail_line_15 | en | Helsinki light rail line 15 | [
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] | 2019-05-06T14:54:58+00:00 | en | /static/apple-touch/wikipedia.png | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Helsinki_light_rail_line_15 | Light rail line in Helsinki and Espoo, Finland
Helsinki light rail line 15OverviewOther name(s)Jokeri light railNative namePikaraitiotie 15StatusOperationalLine number15[1]LocaleHelsinki, EspooTerminiStations34ServiceTypeLight railSystemHelsinki tram networkServices15Operator(s)Metropolitan Area Transport LtdDepot(s)RoihupeltoRolling stock20x Škoda Artic X54 (9 more on order)HistoryCommenced2019; 5 years ago ( )Opened21 October 2023; 9 months ago ( )TechnicalLine length25 km (16 mi)Number of tracks2CharacterPartial street running, partial at-grade separate right-of-wayTrack gauge1,000 mm (3 ft 3+3⁄8 in) metre gaugeElectrificationOverhead catenary at 750V DCOperating speedup to 70 km/h (43 mph)[2]SignallingLine of sight
Route map
Helsinki light rail line 15 (Finnish: Pikaraitiotie 15, Swedish: Snabbspårväg 15) is a 25-kilometre (16 mi) light rail line connecting Keilaniemi in Espoo and Itäkeskus in Helsinki, Finland. Known during construction as Jokeri light rail (Finnish: Raide-Jokeri, Swedish: Spårjokern), construction was started in June 2019[4] and the line began operating in October 2023,[5] about 10 months ahead of the original schedule.[6] The line replaced the trunk bus line 550, the busiest bus service on the Helsinki Regional Transport Authority public transport network, at the end of 2023.[7]
History
[edit]
Background
[edit]
The "trunk bus line" 550, formerly branded Jokeri ("The Joker", after Joukkoliikenteen kehämäinen raideinvestointi – "A circular rail investment for public transportation"), has been converted to light rail. The city councils of Helsinki and Espoo approved the construction project in June 2016,[8][9] after the Finnish government decided to participate in funding the construction. The rail line was preliminarily projected to open in 2021.[10] The construction of the 25-kilometre (16 mi) light rail line, without rolling stock or a depot, was projected to cost 274 million euros as of June 2016, with rolling stock and a depot projected to additionally cost up to 95 and 65 million euros, respectively.[11]
The 550 was originally conceived as a light rail line in 1990, but only realised as a bus line in 2003. The general plans to convert the congested bus line to light rail were first published in 2009, but the decision to begin construction was only taken in June 2016 after many delays.[12][13][14][15] The municipality of Espoo has located the western terminus of the rail line at Keilaniemi instead of Tapiola. There are connections to the Helsinki Metro at Aalto University and Keilaniemi.
The previous 550 bus line was a 25-kilometre-long (16 mi) orbital route running roughly parallel to the innermost ring road around Helsinki (Ring I). The 550 ran from Itäkeskus in the east to Tapiola in the west, connecting with the commuter rail network at Oulunkylä, Huopalahti, Pitäjänmäki and Leppävaara, and with the metro in Itäkeskus and Tapiola.
Light rail line 15 is a significant development for the Helsinki tram network. The route is located entirely outside the current network, surrounding it; the length of the route constitutes a large proportion of the total network length, and the line is built to modern light rail standards (as opposed to the relatively old-fashioned street tram system). However, the new line is technically compatible with the existing network (1,000 mm ( 3 ft 3+3⁄8 in) metre gauge, low platforms). Direct integration with the Helsinki Metro (broad gauge, high platforms, planned driverless operation) was briefly studied in 2003, but it was found to be highly impractical.[16]
Construction
[edit]
Construction on the line officially began in June 2019.[17] Construction proceeded ahead of schedule, with test runs being completed between 2022 and June 2023.[6] Regular service started in October 2023,[5] ahead of the original 2024 target date.[18] 5858 workers took part in the construction.[19]
Construction work in Maunula in September 2022
Western entrance of the Patterinmäki tunnel during construction work in May 2022
Opening
[edit]
The first service of Jokeri light rail took place in Otaniemi, where the first service departed on 21 October 2023 to Itäkeskus. HSL (Helsinki Regional Transport Authority) organized an opening event at Otaniemi, with guests like Finnish prime minister Petteri Orpo, Finnish minister of Environment and climate change Kai Mykkänen and the deputy mayor of Helsinki.
Services
[edit]
Services on tram line 15 began on 21 October 2023.[5] The initial service consisted of a tram every 12 minutes (5tph). On 1 December 2023, the frequency was increased to 6tph. From 4 March 2024, the peak time frequency wss increased further, to a tram every 8 minutes (7.5tph). From summer 2024, the all-day frequency will be increased to 8tph, with up to 10tph at peak times.[20]
The line is operated by Helsinki City Transport, although the operation is planned to be contracted out to a commercial entity later.[21]
Rolling stock
[edit]
A total of 29 bi-directional Škoda Artic X54 units have been ordered for the line. The model, also known as Artic XL, is based on the Artic model originally designed for Helsinki's tram network and will also be used on the Crown Bridges lines. All trams are based at Roihupelto tram depot, which was built beside the Roihupelto metro depot [fi] used by Helsinki Metro.[22]
See also
[edit]
Trams in Finland
Helsinki tram network
Planned extension of the Helsinki tram network
References
[edit] | ||||||
5064 | dbpedia | 0 | 81 | https://railway-news.com/helsinki-city-transport-orders-10-forcity-smart-artic-trams-transtech-oy/ | en | Helsinki City Transport Orders 10 ForCity Smart Artic Trams from Transtech Oy | [
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] | 2018-06-18T05:57:59+00:00 | Transtech Oy will supply ten of its ForCity Smart Artic trams to Helsinki City Transport (HKL). The tram is a one-directional three-part model with a 1000 mm gauge; it is a 274 m long and fully low-floor. It is all-wheel drive and designed for efficient operation in challenging climatic conditions. | en | Railway-News | https://railway-news.com/helsinki-city-transport-orders-10-forcity-smart-artic-trams-transtech-oy/ | Transtech Oy, a subsidiary of Škoda Transportation, will supply ten of its ForCity Smart Artic trams to Helsinki City Transport (HKL) for 30 million euros. The agency has previously ordered a total of 99 trams worth more than 300 million euros from the company.
The ForCity Smart Artic tram is a one-directional three-part model with a 1000 mm gauge; it is 274 m long and fully low-floor. It is all-wheel drive and the chassis and axle are designed to maximise the efficiency of operations in challenging climatic conditions. It also provides barrier-free access for wheelchair users and prams.
Ville Lehmuskoski, CEO of Helsinki City Transport, said:
“The future growth of the city of Helsinki is very much based on increasing tram transportation. It is therefore easy to make this decision to increase our Artic fleet.”
Zdeněk Majer, Vice President of Škoda Transportation and Chairman of Transtech Oy, said:
“I am very proud that HKL Helsinki is satisfied with the Škoda´s trams. We have been really successful on this market in the last years. Transtech has fully incorporated into Škoda Transportation group with the sales of about 120 million EUR.”
HKL ordered its first ForCity Smart Artic tram from Transtech in 2013 and there are currently 48 in operation around the city.
Lasse Orre, CEO of Transtech Oy, said:
“The popularity of the trams is increasing among the passengers and Helsinki City is responding to that by exercising an option. In close co-operation with Helsinki City Transportation we have developed a tram which is reliable and energy efficient and has proven to be the right choice. We believe that it will be also a success in the international market.”
Transtech, which was founded in 1985 and employs around 700 people, is the largest manufacturer of rolling stock in Nordic countries. It principally manufactures double-decker passenger coaches, trams and engineering products. | |||||
5064 | dbpedia | 2 | 77 | https://www.proxion.fi/en/hanke/tram-train-traffic/ | en | train traffic | [
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] | null | [] | 2021-08-11T07:31:46+00:00 | en | Proxion | https://www.proxion.fi/en/hanke/tram-train-traffic/ | Technology
The track gauge of the Finnish rail network is 1524 mm, which would be selected in Finland as the track gauge of the tram-train. In principle, tram-trains are two-system wagons that use 750 V DC in the urban area and 25 kV AC on the railway.
The equipment can be powered by electricity, gas, battery or diesel. It is also possible to implement combinations of different propulsion options, in which case it is a hybrid. Today, several European cities already use trams, which run alongside overhead power lines for part of the journey on batteries, for example in Nice. As battery technology evolves, similar hybrid solutions are likely to become more common, as their benefits, especially in urban environments, are aesthetics and safety when no overhead contact lines are needed.
The development of battery-powered rolling stock is currently rapid. For example, in 2020, local train equipment has already been ordered in Germany, which can run 80 km on battery power in addition to normal electricity use.
The top speed of the tram-train on the railway is 100 km/h. On railways, the tram-train stock must also be equipped with a train access control system and other railway traffic equipment. In the urban area, traffic takes place in the same way as urban trams. So the tram-train is fast and safe.
The tram-train is similar in size to a conventional European tram (37 m long and 2.65 m wide), so it even moves agilely in an urban structure with a small curve radius capability. Externally, the tram-train is little different from a regular tram. Due to longer distances, more attention has been paid to travel comfort.
In Finland, railways already run through several city centers, and housing and workplaces are often strongly concentrated along the tracks or in the vicinity of railway traffic crossings. Thus, much of the infrastructure for tram-train traffic already exists. The same track gauge of the railway track and the tram-train railway
allows tram and commuter train projects to be considered as one entity rather than competing or foreclosing each other. In addition to the city centers, the tram-train’s area of influence extends far into the surrounding municipalities, in the same way as regional public transport. Due to its operating principle, the tram-train serves a much larger population than the traditional tramway.
When planning zoning, it is also good to consider the current climate goals and the ways to achieve them. How will the cost of private cars come about in the future and should this already now be taken into account in zoning by shifting its focus from the motorways closer to the railways, while also condensing the city centers?
Tram-train traffic surveys are based on the utilization and expansion possibilities of the existing railway network. The surveys examine the region’s suitability for tram-train traffic, take into account regional specific needs and future visions that tram-train traffic would support. The transport system is considered as a whole. The comprehensive survey highlights different options for implementation with cost estimates, and a step-by-step plan can be developed on how to start and how to expand at a later stage to support the growth and needs of the region.
Effects
The electric and battery-powered tram-train is a locally emission-free and quiet means of transport. Low-floor tram-trains are barrier-free, so they offer equal mobility for all population and age groups.
Experience with tram-train transport has shown that they have increased the utilization rate of public transport by tens of percent. The clarity of the tram-train network inspires the use of public transport compared to the more difficult to adopt bus line. Perceptions of tram cities are also positive, which has attracted new residents, businesses and investment. The environments of rail stops are sought-after residential and commercial locations, as a result of which the value of land has increased.
The tram-train offers people an easy and direct connection between the regions and the city centers, which enlivens the centers and their services. Efficient public transport reduces congestion and frees up parking space, allowing the tram-train to be taken even closer to pedestrian centers. An easy-to-use, smooth and safe regional public transport system will also reduce dependence on passenger cars outside major urban centers and make non-urban areas more vibrant.
Most of the costs of the tram-train are investments in a long lifecycle, unlike in bus transport, where operating costs make up the majority of the costs. The tram-train is a long-term investment, as it has a service life of at least 40 years and most of the tram infrastructure is also long-lasting. The service life of a city or regional bus, on the other hand, is usually a maximum of ten years.
In any case, due to climate goals and the strong development of battery technology, investment in public transport equipment will be needed in the near future. Now is a good time to think about the possibilities of different options. Rail transport is supported by, among other things, its environmental friendliness, passenger capacity, travel comfort, safety, and the possibility of speeding up the accessibility of downtown areas by using railway sections as one option. The investment in the tram-train is a long-term investment in a more efficient infrastructure for the city and the entire region. | ||||||
5064 | dbpedia | 2 | 36 | https://www.alamy.com/stock-photo/tram-system-helsinki.html | en | res stock photography and images | [
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] | null | Find the perfect tram system helsinki stock photo, image, vector, illustration or 360 image. Available for both RF and RM licensing. | en | Alamy | https://www.alamy.com/stock-photo/tram-system-helsinki.html | Alamy and its logo are trademarks of Alamy Ltd. and are registered in certain countries. Copyright © 19/08/2024 Alamy Ltd. All rights reserved. | |||||
5064 | dbpedia | 3 | 95 | https://www.etteplan.com/about-us/news/2019/06/11/etteplan-receives-order-for-technical-documentation-for-tamperes-and-raide-jokeris-trams/ | en | Etteplan receives order for technical documentation for Tampere’s and Raide-Jokeri’s trams | [
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] | null | [] | 2019-06-11T00:00:00 | Engineering services company Etteplan Oyj and Škoda Transtech Oy have agreed on cooperation concerning the production of technical product documentation of the… | en | /favicon/apple-touch-icon.png | Etteplan | https://www.etteplan.com/about-us/news/2019/06/11/etteplan-receives-order-for-technical-documentation-for-tamperes-and-raide-jokeris-trams/ | Engineering services company Etteplan Oyj and Škoda Transtech Oy have agreed on cooperation concerning the production of technical product documentation of the city of Tampere’s ForCity Smart Artic trams and the Artic trams of the Jokeri Light Rail (Raide-Jokeri) line, which will be built in the Helsinki capital region. Technical product documentation refers to technical and functional descriptions, spare parts documentation, and maintenance instructions and manuals for products such as trams.
Under the agreement, Etteplan will provide Škoda Transtech with technical documentation contents, solutions for managing technical documentation and tools for distributing technical documentation using the latest available technology and standards in the field. The collaboration lays the foundation for Škoda Transtech’s goal of increasing and streamlining its services related to the service and maintenance business by aligning product documentation processes and contents with the digital world.
For Etteplan, this is a significant order that supports the company’s target of increasing the share of Managed Services of its revenue. The scope of the order is also significant, as it covers nearly all of Etteplan’s technical documentation solutions. The documentation projects for the Tampere and Helsinki trams will be carried out during 2019–2021 mainly at Etteplan’s Oulu and Tampere locations.
– “We chose Etteplan as our documentation partner because they understood our long-term documentation needs and are able to assist us in taking a major step forward in developing the quality of our operations, ” says Toni Söderlund , CPO, Škoda Transtech.
– “We are very grateful for the opportunity to be involved in developing the documentation for the new trams. Škoda Transtech’s order is a testament to the importance of our technical documentation services and the added value they bring to the development of our customers’ maintenance business, ” says Kimmo Kallio , BU Director at Etteplan.
Finnish company Škoda Transtech was founded in 1985. In 2015, Transtech became a member of Škoda Transportation Group. Today, Škoda Transtech is a leading European rolling stock manufacturer of low-floor trams and double deck coaches as well as an important contract manufacturer of demanding engineering workshop products. Škoda Transtech will deliver Helsinki City’s new ForCity Smart Artic trams and double-deck coaches for the government-owned railway company VR. The company will also supply trams for the city of Tampere City and the Jokeri Light Rail line. Jokeri Light Rail line will connect Itäkeskus in Helsinki with Keilaniemi in Espoo. The construction of the line began in June 2019.
Etteplan in brief
Etteplan provides solutions for industrial equipment and plant engineering, software and embedded solutions, and technical documentation solutions to the world’s leading companies in the manufacturing industry. Our services are geared to improve the competitiveness of our customers’ products, services and engineering processes throughout the product life cycle. The results of Etteplan’s innovative engineering can be seen in numerous industrial solutions and everyday products. In 2018, Etteplan had a turnover of approximately EUR 236 million. The company currently has more than 3,000 professionals in Finland, Sweden, the Netherlands, Germany, Poland and China. Etteplan's shares are listed on Nasdaq Helsinki Ltd under the ETTE ticker. www.etteplan.com | ||||
5064 | dbpedia | 0 | 97 | https://www.vox.com/energy-and-environment/2017/10/24/16519364/electric-buses | en | Electric buses are coming, and they’re going to help fix 4 big urban problems | [
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"David Roberts"
] | 2017-10-24T00:00:00 | Urban transit is the EV sweet spot. | en | /static-assets/icons/favicon.ico | Vox | https://www.vox.com/energy-and-environment/2017/10/24/16519364/electric-buses | There is a ton of hype around electric cars right now, for understandable reasons. Several snazzy new models have been released recently, range continues improving, and ambitious cities are pledging to get rid of gas and diesel cars altogether. It’s a heady time.
But here’s a little appreciated fact: Personal vehicles are probably the most challenging to electrify cost-effectively. (Dragging one or two passengers around over long distances in a 2-ton vehicle takes a lot of energy.) The case for electrification is actually stronger for other types of vehicles.
At the top of the list: buses! City transit buses are ideal candidates for electrification.
For one thing, the world is rapidly urbanizing and particulate pollution — especially from diesel, the fuel of choice for older buses — is increasingly seen as a health crisis. Old buses drive around the city all day, at low speeds, spewing diesel smoke directly into urbanites’ faces, leading to countless illnesses and early deaths. (Diesel smoke is a big contributor to the 6.5 million deaths a year caused by air pollution.)
Electrification would mean that buses emit virtually no air pollutants or greenhouse gases. (The power plants where their electricity is generated might still generate those pollutants, but even if it is powered by coal plants, an electric bus averages far less pollution per-mile than a diesel bus.) Urban air quality would notably and immediately improve.
As a fuel, electricity is far cheaper than diesel or natural gas, and given that buses are utilized four times as much as the average personal vehicle, those savings add up. And because EVs of all kinds are simpler and have fewer parts, maintenance costs are lower.
Finally, electric buses are also just a much, much nicer experience — lower to the ground, roomier (diesel engines take up lots of space), not choked with the smell of fuel, and quieter, indeed close to silent. It is difficult to quantify the impacts of noise pollution in urban areas, but, well, imagine a dense urban area without big diesel engines roaring to life every few seconds. It would be nice.
All of this has been true for decades, of course. People were talking about battery-electric buses (BEBs) at the turn of the century. What’s changed is that the technology has advanced in leaps and bounds (range and power have doubled in just the past few years), an actual EV industry/supply chain has been established, and charging infrastructure is spreading.
The cost differential is still daunting — a BEB still costs $200,000 to $300,000 more up front — but the cumulative advantages have grown to the point that dozens of cities are rushing to replace their fleets. The latest is New York City, which announced on April 25 it will convert its public bus system to an all-electric fleet by 2040, or sooner.
Let’s take a quick look at some recent developments.
Electric bus sales are growing briskly, but will they boom?
There aren’t many reports available to the public on the global bus market (plenty of paywalled reports, if you’ve got $6,500 burning a hole in your pocket). But we can extract the gist from various summaries and, uh, purloined copies.
Analysts seem to agree that for the next 10 years or so, sales of nondiesel buses will grow much faster than diesel, though by absolute numbers diesel will remain the dominant fuel, because diesel buses are growing from a much larger base.
For instance, Navigant Research recently issued a report looking the global market for medium- and heavy-duty buses and projected this for the next 10 years.
Over the next decade, they see the global bus market expanding from just over 800,000 to over a million. The share taken by diesel will decline from 58 to 51 percent. Hybrids and BEBs, at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 2.9 percent, will go from 21 to 22 percent by 2027. (BEBs are a growing part of that segment, with sales growing 40 percent just over the past year.)
The analysts at Freedonia Group are a little more bullish, projecting hybrids and BEBs to hit 22 percent by 2021. P&S Market Research projects a CAGR of 3.5 percent. All analysts agree that growth of nondiesel buses will be fastest in the developing world, particularly China and India, where air pollution issues are worst.
In short, analysts are being conservative (as analysts are wont to do), projecting steady incremental growth based on current trends. If they’re right, BEBs will grow, but will remain a relatively marginal presence in the global bus fleet for the next decade.
Perhaps not surprisingly, Ryan Popple, the CEO of electric bus company Proterra, thinks those analysts are missing the boat (or, uh, the bus).
In a February 2017 podcast interview with The Energy Gang, Popple predicted that, in the US alone, BEBs will represent a third of all new transit sales by 2020, 50 percent by 2025, and 100 percent by 2030.
In other words, he thinks BEBs will hit an inflection point, growth will radically accelerate, and they will eat the urban transit market whole, in fairly short order.
Why is Popple so confident? It has to do with lifecycle costs.
Costs, broadly considered
A recent paper from researchers at Carnegie Mellon University set out to compare different bus options based on their total lifecycle costs, which means construction, fuel, maintenance, infrastructure, air pollution impacts — everything.
They found that BEBs are currently competitive, on a total lifecycle-cost basis, with liquid natural gas (LNG), compressed natural gas (CNG), and hybrid diesel buses. That means BEBs can plausibly compete with roughly 40 percent of the current bus market, without any subsidies.
But here’s the twist. It is typical, in the US, for local transit agencies to get a big chunk of their transit capital funding from the federal government (specifically, the Federal Transit Administration). So the researchers modeled what would happen from a city’s perspective if 80 percent of the upfront capital costs of their bus purchases were covered.
Here’s what they found — note that there are two columns for each type of bus, the left with 80 percent of capital covered, the right without.
Because capital costs are the biggest chunk of BEB lifecycle costs — remember, they cost $200,000 to $300,000 more than diesel buses up front — outside capital helps them the most. In fact, for cities with federal funding, it makes BEBs the lowest cost option. (Note that this would be true even without considering air pollution or climate benefits.)
This point is important and worth dwelling on a moment. It is a perpetual problem for clean energy technology that it costs more up front but saves more money over the long haul; purchasing decisions tend to be made by myopic agents biased against upfront costs. Most clean energy markets require tweaks and incentives to overcome this misalignment of incentives.
Municipal transit decisions in the US have a built-in counter-balance to that problem. Municipal officials, because they do not have to raise the full upfront capital, are freed to consider lifecycle costs. This makes municipal transit a huge potential market for EBs.
There’s still a great deal of bias toward the status quo, of course — any new technology has to overcome it. Cities know how to plan for and deal with liquid-fueled fleets. The needs of electric fleets are somewhat murky.
Luckily, the barriers to BEB adoption — the high upfront costs, the limited range, the unfamiliarity of charging infrastructure — are being rapidly overcome. Let’s take a brief look at how the market and technologies are evolving (faster than anyone predicted). As you’ll see, a snapshot of today’s costs scarcely does justice to the potential.
As BEB tech advances, the market grows and big players jostle for advantage
The bulk of the buzz in the BEB space is around California-based Proterra. It was founded way back in 2008, but in 2014, the midst of a slump, it hired CEO Ryan Popple away from Tesla to turn the company around and make it more, uh, Tesla-ish.
And that’s just what he’s done. Popple pulled some top talent from Tesla and, crucially, adopted Tesla’s strategy of focusing exclusively on EVs, designing them from the ground up rather than retrofitting existing vehicle designs. That has meant some bold choices, but it seems to be paying off — the company is growing, drawing new funding, and riding a huge wave of hype, straining to keep up with demand (like, uh, Tesla).
To date, Proterra has sold 400 BEBs to a variety of cities around the US, but it is rapidly ramping up manufacturing capacity, hoping to crank out 400 BEBs a year going forward.
Because it uses ultra-lightweight carbon fiber for the body rather than steel or aluminum, Proterra’s buses are thousands of pounds lighter than their competitors’. Combined with custom-designed batteries, its newest model is producing jaw-dropping results.
To wit: Last month, Proterra’s brand new, 40-foot Catalyst E2 Max traveled more than 1,000 miles on a single charge. (Yes, you read that right.)
That 1,101.2-mile drive set the new all-time world record for distance traveled by an electric vehicle — a record previously held by an experimental one-seater EV that was, according to the company, 46 times lighter.
The long, flat battery packs in the floor and ceiling hold between 440 and 660 kWh of energy (double the company’s previous bus), translating to a nominal range of between 200 and 350 miles, depending on the configuration. That is, needless to say, longer than most transit routes in America.
The bus boasts two electric motors, which give it 510 horsepower for acceleration (compared to a diesel bus’s 280) and allow it to tackle 26 percent grades, “more than twice the performance of the average 35- or 40-foot diesel bus, and 72 percent better than competing electric transit vehicles.”
In short, relative to diesel buses, Proterra’s new bus is quieter, accelerates faster, copes with hills better, smells better, has comparable range, and boasts radically lower fuel costs. Not bad.
Proterra is also licensing its drivetrain — it will be used by the EU’s Van Hool for its new line of BEBs — and has (like, ahem, Tesla) open-sourced its fast-charging technology, which can fully charge a bus in 10 minutes.
Proterra recently opened a new manufacturing facility outside LA, hoping to ramp production to keep up with demand.
It is far from alone, though, in this growing market. Earlier this month, Chinese automaker BYD, backed by billionaire financier Warren Buffet, unveiled a massive expansion of its manufacturing facility in Lancaster, California, more than quadrupling it to 450,000 square-feet. (It is powered entirely by renewable energy.) The facility will be cranking out not just buses, but electric trucks for various medium- and heavy-duty applications.
Volvo, a leader in the space, recently unveiled a schmancy new version of its 7900 series BEB. It gets 125 miles on a full charge, but, interestingly, Volvo is also offering wireless charging embedded in roads as part of a “total solution” for cities.
Hyundai recently unveiled a BEB (the “Elec City,” get it?) with 180-mile range. Volkswagen, still reeling from its diesel scandal, will invest $1.7 billion in developing electric (and eventually autonomous) trucks and buses. New Flyer, one of the world’s biggest transit companies, recently unveiled its new Xcelsior Charge BEB, with a 200-mile range. Tata Motors is going crazy with BEBs in India. And so on.
As these companies scale up, it creates more and more of an actual industry, a supply chain of parts and expertise that aspiring new companies can draw on. With scale and learning come falling costs.
Right now, BEBs are just barely on the cusp for many cities — a close and agonizing economic decision. But as battery costs continue to fall, economies of scale kick in, and simple urban envy goes to work, the market will expand rapidly, the business case will become clearer, and the trickle of cities will become a flood. It has already begun.
Cities are going gaga for BEBs
In October, representatives from a dozen global cities signed the Fossil-Fuel-Free Streets Declaration, which pledges them to purchasing only zero-emissions buses (i.e., BEBs) starting in 2025. From North America, Vancouver, BC, Los Angeles, and Seattle signed.
Los Angeles has committed to transitioning its entire bus fleet (the nation’s second largest, which previously transitioned from diesel to CNG) to electricity by 2030. It recently ordered 60 new 40-foot BEBs from BYD and 35 new 60-foot, articulated BEBs from New Flyer, with an option to purchase 65 more after testing.
“We have two choices,” said Mayor Eric Garcetti in July. “We can wait for others, and follow, at the expense of residents’ health — or lead and innovate, and reduce emissions as quickly as possible. I’d much rather do the latter.”
King County Transit, which serves Seattle, recently announced a commitment to purchasing 120 BEBs by 2020, starting with 73 from Proterra (“more than 20 percent of Proterra’s entire sales since its inception,” notes Fred Lambert). Eight will go in service this year; 11 more next year.
But LA and Seattle are not alone. New York, which has the largest transit fleet in the country, is testing 10 all-electric buses and plans to purchase 60 more by 2019 and go all-electric by 2040, InsideClimate News reports. Washington, DC now has 14. Chicago has plans to buy 20 to 30 BEBs. Louisville, Kentucky has 15. Twin Cities’ Metro Transit is getting six this year. Park City, Utah, will get seven (in addition to the six it has). Portland, Oregon, will get five. Albuquerque, New Mexico, is ordering 18 60-foot, articulated BEBs from BYD. Up in Canada, Edmonton will buy only BEBs beginning in 2020, while Montreal will poke its toe in the water with three. And so on.
And that’s just North America, where BEBs are currently 1 percent of the fleet. In China, they’re already at 20 percent. If I tried to cover all the Asian and EU cities electrifying their bus fleets, this post would never end.
The future is BEB
The municipal transit market, while extremely large, is also fairly slow-moving. Buying buses is a big decision, transit planning tends to be a plodding process, and federal grants take forever.
Nonetheless, I’m with Popple. Contra Navigant et al, I don’t think this is going to be a matter of steady linear growth for the next 10 years. At some point, likely within the decade, the market will cross a threshold and start rocketing up the bottom of the “S curve” new technologies tend to follow. No analyst wants to predict exactly when that will happen — they’ll look dumb if they guess too early, but won’t look dumb if they’re too late like all the other analysts — but I don’t think it’s very far away.
BEBs are already tiptoeing around at the edge of penciling out for lots of cities. As the industry scales up, costs come down, and the benefits of BEBs become visible to the urban public, more and more cities will board the bandwagon. Eventually, the lifecycle-cost lines will cross decisively and there will be no coherent case for not going all electric.
My prediction: That virtuous cycle begins relatively soon and, as Popple says, by 2030, BEBs will be the default choice for new transit.
In 2030, no city official would dream of ordering a deafeningly loud, literally poisonous people-moving machine that depends on tens of thousands of gallons of imported liquid fossil fuel at fluctuating, unpredictable prices.
I mean ... why would you? | ||||
5064 | dbpedia | 0 | 4 | https://www.tehomet.com/en/products/traffic-infrastructures/tram-poles/ | en | Tram poles | [
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""
] | null | [] | null | en | Tehomet | https://www.tehomet.com/en/products/traffic-infrastructures/tram-poles/ | There’s no need for tramway poles to be just a featureless element of the city’s infrastructure, an inconspicuous means of supporting lights and cables.
The Korkkiruuvi pole has a very complex lattice structure consisting of dozens of laser-cut elements of differing sizes. In order to weld the poles together, Tehomet’s Kangasniemi factory built a custom jig that enabled the massive pieces to be flexibly rotated during the process.
After galvanization, the multipurpose poles used in the Tampere tramway project were given a Plascoat coating at FSP’s paint shop. Tehomet’s neighbour, FSP, is used to dealing with long and heavy items.
The finished poles were transported to the construction site in small batches at a convenient time. The poles were loaded onto KS-Rahti’s vehicles on specially designed racks and delivered directly to the construction site. They were then lifted into place for electrical installations. | ||||||
5064 | dbpedia | 0 | 78 | https://www.thetransportpolitic.com/2023/01/12/openings-and-construction-starts-planned-for-2023/ | en | Openings and Construction Starts Planned for 2023 | [
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] | null | [] | 2023-01-12T00:00:00 | 1,100 kilometers of new transit lines from Canada to Saudi Arabia will open in 2023. | en | The Transport Politic | https://www.thetransportpolitic.com/2023/01/12/openings-and-construction-starts-planned-for-2023/ | Last year, three lines Americans have been waiting on for decades—the Green Line extension in Boston, the Crenshaw Line in Los Angeles, and the Silver Line to Dulles Airport outside Washington—finally opened. Though they took years to be completed, they were greeted enthusiastically by riders and political officials content to bring better service to more people.
Similar reception greeted new rail and bus lines opening in Athens, Cairo, Guadalajara, Helsinki, Paris, and dozens of other cities around the world. And much more is planned for 2023: Finally, Long Island Rail Road service will reach the sub-sub-sub-basement of Grand Central Terminal. Toronto’s Eglinton light rail line will connect the city crosstown. And Honolulu, Gebze, Riyadh, Tel Aviv, and Thessaloniki will get their first metro services.
This year, I leveraged data assembled in the Transit Explorer database to identify which projects opened in 2022, which are planned for opening in 2023, and which will be under construction this year—for a later opening date.
On separate posts, I analyzed trends in transit investments around the world and examined accessibility to transit stations in the US versus Canada, England, and France.
The Transit Explorer database now includes all fixed–guideway urban transit systems (meaning rail and bus rapid transit) across North America, South America, Africa, and nine Western European countries, plus metro systems throughout Europe and in parts of the Middle East. Transit Explorer now includes about 29,200 urban transit stations and about 6,700 urban transit lines (covering 78,000 kilometers). (It also includes some intercity rail systems.) These are the geographies for which I provide details about transit line openings below.
Data can be viewed freely on Transit Explorer or purchased for non-commercial use in Shapefile, GeoJSON, and CSV formats for those who would like to use the data for research or other uses, such as in Excel, R, ArcGIS, or QGIS.
Previous compilations of new and planned transit projects on The Transport Politic can be found here: 2009 | 2010 | 2011 | 2012 | 2013 | 2014 | 2015 | 2016 | 2017 | 2018 | 2019 | 2020 | 2021 | 2022
New transit investments completed in 2022
Overall, 517 kilometers of new fixed-guideway urban transit services opened in 2022 across the countries covered by the Transit Explorer database. Of these, the countries with the largest increases in kilometers were the United States (196 kilometers); Egypt (77 kilometers); Mexico (60 kilometers); France (39 kilometers); and the United Kingdom (34 kilometers).
Azerbaijan
Baku: 2 km Purple Line metro extension from Avtovagzal to Khojasan
Canada
Montreal: Creation of 11 km SRB Pie-IX bus rapid transit route through the east side of the city
Denmark
Odense: Creation of 14 km first phase of the Letbane tramway system
Egypt
Cairo:
Line 3 metro extension west to Kit Kat (4 km)
Creation of 72 km Cairo Light Rail system (really a metro system) heading east into the new capital area
Finland
Helsinki: 7 km extension of the M1 metro line
France
Paris:
M4 extension 1.8 km south to Bagneux
M12 extension 1.9 km north to Aubervilliers
Creation of 19 km Tramway 13 Express, a new circumferential line on the west side of the region
Rennes: Creation of new 13 km Line B automated light metro
Toulouse: Creation of 3 km Teleo aerial tram line
Greece
Athens: Extension of metro line 3 by 3 km
Italy
Milan: Opening of the first phase of automated M4 light metro, 5.5 km from the airport into the city
Israel
Haifa: Creation of Rakavlit aerial tram line (4 km)
Luxembourg
Luxembourg: Extension of T1 tramway by 1.2 km to the south
Mauritius
Port Louis: 10 km extension of the Metro Express light rail system to the south
Mexico
Guadalajara: Creation of 41.5 km Mi Macro Periferico bus rapid transit line, a circumferential route around the city
Mexico: 18 km extension of Mexibus Linea 1 bus rapid transit line in the northern suburbs
Poland
Warsaw: Extension of M2 metro line west and east, totaling 6 km
Spain
Valencia: Creation of L10 tramway, 5 km
Turkiye
Bursa: Creation of 8 km T2 tramway line
Istanbul:
8 km extension of M4 to Asian-side airport
1.5 km extension of M7
Creation of F4 funicular system, a 1 km line
United Kingdom
Birmingham: 1.3 km extension of the West Midlands Metro light rail system through the centre city
London:
Opening of Elizabeth Line regional rail central segment, a 28 km route, mostly in subway, through the center of the city
Extension of the 4.5 km extension of the Overground to Barking Riverside
United States
Birmingham: Creation of 16 km Xpress BRT route, which includes some dedicated bus lanes
Boston: Opening of Green Line extension into Somerville and Medford, along two branches, totaling 7 km
El Paso: Creation of 31 km Brio Montana arterial rapid transit route
Los Angeles: Opening of 10 km first phase of K/Crenshaw Line, a light rail route extending from the Expo Line
Minneapolis: Opening of 27 km D Line arterial rapid transit route
Philadelphia: 5 km extension of SEPTA Regional Rail to Wawa
Phoenix: Opening of 5.5 km Tempe Streetcar
Portland: Opening of 24 km Division Frequent Express bus rapid transit route
St. Petersburg: Creation of SunRunner Central Avenue BRT, a 28.5 km bus rapid transit line
San Bernardino: Opening of Arrow Redlands Passenger Rail Project, a 14 km route extending Metrolink
San Francisco:
Opening of 2.3 km Central Subway, a new light rail route through the city center
Creation of Van Ness Avenue BRT, 3 km of dedicated bus lanes
Washington DC: Opening of second phase of Silver Line, an 18 km extension that includes access to Dulles Airport
Planned 2023 openings
Almost 1,100 kilometers of fixed-guideway urban transit is planned to open in 2023 in the parts of the world covered by Transit Explorer. Of these, about half will be in the form of metro rail services. The countries with the largest expansions planned for opening are the United States (242 kilometers); Saudi Arabia (169 kilometers); Turkiye (127 kilometers); Mexico (98 kilometers); and Canada (78 kilometers). That said, all investments aren’t equal: 57 percent of new US route kilometers will be bus rapid transit or arterial rapid transit. In many other countries, new kilometers are much more likely to be metro rail or light rail services: Saudi Arabia (100 percent); Turkiye (83 percent); and Canada (93 percent).
Brasil
Rio de Janeiro: TransBrasil, 32 km bus rapid transit route
Canada
Edmonton: First phase of Valley Line, 13 km light rail route
Montreal: First phase of REM to the South Shore, a 17 km automated light metro route
Ottawa:
Trillium Line South: 14 km light rail route extension to the airport, including electrification of existing diesel line
Rapibus Lorrain Extension: 3 km line in Gatineau, an Ottawa suburb
Toronto:
Line 5 Eglinton Crosstown, a 19 km new light rail route including some subway sections
Line 6 Finch West LRT, a 10 km light rail route in the city’s northwest
Vancouver: R6 RapidBus, a bus rapid transit line in Surrey
Chile
Santiago:
Line 2, extension to El Pino, 5 km
Line 3, extension to Plaza de Quilicura, 3 km
Creation of Teleferico Bicentenario, 3 km aerial tram
Egypt
Cairo
Line 3, 6 km extension to Cairo University
Line 3, 7 km extension to Rod el-Farag
France
Angers: Creation of 8 km tramway B/C
Bordeaux: Tramway A extension, 5 km to airport
Lyon: Metro B extension, 2.5 km to the southwest
Paris:
M11 eastern extension from Les Lilas, 6 km
Extension of Tramway 3b to Porte Dauphine, 3 km
Creation of Tramway 10, 8 km
Creation of Tramway 12 Express, 20 km on route partly within urban areas, partly on former rail alignment
Greece
Thessaloniki: Creation of Metro Lines 1 and 2, 14 km automated light metro
Israel
Tel Aviv: Creation of 24 km Red Line light rail corridor, which includes some subway segments through the city
Italy
Catania: 3 km extensions of the Metropolitana system
Genova: 0.9 km extension of the automated light metro Metropolitana to Canepari
Milan: Extension of M4 9 km into the city center
Naples: 3.5 km extension of Line 6 light metro line
Mexico
Mexico:
Line 12 extension along 4 km
Creation of Cablebus Line 3 aerial tramway, 5 km
Creation of Mexicable Line 2 aerial tramway, 8 km
Creation of commuter line to Valle de Mexico, 59 km
Extension of the northern commuter line to AIFA, 22 km
Netherlands
Rotterdam: Extension of Line B metro to Hoek van Holland, 2 km
Nigeria
Lagos:
Creation of 26 km Blue Line metro
Creation of 32 km Red Line metro
Panama
Panama: Line 2, 2 km extension to the airport
Russia
Moscow
Extension of metro line 8A, 5 km
Extension of metro line 10, 6 km
Extensions of metro line 11, 19 km
Creation of metro line 16, 15 km line
Saudi Arabia
Riyadh: Six-line automated metro network, extending 170 kilometers across the Saudi capital
Senegal
Dakar: Extension of the Train express régional commuter rail to AIBD, 19 km
Spain
Madrid: Metro L3 extension to El Casar, 4 km
Malaga: Extension of L1/L2 tramway, 1 km
Turkiye
Ankara: 3.5 km extension of M4 metro to 15 Temmuz Kizilay Milli Irade
Gebze: Creation of 16 km M1 metro
Istanbul:
M3 extensions to Barkirkoy IDO (8.5 km) and Kayasehir Merkez (6 km)
M5 extension to Sancaktepe Sehir Hastanesi (3 km)
Creation of M8 metro, 14 km
M9 extension to Atakoy, 11 km
M11 extensions to Gayrettepe (3 km) and Halkali (33 km)
Tramway T5 extension to Eminonu, 1 km
Creation of T6 tramway, 8.5 km
Izmir:
M1 metro extension to Kaymakamlik hatti, 7 km
T1 tramway extension, 1.5 km
Creation of T3 tramway, 10 km
United Kingdom
Birmingham: West Midlands Metro Wolverhampton City Centre Loop, 0.6 km light rail extension
Blackpool: Tramway extension to the station, 0.5 km
Edinburgh: 4.5 km trams extension to Newhaven
London: Creation of Luton Airport DART, 2 km line linking to National Rail
United States
Albany: Opening of 14 km Washington-Western (Purple Line) bus rapid transit
Austin:
Expo Center arterial rapid transit line, 22 km
Pleasant Valley arterial rapid transit line, 24 km
Boston: First phase of South Coast rail project, a 60 km commuter rail line
Chicago: Creation of the 25 km Pace Pulse Dempster bus rapid transit line
Los Angeles: Opening of downtown’s 3 km Regional Connector subway, which will service the C, E, and L lines
New York: Long Island Rail Road’s East Side Access project, running in a new subway from Queens to Grand Central Terminal
Honolulu: First phase of Honolulu’s rail line, 17 km
Miami: TriRail’s Downtown Miami Link, a 14 km route running partly along Brightline’s intercity rail corridor
Milwaukee:
15 km East-West bus rapid transit line
Extension of streetcar with 1 km Lakefront Line
Oklahoma City: Opening of 16 km RAPID NW arterial rapid transit line
Philadelphia: Reopening and extension of Line 15 trolley
Portland: Creation of The Vine Mill Plain, a new 17 km bus rapid transit route in Vancouver, Washington
Salt Lake: 9 km Ogden/Weber State University bus rapid transit line
San Diego: 19 km Iris Rapid arterial rapid transit line
Seattle:
Extension of Line T streetcar, 4 km into Tacoma
Creation of 13 km Delridge/East Marginal RapidRide H bus rapid transit route
Spokane: Creation of 9 km City Line bus rapid transit route
Washington DC: 1 km Pentagon City Transitway extension, running bus rapid transit further into Arlington
Under construction in 2023
Among the countries in the Transit Explorer database, there will be roughly 1,900 kilometers of new fixed–guideway urban transit projects under construction in 2023, but planned to be opened after 2023. About 43 percent of those kilometers will be in the form of metro services. 554 kilometers will be under construction in the United States, 305 kilometers in France, and 172 kilometers in Canada.
Algeria
Algiers:
Metro line 1 airport extension, 9 km, opening 2026
Metro line 1 Baraki extension, 6 km, opening 2025
Argentina
Buenos Aires: Belgrano Sur commuter rail line, 4 km extension
Austria
Vienna:
U2 metro extension to Matzleinsdorferplatz, 4 km, opening 2028
U5 metro extension, 0.7 km, opening 2026
Azerbaijan
Baku:
Green Line metro extension to Mohammed Hadi, 10 km
Purple Line metro extension to B-4 station, 1 km
Belarus
Minsk: Zelenaluzhskaya Line metro extension to Slutsk Gastinets, 4 km, opening 2024
Belgium
Antwerpen: Antwerpse premetro Kerkstraat route, 2 km, opening 2026
Brussels: T10 tram, linking Rogier to Neder-Over-Heembeek, opening 2024
Charleroi: Metro Châtelet Branch (light rail), 4 km, opening 2026
Liège: New tramway, 12 km, opening 2024
Brasil
Curitiba: Linha Verde bus rapid transit, 5.5 km
Fortaleza: Linha Leste metro, 6 km, opening 2024
Rio de Janeiro: Line 4 extensions, 3 km
Salvador:
Line 1 metro extension, 4.5 km
Linha Laranja monorail project, 21 km
Linha Verde monorail project, 2 km
Sao Paulo:
Line 2 metro extension, 9 km, opening 2026
Line 6 metro new line creation, 16 km, opening 2026
Line 17 monorail project, 8.5 km, opening 2024
Line 9 Mendes-Varginha commuter rail line extension, 2.5 km
Bulgaria
Sofia: M3 metro extension to Vladimir Vazov, 4 km
Canada
Calgary: Green Line light rail phase 1, 24 km, opening 2027
Edmonton:
Valley Line stage 2 west light rail, 21 km, opening 2027
Metro Line northwest extension phase I light rail, 1 km, opening 2025
Montreal:
Blue Line metro extension, 6 km, opening 2026
REM automated light metro central segment, plus Deux Montagnes, Western, and Airport branches, 65 km, opening 2024
Ottawa:
Confederation Line east light rail, 16 km, opening 2024
Confederation Line west light rail, 19 km, opening 2025
Toronto:
Hurontario light rail project (Hazel McCallion Line), 21.5 km, opening 2024
Ontario Line automated metro, 18 km, opening 2030
Line 5 Eglinton West light rail extension, 11.5 km, opening 2025
Scarborough metro subway extension, 8 km, opening 2030
Vancouver: Broadway automated light metro subway to Arbutus, 8 km, opening 2026
Chile
Santiago:
Line 6 metro extension to Isidora Goyenechea, 1 km, opening 2027
Line 7 creation of new metro line, 29 km, opening 2027
Colombia
Bogota:
Line 1 metro new line, 24 km, opening 2028
RegioTram de Occidente new regional rail line, 40 km, opening 2024
Avenida 68 bus rapid transit route, 17 km, opening 2026
NQS Sur bus rapid transit extension, 4.5 km
Medellin: Calle 12 Sur bus rapid transit extension, 1.5 km
Czechia
Prague: Line D metro extension, 1.5 km, opening 2029
Denmark
Copenhagen:
M4 automated light metro extension to Ny Ellebjerg, 7 km, opening 2024
Hovedstadens Letbane new tramway line, 35 km, opening 2025
Egypt
Cairo: Cairo Light Rail Transit (metro) extensions, 22 km
France
Bordeaux: Bordeaux-St-Aubin-Medoc bus rapid transit line, 29 km, opening 2024
Montpellier: Tramway 5, 16 km, opening 2025
Nice: Center city bus rapid transit line, 11.5 km, opening 2025
Paris:
M14 automated metro south extension, 14 km, opening 2024
M14 automated metro north extension, 1.5 km, opening 2024
M15 automated metro south line, 45 km, opening 2025
M16/M17 automated metro shared route, 9 km, opening 2026
M16 automated metro phase 1, 19 km, opening 2026
M16 automated metro phase 2, 8 km, opening 2028
M17 automated metro phase 1, 3 km, opening 2026
M17 automated metro phase 2, 10 km, opening 2028
M18 automated metro phase 1, 27 km, opening 2027
RER E regional rail west extension, 78 km, opening 2025
Tramway 1 east extension to Val-de-Fontenay, 9.5 km, opening 2026
T Zen 2 bus rapid transit line, 24 km, opening 2027
T Zen 3 bus rapid transit line, 15 km, opening 2024
T Zen 4 bus rapid transit line, 18.5 km, opening 2024
CDG Express regional rail airport express, 13 km, opening 2027
Toulouse: M3 new automated metro line, 32 km, opening 2028
Germany
Hamburg:
U4 metro extension to Horner Geest, 3 km, opening 2026
U5 new metro line, from Bramfeld-City Nord, 8 km, opening 2030
Munich: U5 metro extension to Pasing, 4.5 km, opening 2030
Nurenberg: U3 metro extension to Gebersdorf, 3 km, opening 2026
Greece
Athens: Line 4 metro, 13 km, opening 2030
Israel
Jerusalem:
Red Line tramway extensions to Neve Yaakov and Hadassah, 7 km, opening 2025
Green Line new tramway line, 22 km, opening 2025
Tel Aviv:
Purple Line new light rail line, 30 km, opening 2028
Green Line new light rail line, 40 km, opening 2028
Italy
Bologna: Line 1 tramway new line, 23 km, opening 2026
Cagliari: Line 1 tramway extension to FS station, 3 km, opening 2024
Florence: T2 tramway extension, 3 km
Genova: Metropolitana automated light metro extension to Martinez, 1 km, opening 2024
Milan: M1 metro extension to Monza Bettola, 2 km, opening 2024
Naples:
Line 1 metro extensions, 10.5 km, opening 2024
Line 7 metro, 6 km
Line 10 automated light metro, 14 km
Linea 11 metro to Giugliano-Aversa, 15 km
Rome: C automated light metro extension to Fori Imperiali, 4 km, opening 2024
Turin
Line 1 automated light metro extension to Cascine Vica, 5 km, opening 2024
Line 3 commuter rail connection to Caselle Aeroporto, 2 km
Alba-Ceres commuter rail connection, 4 km
Ivory Coast
Abidjan: Metro, 36 km, opening 2025
Luxembourg
Luxembourg: Tramway T1 extensions, 10 km, opening 2024
Mexico
Guadalajara: Line 4 commuter rail, 22.5 km, opening 2024
Morocco
Casablanca:
T3 tramway new line, 13 km, opening 2024
T4 tramway new line, 16.5 km, opening 2024
Netherlands
Amsterdam: Tramway extension, 1 km
Norway
Oslo: Fornebubanen metro line, 12.5 km, opening 2027
Panama
Panama: Line 3 monorail new line, 26 km, opening 2025
Peru
Lima:
Line 2 new line, 27 km, opening 2024
Line 4 metro to Gambetta, 8 km
Portugal
Lisbon: Green Line metro extension, 3 km, opening 2024
Porto:
Line D tramway extension, 3.5 km, opening 2024
Linha Rosa (G) tramway, 3 km, opening 2025
Romania
Bucarest: M2 metro extension to Tudor Arghezi, 2 km
South Africa
Johannesburg: Rea Vaya Phase 1C bus rapid transit routes, 17 km, opening 2024
Spain
Barcelona:
L9/L10 automated metro central section, 11 km
Trambaix-Trambesòs tramway connection, 2.5 km, opening 2024
Madrid:
L5 metro extension to Barajas Airport, 2 km, opening 2024
L11 metro extension to Conde de Casal, 7 km, opening 2026
San Sebastian: Metro Donostialdea Topo E2 extension, 5 km, opening 2024
Sevilla: MetroCentro tramway extension, 2 km
Sweden
Stockholm:
Lines 10/11 metro extensions to Nacka and Sockenplan, 16 km, opening 2030
Line 11 metro extension to Barkarby, 7 km, opening 2026
Yellow Line metro, 5 km, opening 2027
Turkiye
Ankara: Ankaray metro extension to Sogutozu, 1 km
Bursa: BursaRay light rail extension to Sehir Hastanesi, 5.5 km, opening 2024
Istanbul:
M1B metro extension to Halkali, 11 km, opening 2024
M4 metro extension to Icemeler, 9 km
M5 metro extension to Sultanbeyli, 9 km, opening 2024
M7 metro extension to Kabatas, 4 km, opening 2024
M7 metro extension to Hastane, 9 km, opening 2025
M7 metro extension to Esenyurt Meydan, 14 km, opening 2029
M10 metro extension to Pendik Center, 5 km
M12 metro new line, 15 km, opening 2024
Izmir: M2 metro new line, 15 km, opening 2026
Mersin: M1 metro new line, 15.5 km, opening 2026
Ukraine
Dnipro: Dnipro Metro extension, 6 km, opening 2024
Kyiv: M3 metro extension to Marshala Hrechka, 6.5 km
United Kingdom
Birmingham:
Eastside Metro Extension light rail, 2.5 km, opening 2025
West Midlands Metro Wednesbury to Brierley Hill light rail extension, 14.5 km, opening 2024
United States
Atlanta: Summerhill bus rapid transit line, 6 km, opening 2024
Chicago:
West Lake South Shore line commuter rail extension, 12 km, opening 2026
Northwest Indiana Double Track project, expanding the South Shore line’s commuter rail tracks along 54 km, opening 2024
Bay Area:
SMART regional rail phase 2 to Windsor, 5 km, opening 2024
VTA light rail Eastridge to BART Regional Connector (San Jose), 4 km, opening 2027
Dallas: Silver Line regional rail line, 51 km, opening 2024
Honolulu: Honolulu automated light metro phase 2, 16.5 km, opening 2031
Houston: 56 Airline/Montrose BOOST arterial rapid transit line, 3 km
Indianapolis: Purple Line bus rapid transit, 19 km, opening 2024
Kansas City:
Main Street streetcar extension to UMO-KC, 6 km, opening 2025
Riverfront streetcar extension, 2 km, opening 2025
Los Angeles:
D Line (Purple) metro extension, phase 1, 7.5 km, opening 2024
D Line (Purple) metro extension, phase 2, 5.5 km, opening 2025
D Line (Purple) metro extension, phase 3, 4 km, opening 2027
L Line (Gold) light rail phase 2B to Pomona, 17.5 km, opening 2025
L Line (Gold) light rail phase 2B to Montclair, 6 km, opening 2028
LAX Airport Connector automated light metro, 4 km, opening 2024
OC Streetcar Santa Ana/Garden Grove, 9 km, opening 2024
Crenshaw Line light rail phase 2, 4 km, opening 2024
Miami: South Dade TransitWay Corridor bus rapid transit (renovation of existing corridor), 32 km, opening 2024
Minneapolis:
Southwest Corridor/Green Line light rail extension, 29 km, opening 2026
Gateway Corridor Gold Line bus rapid transit, 24 km, opening 2025
B Line arterial rapid transit, opening 2024
Monterey: Monterey County commuter rail extension, 67 km, opening 2024
New York:
Lackawanna Cut-Off commuter rail (New Jersey Transit) phase 1, 15 km, opening 2026
Penn Station Access commuter rail (Metro North), 27 km, opening 2027
Portal North Bridge commuter rail (Amtrak/New Jersey Transit), 6 km, opening 2027
Orlando: SunRail regional rail phase 2 north, 19 km, opening 2024
Phoenix:
Northwest light rail phase 2, 3 km, opening 2024
South Central light rail corridor, 9 km, opening 2024
Seattle:
East Link Blue Line light rail, 29 km, opening 2024
Center City Connector streetcar, 2 km, opening 2025
Lynnwood Link light rail extension, 15 km, opening 2024
Federal Way Link light rail extension, 13 km, opening 2024
Downtown Redmond Link light rail extension, 7 km, opening 2024
Madison St RapidRide G bus rapid transit, 6 km, opening 2024
Swift Orange Line arterial rapid transit, 21 km, opening 2024
Washington DC: Purple Line light rail, 31 km, opening 2026
Venezuela
Caracas:
Line 5 metro, 9.5 km
MetroCable La Dolorita aerial tram, 4 km
Metro de Los Teques Line 2 extension, 10 km
Valencia: Line 2 light rail extension, 2.5 km | |||||
5064 | dbpedia | 1 | 18 | http://schwandl.blogspot.com/2013/06/ | en | Robert Schwandl's Urban Rail Blog | http://schwandl.blogspot.com/favicon.ico | http://schwandl.blogspot.com/favicon.ico | [
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"Robert Schwandl",
"View my complete profile"
] | null | http://schwandl.blogspot.com/favicon.ico | http://schwandl.blogspot.com/2013/06/ | After exploring the urban rail systems of Helsinki, I took the modern Allegro train to St. Petersburg.When I visited Moscow in 2010, I was quite annoyed by the lack of order at the immigration procedure. In the U.S. you may find a long queue, too, but it is strictly organised and vigilated, so although you may have to wait, you know you will eventually get there. Not so in Russia (at least Moscow Domodedovo): there is a huge crowd waiting in front of numerous immigration desks, and you just have to keep your elbows out and you may eventually make it. Until a few seconds before it is your turn, you don't even know which counter will be the one available for you. The Allegro from Helsinki to St. Petersburg, which runs three times a day in only 3 hours and a half, seems to be the only civilised way to get into Russia, you just stay sitting in your train seat and wait until someone asks you for your passport, just like in Western Europe before Schengen. You need to fill in those little papers, of course (keep one half for departure from Russia). The border guards get on at Vyborg and then check people on the way to St. Petersburg.
Now for the real subject of this blog, St. Petersburg urban rail systems, primarily the METRO. There is not much I can say that hasn't already been said, so here's a little brainstorming (I'll add + and – to express what I think):
(–) it is extremely deep
(–) long distances between stations
(+) very clean
(+) quite frequent
(+) not too overcrowded
(+) feels pretty safe and civilized people
(–) extremely loud
(+) mostly well ventilated
(–) up to three different names for what is one interchange station!
(++) 'western-style' signage with colours and line numbers
(+) precious, though not too overloaded stations
(+) smartcard available
(–) rather long walks between lines
(+) most things written in English, too
(–) intransparent platform doors
Of course, one tends to compare St. Petersburg's Metro to Moscow's. I'd say the strongest point in favour of St. Petersburg is the new signage introduced some years ago. For purists, this may ruin the classic design of the stations, but I'd say, it's perfectly integrated and in fact the line colours add a special note. On older photos many stations look dull, with so much marble in all different tones, but nothing much more except the indirectly lit vault. So, now you have got a nice Russian metro with good global signage, which I missed in Moscow. The addition of English on virtually all signs helps a lot, but also makes one lazier when trying to get used to reading Cyrillic. I guess they had professional advisors from London Underground, as everything seems to be in correct English, although I don't know why they decided to use 'Subway' when everybody understands 'Metro' nowadays, whereas 'subway' still is a bit misleading for many British people and they may be surprised how deep those underpasses are.... Transliteration of station names from Cyrillic into Latin is often a subject of discussion, but here it is done at least in a rather consistent form (they use, for example, Ploschad' instead of Ploshchad' as I had learned and thus used on my maps).
One feature exclusive to the St. Petersburg Metro are the old-style platform doors, in many stations on line 3 and a few on the southern leg of line 2. Well, I don't like them at all, they give me a certain feeling of claustrophoby, like in a lift where can cannot even look through the door. Well, I guess I'm not the only one, and that's why both lifts and platform screen doors are always transparent nowadays. In St. Petersburg, these were installed in the late 1960s when the concept as such was unknown in other metros, so they were pioneers and used full metal doors to reduce the costs of the otherwise typical 3-nave tunnel stations. But when you're on the train, you are unable to see who is on the platform (as stations are always quite busy this is not so much of an issue here as it could be in cities like Berlin where you often find non-passenger people hanging round the stations), but when you wait on the platform, it is a kind of surprise whether the door that opens in front of you will lead you into a crowded or an empty car. Intelligent passengers like me 'scan' the train as it enters the station and try to get into the car that is less packed. So travelling south on line 3, it was kind of a relief to reach Proletarskaya, the first 'normal' station without these doors.
What I don't understand about Russian metros is why they are so loud. I know, they mostly use metal linings in tube tunnels, their tracks are not welded so like in London you get the endless clack-clack, but even in the stations you can hardly talk when a train enters. As a result, noone speaks on the train, all look rather serious and grumpy or play with their mobile devices as the entire systems seems to have coverage with several providers. What I like, though, is that acoustic announcements are exactly placed when the noise volume is the lowest and that not only the next station is announced but also the following one (acoustic announcements are in Russian only). But it will be quite relaxing to ride again on the Berlin U-Bahn, for some reason one of the quietest I've seen (but with often dirty stations, badly behaved people, etc.).
The network is growing steadily, and most of the new stations are also quite attractive, although two of them have clearly been made 'cheaper', Volkovskaya in the south and Komandantskiy Prospekt in the north, well they are a bit in the 'global' style, although the arches add some Eastern touch, too. My favourite is probably Obvodniy Kanal, although I was surprised that the new stations are all smaller than the rest, well, again, they have a more 'global' size, the size you would encounter in most western metros, too. The colourful signage, of course, adds a certain Viennese or Boston touch. Of the older stations, I like, for example, Akademicheskaya, simply because it is different, whereas many of the other stations, though elegant, they lack this individual touch which helps passengers recognise their station at once, when the train arrives there. The newest station, Mezhdunarodnaya on M5 was almost 'too much' with its massive golden columns!
When praising the cleanliness of the stations, I'm not just referring to the ever polished floors or handrails, but also to hidden corners or surfaces hardly accessible and only visible from escalators, where in other cities dust and dirt would pile up for years without anybody caring. I guess also the tunnels are washed regularly as even after a day of photographing in the stations I did not observe any dust in my nostrils, whereas they are all black when I do the same in London!
It's amazing how much Russian people have to walk and how much time they have to spend on escalators, would be fun to calculate that for a typical lifetime. The long distances between stations even in the city centre, and often just a single access, require long walks to reach the stations. Also bus or tram stops are not located very near to metro entrances, when I thought they could have been. The new tram line 3, for example, stops south of Pl. Sennaya, although the trams have to go to the square to reverse anyway. If you want to get to Moskovskiy Vokzal on a Nevskiy Prospekt trolleybus, you need to walk some 500 m until you actually get to the railway station. The car lobby seems to be the only lobby here. So, the overall impression one gets is that passengers have to bear with what is there, and they are used to it. But it is certainly not a passenger-friendly transport system.
Fares are relatively low for western standards, just 28 roubles for one metro ride (some discounts with smartcards), so that's just around 70 eurocents, but if you travel a lot there is no unlimited pass, it seems, less so for the entire transport system. The only piece of integration is the Porodozhnik smartcard, you add value to it and then you can use it on Metro, trams and buses, but each time you pay a new fare. A passenger who is lucky to work and live in walking distance from a metro station, will only pay two fares a day, but someone who is not lucky enough, will pay at least double, which seems not much for one day, but adds up to a big sum over several years. I would consider it simply unjust that someone whose daily trip requires more than one vehicle (well, you can change between metro lines as often as you like), pays many times more than those with a single vehicle. This is not only so for metro/tram/bus transfer passengers, but also if you have to take two trams. And sometimes it appears that lines are broken up on purpose, like the long tram line 41 which terminates somewhere 'near' the centre, while line 16 would be a logical extension (although now it was extended to Narvskaya metro station), but this way, most passengers will have to pay twice.
The TRAM system is quite a case anyway. It is still the second largest in the world after Melbourne and before Berlin, but its network looks very much reduced, especially in the central area, where it was virtually banned. The first tram I took was line 6 from Sportivnaya metro station to Primorska metro station. I was hardly able to identify the stop, there was a shelter, but without any information. While waiting I realised that from the overhead line hangs a board which lists the trams that stop there at a height of some 10 m. A tram logo sign also hangs above the street, but later I learned that this is not meant for passengers but for car drivers. The tram stops where the numbers are hung. All without any platforms, of course, in the middle of the street, car drivers slow down more or less, but you'd better watch out! When I stated that in the Metro everything is clean and tidy, tram vehicles look worn out and dirty. After a long day's walks I found it also difficult to climb the high steps. Like on buses and trolleybuses, all trams carry a conductor, mostly female, who checks the smartcards or sells single fares like in the old days. So this is a way of creating a lot of jobs, although the few times I was on trams and buses I observed several people who simply ignored the conductors, so they do lose control when things get busy. The ride is slow and bumpy, too many cars prevent a fluid trip. Stops were announced acoustically and correctly, also with the following stop included. The track is often in bad condition, and as in Tallinn, I preferred riding trolleybuses, at least they speed up when they can. I haven't been to the suburbs on the trams, I guess that there they play an important role as a feeder to metro stations, but overall the picture was not good. Line 3 that was implemented a few months ago on some recuperated section along Sadovaya ulitsa is slightly better as it is operated with quite acceptible new double-articulated and partly low-floor trams. The low-floor element is only of limited advantage as the step from the street into the tram is still quite essential, some 30 cm. So I guess, it's time for St. Petersburg to upgrade what they want to keep of their huge tram system, and give trams priority, at least with marked off or separated lanes, but this is certainly only possible if their is a political consensus to reduce car traffic in the city centre. If this is not possible, I suggest to change most lines to trolleybus operation, which is much more flexible when there are parked cars or, as I observed on two ocasions within this short time, there is a minor car accident which blocks an intersection forever while they are waiting for the police to clear things.
What I have been criticising again and again is the lack of using the full potential of suburban lines to create a proper S-Bahn/RER type of metropolitan railway in Russia. In St. Petersburg, a sort of Passante seems obvious to me: If Baltiyskiy Vokzal is the busiest terminus for suburban trains from the south/southwest, and metro line 1 is the most overloaded, then it should only be logical that instead of spilling virtually all passengers from the Elektricky into the metro, those trains should go directly into the city centre. My spontaneous proposal would be for a tunnel from Baltiyskiy Vokzal to a city centre station at the Sennaya Ploschad hub, then to Pl. Vosstaniya to serve the Moskovskiy Vokzal, too and finally join up with the suburban lines that head north from Finlandskiy Vokzal, and you've got the "Peterburgskiy Krossrail". At least, the Metro is fairly well connected to suburban rail stations at three termini and several other stations, too. Devyatkino at the northern end of M1 even provides same-platform interchange!
LINKS
St. Petersburg at UrbanRail.Net (with more links)
[Edit May 2018: After another visit 5 years later I have made some updates you can find here]
Besides doing a bit of sight-seeing, of course, I had four full days to explore the Greater Helsinki transport system (11-15 June 2013 – 1 day taken off for a day trip to Tallinn – see separate blog entry). I already knew Helsinki from a visit in 2003 in preparation for my book 'Metros in Scandinavia'. At that time I focussed mostly on the metro, although I did ride the tram and suburban trains too, but now I had more time to see it all again. Not too much has changed since my first visit, lots of new trains are in service on the suburban lines, and the tram system has been expanded with short extensions mostly in the West Harbour area.
Helsinki has a well-integrated fare system, which distinguishes between fares for Helsinki only (or any of the other adjoining cities) or a 'region ticket' for Greater Helsinki (or the Capital Region) which includes the cities of Vantaa in the north (where the airport is) and Espoo and the small town of Kauniainen in the west. A day ticket for Helsinki alone would be 8 EUR, and for the entire region 12 EUR. To be flexible enough, I bought a 5-day region ticket for 36 EUR. Yes, fares are higher than in Central Europe, but compared to other things, tickets are only slightly more expensive. On buses, those passes (sold as smartcards) need to be held against the card reader at each boarding, but on trams, metro and trains they just have to be shown to ticket inspectors. The metro does not have access barriers. People who use a smartcard as a cash card need to select the fare zone before touching in. Metro and tram run exclusively within the Helsinki boundaries, so the zonal system is only relevant for trains and regional buses (those with a 3-digit number, if I understood it correctly).
Maps (a blue one for Helsinki and a green one for the region) can be picked up at several HSL information centres like inside Rautatientori metro station. The problem with the Helsinki hand-out map is that on one side it shows all bus lines on a city map, but NO tram lines, and on the other it shows only tram lines and NO buses, so changing from buses to trams and viceversa can become quite a tricky business if you're not familiar with the city (and I picked up the English/German edition certainly produced for visitors). Also, the geographical tram map shows stops, but no names for these stops, instead there is an additional diagram map with stop names. This map, however, does not show the destination which is actually displayed on the trams, as it mostly does not coincide with the name of the last stop (a thing I will never really understand! But this happens, unfortunately, in a lot of cities). The large tram maps posted at tram stops do include bus routes, too. All rather unsatisfying, and with a lot of room for improvement. I hope that the planned renumbering of tram lines 3B and 3T into lines 3 and 2 will take place during this summer as it is indeed confusing (at the railway station, both lines use the same stop!). I never got it right in my head, probably also because the T in 3T doesn't mean anything to me. And while on line 3 the distinction is between two halves of the circular route, on the othe circle line 7, the 7A and 7B denotes the direction of the route taken, clockwise or anti-clockwise.
Generally the TRAM system is in a good shape, although it is a very classic system with a lot of street running, but many sections are marked off from the road lanes or have even been slightly raised or separated by a curb. Only a few outer sections are on a dedicated right-of-way lined by trees, most notably along Mäkelänkatu, the main entry road from the airport shared by lines 1 and 7. Line 1, however, is the odd line within the system, and does not operate after 19 hours or on weekends! And the unprefixed line 1 only operates during some off-peak hours terminating in the city centre, whereas at times line 1A is extended down to Eira. Some of the busier lines even run until 01:30. Riding trams is, however, rather slow, due to numerous traffic lights and no priority for trams. I always hate it when even left-turning cars are given priority although they have a separate lane. Most stops have next-tram indicators of various types, which is good as the timetable is not strictly followed... Line 4 appears to be the most frequent with trams about every 5 minutes serving the Katajanokka branches alternately most of the day. This morning, I observed that the 4T branch to the ferry terminal gets extremely busy with ferry passengers when a ship arrives and apparently HKL does not react to this regular influx by sending more trams, which could just shuttle between the terminal and the city centre, instead all trams run to Munkkiniemi.
With the first of the new Transtech low-floor trams just rolled out for testing, the tram system is currently operated with two generations of vehicles, the older Valmet high-floor trams, a lot of which have meanwhile been retrofitted with a low-floor section, which doesn't really give them much more capacity but helps to speed up boarding especially for the large numbers of prams in this child-friendly country. It was certainly wise to extend the lives of this older stock as they are quite comfortable to ride.
The newer Variotrams, which were already in service in 2003 but at that time rather scarce due to many teething problems, are now regularly seen especially on lines 3, 6 and 9, if my observation is right. I would say, they are o.k., although Variotrams anywhere aren't among my favourites, mostly the seats are not very comfortable, both the way they are placed on top of the wheelsets, and the upholstery they used, so all in all a tour on the older trams is more pleasant, but on hot days the Variotrams may be your choice due to the air-conditioning. Generally the tram provides a good service in the inner city, an area most tourists would not leave anyway, and as most lines are frequent and easy to understand, the trams are in fact frequently used by tourists.
The METRO's function is quite different as it is only of very limited use for trips within the central area. Located between Stockholm and St. Petersburg, Helsinki also opted for a deep-level metro, in this case (unlike St. Petersburg) it was fairly easy to dig (or rather blast) through solid bedrock and thus avoid too much disruption on the surface. The negative consequence of such a decision is that passengers may find it too cumbersome to go down so deep just for a few stations and instead opt for the surface tram. On the other hand, the metro is a fast and reliable service to reach the eastern districts of the city. The trains ride very smooth, the track is well-laid, just the plastic seats are a bit hard. Overall I like the strong orange identity present in everything, a proper logo, large signs, etc. The stations are mostly o.k., but in the deep-cavern stations, a hung-in ceiling mostly doesn't let you appreciate the cavern as they would in Stockholm. Most of the surface stations look rather plain, although Siilitie has nicely been rebuilt a few years ago. The fill-in Kalasatama station is also very modest, and it looked quite dirty from the dust coming from the surrounding construction sites; it is still waiting to develop its full potential as many areas of the large port redevelopment are still underway or hardly started.
Along with the metro's western extension, the existing line will be made driverless. The only preparation for this that is visible are the platform screen doors installed for testing at the Vuosaari departure platform edge. They already calculated that travel times will actually increase slightly, probably because of the door opening and closing procedure. And they still have to educate users, as I observed one woman who even tried to force the doors with her pram. These people not only put themselves and their babies at risk, but are also responsible for the delays as a driverless system may be halted for quite a while until someone interferes manually at the control centre. Maybe people will be convinced that it is better to wait for the next train, as they are promised to be more frequent. Right now there is a train every 10 minutes on each of the eastern branches, this should be reduced to half the waiting time, resulting in a train every 2.5 min on the trunk section.
In Espoo, the construction of the Länsimetro (West Metro) is clearly visible at many sites, but as this section is also blasted through bedrock, construction sites are only necessary at selected locations, for shafts and accesses. But as all sites are protected by metro-orange boards they can easily be spotted. It's actually a pity that also the section between Lauttasaari and Keilaniemi is deep underground, because a surface bridge alignment would have provided a nice view of the island hopping between Helsinki and Espoo.
What seems a bit exaggerated on all rail systems is the equal treatment of Finnish and Swedish on all signs. This is, however, quite useful if you have some notion of Swedish, which for German and English speakers is at least a sort of cousin language, so many things are easier to read as most of us will not understand many words in Finnish. But although Swedish (only spoken by some 6% in the Helsinki area) is always listed in the second place I'd suggest to use Italics to make it clearer distinguishable what is what. Sometimes you get a Spanish/Catalan effect and only one letter is different as in Kaisaniemi/Kajsaniemi, mostly it is a direct translation of the name like Ruoholahti/Gräsviken (Grass Bay), and sometimes it looks like two completely different things (Pasila/Böle). Anyway, it's fun to learn some of these languages through station names. And Finnish is pretty easy to pronounce, just put the accent on the first syllable....
The service VR provides on the suburban lines is quite metro-like on some routes, with trains every 10 minutes stopping at all stations to Kerava, Vaantankoski and Leppävaara, where these trains have their own dedicated pair of tracks, and I think, no level crossings at all. Suburban trains that run further out and skip the inner stations, run on the mainline tracks shared by long-distance trains. The metro-like routes are now mostly exclusively served by new Stadler FLIRT trains, which have low-level access throughout, although with steps between carriages, but generally a very pleasant train.
There are two things I don't like about this suburban service:
1) the lack of a proper identity like S-Bahn, S-tog or Pendeltag, instead these trains are just listed as 'local traffic' (Lähijunat/Närtrafik - in English they actually use 'Commuter trains', a term I don't like at all except for real American commuter trains which only run inbound a few times in the mornings and back home again in the evening). So, I would hope they used some sort of trendy image for this excellent service, maybe even 'metro' and although it is still part of the VR network, it could form a unified metro system with the HKL Metro in the eyes of the passengers. With the completion of the airport ring line, it should even become more metro-like on the inner sections.
2) the excessive use of route identifying letters, almost as complex as the 4-letter codes on the Paris RER system, almost intransparent for the occasional user. But the current system obviously has a long tradition and may not easily be overthrown, but maybe some letters used for only a few services should be phased out for the sake of simplicity. I have not studied the different stopping pattern enough to make a suggestion, but I'm sure something could be done. I don't know whether the Vaantankoski line, which is quite metro-like and a new edition from 1975 was given the letter M for Martinlaakso (where it initially terminated) or to insinuate its metro character, as additionally it is also identified by the orange colour. Well, in fact it's older than the proper metro (1982).
3) A third point I would make on the negative side would be the long way you have to walk to actually catch one of the more frequent services. But as a solution is already in the making in the form of an underground loop that will even more create a proper metro line, I will only describe the current situation. A and M trains depart from some added platforms on the western side of the central railway station, but these are some 200 m further north than the older tracks, the same is true for the N etc. services to Kerava on the eastern side. So if you happen to be at the rear of one of these trains and you need to catch the tram or the metro, you easily have to walk 500+ metres, i.e. almost a typical inner-city metro interstation distance. The future loop will have a 'Keskus' (centre) station further south, actually to the south of the present metro station, and while interchange with trams should also get easier, most people will also be carried closer to their final destination in the city centre. There will be two intermediate stations, one at Töölö, the other next to the metro station at Hakaniemi. As interchange with long-distances trains is available at Pasila anyway, it shouldn't be a problem that the central railway station will be a bit far from Keskus station. I don't know what the current plans are, but I assume that the airport line will operate as a proper ring (a sort of 8-shaped route) while the Leppävaara (or Espoo) and Kerava lines can form another through line. So, between Huopolahti and Tikkurila or Hiekkaharju there should then be a train every 5 minutes during most of the day. Outer suburban services are planned to continue terminating at Helsinki station.
LINKS
Helsinki at UrbanRail.Net
HKL - Metro & Tram Operator
HSL - Greater Helsinki Transport Authority
[Edit May 2018: After another visit 5 years later I have made some updates you can find here] | |||||
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] | null | [] | 2018-10-13T00:00:00 | HSL (Helsingin seudun liikenne) is the regional transportation authority for Greater Helsinki responsible for all tram, subway (underground), commuter rail, bus, ferry and bike share services. Interestingly enough HSL does not own any rolling stock, but uses third party contractors to accomplish the day to day operation of the system. For example the tram system… | en | TRAINPHILOS | https://trainphilos.com/2018/10/13/trams-and-such-a-trip-on-hsl/ | HSL (Helsingin seudun liikenne) is the regional transportation authority for Greater Helsinki responsible for all tram, subway (underground), commuter rail, bus, ferry and bike share services. Interestingly enough HSL does not own any rolling stock, but uses third party contractors to accomplish the day to day operation of the system. For example the tram system is operated by Helsinki City Transport (Helsingin kaupungin liikennelaitos). HSL however is solely in control of the sale and inspection of transit tickets. There are no gates at commuter rail stations or at subway stations. Ticket inspections are frequent and fines for not having a valid ticket are steep.
The Helsinki tram system is one of the oldest, electrified networks in the world. The route length is about 60 miles. The 11 routes are all double track and use meter gauge (3 feet 3 3/8 inches). Overhead line voltage is at 600 volts. HKL has about 130 units, all of them uni-directional. Over 57 million passenger journeys were recorded in 2016. Service starts at 05:00 on some lines and ends around 01:30 on the Nr. 2, 3, 4 and 9 lines.
Basically the system has four types of rolling stock. The Valmet 1 series, Valmet II series, Bombardier Variotram and the Transtech Artic units. Valmet is a Finnish manufacturer, as is Transtech. Skoda Transportation is the parent company of Transtech. Bombardier is headquartered in Canada with factories in many parts of the world.
Helsinki purchased forty of these Variotrams. The trams proved to be totally unreliable. They also could not deal with the tight curves and steep hills on the tram system. It got to be so bad that Helsinki and Bombardier agreed to have the trams returned to Bombardier starting in 2018. Bombardier also agreed to pay Helsinki 33 million Euros as compensation.
These are the newest trams on the network. HKL is replacing the older trams with these Transtech “Artic” units. HKL published a pamphlet on these new trams detailing the features and technology. For enthusiasts it’s well worth reading. The link to the pamphlet is here.
All photos by Ralf Meier and Brad Wing, unless otherwise noted. (Sony a6500, iPhone X and iPhone 8) ©2018 | |||||
5064 | dbpedia | 1 | 6 | https://kaupunkiliikenne.fi/en/transport/by-tram/tram-stops-and-tracks/ | en | Tram stops and tracks | [
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] | null | [] | 2021-06-21T11:59:26+00:00 | Raitiovaunupysäkkejä on Helsingissä yli 300 kappaletta. Raitioliikenteen linjaratapituus on 38 km kaksisuuntaista rataa. | en | Kaupunkiliikenne Oy | https://kaupunkiliikenne.fi/en/transport/by-tram/tram-stops-and-tracks/ | At the busiest tram stops, Helmi displays (Helsinki public transport signal priority and passenger information system) show the line-specific arrival time of the next two trams in real time.
The displays at tram stops check the location of trams using GPS. If the tram cannot make contact with the satellite for some reason, the display at the stop will show the tram arrival time based on the time in the timetable (with a ~ sign before the minutes). This means that the time shown on the display will not necessarily be correct.
The displays at stops cannot show the arrival times of trams on diverted routes. This is why the displays will sometimes be completely switched off to make sure that they do not give passengers inaccurate information. However, any route diversions will be shown in the information text scrolling across the bottom of the screen.
Helsinki Region Transport (HSL) is in charge of the stop displays’ operation. | |||||
5064 | dbpedia | 2 | 46 | https://onmilwaukee.com/articles/streetcar-helsinki-comparison | en | What can Milwaukee's new streetcar learn from Finland's tram system? | [
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] | 2018-06-21T09:46:00-05:00 | The SparaKoff is the only streetcar like it in the world. Built in 1959 and converted to its present use in 1995, | /assets/favicons/apple-touch-icon-c0c851f89a7dc6d291784956fdd2cc9914c1f63f856ff3948d830c5045003cfe.png | OnMilwaukee | https://onmilwaukee.com/articles/streetcar-helsinki-comparison | HELSINKI, FINLAND – On a warm spring Saturday afternoon in this lively Nordic capital city, a fire-red tramcar pulled alongside the railway station tracks to let two-dozen revelers aboard.
The SparaKoff is the only streetcar like it in the world. Built in 1959 and converted to its present use in 1995, the Koff, as it is known to locals, is a rolling bar. Seating 24 with standing room for six more, it serves the local Koff beer and Jägermeister shots while rolling along Helsinki’s favorite tourist spots.
There is a flat-screen television up front to give riders a view of what the driver is experiencing. Along with its vintage gold-and-red trim and mahogany tables, it has a restroom should small bladders not be able to abide the 40-minute loop through the picturesque city by the Baltic Sea.
If there were ever a candidate for the globe’s second such streetcar bar, it would be Milwaukee.
And while Milwaukee’s soon-to-open streetcar system continues to draw heated political and social debate, it might be instructive to look 4,000 miles to the east for a comparative glimpse of future possibilities.
The Finnish capital of Helsinki has a city population of a little more than 600,000, roughly the same as Milwaukee’s. Wisconsin and Finland are also about the same size. Both towns have long, snowy winters.
Helsinki’s tram network, though, punches far above its weight class. One of the world’s oldest electrified streetcar systems, Helsinki’s distinctive green-and-yellow cars have been in operation since 1900, with the Koff tram as a tourist add-on. With 10 lines that cover 60 miles, the Helsinki tram carries about 200,000 passengers a day and almost 60 million a year. It operates in foul Milwaukee-like winter conditions with few problems.
While Milwaukee’s original streetcar line was razed like many in the United States during the post-World War II automobile boom, Helsinki’s tram system also faced extinction when the Finns began to enjoy personal-transportation freedom after the end of two wars with the Soviet Union brought prosperity.
But that’s where the comparisons end. While the U.S. expanded westward with the interstate-highway system, dense European cities such as Helsinki in smaller countries were compelled to embrace public transportation as a way to move the masses. With tighter environmental laws and current gasoline prices of more than $7 a gallon, small-ish Helsinki added a subway system in 1982 that also carries 200,000 passengers daily to complement its trams, buses, interurban rail and ferries in an effort to keep cars out of its 468-year-old city center. As a result, only 30 percent of Helsinki residents own cars in a city where it is prohibitively expensive to park in a downtown that hugs the Baltic Sea.
While opponents criticize the initial 2.5-mile reach of Milwaukee’s coming system, there are things Milwaukee could learn from Helsinki regarding its streetcar anxiety.
For example, bad weather is not a major obstacle.
"The worst time of the year is in autumn as the leaves fall and make the tracks slippery, and the trams need to take it slower because of extended stopping distances," said Sakari Metsälampi, planner for the Helsinki Regional Transport Authority (HSL). "Heavy-snow winters are sometimes also a problem. Mostly though, weather is not an issue, no more than it is for the buses."
(PHOTO: Flickr/LHOON)
Accidents? Bicyclists must be careful to ride straight over the rails as to not get their tires stuck in the grooves, but that is a matter of personal responsibility. The same goes for cars and buses, although accidents are rare in the narrow streets of Helsinki. According to HSL’s latest figures, 18 injuries occur in a typical year.
"Also, in the winter, the tracks get slippery," Metsälampi said. "Accidents with other road users happen from time to time, even though I wouldn’t say they are that common. Buses and more likely private cars sometimes disregard their surroundings and jump in front of trams. This can be avoided by clear separation of the tracks and surrounding traffic and well-planned infrastructure solutions."
The Helsinki trams are fully handicap-accessible, with entry ramps for wheelchairs.
Of course, there are problems. Metsälampi said the Helsinki system is relatively old, which limits average speed to 14.5 kilometers per hour. There are plans to modernize the routes, but for now, there isn’t much separation with traffic as "the tracks in many parts of the network are built in maze-like small streets," he said. "Also the signal priorities leave much room for improvement. All this leads to slow and non-punctual runs, thus more expensive tram traffic."
Although Finns can be notoriously grumpy, they abide the system to a daily ridership of one-third the city’s population because it is a matter of civic pride.
"Helsinkians are mostly very proud of their city and, of course, the city’s symbol: the yellow and green trams," Metsälampi said.
(PHOTO: Flickr)
Beyond Milwaukee giving its initial limited system a chance to grow, Metsälampi said the key to streetcar success is directly linked to city planning.
"Trams attract and are able to carry a larger portion of people than buses, but they cannot create ridership," he said. "Ridership won’t rise without people or jobs near the stops or stations. There needs to be a certain number of people, either already existing or planned, or some other reason to reside along the line, to make a tram line a success." | |||||
5064 | dbpedia | 2 | 11 | https://voith.com/corp-en/news-room/press-releases-75729.html | en | Press releases | https://voith.com//d2euiryrvxi8z1.cloudfront.net/rendition/445934742530/a263fdc388762c845e43df0965ccc304/-C2048x1151,0,213-S1200-FJPG | https://voith.com//d2euiryrvxi8z1.cloudfront.net/rendition/445934742530/a263fdc388762c845e43df0965ccc304/-C2048x1151,0,213-S1200-FJPG | [
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] | null | [] | null | Energy efficiency, reduced life cycle costs and increased availability were the key criteria used in order to secure the contract The successful operation of the current fleet further assisted in securing this order A conventional bogie mechanism is comb | en | //static.voith.com/corporateWebsite/favicon.ico | https://voith.com/corp-en/news-room/press-releases-75729.html | 04/04/2017
Full Steam Ahead: An Additional 20 Trams with Voith Traction Systems are Destined for the Streets of Helsinki
Energy efficiency, reduced life cycle costs and increased availability were the key criteria used in order to secure the contract
The successful operation of the current fleet further assisted in securing this order
A conventional bogie mechanism is combined with modern low-floor technology
Helsinki/St. Pölten: Škoda ForCity Smart Artic low-floor trams will be relying on Voith located in St. Pölten, Austria, for the electrical drive systems utilized in the Helsinki tram fleet. These quiet, energy-efficient trams fitted with Voith traction systems combine a conventional bogie mechanism with modern low-floor technology. The first vehicles have been operating successfully in Helsinki for over three years and boast an availability rate of over 99 percent. The operator, Helsinki City Transport (HKL), acknowledged the successful operation of the vehicles by ordering another 20 units.
Finnish rail vehicle supplier Transtech Oy, which forms part of the Škoda Transportation Group, commissioned the first of the 40 new low-floor trams in 2013. Delivery of this series is scheduled for completion in 2017. The follow-up contract recently signed, includes the subsequent delivery of another 20 trams featuring complete drive systems from Voith. Each system comprises of high-voltage equipment, two double traction inverters and eight complete drive units, consisting of motor-gear units and complete wheel sets. The Voith scope of supply also includes the monitoring and diagnostics system for the entire vehicle.
The Artic© low-floor tram achieves a 100% low-floor configuration despite a freely pivoting bogie. A separate motor-gear unit with a continuous output of 65 kW drives each of the eight axles of the 27.6 m long vehicle. The traction motors receive their input power via two EmCon double traction inverters with a continuous output of 2 x 220 kVA each.
"The specifications to be met by trams in the Finnish capital are especially stringent due to the challenging weather conditions and the knock-on effects for the transport network," explains Alfred Gmeiner-Ghali, Vice President Sales & Marketing at Voith Digital Solutions Austria. "Alongside maximum driving comfort and minimal running costs, the particular robustness of the vehicle coupled with their reliable traction system were the decisive factors in awarding us the order for our electrical drive systems. We are delighted about this follow-up order and regard it as confirmation of our successful collaboration to date with Transtech Oy and operator HKL in particular."
Ollipella Heikkilä, Head of Rolling Stock at Helsinki City Transport is also impressed: "The high efficient and most reliable Voith traction systems in our new Škoda ForCity Smart Artic trams are an important part to achieve the lowest LCC we ever have experienced in Helsinki."
More information on low-floor trams fitted with Voith electrical drive systems can be found on both of these links: https://tinyurl.com/Traction- Inverter-EN and https://tinyurl.com/HKL-Helsinki-EN.
Voith Digital Solutions bundles Voith’s long standing automation and IT expertise with the know-how in the fields of water power, paper machines and drive engineering. This new Group Division works with new and existing customers to develop innovative products and services by driving IoT innovations and decisively shaping the digitalization process in the field of machine and plant engineering.
For 150 years, Voith technologies have been inspiring its customers, business partners and employees all over the world. Founded in 1867, Voith today has around 19,000 employees and earns 4.3 billion euros in sales. It has locations in more than 60 countries and is one of the largest family-owned companies in Europe. As a technology leader, Voith sets standards in the energy, oil & gas, paper, raw materials and transport & automotive markets. | |||
5064 | dbpedia | 2 | 85 | https://www.academia.edu/120415979/On_the_Historical_Development_and_Future_Prospects_of_Various_Types_of_Electric_Mobility | en | On the Historical Development and Future Prospects of Various Types of Electric Mobility | http://a.academia-assets.com/images/open-graph-icons/fb-paper.gif | http://a.academia-assets.com/images/open-graph-icons/fb-paper.gif | [
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"Amela Ajanovic",
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] | 2024-06-02T00:00:00 | On the Historical Development and Future Prospects of Various Types of Electric Mobility | https://www.academia.edu/120415979/On_the_Historical_Development_and_Future_Prospects_of_Various_Types_of_Electric_Mobility | Extensive research is being carried out in the in the area of electric vehicles. Different facets of the research being carried out are studied. In this paper the studies on various components of the electric vehicle are covered. The role of environment, the motor design and its control, the converter design and its control and the energy storage system technologies and strategies have been investigated. The switching topologies of converters used in EVS are presented from literature.
The ongoing spread of electric sustainable mobility is transforming the local ways of transport in metropolitan areas. This is meant to be extended outside of big cities in the near future thanks to new technological developments. Little towns should adapt to these changes, as they are located geographically far from the big cities and are generally characterized by low economic and demographic indicators. Hence, little towns must keep pace with these changes in mobility to avoid being isolated from the main cities in a country. People living in the countryside usually move toward big cities for various reasons, either related to work or living necessities. Therefore, it must be possible to conduct usual displacements through the use of electric vehicles (EVs), i.e., reaching the destinations and supplying the batteries through charging infrastructures. This paper studies the full implementation of electric mobility applied in the case of Cuenca, a city located in middle Spain. A br...
Achieving green growth, that is, improving environmental, economic, and social well-being at the same time, is one of the global challenges society is currently facing. A sustainable mobility transition is an important element in shifting to a green growth path. This paper outlines an approach to analysing electric mobility in view of green growth that is grounded in Global Systems Science. It presents an initial synthetic information system developed for investigating the diffusion of electric vehicles in the global car fleet and sketches first simulation results. | |||||
5064 | dbpedia | 0 | 73 | https://www.vttresearch.com/en/news-and-ideas/electric-bus-breakthrough-happening-now-simulation-reveals-best-solutions | en | Electric bus breakthrough happening now – | [
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] | 2021-06-18T00:00:00 | In nearly all competitive procurements last year the number of electric buses chosen for city use exceeded the minimum requirements. Electric buses have made a real breakthrough. This presents a challenge to many communities on how the new equipment should be introduced. Tampere took advantage of VTT Smart eFleet simulation service in preliminary studies for electrification. | en | /themes/custom/vtt/images/favicons/favicon.ico | VTT | https://www.vttresearch.com/en/news-and-ideas/electric-bus-breakthrough-happening-now-simulation-reveals-best-solutions | The technological development of electric buses has advanced by leaps and bounds in recent years. Meanwhile, pressures to reduce emissions in city transport help promote the electrification of bus services. Urban bus transport is regulated by an EU directive, and the national regulation linked with it is taking effect in Finland in 2021.
According to the directive, 41% of procurements for new buses in Finland should be based on clean energy. This means buses powered by electricity, biogas, biodiesel, or hydrogen. In addition, the directive requires that half of these buses should be zero-emission buses powered by electricity or fuel cells.
Electric buses come with high expectations: they are expected to be as reliable diesel buses, but they must also be energy efficient, and have low emissions. The user experience should also improve. The introduction of electric buses requires comprehensive evaluation of costs and performance. The actors are not always aware of everything that should be considered in the evaluation.
VTT Smart eFleet solution serves as a roadmap for the electrification of bus transport. It offers unbiased information as a basis for decision-making. With the help of the service, it is possible to ascertain the most cost-effective way to introduce electric buses, while maintaining the quality of service.
Planning infrastructure for charging is one of the key questions. “The type of charging is affected by issues such as the features of the buses, their use, and preconditions for maintaining battery capacity on bus lines. Simulation makes it possible to visualise the effects of different choices. The aim is green transport with lower total costs than those of diesel buses”, says VTT’s Research Scientist Mikaela Ranta.
An extensive change is taking place in Nysse, the public transport system of the Tampere area, where tram transport begins this summer. Meanwhile, Tampere and its nearby municipalities are planning the electrification of bus transport. The first four electric buses were introduced in the area already in 2016, but now there are moves for more extensive electric bus transport.
In preliminary studies for the electrification of urban buses Tampere has utilised VTT Smart eFleet solution. The simulation tool has given information to help planning in matters such as technical solutions for electrification and their costs.
“We used the service to model four distinct bus routes. We examined the kinds of situations in which fast charging on a route is the most sensible option, and when it is better to charge the batteries at a charging station at the depot, outside the route”, says Juha-Pekka Häyrynen, Transport Planner at Nysse.
“The key observation was that there are no self-evident solutions for the choice of a suitable charging strategy. Battery technology has made great advances, but it is not profitable to run all transport on depot charging. On some bus lines charging on the route remains an economically sensible option.”
By using the simulation service, Tampere did not aim at a detailed comparison of the options, or to optimise actual transport. Instead, the aim was to find fundamental principles for the bigger picture. ”VTT Smart eFleet is a useful and functioning tool for this kind of advance planning. Without simulation it would have been difficult for us to verify what was examined in the advance report”, Häyrinen says.
Switching the driving power to electricity is a significant move in urban bus transport. “Carriers, bus manufacturers, and those ordering the service have varying degrees of readiness for involvement in the change, and development moves forward at different speeds for different actors. Coordination is a challenge for the transition phase: buses have an operating life of about 15 years and the change in the driving power should be implemented in a manner that does not waste investments. This is a change that we plan to carry out in a controlled manner”, Häyrynen says.
The VTT Smart eFleet examines the introduction of electric buses with data in mind. Background data requires information about the buses’ routes and schedules, as well as the planned equipment and its technical information. It is also possible to utilise traffic data from peak times and information on the planned charging locations. VTT also takes urban topography into account.
“VTT can collect a large portion of this information, and information about the vehicles is available directly from the manufacturers. In addition, the more information the client can give, the more detailed analysis can be made”, Mikaela Ranta notes.
The VTT Smart eFleet is the result of decades of research, experimental measurements, and technical data. This data is utilised in the analysis of different kinds of vehicles, infrastructures, and operating environments. The aim of the service is the successful electrification of bus transport and the best possible technical and economic solution for an electrified public transport system.
Read more about VTT Smart eFleet solution and contact VTT’s experts: https://www.vttresearch.com/en/ourservices/enabling-zero-emissions-zones-through-optimal-design-electric-bus-systems-vtt-smart
Text Silja Eskola
This article is published on Linja magazine of Linja-autoliitto 06/2021 | ||||
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5064 | dbpedia | 1 | 91 | https://www.intelligenttransport.com/transport-news/21557/forcity-smart-artic-trams-helsinki/ | en | Transtech to deliver 49 ForCity Smart Artic trams to Helsinki | [
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] | 2016-12-22T15:09:04+00:00 | Subsidiary of Škoda Transportation, Transtech is to deliver 49 ForCity Smart Artic trams for operation in Helsinki. | en | /favicon.ico?v=2 | Intelligent Transport | https://www.intelligenttransport.com/transport-news/21557/forcity-smart-artic-trams-helsinki/ | Posted: 22 December 2016 | Katie Sadler, Intelligent Transport |
Subsidiary of Škoda Transportation, Transtech is to deliver 49 ForCity Smart Artic Trams for operation in Helsinki.
Credit: Škoda Transportation
Subsidiary of Škoda Transportation, Transtech is to deliver 49 ForCity Smart Artic trams for operation in Helsinki.
Helsinki City Transport (HKL) has ordered 49 new trams for the Finnish capital in a contract worth over €150 million. The operator exercised an option for twenty low-floor trams for Helsinki city traffic, and signed a Letter of Intent for purchasing further 29 trams for the new “Raide-Jokeri“ line connecting the cities of Helsinki and Espoo.
Commenting on the order, Ville Lehmuskoski, CEO of Helsinki City Transport, said: “Helsinki City Transport appreciates the customer oriented approach that Transtech has had. The needs of the city of Helsinki and its citizens have seriously been taken into account in the product development. The experiences of ForCity Smart Artic trams have been very positive”
Zdeněk Majer, vice president of Škoda Transportation and chairman of Transtech, added: “These are two more important contracts that our Finnish subsidiary Transtech has acquired in recent months. Back in October we were named the prefered bidder of a tender for the third largest Finnish city of Tampere, for 15 – 20 modern ForCity Smart Artic trams. There could therefore be more than 100 trams with the Škoda logo in Finland in the near future. Thanks to these major accomplishments, Škoda is becoming a very strong player in the demanding Scandinavian market.”
ForCity Smart Artic tram contract worth €150 million
The ForCity Smart Artic features a low floor and can accommodate 125 standing passengers (5 passengers/m2). In addition, the tram has 74 seats and 14 folding seats. The vehicle also offers easy barrier-free access for passengers in wheelchairs and prams. The one-direction three-section ForCity Smart Artic tram has a gauge of 1,000 mm.
“The ForCity Smart Artic Helsinki tram is the world’s first mass-produced narrow-gauge 100% low-floor tram with fully pivoting bogies. The all-wheel drive and robust bogies with axles allow trouble-free operation in the harsh climatic conditions of the capital of Finland,” says Lasse Orre. The demanding track conditions were taken into account during the production of the ForCity Smart Artic tram. Efficient heating including thorough insulation and innovative use of brake energy for heating the vehicle were designed for the northern conditions.
The new ‘Raide-Jokeri’ line will be 25 kilometres long and it will connect the eastern part of Helsinki and Espoo. The route will have 33 stops and will replace the existing trunk bus route. The new bi-directional vehicles for this route will be 34 meters long. The first prototype shall be delivered in summer 2019. | ||||
5064 | dbpedia | 3 | 10 | https://kaupunkiliikenne.fi/en/work-with-us/working-for-us/ | en | Working with us | [
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] | null | [] | 2022-02-07T09:06:09+00:00 | Hallinnoimme Helsingin joukkoliikenneinfraa ja omistamme raitiovaunukaluston. Vastaamme raitiovaunujen ja metrojen liikennöinnistä sekä kunnossapidosta. Hoidamme lisäksi Suomenlinnan lautan liikenteen sekä järjestämme Helsingin kaupunkipyöräpalvelun. | en | Kaupunkiliikenne Oy | https://kaupunkiliikenne.fi/en/work-with-us/working-for-us/ | We manage the public transport infrastructure of Helsinki and own the tram fleet. We are responsible for the operation and maintenance of trams and metro trains. We also provide the Suomenlinna ferry service and Helsinki’s city bike service.
The Helsinki metropolitan area is growing and developing at an unprecedented rate! This guarantees the continued expansion of its rail transport services powered by emissions-free electricity and unique prospects with interesting projects for us. We keep the residents of the Helsinki metropolitan area moving with approximately 1,200 professionals in 130 different jobs.
We transport
We are present in the everyday lives of Helsinki residents, who make over 150 million journeys on metro trains, trams and the Suomenlinna ferry every year. We are also responsible for Helsinki’s popular city bike service, which is used for over 3 million journeys a year.
We build and develop
Our unique expertise is needed in many major rail transport projects in the Metropolitan Area, such as Jokeri Light Rail, Crown Bridges Light Rail and the Kalasatama-Pasila Project. The demand for our expertise will only increase in the future as the rail transport services of the Helsinki metropolitan area continue to expand.
“We provide a service that is very important to city residents, passengers and society as a whole. We are part of Helsinki’s backbone. This is what motivates me to do my best at my job.”
We work together
We are organised into six different functional units that engage in close cooperation with each other to ensure that we perform as well as we possibly can.
We provide sustainable transport services that contribute to the achievement of Helsinki’s environmental goals. Sustainable and high-quality rail transport services reduce travel by car and promote the development of a more compact urban structure. We also only procure green, emissions-free electricity, whereby our rail transport services generate no direct carbon dioxide emissions. Our goal is to also provide reliable, safe and accessible transport services. To this end we measure and improve the quality and safety of the customer experience of our metro, tram and Suomenlinna ferry services with the help of customer satisfaction surveys and customer feedback, among other ways.
As regards the development of safety and security, we are currently focusing on improving the pleasantness of metro stations and the safety of track work sites. We also take accessibility into account in many ways in our metro trains and trams, as well as at stations and stops. All of our trams have low floors and announce all stops to passengers.
Our goal is to be a responsible and desirable place of work where the staff are well and provided with opportunities to do meaningful work while also developing themselves in the process. We want to develop the know-how of our employees, support their career advancement and provide rewards for good performance. A capable and motivated staff is our most important asset, and together we will continue to be the most respected public transport operator in future as well! | |||||
5064 | dbpedia | 0 | 53 | https://www.urban-transport-magazine.com/en/yutong-e-buses-for-finland/ | en | Urban Transport Magazine | [
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"Michael Kujawa"
] | 2020-06-03T04:40:29+00:00 | The semi-public bus company “Pohjolan Liikenne Oy” uses 35 Yutong E-buses of the E12 (ZK6128BEVG) model on several lines in the metropolitan area of Helsinki: 23 of them use the bus feeder ssystem at Leppävaara suburban- and long-distance train station on the Helsinki-Turku railway line. Leppävaara is one of the center locations (out of four) […] | en | Urban Transport Magazine | https://www.urban-transport-magazine.com/en/yutong-e-buses-for-finland/ | The semi-public bus company “Pohjolan Liikenne Oy” uses 35 Yutong E-buses of the E12 (ZK6128BEVG) model on several lines in the metropolitan area of Helsinki: 23 of them use the bus feeder ssystem at Leppävaara suburban- and long-distance train station on the Helsinki-Turku railway line. Leppävaara is one of the center locations (out of four) of the city Espoo, a city some 20 km west of Helsinki. With 290,000 inhabitants, this modern city is the second largest in Finland. The other 10 Yutong e-buses operate around the city of Kerava (37,000 Ew.), approximately 30 km north of Helsinki. The public authority is called HSL (Helsingin seudun liikenne, Transport Region Helsinki), which coordinates all bus services throughout the region.
According to the manufacturer, a full battery charge of the E12 is sufficient for a range of 230-300 km under normal conditions of urban traffic. Pohjolan Liikenne O confirms these numbers. The buses draw their electricity from large-capacity lithium iron phosphate batteries with 375 kWh. They are powered by permanent magnet synchronous electric engines with a nominal power/torque of 120 kW / 1400Nm and a maximum power/torque of 240 kW / 2850Nm. Parts of the body work of the buses are made of fiberglass which is supplied by the Finnish manufacturer “Excel Composites” in order to significantly reduce the bus weight and thus to lower the energy consumption.
Pohjolan Liikenne is very satisfied with the performance of the Yutong e-buses; they run smoothly and quietly and appear to be reliable even in harsh winter conditions. Pohjolan Liikenne is currently purchasing Volvo 8900 (Euro 6) diesel buses, which should allow for a direct comparison of both concepts. The operator has also taken delivery of 5 VDL Citea SLE-129 electric buses.
03.06.2020 | |||||
5064 | dbpedia | 1 | 33 | https://www.guidetohelsinki.com/public-transport/ | en | Public Transport in Helsinki | [
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"Niko"
] | 2023-05-23T21:05:40+03:00 | We'll cover the important details of public transport in Helsinki. From tickets to stations and transportation methods. Get ready to explore the city! | en | Guide to Helsinki | https://www.guidetohelsinki.com/public-transport/ | The public transport system in the Helsinki region is comprehensive and efficient. They are boasting diverse travel options, including buses, trams, ferries, metros, trains, and taxis. One can easily reach almost every corner of Helsinki by taking Helsinki’s public transport. The extensive coverage and reliable service aim to provide you with an enjoyable and convenient commuting experience. The price level is moderate and with the right ticket types, you can save also on the costs.
The public transport is mainly operated by Helsinki Regional Transport Authority (HSL) but also a few private companies operate some of the ferries to nearby islands. The same ticket is valid for all HSL transport modes but private operators have their own ticketing systems. Especially, when heading to the popular Suomenlinna Island, make sure to check who operates the ferry before boarding and that you have the correct ticket.
HSL does not only serve the Helsinki region but also the neighbouring cities Vantaa, Espoo and Kauniainen. The public transport network is divided into zones so your ticket must include the necessary zones to travel legally. Travelling without a valid ticket results in a penalty of up to 80 euros.
Buses in the Helsinki region play a significant role in connecting the city and its surrounding areas. With over a thousand buses in operation, Helsinki aims to provide a convenient and eco-friendly commuting experience for both locals and visitors.
Helsinki’s bus routes are designed to cover all parts of the cities, from dense urban areas to suburbs. These buses operate frequently, with some running from early morning to late evening. In addition to regular buses, there are special night buses that cater to the needs of late-night commuters, especially on the weekends.
Most of the buses are low-floor vehicles, making them accessible to passengers with mobility challenges. Many buses in Helsinki run on natural gas or electricity so they are also eco-friendly.
Buses are named with numbers. To board a bus, you need to give a sign to the driver to show your intention to board. Otherwise, the bus may not stop. Enter the bus using the front door and show your ticket to the driver or the ticket reader. When you wish to exit, press the STOP button inside the bus and it will stop at the next bus stop. There is no ticket sale inside buses.
The tram system in Helsinki is one of the most iconic and recognizable modes of transport. The first tram line in Helsinki was opened in 1891, and since then, the system has grown into a network of more than 10 lines that cover the downtown and its surrounding areas. The trams in Helsinki are an essential part of the city’s public transport system and are widely used by commuters and visitors alike. The trams operate on a frequent and reliable schedule.
The Helsinki tram system is known for its punctuality, efficiency, and convenience, offering passengers a comfortable and enjoyable commuting experience. The trams are easily identifiable by their distinctive green colour scheme but sometimes, they are covered with ads. The tram lines also offer breathtaking views of the city’s landmarks and attractions, making it an ideal way to explore Helsinki. if you do not want to attend the arranged tours. The Helsinki tram service is an excellent choice for anyone looking for an efficient, affordable, and eco-friendly way to get around the Helsinki Centre.
Trams are named with numbers. Because they do not automatically stop at every stop, you need to communicate to the driver by pressing the STOP button. Make sure you have a valid ticket before boarding the tram because it is impossible to buy a ticket inside a tram. You do not need to show your ticket to the driver when boarding the tram. There is no need to validate your ticket to the HSL machine.
Helsinki has one light rail line, route 15. It runs from Keilaniemi in Espoo (western Helsinki area) to Itäkeskus (East Centre). The route conveniently intersects with all the commuter train lines, allowing for easy transfers between light rail and commuter trains.
The route 15 is long and it doesn’t reach the very centre of Helsinki. It’s good to note that at Itäkeskus, you can also transfer to the Helsinki Metro for further travel within the city. Light rail is one of the most comfortable ways to travel in Helsinki when you are outside the city centre.
You need the zone B ticket to travel on the light rail.
Helsinki Metro is a rapid transit system that serves Helsinki and Espoo cities. It has been operating since 1982 and is the world’s northernmost metro system. The metro system consists only of 2 lines, and 30 stations, and has a total length of 43 km. It is the primary rail link between the eastern suburbs of Helsinki, the western suburbs of Espoo, and downtown Helsinki.
The metro is a convenient and reliable way to get from east to west, especially during rush hours.
You will recognize metro stations from the big orange-white letter M. A metro’s end station is visible in the front of the metro train and also on the information screens at the station. You need to buy a ticket before entering the metro platform. There is no ticket sale in metros so again ensure you have a valid ticket before boarding. Ticket inspections are common in the metro stations.
Ferries are an essential mode of transport in the Helsinki region, connecting the city to its numerous islands. Ferries to the UNESCO World Heritage site, Suomenlinna, are operated by the Helsinki Regional Transport Authority (HSL) but there are also private ferry operators bringing visitors to Suomenlinna and other islands. Tickets between HSL Ferries and the other operator are not compatible.
The majority of the ferries depart from Helsinki Market Square and serve destinations such as Suomenlinna, Vallisaari, and Korkeasaari.
The ferries are reliable and run on a regular schedule during the summer, making it easy to plan your day trips to the islands. They are also comfortable, with indoor and outdoor seating options and amenities such as toilets. Private ferries have cafes or even bars on board. They also arrange lunch and dinner sightseeing cruises.
You will recognize the HSL ferries from the HSL logo. There is no ticket sale on the ferries so you need to buy one before boarding a ferry.
Commuter trains in the Helsinki region are an integral part of the city’s public transport system, providing a reliable and convenient means of transportation for commuters travelling between the suburbs and downtown Helsinki. With over 200 trains running daily, the commuter rail network is one of the most extensive and efficient in Northern Europe. The trains are operated by the Finnish national railway company VR and offer a range of services, including comfortable seating. The trains are also wheelchair accessible, making them an inclusive mode of transportation for all.
The trains run on time, making them a popular choice for commuters who need to get to work or school on time. Additionally, the commuter trains are eco-friendly, reducing congestion on the roads and helping to reduce carbon emissions.
Commuter trains are named with letters, for example, Train A heading to Leppävaara. It is important not to accidentally board a long-distance train because the HSL tickets are only valid on commuter trains. Long-distance trains do not use letter naming.
There is no ticket sale on commuter trains so you need to buy a ticket before boarding a train. A conductor is sometimes asking to see passengers’ tickets so be sure you have the right ticket type.
A visitor to Helsinki usually meets a commuter train for the first time at Helsinki Airport. The lines P and I head from the airport to Helsinki Centre.
The Helsinki area has city bikes that can be rented. Unfortunately, there are two different systems: one maintained by Helsinki Region Transport and another maintained by the Vantaa city. The HSL system is available in Helsinki and Espoo and the Vantaa system is only in Vantaa. For travellers, the HSL system is more important since it covers the Helsinki centre.
The HSL city bike system is available from April to October. It consists of 4,600 bikes and 460 stations. The bikes are not free but you have to pay the subscription fee. The subscription includes unlimited rides but a single ride can last a maximum of 1 hour. For the extra time, you need to pay more.
For a traveller, a day subscription is the perfect choice costing 5 euros. If you spend more than a day in Helsinki, you can pay 10 euros for the whole week.
Read more about the city bikes on the HSL website.
There are a few private companies offering scooters in Helsinki just like in other capitals and big cities. We do not recommend driving with them because you take a risk when driving in a strange traffic environment. However, if you still think you are a skilled enough scooter driver, you can easily find them in the Helsinki Center.
It is illegal to drive under the influence of alcohol. Scooters have mandatory insurance in case of an accident. Please be polite when driving and park them in a way that they do not disturb the other traffic.
Helsinki’s public transportation system is divided into several zones, each with its unique fare system. The zones, labelled A through D, determine the price of your ticket based on the number of zones you pass through. You must purchase a ticket for at least two zones to ride public transportation.
The downtown area is located in Zone A, while Zone B covers the rest of Helsinki and the closest parts of the neighbouring cities. If you’re travelling to the airport or other parts of Vantaa, Espoo, or Kauniainen, you’ll need to purchase a ticket including Zone C.
There are three important transport hubs in Helsinki.
Helsinki Central Station
Helsinki Central Station also known as Rautatiasema in Finnish is the most important transport hub in Helsinki. Helsinki Central Railway station is the end station for all commuter trains. It is also the main station for all commuter trains and long-distance trains departing from Helsinki. At Helsinki Central Station, you can connect to many bus lines and also the metro. Many tram lines pass Helsinki Central Railway Station.
Kamppi Bus Station
Kamppi Bus Station is about 1 kilometre from the central railway station. It is a big shopping mall where there is a bus station underground. Kamppi is the end station, especially for regional bus lines and also long-distance bus lines. The metro lines go through Kamppi, too. When the weather is bad, Kamppi Bus Station is one of the most pleasant places to have a bus connection.
Pasila Station
Pasila Railway Station is about 3 kilometres away from Helsinki Central Railway Station. All trains going to Helsinki Centre call at Pasila Station. Also, all trains leaving to different destinations call at the Pasila Station making it a popular connection point for passengers who need to connect from one train to another. The rebuilt Pasila Railway Station is attached to the popular Mall of Tripla which is the fourth largest shopping mall in Finland. | |||||
5064 | dbpedia | 0 | 3 | https://trainphilos.com/2018/10/13/trams-and-such-a-trip-on-hsl/ | en | Trams and such: A trip on HSL | [
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] | null | [] | 2018-10-13T00:00:00 | HSL (Helsingin seudun liikenne) is the regional transportation authority for Greater Helsinki responsible for all tram, subway (underground), commuter rail, bus, ferry and bike share services. Interestingly enough HSL does not own any rolling stock, but uses third party contractors to accomplish the day to day operation of the system. For example the tram system… | en | TRAINPHILOS | https://trainphilos.com/2018/10/13/trams-and-such-a-trip-on-hsl/ | HSL (Helsingin seudun liikenne) is the regional transportation authority for Greater Helsinki responsible for all tram, subway (underground), commuter rail, bus, ferry and bike share services. Interestingly enough HSL does not own any rolling stock, but uses third party contractors to accomplish the day to day operation of the system. For example the tram system is operated by Helsinki City Transport (Helsingin kaupungin liikennelaitos). HSL however is solely in control of the sale and inspection of transit tickets. There are no gates at commuter rail stations or at subway stations. Ticket inspections are frequent and fines for not having a valid ticket are steep.
The Helsinki tram system is one of the oldest, electrified networks in the world. The route length is about 60 miles. The 11 routes are all double track and use meter gauge (3 feet 3 3/8 inches). Overhead line voltage is at 600 volts. HKL has about 130 units, all of them uni-directional. Over 57 million passenger journeys were recorded in 2016. Service starts at 05:00 on some lines and ends around 01:30 on the Nr. 2, 3, 4 and 9 lines.
Basically the system has four types of rolling stock. The Valmet 1 series, Valmet II series, Bombardier Variotram and the Transtech Artic units. Valmet is a Finnish manufacturer, as is Transtech. Skoda Transportation is the parent company of Transtech. Bombardier is headquartered in Canada with factories in many parts of the world.
Helsinki purchased forty of these Variotrams. The trams proved to be totally unreliable. They also could not deal with the tight curves and steep hills on the tram system. It got to be so bad that Helsinki and Bombardier agreed to have the trams returned to Bombardier starting in 2018. Bombardier also agreed to pay Helsinki 33 million Euros as compensation.
These are the newest trams on the network. HKL is replacing the older trams with these Transtech “Artic” units. HKL published a pamphlet on these new trams detailing the features and technology. For enthusiasts it’s well worth reading. The link to the pamphlet is here.
All photos by Ralf Meier and Brad Wing, unless otherwise noted. (Sony a6500, iPhone X and iPhone 8) ©2018 | |||||
5064 | dbpedia | 3 | 8 | https://www.railway-technology.com/projects/kalasatama-pasila-tramway-finland/ | en | Kalasatama-Pasila Tramway, Finland | [
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"samatharenigunta"
] | 2024-03-07T15:07:27+00:00 | The Kalasatama-Pasila tramway expands the existing tram network in Helsinki, Finland, connecting the metro and local and long-distance trains. | en | Railway Technology | https://www.railway-technology.com/projects/kalasatama-pasila-tramway-finland/ | The 4.5km Kalasatama-Pasila tramway is a much-anticipated expansion of the existing tram network in Helsinki, Finland. It will enable smooth connections to the metro and local and long-distance trains.
The project is being developed by Helsinki City’s Helsinki Urban Environment Division and Metropolitan Area Transport (Paakaupunkiseudun Kaupunkiliikenne) with an estimated investment of €260m ($287m).
The development phase of the project began in 2020, followed by the execution phase in 2021 and construction works in January 2022. Test runs are expected to start in 2024, following which the completed tramway will commence operations during the same year.
The project will also enhance existing roadways as well as pedestrian and bicycle environments.
Location and development details
The Kalasatama-Pasila tramway is being developed in the Kalasatama region, a former port and industrial area that is currently being developed into a smart city.
When the Kalasatama region development is completed in 2040, more than 10,000 jobs are expected to be created and 30,000 residents will live in the neighbourhood.
The Kalasatama-Pasila tramway extension will provide a dependable public transport link unaffected by traffic jams, serving the entire Kalasatama region. It is expected to become one of the busiest lines on the tram network.
Kalasatama–Pasila tramway details
The Kalasatama-Pasila tramway project includes the construction of tram line 13 from Nihti through the centre of Kalasatama and Vallilanlaakso through the Makelankatu junction to Pasila and includes a balloon loop in Nihti.
The tramway will primarily operate in the middle of the street, in its dedicated lane. Junonkatu and Leonkatu streets will be exceptions as they do not have dedicated tram lanes. The tramway will travel through a park in Vallilanlaakso.
The distance between the tram stops will be around 525m. The typical tram speed in Helsinki is 14km/h, whereas the Kalasatama-Pasila tramway project aims for an average speed between 19km/h and 21km/h.
The tramway’s Nihti terminal at Kalasatama will also feature a transfer link to the Crown Bridges light rail along with a connection to the Pasila tramline at the northern end.
Construction details
The Kalasatama-Pasila tramway project will include the construction of 11,989m of tracks, 25 tram stop shelters, 34 turnouts, 17 track crossings, 56km of cables and four power supply substations.
The tramway tracks will be made up of a track superstructure, points and rail insulation, a rail groove dewatering system and noise insulation on the ground. The rails, rail mounting, electrical insulation of the rails, sleepers in between the tracks, and a slab track form the superstructure. A track gauge of 1,000mm is used and semi-sleepers are 750mm apart.
73,868m²(795,108ft²) of pile slabs, 121m of retaining wall, 928m of streets, a cycle superhighway, pedestrian walkways, cycle paths, bus stops and pedestrian bridges will be developed.
Rolling stock details
The Kalasatama-Pasila tramway project will initially operate with the existing Helsinki trams. It will adopt the new and bigger ForCity Smart Artic X54 light rail trams from 2027.
The ForCity Smart Artic X54 light rail carriage is the Metropolitan Area’s first, with two-way control cabins and doors. The trains feature 34m-long carriages that are ecologically clean, energy-efficient, versatile and simple to maintain.
Sustainability
The Kalasatama-Pasila tramway project is being built to ensure a friendly urban environment, preserve biodiversity and embrace sustainable construction technologies. Its design, procurement and construction decisions are guided by Building Research Establishment Environmental Assessment Methodology infrastructure certification, which considers socioeconomic and environmental aspects.
The goals of the carbon-neutral Helsinki 2035 action plan, which encourages the expansion of sustainable transport options, are met by the new tram route.
In addition to using recycled furniture and stones, low-carbon concrete will be used for piling in the project. Civil Engineering Environmental Quality Assessment and Awards Scheme accreditation will be used to validate the sustainability initiatives.
The project employs lifecycle assessment (LCA) for decision-making, aiming to select options with minimal environmental impact, considering technical requirements, functionality and maintainability. LCAs are conducted using one click LCA software, using data from soil mass and quantity tables as input.
Contractors involved
The project construction is being handled by two alliances: the Sorkan alliance comprising WSP Finland, Destia, Destia Rail and Sweco Infra & Rail, and the Karaatti alliance of GRK Suomi and AFRY Finland along with FLOU and landscape architects Nakyma as subcontractors.
The project from the northern section of Hermannin Rantatie via Vallilanlaakso to Pasila is being engineered and constructed by GRK Suomi, a Finnish infrastructure company, and AFRY, a Swedish engineering, design and consultancy services provider.
The project also includes conduit relocations and new construction by Joint Municipal Engineering Worksite (JMEWS) partners including Helen Sahkaverkko, Helsinki Region Environmental Services (HSY) and many other network operators. | |||||
5064 | dbpedia | 3 | 92 | https://www.intelligenttransport.com/organisations/skoda-transportation/ | en | Škoda Transportation | [
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] | null | [] | null | News stories and articles referencing Škoda Transportation on Intelligent Transport | en | /favicon.ico?v=2 | Intelligent Transport | https://www.intelligenttransport.com/organisations/skoda-transportation/ | This website uses cookies to improve your experience while you navigate through the website. Out of these cookies, the cookies that are categorised as "Necessary" are stored on your browser as they are as essential for the working of basic functionalities of the website. For our other types of cookies "Advertising & Targeting", "Analytics" and "Performance", these help us analyse and understand how you use this website. These cookies will be stored in your browser only with your consent. You also have the option to opt-out of these different types of cookies. But opting out of some of these cookies may have an effect on your browsing experience. You can adjust the available sliders to 'Enabled' or 'Disabled', then click 'Save and Accept'. View our Cookie Policy page. | ||||
5064 | dbpedia | 2 | 31 | http://schwandl.blogspot.com/2013/06/helsinki-tram-metro-suburban-rail.html | en | Robert Schwandl's Urban Rail Blog: HELSINKI Tram | [
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"Robert Schwandl",
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] | null | [Edit May 2018: After another visit 5 years later I have made some updates you can find here ] Besides doing a bit of sight-seeing, of... | http://schwandl.blogspot.com/favicon.ico | http://schwandl.blogspot.com/2013/06/helsinki-tram-metro-suburban-rail.html | |||||||
5064 | dbpedia | 1 | 25 | https://www.intelligenttransport.com/transport-articles/77563/traffic-operations-helsinki-city/ | en | The technology making Helsinki’s transport more sustainable and efficient | [
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"Tara Nolan (Intelligent Transport)"
] | 2019-03-25T14:42:13+00:00 | Arttu Kuukankorpi, Director of Traffic Operation at HKL, details Helsinki’s current transport landscape and the decision behind implementing a DAS. | en | /favicon.ico?v=2 | Intelligent Transport | https://www.intelligenttransport.com/transport-articles/77563/traffic-operations-helsinki-city/ | When in Helsinki – Finland’s southern capital – travelling by metro, tram or the Suomenlinna ferry, you will be using public transport managed by Helsinki City Transport (HKL).
The municipal enterprise is part of the City of Helsinki and began operating in 1945. Currently providing comprehensive and environmentally-friendly transport services both on the tram lines of the city centre and the metro lines between east and west, HKL maintains the tracks and stations in order to ensure smooth and safe transport all year round.
The metro and trams are the most environmentally-friendly forms of transport in the Helsinki Metropolitan Area, running on electricity produced by water and wind power. Alongside this, new, energy-saving vehicles for both metro and tram lines have recently been acquired.
In a bid to further reduce energy usage – and increase capacity – HKL invested in a driver advisory system (DAS). This provides a direct link between the train and the traffic management system (TMS), meaning scheduling, routing and speed restriction updates are communicated to the train in real time.
What is your role at HKL and what responsibilities come with it?
I am responsible for the traffic operations for the trams and the metro in Helsinki. This includes being in charge of both the drivers and the control centres.
My main responsibility on a day-to-day basis is to ensure that the traffic across the city runs smoothly. I also have a duty to focus on how to best develop our traffic operations in a sustainable and efficient way.
Why did HKL invest in a driver advisory system? How does it help minimise energy use?
The most attractive business case surrounding the installation of a DAS is the significant level of energy savings that is available. When considering the potential energy savings, it is possible for the payback period on the investment to be less than three years. As the energy savings alone justified the business case, we didn’t need to include these benefits in the cost/benefit calculation.
The system also offers additional benefits, like improved punctuality – by virtue of motivating drivers – and reduced wear of the rolling stock and tracks.
What kind of results have you seen since the introduction of the DAS?
Although the DAS has not been fully implemented yet and we have only received preliminary results, these have indicated that energy savings will be higher than we initially expected.
When starting the project, some drivers had reservations towards it, but as they can now see the benefits for themselves, their attitude has changed and there is a positive buzz around the system.
What other initiatives do you/the region of Helsinki have in place to ensure your operations are sustainable?
The City of Helsinki has a goal to become carbon neutral and we have an action plan with 143 separate actions to achieve this. Implementing DAS was actually not a part of this action plan – the actions listed there are higher-level actions.
Are there other cities in Finland that are focusing on being as sustainable as possible? How do these compare to Helsinki?
Yes, I guess I think it’s quite common now to focus on sustainability and many cities have set a target year for becoming carbon neutral. Some Finnish cities are more ambitious than Helsinki, for example in Tampere the target year is 2030, whereas Helsinki is aiming to achieve carbon neutrality by 2035. However, we are aiming to reduce our greenhouse gas emissions by 60 per cent by 2030. | ||||
5064 | dbpedia | 2 | 70 | https://www.railwaygazette.com/helsinki-tram-extension-opens/37223.article | en | Helsinki tram extension opens | [
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"Railway Gazette International",
"L.B. Foster"
] | 2012-08-24T00:00:00 | FINLAND: Helsinki tram Route 9 services began running to the Länsisatama ferry terminal on August 13, completing a €7·5m extension project. Trams run every 10 min during the day, with late-night services co-ordinated with ferry times. | en | /magazine/dest/graphics/favicons/favicon-32x32.png | Railway Gazette International | https://www.railwaygazette.com/helsinki-tram-extension-opens/37223.article | FINLAND: Helsinki tram Route 9 services began running to the Länsisatama ferry terminal on August 13, completing a €7·5m extension project. Trams run every 10 min during the day, with late-night services co-ordinated with ferry times.
The 4·1 km double-track extension has 11 stops. Construction was undertaken by city transport operator HKL, Stara, Skanska and VR Track, with electrical works by HelenService. | ||||
5064 | dbpedia | 0 | 86 | https://www.licensestorehouse.com/galleries/power-line | en | Power Line Collection | [
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5064 | dbpedia | 0 | 69 | https://www.energel.com/eng/uutiset/uutiset.htm | en | Energel Oy | [
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] | null | [] | null | Olemme laadukkaiden keski- ja suurjännitekojeiden, elektroniikka- ja sähköteollisuuden tarvitsemien komponenttien ja tarvikkeiden sekä automaatiokomponenttien maahantuoja. | null | Home
News
News
21.6.2022
You can reach us from 1.8.2022 onwards only from mobile telephone numbers and Energelâs general phone number +358 9 540 7130.
2.2.2022
ESITAS part of Arteche group
ESITAS, manufacturer of medium and low voltage instrument transformers in Turkey, has become a part of Arteche group by acquisition, which supports Arteche’s growth strategy. Energel has represented Arteche in Finland, and now we can offer also products supplied by ESITAS at competitive prices.
With these new products we can serve our customers even better!
4.10.2021
New Product Manager
Jyrki Salmi has been appointed as Product Manager at Energel Oy starting from 4 October 2021. His responsibilities will include for example sales and marketing of rail electrification products. The product pallet consists of overhead railway line materials manufactured by Arruti Catenaria, DC substation equipment delivered by Sécheron as well as railway switchers and disconnectors supplied by Coelme. Jyrkiâs extensive experience in substation projects and in electricity grid maintenance will strengthen further competencies of Energel.
20.10.2020
400 MVA power transformer (410/120/21 kV) manufactured by Kolektor ETRA was transported to Fingridâs Pyhänselkä substation last weekend. The first transformer of the delivery package, weighing about 300 tn, was transported by a special railway wagon to Muhos after necessary track works were carried out during the night. Then it was hauled to a special truck trailer and moved to Pyhänselkä substation. The transformer will be assembled during November-December 2020 and energised in summer 2021.
https://lnkd.in/d2bTfWH
Foto: Henri Luoma/hlp.fi
25.5.2020
12,5 MVA power transformers to Finnish Transport Infrastructure Agency
The Finnish Transport Infrastructure Agency (FTIA) will purchase 13 power transformers for railway feeder stations from Kolektor ETRA, whose representative in Finland is Energel Oy.
Delivery of 116/2x25kV 12,5 MVA transformers will take place in 2020-2025. The railway sections are Kouvola-Kotka/Hamina, Ilmala, Iisalmi-Ylivieska, Luumäki-Imatra and Hyvinkää-Hanko. The contract includes an option of two additional transformers.
Energel delivered similar power transformers to Matari feeder station a few years ago.
More info: Mika Väärämäki tel. +358 40 520 3522
20.5.2020
750 VDC supply system for Jokeri Light Rail
Sécheron SA represented by Energel Oy will supply for Jokeri Light Rail project 750 VDC supply system used in rail transit systems. The delivery consists of rectifiers and DC switchgear with protection relays for altogether 16 feeder stations. Also voltage limiting devices and stray current monitoring system are included in the supply.
Additionally Energel will supply cast resin transformers as well as auxiliary power systems for protection and control.
More info: Mika Väärämäki tel. +358 40 520 3522
6.3.2020
Tampere Tramway project continues
Our cooperation with Tramway Alliance for the supply of DC substation equipment will continue. Sécheron SA from Switzerland, represented by Energel Oy, will supply DC equipment also to Hatanpää substation.
The decision to extend Tampere Tramway with Hatanpää section was made already in the first phase of the tramway construction. The 750 VDC equipment will electrify the tramway traction line and supplies the energy required by tram cars. During 2018-2019 Sécheron has already supplied totally 10 solutions for the DC substations of Tramway Alliance.
More info: Mika Väärämäki tel. +358 40 520 3522
10.1.2020
Bird diverters manufactured by Industrias Arruti taken into use in Finland
DAA bird diverters manufactured by Industrias Arruti have been supplied for several 110 kV and 400 kV power lines in Finland. Diverters increase the visibility of earth wires, OPGWâs or phase conductors and they distract and divert birds away from the line. Light devices permit easy installation and cost-effective execution. Additionally, short delivery periods are allowed by the simplicity of the devices. Adherence as well as UV-stability of the diverters have been type tested. Bird diverters are available in white, grey, yellow, orange and red colours. Red is the most common colour used, since it stands out against a background of the sky, forest or clouds in all seasons of the year.
More info: Ilkka Rinne-Rahkola tel. +358 50 453 4834
5.11.2019
Arrutiâs composite insulators and string hardware for 110 kV transmission lines
TLT-Building Oy is constructing EPVâs Paskoonharju-Perälä 110 kV transmission line with hardware products manufactured by Industrias Arruti. Same hardware products are used also for building the 110 kV transmission lines Tampella-Nuoramoinen, Landbo-Massby and Impola-Kaanaa.
Industrias Arruti supplies composite insulators as well as string hardware also for the 110 kV power line Peltomäki-Pitkälahti built by Voimatel Oy in 2020.
More info: Ilkka Rinne-Rahkola tel. +358 50 453 4834
2.9.2019
Composite insulators and string hardware for 400 kV Forest Line -project of Destia Oy supplied by Arruti
Fingrid is implementing 400 kV transmission line between Petäjävesi in Central Finland and Muhos (Oulujoki) in North Ostrobothnia. Connection is called Forest Line, total length of which is approximately 303 km. It will replace or coexists with the present 220 and 400 kV transmission lines. The construction agreement of sections B and C was signed with Destia Ltd, who has purchased 400 kV and 110 kV composite insulators and string hardware from Industrias Arruti. Delivery of this 128 km line will take place in 2020.
In 2019 Destia built also the 110 kV Ivalo-Saariselkä power line, length of which is approximately 20 km, with material supplied by Industrias Arruti.
More info: Ilkka Rinne-Rahkola tel. +358 50 453 4834
19.8.2019
Fingrid ordered power transformers from Kolektor ETRA
Fingrid Oyj, Finland’s transmission system operator, signed a contract with Kolektor ETRA for the supply of two large power transformers. In addition, the contract includes five optional power transformers.
The ordered power transformers will be delivered to both ends of a new 400 kV transmission line called Forest Line. The transformers will ensure transmission reliability and reduce transmission losses. The power transformers are manufactured at Kolektor ETRA’s plant in Slovenia and will be delivered during 2020-2021.
Energel Oy has been Kolektor ETRA’s representative in Finland since 2016.
More info: Mika Väärämäki tel. +358 40 520 3522
27.6.2019
Arrutiâs string hardware for 110 kV transmission line projects
Eltel Networks Oy has chosen Industrias Arruti as the supplier of string hardware for the 110 kV transmission line Kymi-Lumi (two electric circuits, 3xFinch conductors).
Vattenfall Services Nordic Oy is using Industrias Arrutiâs string hardware for the 110 kV transmission line Kangasala-Rautaharkko related to the improvement of the electricity network in Tampere area. Industrias Arruti supplies string hardware also for Vattenfallâs other 110 kV power line project Vuolijoki-Harsunlehto-Piiparinmäki (2xFinch conductors) to be completed in 2020. The length of this power line is approximately 40 km and it connects Piiparinmäki and Murtomäki wind farms to the National Grid at Vuolijoki substation.
More info: Ilkka Rinne-Rahkola tel. +358 50 453 4834
29.5.2019
Arruti chosen by TMV Line Oy to supply string hardware for the 110 kV transmission lines in North Karelia
Industrias Arruti supplies 110 kV string hardware for two sections of Fingridâs âtriangle in North Kareliaâ. TMV Line Oy is the contractor of both sections Pamilo-Uimaharju (app. 20 km) and Kontiolahti-Uimaharju (app. 54 km).
More info: Ilkka Rinne-Rahkola tel. +358 50 453 4834
11.4.2019
Overhead railway line materials manufactured by Arruti Catenaria to Energel’s product pallet
Arruti Catenaria manufactures e.g. cantilevers, droppers, arms, tensioning devices and related accessories as well as clamps for overhead railway and tramway lines. In addition, Arruti Catenaria offers support engineering. Hardware and accessories manufactured by Industrias Arruti (who is part of the same company group) have been used for a long time in 400 kV and 110 kV transmission and distribution lines in Finland.
http://www.grupoarruti.com/en/catenaria/index.html
19.12.2018
New Sales Manager
Ilkka Rinne-Rahkola has been appointed as Sales Manager at Energel Oy starting from 1 January 2019. Rinne-Rahkola will take charge of e.g. hardware and accessories for power transmission and distribution lines along with products for rail electrification and overhead lines. He has comprehensive experience in high voltage equipment as well as in substation projects, thus strengthening our technical and commercial expertise.
23.10.2018
New Managing Director
Mr Mika Väärämäki has been appointed as the new Managing Director of Energel Oy starting on 1 November 2018. He has considerable knowledge of e.g. high voltage equipment and transformers, and he has strong experience in substation projects. His technical and commercial skills will strengthen our core competency.
Energel’s former Managing Director Mr Esko Nikkinen will continue to work with the company as a consultant/specialist.
4.6.2018
UPGRADES
Fingrid is renewing Rautarouva (Iron Lady) power line which was built in the 1920s. The last stage of the renewal is the 49-kilometre transmission line between substations Hikiä and Orimattila, which is contracted out to Empower PN. Industrias Arruti’s 400 and 110 kV insulator and conductor accessories are used in the Hikiä-Orimattila transmission line project.
Industrias Arruti will supply 400 and 110 kV insulator and conductor accessories also to Eltel Networks for the 24-kilometre transmission line between substations Lempiälä and Vuoksi.
EPV Alueverkko will have constructed and renovated power lines in Seinäjoki area. The contractor is TMV Line, to whom Industrias Arruti will supply 110 kV composite insulators as well as insulator and conductor accessories.
More info: Heikki Stenberg tel. +358 40 841 3131
26.10.2017
A Brand new Saia PCD® Supervisor is available
Features
Saia PG5® Data Import Wizard allows the easy and fast import of PG5 symbols, alarm lists and HDLog configuration into the Saia PCD® Supervisor.
Native S-Bus over IP driver capable to access PCD devices including serial gateway (Read Write PCD media, Alarming and HDLog integration).
HTML5 compliant web framework for full smart device compatibility.
Supports an unlimited number of users over the Internet / Intranet with a standard web browser, depending on the host PC resources.
Optional enterprise-level data archival using SQL.
âStep by step documented historyâ of database changes, database storage and backup, global time functions, calendar, central scheduling, control and energy management routines.
Sophisticated alarm processing and routing, including email alarm acknowledgment.
Access to alarms, logs, graphics, schedules and configuration data with a standard web browser.
Password protection and security using standard authentication and encryption techniques with optional security supported via an external LDAP connection.
HTML-based help system that includes comprehensive on-line system documentation.
Provides online/offline use of the Niagara Framework Workbench graphical configuration tool and a comprehensive Java Object Library.
Optional direct Ethernet based driver support for BACnet IP, EIB/ KNX IP, LON IP, Modbus IP master and slave, M-Bus IP, SNMP and OPC client; additional point blocks for each driver may be purchased.
Enhanced BACnet utility for point propriety and EDE import wizard to engineer BACnet system.
Saia PG5® â icon gallery static palette available (SVG).
For more information
20.2.2017
Thank you very much visiting our stand at Networks 2017 fair. Once again great fair in Tampere. The winner of the competition has been informed personally
15.12.2016
Network 2017 trade fair will take place Wednesday 25th â Thursday 26th January 2017 in Tampere. You are welcome to meet us and our suppliers in hall A, stand 938.
By participating in our competition you can win portable jump starter/power bank.
20.1.2016
We have signed a representation contract with KOLEKTOR ETRA (Slovenia) of power transformer sales in Finland. KOLEKTOR ETRA manufactures transformers up to 420 kV and 500 MVA.
More info: Esko Nikkinen +358 400 445 112
15.11.2015
Our sales program includes also wall bushings for voltages 40.5 -252 kV and up to 3150 A rated current. Manufacturer is RHM International, USA.
More info: Olli-Pekka Aarnio +358 50 309 1718
18.9.2015
SAIA BURGESS CONTROLS has announced a new building automation product family
"E-Line".
E-Line includes a CPU PCD1.M0160E0 as well as a series of remote I/O modules,
some of which are installed in the bus as "slave" modules, as well as part of them are programmable remote modules.
For more information
15.3.2015
ENERGEL OY will supply energy measurement system to shopping centre Isokristiina Energel Oy has signed a contract with Skanska Oy for the supply of energy measurement system to the shopping centre IsoKristiina located in Lappeenranta.
For more information
7.12.2015
Industrias Arruti is supplying 400 kV and 110 kV composite insulators as well as insulator and conductor strings for Fingrid's Hirvisuo-Kalajoki power line. Deliveries are taking place during 2014 and 2015. Composite insulators and insulator strings have been type tested according to IEC Standards. So far Industrias Arruti's composite insulators have been delivered totally about 5400 pcs to 110-400 kV power lines in Finland and in Estonia.
10.11.2014
Kari Helander has been appointed as a sales manager in the department of automation starting from 10 November 2014.
1.10.2014
Arteche's power voltage transformers have been delivered to Fingrid's Naantalinsalmi 110 kV substation. This is the first delivery of Arteche's power voltage transformers to Finland. Transformers are SF6-insulated and model UG-145. More info: Esko Nikkinen +358 400 445 112. www.friem.com
We have signed an agency agreement with Italian FRIEM SpA. Friem was founded in 1950 and it manufactures high power rectifiers, converters and inverters for various applications. Company's modern 11.000 m2 facilities are located in Milan. | |||||||
5064 | dbpedia | 0 | 87 | https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s12469-023-00327-6 | en | Railway operations in icing conditions: a review of issues and mitigation methods | [
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] | 2023-08-14T00:00:00 | This article focuses on studying the current literature about railway operations in icing conditions, identifying icing effects on railway infrastructure, | en | /oscar-static/img/favicons/darwin/apple-touch-icon-92e819bf8a.png | SpringerLink | https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s12469-023-00327-6 | Railways are always in the spotlight because of their advantages and strategic role. Customers mostly choose railway transportation because of its safety and reliability. However, some natural phenomena can affect railway systems and disrupt their operations. Safety, mobility, accessibility, economic efficiency, and infrastructures are different aspects of any transportation system that can be affected by weather conditions. Many countries experience harsh winters and extreme cold resulting in snow and icing conditions. For example, in some railway areas in Norway, Sweden, and Finland, the atmospheric temperature can drop to -20 and -30 ℃. Also, railways in Canada, Russia, and the United States experience low temperatures of around -35 ℃ (Rossetti 2003; WeatherSpark 2022). While in areas where snow is widespread, an increasing number of railroads, both Common-Speed Railway (CSR) and High-Speed Railway (HSR), have been built. Some new HSR routes in China and Japan, the Trans-Siberian CSR in Russia, the Helsinki-Tampere HSR in Finland, and the Frankfurt-Cologne HSR in Germany are some examples of such railroads (Gao et al. 2020). Moreover, in some HSR lines in cold areas, there are plans to increase operational speed which means more challenges for railway systems to protect their safety in winter (Luo et al. 2020).
During cold temperatures around -25 or -30 ℃, a reduction in train speed by at least 10–20 miles per hour is necessary. Also, cold weather conditions cause different air pressures along the train, which affects the air brake system. As a result, to keep consistent air pressure throughout the air brake system in temperatures below -25 ℃, trains must be shortened. In addition, infrastructure failures are becoming more common in this situation, resulting in a decrease in the system’s overall speed. Furthermore, when an incident occurs, it may take longer to recover the railway system (Seglins 2018).
Along with operational difficulties, snow and ice can seriously damage infrastructures and equipment, posing safety issues and high expenditures. In the Netherlands, snow is the first cause of weather-related infrastructure failures; also, ice is among their most frequent causes (Stipanovic et al. 2013). In Canada, rail operations expenses increased 9% in 2019 due to snow and ice. It also caused a derailment, which claimed three human lives and cost C$69 million in casualty costs (Nair 2019). In 2020, 33 cars of a 144-length freight car derailed in an ice-jacking accident caused by ice and snow buildup beneath a rail. As this train carried crude oil, six homes in the area were evacuated as a precaution (TSB 2020). In Sweden, severe weather conditions account for 5 to 10% of total infrastructure failures and 60% of delays in railway operations (Thaduri et al. 2021); as a case, Sweden experienced 83,000 h of delays and $389 million in costs in 2009/2010 due to extremely cold weather and heavy snowfall (Vitale 2020b). In Sweden, the number of failures causing train delays is up to 41% higher in winter than in summer (Stenström et al. 2012). Also, about 25% of railway infrastructure component failures (switches and related components) are related to ice (Hassankiadeh 2011). In the USA, frozen precipitation causes almost 20% of railway infrastructure damage due to severe weather. Derailment, collision, and obstruction, respectively, with average costs of $10 million, $150,000, and $78,000 are the most reported damages (Rossetti 2007). Ice and snow caused 160 total accidents during the winter months, accounting for 18.5% of all incidents, which means approximately 8% of the total damage costs, around $15 million and $90,000 in average damages per incident (Vitale 2020a).
The significance of ice and snow research in railway operations cannot be overstated. Many studies have been conducted on the impact of climate change or winter issues on railways, but not much work has been done by researchers about icing effects on railway infrastructure and operations. Due to increasing human activities in the high north regions of the world, where icing is an important safety aspect, there is a growing need to improve knowledge about the safe design of railway infrastructure and operations in icing conditions. This study reviews previous research in this subject. Also, it categorizes these studied issues in three parts (infrastructure, rolling stock, and operation), then for each part the mitigation methods are discussed. Finally, the impact flow of ice and snow on railway systems and eventual consequences are presented.
Aside from human resources, infrastructure is the most crucial component of any railway system. Infrastructure refers to the elements that are either part of the railway (for example, ballast, ties, track, bridges, and tunnels) or adjacent to it (line-side structures like signs, mileposts, switches, etc.) (Burns 2022). Railway companies invest heavily in their infrastructure. These expenses are associated to planning, design, construction, and ancillary fees (Attina et al. 2018). According to the European Commission report in 2017, the costs of investing in railway infrastructure are anticipated to be 8.2 million euros per kilometer for new conventional rail lines, 6.1 for upgrading existing lines, and 14.1 and 5.4 for high-speed lines (Attina et al. 2018).
According to previous studies, railway construction in cold regions differs from normal areas. The high cost of infrastructure is one example. In these conditions, conventional methods to railway design and construction are predicted on raising the needed resources, which leads to an increase in their cost (Akkerman et al. 2018). The effects of extreme weather events on railway infrastructure can be significant. So, it is important to integrate the new solutions to combat icing and maintain the safe operations of the railway. For example, the failure of a railway signal switch can lead to fatalities; therefore, suitable ice mitigation systems are required (Palin et al. 2021). Railway infrastructures are vital and must be carefully maintained. At the same time, climate issues complicate the safety of infrastructure. Garmabaki et al. (2021) qualitatively identified and analyzed the impact of climate change on railway infrastructure, as well as the risks and consequences. Using a questionnaire from transportation infrastructure experts, managers, maintenance organizations, and train operators in Sweden, they discovered that even in 2021, there is a low degree of understanding regarding the impact of climate change on many aspects of railway infrastructure. Stenström et al. (2012) worked on the effect of cold climate on railway infrastructure using statistical modeling and maintenance data. They tried to evaluate if seasonal changes affect the failure in infrastructure or not. After comparing work orders and failures at different time intervals and temperatures, it is proved that icing/cold climate can affect the dependability of railway infrastructure, which means capacity and quality of service are affected, and maintenance works should be increased. A correlation between weather conditions and infrastructure failure modes has been established and researchers determined the threshold for the likelihood of occurrence of specific failures. A risk assessment methodology is used in this study, which includes identifying weather-related failures of railway infrastructure, analyzing the failure probability of railway infrastructure due to weather events, determining the vulnerability of railway infrastructure to climate change, and developing adaptation strategies (Stipanovic et al. 2013).
Among winter issues, ice and snow are significant threats for railway infrastructures in cold regions. Snow and ice can cause considerable damage to most of the infrastructure components. According to the literature, the following issues (Table 1) are the most common problems associated with the ice and snow effects on railway infrastructure.
2.1 Signaling system
Icing on railway overhead power lines can jeopardize the network's safety and reliability. As a result of prolonged icing, power outages and tower collapses are possible. Icing on railway contact wires can cause various issues such as overloading, arc formation, mass imbalance, and galloping power lines, which are critical issues for engineers and researchers. This is more challenging for light rail transit systems than it is in conventional rail systems. Studies mentioned the following cases as significant for hazardous wire icing (Er and Çakir 2018; Heyun et al. 2012; Solangi 2018):
Performance reduction of the contact wire
Divergence of the contact wire
Occurrence of electric arcs
Occurrence of insulator flash-overs
Occurrence of galloping power lines
According to the appearance on wires, icing can be classified as glaze, granular rime, crystalline rime, wet snow, and mixed rime (Heyun et al. 2012). Their dependency on atmospheric conditions and the growth rate of these ice categories are different from each other (Makkonen 1984). Air temperature, relative humidity, and dew point are significant factors in the probability of ice formation. ProRail reported that distortions in electric signals increase during winter due to ice accumulation (Garcia-Marti et al. 2018).
Studies show that the most common climate failures are caused by the snow and ice in switches and their protection is one of the most promising strategies chosen for railroad adaptations to winter phenomena (Doll et al. 2014). Researchers proved that the failure of switches is almost certain in conditions of -12 °C or the presence of 50 mm of snow per day (Stipanovic et al. 2013), where switches are extremely important in railroads, in terms of capacity and maintenance costs, as well as their role in ensuring the safety of railways (Stenström et al. 2012; Szychta et al. 2012).
Trying to solve the problem of ice on overhead wires has a long-lasting history. Makkonen (1984) worked on modeling ice accretion on wires like overhead powerline conductors. He used a time-dependent numerical model to simulate the amount of accreted ice on wires according to atmospheric conditions. In 2003, an ice-prediction model was developed in order to provide short-period forecasts of ice on the wires. It was a statistical model which provides forecasts of wire surface temperature and state (icy or not) for three hours ahead. Additionally, forecasts included air temperature, dew point, and wind speed. Validation results show slight bias in predicting wire surface temperature, air temperature, dew point, and wind speed (Shao et al. 2003). In 2009 researchers developed an Ice Accretion Forecasting System (IAFS) for power transmission lines using a mesoscale, numerical weather prediction model, a precipitation type classifier, and an ice accretion model. The results confirmed the model’s feasibility and approved the performance (Musilek et al. 2009).
2.2 Rail track
Icing conditions can severely affect the rail pavement, and rail tracks can experience contraction forces exposed to ice and snow. Continuous Welded Rail (CWR) is particularly vulnerable to these effects, resulting in track breaks during the winter months. The track stiffness can increase at a low temperature and reduce the strength of the track so that the probability of broken rails increases in the presence of wheel-rail force and higher tensile stress. Rail degradation is another problem which is caused by frost heave. Frost heave happens when freezing water in the ballast results in expansion, moves the track beds, and causes irregularities in track geometry. Differential frost heave can affect track performance and result in speed restrictions due to freeze-thaw cycles (Kostianaia et al. 2021; Silvast et al. 2013; Tahvili 2016); also, ice is the main factor that can influence the properties of frozen ballast layers (Li et al. 2022).
Akagawa et al. (2017) collected ballast and subgrade layer samples from tracks in northern Japan to examine their frost heave susceptibilities and their mineral compositions. They used this experiment with temperature sensors (PT-Resistance Sensor) and X-ray diffraction analysis. They confirmed that the frost heave susceptibility is related to the saturation ratio of the fine materials in its voids, even if the voids of the crushed rock are not saturated with fine materials. In the research of Hodás and Pultznerová (2019), a numerical modeling experiment was presented to find the temperature transition through the individual layers of the track formation during the winter. They explained that frost heave occurs not only in the subgrade but also in the ballast layer. It has been discovered that the ballast layer of a railway track contains frost-susceptible fine materials such as clay minerals and that they heave in winter if the conditions are favorable. Due to frost heaving, the ballast layer might be extended vertically in the winter. So, in this situation, keeping track smoothness at an acceptable level using track maintenance is required; also, it has been shown by experiments that the size of the track formation influences the freezing of its sub-ballast layers. Due to the accumulated heat in the pre-winter period, the depths of freezing will be smaller if the mass in the core of the railway formation is larger (Hodás and Pultznerová 2019).
Furthermore, refreezing snow that has melted can be a bigger issue. It takes longer to melt, can get stuck in switches, harm other infrastructure, and even damage rolling stock (Zakeri and Olsson 2018). Since the typical temperature range for normal maintenance is between -10 ºC and +30 ºC, after the winter season, a high maintenance & repairing cost can occur (Nemry and Demirel 2012). The formation of ice in rock cracks could result in the collapse of rocks, which might then fall onto the rail track. Ice formation at the entrance of railway tunnels might not only fall onto the track but can also damage the train body (Palin et al. 2021). Researchers studied the possibility of using new materials (Sulfur concrete) for the construction of railway beds in subpolar regions. Using a computer simulation of the “wheel-rail” interaction, laboratory, and field experiments, they showed that the rail geometry stayed constant during all experiments, so it seems that it is a suitable material for use in rail beds in cold regions (Akkerman et al. 2018).
2.3 Ice mitigation methods for railway infrastructure
Anti-icing and de-icing systems are different ways to mitigate the effect of ice and snow. The anti-icing mode prevents ice formation, but in de-icing mode, ice is allowed to accumulate on the surface to a certain level, and then the ice will be removed (Muhammed and Virk 2022). Many ice and snow issues can be reduced or even avoided by taking some precautions during the design phase. It is also possible to control the icing consequences by taking some action before and after the ice accretion. Table 2 highlights some solutions that are used for mitigating the icing on railway infrastructure (Tahvili 2016).
Manual de-icing is the first method for wires, tracks, and switches; despite the fact that it is a time-consuming, inefficient, and dangerous operation, many large domestic railways still use this method to remove ice from infrastructures. Another method is to use contact wire thermal running. If ice thickness reaches the warning level, the control center initiates de-icing operations by allowing electric current to flow through the overhead contact wire. Also, preliminarily operating a heating system in the running rail and guiding rail based on weather projections is a generic technique for anti-icing on railway infrastructures, but it increases the power costs and lowers the lifespan of the concrete running rail resulting in higher maintenance expenses, so a reliable standard for the operation time of the electric pre-heating system is needed. It is also possible to use anti-icing chemicals to lower the freezing point of water and thus prevent icing. However, the environmental pollution caused by chemical scattering is a concern (Er and Çakir 2018; Kim et al. 2014; Zhou et al. 2022). For switches, some railways use gas-fed heaters that run alongside the rails to keep them warm. Manual lighting and constant observation are required for these heaters. Water heating, and geothermal heating are also used in smaller rail facilities (Szychta et al. 2012). Moreover, some heating technologies were developed to stop the growth in CO2 emissions. These systems utilize geothermal energy, so use less electricity and user costs are reduced as a result (Doll et al. 2014).
Ice mitigation strategies can work efficiently when ice accumulation is detected precisely. For this purpose, ice detection systems are required to be used before the mitigation phase. In railway industries, some works have been done to monitor the infrastructure situation. In a study using the Internet of Things (IoT), a high-resolution monitoring of weather impact on infrastructure was proposed. Mitigation actions can be targeted particularly to susceptible infrastructure due to the fact that weather impacts can be forecasted with a great precision (Chapman and Bell 2018). The Tampere University of Technology has also created a monitoring system that uses analog semiconductor-type temperature sensors, a heave sensor, and dielectric-type moisture sensors to measure the frost depth and frost heave of railway track structures in Finland. They use this device to determine the frost penetration depth, seasonal frost heave, and spring thaw period. The monitoring's ultimate goal is to enable field modeling of frost heave based on material parameters measured in the lab and under field conditions (Pylkkänen et al. 2012). Also, some sensors have been introduced which can monitor switches during ice and low-temperature seasons (Eologix 2019).
In the railroad industry, the term "rolling stock" refers to anything on rail wheels, including locomotives, freight cars, flat cars, and other vehicles that use steel wheels on railroad tracks (EPA 2021). Rolling stocks are railroad capital assets that must be properly maintained. According to their power traction, locomotives can cost between $500,000 to $2 million (Josef 2022). Furthermore, freight cars cost $100,000 to $150,000 depending on their type and design (Blaze 2019). The average annual maintenance costs amount to 3.3% of the vehicle purchase cost (Raczyński 2018). Ice and snow accumulation affects normal operation of rolling stock. It can also affect working reliability of the key components of bogies, passenger comfort, operational quality and the stability of system operation and lead to serious accidents (Gao et al. 2020; Liu et al. 2020). Ice accumulation, particularly in high-speed rail, can increase operational costs due to an increased axle load, intensified vibration, failed braking processes, or a degraded dynamic performance (Gao et al. 2020). Cold temperatures, according to Kostianaia et al. (2021), cause changes in the mechanical characteristics of wheel bandage material as well as embrittlement of the material due to a lack of flexibility. The most important effects of ice and snow on rolling stock are mentioned in Table 3.
Xie and Gao (2017) used a discrete phase model (DPM) to study the flow field that carried snow particles in a high-speed train bogie area. They monitored the movement of snow particles and showed that the air flow in regions with cavities will rise and affect the wheels, electromotors, and other parts of the bogie area. Also, the snow particles follow the air's path line. These snow particles become trapped and consolidated in the bogie area. Ice accumulation also poses a hazard to pneumatic, magnetic, and disk braking systems, and can result in lower brake capacity and a fail of the braking process, resulting in longer breaking distances. To address these issues, train lengths or speeds should be decreased, affecting service capacity and quality. Also, ice accumulation on the suspension system might stiffen its components and make it difficult to be flexible enough. In this situation wheel and rail friction can be reduced, resulting in increased wear and bandage issues (Gao et al. 2020; Kostianaia et al. 2021; Seglins 2018; Tahvili 2016). As a concern on the train body, ice accumulation might cause issues with opening and closing doors (NetworkRail 2022). In some special condition, due to the falling of snow or ice accumulation on the bottom surface of vehicles, the ballast flying phenomenon can also happen and damage the train body (Michelberger et al. 2017).
In 2020, Liu et al. (2020) constructed a computational fluid dynamics-based model of the bogie region to evaluate the mathematical model of the ice melting in an experimental and numerical examination on a real high-speed train unit. The airflow in the baffle-enclosed area was computed using a numerical simulation, and the effects of interactions between air and the ice body on heat transfer and phase change were anticipated. In addition, this work describes a research approach for simulating gravity shedding in complicated models (Liu et al. 2020). In another study on high-speed trains, snow accumulation on bogies is studied. The influence of appropriate anti-snow flow control techniques for guiding the underbody airflow during motion and the accumulation of snow in the bogies' installation zone is discussed (Gao et al. 2020).
By studying bogie suspension elements, researchers showed that the damping and stiffness properties of these suspensions are greatly affected by ice and extreme low-temperature conditions. This may impact the vehicle's dynamic performance and the vehicle's operational safety is seriously in danger (Luo et al. 2020).
3.1 Ice and snow mitigation methods for rolling stocks
According to the classification of ice mitigation methods mentioned in the infrastructure section, these categories are also applicable for rolling stocks ice mitigation systems as well. Table 4 highlights these methods.
Regarding the application in the real world, there are some actions required to mitigate the accumulation of ice and snow under the rolling stocks. The first step is to optimize the bogie structure, which is applicable for newly designed products, then to reduce snow accumulation on the subgrade, and melting snow and ice accumulation in the cavity. But these methods have been discovered to be ineffective options for long-distance HSRs in snowy and cold climates (Gao et al. 2020). Nowadays, the following four methods are commonly used to de-icing the train bogies.
(1)
Mechanical de-icing: this involves removing ice manually.
(2)
Hot-water melting: this method involves using hot water; snow and ice on the bogies are melted automatically, in some cases by adding propylene-glycol to the water; the bogie surface can be protected against ice formation for 24 h (Michelberger and Haas 2015).
(3)
Ethylene glycol melting: ethylene glycol is implemented in order to improve the effectiveness of the snow removal operation.
(4)
Hot air melting under the train: heated air is released to heat snow and ice on the bogie surface. Hot-air melting is the most common method in real applications, and it can be divided into convection melting which is mostly used for thin ice bodies, and gravity shedding melting for thick ice bodies (Liu et al. 2020).
The feasibility, application, and meaningfulness of an intelligent monitoring system for identifying critical ice buildup on train bodies to avoid ballast fly introduced by ice fall was investigated in the EISMON project. This project brought together a number of universities and organizations and showed that “the detection of ice on railway vehicles and the development of an intelligent monitoring seem to be possible with existing technologies, but a proof of concept in terms of field tests is necessary”. The primary concept behind this suggestion for an intelligent wayside monitoring system is the combination of different information. The central assessment unit receives data from trains, weather, infrastructure, and other measurement systems, and an ice detection measurement system predicts the risk of icing (Michelberger et al. 2017).
In all industries, tangible expenses are simple to understand and evaluate. Similarly, when the word costs is discussed in the railway industry, the emphasis is focused on the infrastructure and rolling stocks. However, both the operating expenses and the benefits are significant. For instance, the annual cost of main-line delays compared to the annual cost of track and equipment losses caused by mechanical main-line derailments looks important. The average overall train delay cost in the United States is estimated to be around $213 per train hour (Schlake et al. 2011). Researchers presented a value of reduced transportation time variability associated to freight trains of around €4 per delay-tonne (Krüger and Vierth 2015). Also, the cost of an hourly loading delay is over $523 per train-hour, while railway operations and their capacity to sustain service are affected by winter situations (Lovett et al. 2015; Seglins 2018). Studies present that most operation issues due to ice and snow are more delay and reduced punctuality, accidents and lower capacity (due to a decrease in the train length and speed) (Økland and Olsson 2021; Tahvili 2016; Wang et al. 2021; Zakeri and Olsson 2018) (Figs. 1, 2).
4.1 Causes and effects of ice and snow
Besides low temperature and high humidity which are detrimental to railway punctuality, a study on hourly accumulated ice and snow shows that a snow/ice precipitation of 46% increases the transition intensity from non-delayed to delayed states in their model (Wang et al. 2021). In Økland and Olsson (2021), the authors introduced the following reasons responsible for delays in Norwegian railway: low temperatures and snowfall, shortened train lengths, and an increase in the amount of rail services. Passenger loading and unloading processes, processing inbound trains, building outbound trains; inspecting inbound and outbound trains, switching out and repairing defective cars and locomotives and consequently the stopping times and delays will be longer due to ice accumulation on steps, couplers, the train body and the bogies (Seglins 2018).
Since there is a strong correlation between delay hours and reduced seat capacity in passenger trains, ice and snow can also affect the capacity of trains. Furthermore, the impact of snow and ice on railway damages are higher than those of rain and wind (Zakeri and Olsson 2018). In the winter months another significant challenge for railway authorities is maintaining railway platforms safety against ice and snow. Otherwise, any accidents due to slippery surfaces at these places might be catastrophic (Omer et al. 2013). Railroad accidents are more prevalent in the winter than in other months and most of these accidents occur due to snow and ice conditions. Ice and snow play a significant role in producing a range of initial and secondary repercussions in different accidents, such as derailments and collisions, switch blockage, track breakage and other property damage. So, the buildup of snow and ice is the second-most frequently reported cause of accidents/incidents (Kostianaia et al. 2021; Rossetti 2003). Moreover, snow and ice conditions are the top-third cause of more than half of all derailments and they are also among the top weather-related causes of collisions (Rossetti 2007). Researchers used Pearson correlation and multiple regression approaches to investigate the relation between passenger train punctuality and weather conditions in a line in Norway. They demonstrated that by managing winter phenomena, the probability of having trains arrive on time can be increased. Although low temperature and deep snow are associated with punctuality problems in their case, snow depth has the strongest relation with delays. Low temperature is a greater challenge for urban commuter trains than snow, whereas snow depth is a greater challenge for long-distance passenger trains (Zakeri and Olsson 2018).
4.2 Ice and snow mitigation methods for railway operation
In addition to anti-icing and de-icing of infrastructure and rolling stock, special ice mitigation in operation might relate to clearing stairs and platforms. Physical efforts to clear snow or ice, such as plowing, sweeping, blowing, and so on, are suitable in this case. Platforms are also required to be de-iced. DLA (Direct Liquid Application) is an anti-icing technique in which the de-icer is administered in a liquid state. Chemicals which are often used for railway platforms include sodium chloride, sodium formate, potassium formate, urea, potassium acetate, calcium chloride, and sodium acetate (Omer et al. 2013). | ||||
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] | null | [] | null | With billions at stake, greater NY must now make a decision: will we lock in outdated service paradigms, or will we build the 21st-c. rail network the region needs? | en | https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/6172f286c4e030728d09f143/a643aa12-98e2-4680-a9d2-d25975375c0a/favicon.ico | Effective Transit Alliance New York | https://www.etany.org/modernizing-new-york-commuter-rail | The frequency, capacity, and versatility provided by commuter rail modernization would benefit everyone, including riders and transit agencies.
Higher all-day frequency, better urban service, and through-running would benefit many groups of riders. The present system, focused as it is on peak commuters from the suburbs to Manhattan, leaves the needs of all other groups unmet. Moreover, as we explain below, even peak suburban commuters who work in Manhattan and have little need to travel cross-regionally would benefit from modernization, piggybacking on what would be a much more frequent and reliable system. Much of this has been studied before in past reports, but nothing has been implemented yet, unfortunately. [40,41]
Existing suburban commute trips
While much of the benefit of higher frequency and through-running would accrue to people whose trips commuter rail does not currently serve well, existing riders would greatly benefit too. Some of the medium-cost, high-impact infrastructure investments outlined in Section 3B—electrification and high platforms—would lead to large increases in speed, and even benefit passengers on already electrified lines because of the improvements in reliability.
The biggest improvement is higher frequency outside rush hour, which today is treated as an afterthought. The 9-to-5 commute is no longer as predominant as in the past. Tech, law, finance, and academic workers all tend to both start and end work later than the 9-to-5 tradition. Corporate jobs have somewhat irregular hours: when a project is near a deadline, workers are expected to stay in the office for as long as necessary, whereas they can often leave for home well before the afternoon rush hour at lighter times. If usable train service home is not there at 9 pm, or at 3 pm, many workers will either drive to their job or live elsewhere.
Indeed, in both Nassau and Suffolk Counties, 32% of all workers leave home for work at 8:30 am or later, too late to get to a Manhattan job by 9, but less than 19% of transit commuters do so. This is not an inherent artifact of mass transit commutes but a result of today’s narrowly conceived commuter rail service. Within New York City, where transit runs much more frequently off-peak, 38% of all workers leave home at 8:30 am or later, as do 37% of those commuting by transit. [42]
Short-run fixes should start by simplifying complex service patterns whereunder many trains currently make a few suburban stops and then run nonstop to Manhattan. While the resulting schedule would have express trains, they would make more stops, for example all stopping at express stations like Hicksville, Jamaica, and Stamford. This change would not compromise speed: the current schedules are so fragile that, to keep the trains on time, the LIRR and Metro-North add a large contingency factor, or pad, to the technical minimum run time, reaching about 30% on the LIRR Main Line and New Haven Line. [43] While most lines in the region are not this extreme, these complex intermeshed service patterns cause delays that add time and inconvenience to trips.
Instead, trains running simplified schedules with more stops would be able to run nearly as fast as the minimum technically feasible trip time between each station, avoiding any slowdowns. Swiss railroads have been able to reduce this pad factor to as low as 7%. [44] This does add up; trip times can, counterintuitively, improve if express trains make standard stopping patterns, similar to the express trains on the subway, rather than having once-a-day nonstop trains from as far as Ronkonkoma to Manhattan. Simple service patterns would provide significant relief to Long Island, allowing all trains from each branch to run either to Grand Central Madison or Penn Station with very frequent timed connections at Jamaica and Woodside.
A final short-term fix is to integrate bus and rail schedules, so that buses can feed the trains better, with timed connections. In New Jersey, it is common for suburban commuters to ride a bus all the way into Manhattan, even if it runs parallel to a faster rail line. For example, the 113 bus runs parallel to the Raritan Valley Line and parts of the Northeast Corridor Line, serving all the communities at a substantially lower speed than the train. Elizabeth is 32 minutes from Penn Station by train yet is 47 minutes from the Port Authority Bus Terminal by bus. Buses duplicating trains to Manhattan should be redeployed to feed train stations instead.
Longer term, further construction could ameliorate the compromised post-East Side Access (ESA) service on the LIRR. Since ESA’s opening, some trains on each branch go to Grand Central and others to Penn Station, both at reduced frequency from before. Moreover, before ESA, Jamaica had timed transfers between Manhattan- and Brooklyn-bound trains, but current service mostly eliminated those, and almost all trains running through Jamaica go to Manhattan.
In the medium run, as we explain in Section 3B, the region should build a transfer station at Sunnyside Yard, which we call Queens Junction, to enable cross-platform transfers between all Grand Central- and Penn Station-bound LIRR and Metro-North trains including those on the Port Washington Branch. The transfer can even be configured to allow for easy wrong-direction transfers for so-called diagonal trips, between Long Island or Queens and Connecticut or the Bronx.
Urban trips
Commuter rail can be used not just for suburban trips but also trips entirely within New York City (and, with the extensive construction we outline in Section 6, Hudson County). Today, premium fares and poor service discourage almost anyone besides a reduced number of suburbanites from riding, literally passing by huge potential pools of travelers. The volume of Manhattan-bound commuters in Queens dwarfs that of commuters on Long Island: 384,000 vs. 191,000. Similarly, the volume of Manhattan-bound commuters in the Bronx is 225,000, whereas in all east-of-Hudson Metro-North counties combined the volume is 149,000. [45]
Bronx and Queens residents have some of the longest commute times in the United States. [46] Moreover, these long commutes skew working-class, breaking the usual American pattern of suburban supercommuters having above-average incomes. [47] Today, those in-city commuters use the subway, which travels at an average speed of 18.3 mph [48], too slow for neighborhoods at the city’s edges. Worse, the express buses serving these areas average only 16 mph. [49] They also have high operating cost per rider, which the premium fares do not come close to covering, and carry few passengers in total. [50]
Useful urban commuter rail would shorten those commutes considerably. Access from Co-op City to the rest of New York City is set to improve greatly when Penn Station Access opens later this decade. To deliver the most benefits, trains must run frequently all day and charge the same fares as the subway, with free transfers, since Co-op City residents would still need to take a bus to the train station. Likewise, those operating improvements would benefit other outer neighborhoods like Bayside, Wakefield, Queens Village, Marble Hill, and Rosedale.
These could also be paired with bus redesigns feeding not just the subway but also the commuter rail. The example we give above of NJT bus route 113, under existing suburban commute trips, has many analogs in New York such as duplicative buses on Long Island and within the urban core such as Newark, and Eastern Queens. [51] All the saved time would be plugged into higher bus frequency, creating an integrated show-up-and-go system with high reliability and, thanks to the connections to fast commuter trains, high average speed.
Non-commute trips
Most trips that people take are not for the purpose of work. The U.S. Census, which only asks about work trips, does not capture this travel, but other travel studies do. [52,53] American public transit is generally weak at serving such trips. In Metro New York, on the eve of the pandemic, 31.6% of commutes were by public transit, nearly all on a train rather than a bus, and residents took about 90 annual rail trips per capita. By contrast, residents of European metropolitan areas with similar commute modal splits, like the Berlin area, take considerably more rail trips because frequent, integrated service encourages non-work trips all day. For example, the combined metro region of Berlin and Brandenburg has a work trip modal split of 31% [54], yet its populace takes 200 yearly rail trips/capita. [55,56]
In contrast, the paradigm of New York-area commuter rail from the 1950s and 1960s discourages such trips. The current fare structure, dating to 1964, was implemented with the express purpose of discouraging such trips, called short trips (that is, trips short of Manhattan), in order to focus on the core market of commutes to Manhattan. [57,58] In that era, railroads were retrenching and rationalizing operations in order to reduce operating costs and stay profitable despite competition with the car, and the planners treated short trips as a distraction from the core market. This paradigm must be reversed in order to fit commuter rail service to the 21st-century reality of how people travel. New Yorkers could take many types of non-work trips on the train, some short, some longer, if the off-peak frequency were more accommodating:
Trips to specialized neighborhood centers, often for ethnic amenities, like the Apollo Theater in Harlem, the Chinese supermarkets of Flushing, and the Indian supermarkets of Woodbridge and Edison. Commute data does not pick up these trips. However, other data does, where it exists. The Washington Metro publishes origin-destination data, which reveals special ties between Black communities in Anacostia and Columbia Heights. [59] New York has no such data, but the song “Take The A Train” is part of New York City culture.
Leisure trips to amenities that are not available on every side of New York City. For example, since there are beaches on Long Island and along the Jersey Shore, but none in Metro-North territory, riders from Metro-North territory would benefit from direct trains to the Jersey Shore. Conversely, New Jersey, New York City, and Long Island have several large sports stadiums, while Connecticut has almost none. For that reason, between 2009 and 2016, Metro-North and NJT collaborated on a through-train from the New Haven Line to Secaucus with connections to the Meadowlands, called the Train to the Game, which was intended to show that through-running was possible [60,61] and demonstrate the trip possibilities that a truly regional rail network would offer. [62,63,64,65] This service could be restored and expanded: with future through-running, passengers from New Jersey could also get direct trains to Citi Field and Yankee Stadium.
Trips between different university campuses, for social or academic reasons. Currently, academics at campuses like Princeton, Yale, Stony Brook, Rutgers, Hofstra, and Adelphi have access to the universities of New York, but not so much to one another. New York’s internal connections on the subway have elevated its research profile. [66,67] Paris’s through-running commuter rail has facilitated extensive ties across the entire region’s universities and research institutes; this has enabled it to become the world’s primary research center for mathematics.
Social trips, such as meeting friends who live in a different part of the region. Within the city, users of dating apps sometimes specify what subway line they live on, just because transfers between different lines are onerous; at regional scale, a distance of 20 miles on the current commuter rail network might as well be long-distance.
Trips to and from airports, between New Jersey and JFK or between east-of-Hudson suburbs and Newark.
Hospital trips, by patients reaching appointments or staff traveling to conferences and seminars. Many commuter rail stations lie near medical campuses such as Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital in New Brunswick, NYU Langone Hospital in Mineola, Monmouth Medical Center in Long Branch, and Yale New Haven Hospital in New Haven. Lake Success’s office and medical complex could also be accessed with better bus-LIRR connections.
Trips to shopping centers in places such as Bridgewater, Stamford, Port Chester, White Plains, Hicksville, and Valley Stream.
[1] Yonah Freemark, “For rail services, downtown sometimes isn’t the right place for a terminus,” The Transport Politic, accessed October 24, 2023, https://www.thetransportpolitic.com/2015/07/06/for-rail-services-downtown-often-isnt-the-right-place-for-a-terminus.
[2] Ian Mansfield, “Elizabeth line passenger numbers beating forecasts,” Ian Visits, accessed October 24, 2023, https://www.ianvisits.co.uk/articles/elizabeth-line-passenger-numbers-beating-forecasts-2-64311/.
[3] Transport for London, Elizabeth Line Committee Meeting, May 18, 2023: https://board.tfl.gov.uk/documents/g743/Public%20reports%20pack%20Thursday%2018-May-2023%2014.30%20Elizabeth%20Line%20Committee.pdf?T=10, p. 19.
[4] Guy Taylor, “Elizabeth line sees hybrid workers flock back to the office,” City A.M., May 11, 2023. https://www.cityam.com/elizabeth-line-sees-hybrid-workers-flock-back-to-the-office/ (accessed October 24, 2023).
[5] Amtrak, New Jersey Transit, and MTA, Penn Station Master Plan, MTA Board Briefing. April 21, 2021: https://new.mta.info/document/37416.
[6] For a compendium of references, see “The Dual Contracts,” NYCSubway.org, 2012, accessed October 24, 2023: https://www.nycsubway.org/wiki/The_Dual_Contracts.
[7] “Train Daddy speaks: Andy Byford explains why Penn Station needs through-running out the other side instead of a dead-end new terminal,” New York Daily News, July 28, 2023, https://www.nydailynews.com/2023/07/28/train-daddy-speaks-andy-byford-explains-why-penn-station-needs-through-running-out-the-other-side-instead-of-a-dead-end-new-terminal/.
[8] Jim O’Grady, “NY MTA Chief Says Railroads Need To Work Together To Overcome Maxed-Out Hudson River Crossings,” WNYC, June 14, 2012, https://www.wnyc.org/story/284308-ny-mta-chief-says-railroads-need-to-work-together-to-overcome-maxed-out-hudson-river-crossings/.
[9] Guest column, “Meadowlands trains-to-game show potential of regional rail,” New Jersey Star Ledger, September 13, 2009, https://www.nj.com/njv_guest_blog/2009/09/meadowlands_trainstogame_show.html.
[10] ReThinkNYC, Home Page, accessed October 25, 2023, https://www.rethinknyc.org/.
[11] Liam Blank, “From Here to There: Regional Rail for Metro New York.” Tri-State Transportation Campaign, New York: 2022. https://tstc.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/06/Regional-Rail-for-Metro-New-York.pdf.
[12] Regional Plan Association, “Combine three commuter rail systems into one network,” Fourth Regional Plan, accessed October 25, 2023, http://fourthplan.org/action/combined-commuter-network.
[13] Steven Higashide, Kapish Singla, Anson Stewart, and Matthew Wigginton Bhagat-Conway, “Renewing the New York Railroads: How Affordable, Frequent Metro-North and LIRR Service Can Grow Ridership and Expand Opportunity.” TransitCenter, New York: 2022. https://transitcenter.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/12/Renewing-the-Railroads_RGB_Online-1.pdf.
[14] Permanent Citizens Advisory Committee to the MTA, “Integrate, Simplify, and OMNYvate: On Track for Better MTA Fare Payment,” by Ryan Leighton and Kara Gurl. New York: 2022, https://pcac.org/app/uploads/2023/10/Integrate-Simplify-and-OMNYvate-Full-Report.pdf.
[15] Donald Eisele. Application of Zone Theory to a Suburban Rail Transit Network. Traffic Quarterly vol. 22 (1), pp. 49–67 (January, 1968). https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=pst.000060089311&seq=77.
[16] Donald Eisele. Zone Theory of Suburban Rail Transit Operations: Revisited. Traffic Quarterly vol. 32 (1), pp. 5–22 (January, 1978). https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=mdp.39015021808756&seq=15.
[17] Regional Plan Association, Hub Bound Travel. December 1961: https://s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com/rpa-org/pdfs/1961_RPABulletin99.pdf, p. 6.
[18] New York Metropolitan Transportation Council, Hub Bound Travel Data. January 2021: https://www.nymtc.org/Portals/0/Pdf/Hub%20Bound/2019%20Hub%20Bound/DM_TDS_Hub_Bound_Travel_2019.pdf, pp. 14 and I-4.
[19] Armando Lago, Patrick Mayworm, and Matthew McEnroe, “Ridership Response to Changes in Transit Services,” Transportation Research Board, 818 (1981), pp. 13–19, https://onlinepubs.trb.org/Onlinepubs/trr/1981/818/818-003.pdf.
[20] Todd Litman, “Transit Price Elasticities and Cross-Elasticities,” Journal of Public Transportation, 7 (2) (April 2004), pp. 37–58, https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1077291X22003861
[21] Joe Totten and David Levinson, “Cross-Elasticities in Frequencies and Ridership for Urban Local Routes,” Journal of Public Transportation, 19 (3) (July 2016), pp. 117–125, https://digitalcommons.usf.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?referer=&httpsredir=1&article=1487&context=jpt.
[22] Vukan R. Vuchic, Urban transit: operations, planning and economics (New York: Wiley, 2005).
[23] “#6MinuteService Campaign,” Riders Alliance, accessed October 24, 2023, https://www.ridersalliance.org/six-minute-service.
[24] ETA, “A Step in the Right Direction: The Keys to a Six Minute Service Paradigm,” Effective Transit Alliance New York, June 1, 2023, https://www.etany.org/statements/keys-to-a-six-minute-service-paradigm.
[25] This trip time includes about six minutes just spent in the last mile into Grand Central.
[26] There are three trains per hour but they arrive unevenly, the longest gap standing at 30 minutes.
[27] Both the trip time and headway are imputed from Penn Station Access plans.
[28] There are three trains per hour but they arrive unevenly, as at Fordham.
[29] There are two off-peak trains an hour, but they arrive unevenly, with the wider gap standing at 38 minutes.
[30] There has been some progress with CityTicket, discounting commuter rail tickets within the city to $7 peak, $5 off-peak. However, CityTicket is not at all planned based on principles of fare integration. There are no free transfers to the subway, and the fare is still twice the typical per-ride subway fare with a monthly ticket.
[31] This excludes some trail stops on Metro-North, and some stops on branch lines in Connecticut, where work is already planned to raise them.
[32] TransitMatters, “Regional Rail Electrification: Costs, Challenges, Benefits,” fall 2021, accessed October 24, 2023, http://transitmatters.org/s/Regional-Rail-Electrification-Final.pdf.
[33] Makoto Ito, “Through Service between Railway Operators in Greater Tokyo,” JRTR, 63 (2014), pp. 14–21, https://www.ejrcf.or.jp/jrtr/jrtr63/pdf/14-21_web.pdf.
[34] Louis Sato and Phillippe Essig, “How Tokyo’s Subways Inspired the Paris RER,” JRTR 23 (2000): 36-41, https://www.ejrcf.or.jp/jrtr/jrtr23/pdf/F36_Sato.pdf.
[35] Freemark, “For rail services, downtown sometimes isn’t the right place for a terminus.”
[36] Pedantic of Purley, “What’s it all about, Thameslink?”, London Reconnections, February 20, 2013, https://www.londonreconnections.com/2013/whats-it-all-about-thameslink/.
[37] Roger Rudick, “Will Philadelphia Ever Get its S-Bahn?” Streetsblog USA, February 25, 2021, https://usa.streetsblog.org/2021/02/25/will-philadelphia-ever-get-its-s-bahn/.
[38] Joe Linton, “Metro to Approve Early Phase of Union Station Run-Through Tracks Construction,” Streetsblog Los Angeles, May 24, 2022, https://la.streetsblog.org/2022/05/24/metro-to-approve-early-phase-of-union-station-run-through-tracks-construction/.
[39] “GO Expansion,” Metrolinx, accessed October 26, 2023, https://www.metrolinx.com/en/projects-and-programs/go-expansion.
[40] The Penn Station Capacity and Utilization AnalysisPhase C (1992) states that, “while the use of Penn Station as a terminal station is rational for the vast bulk of the ridership market, the lack of local through service may be inhibiting regional mobility and the increased utilization of public transportation." It continues, saying that while it is “unclear how much demand currently exists for the type of interstate travel,” “the total absence of a convenient, well promoted and reliable public transportation network linking the two may seriously inhibit the basic formation of such a market,” and that it is “not unreasonable to assume that the mere existence of such a service, coupled with an aggressive public information campaign, could very well induce at least a modest level of demand.” https://drive.google.com/file/d/1BQvb22wRSMtQEDOGYolvyR00ylEsFHc6/view?usp=sharing (pp. 68–69)
[41] MTA Twenty-Year Needs Assessment 2010-29, August 2009. http://web.mta.info/mta/pdf/CP/NeedsAssessment.pdf, p. 88.
[42] All data in this paragraph comes from the Means of Transportation to Work by Selected Characteristics data tables in the American Community Survey, as of 2019.
[43] See LIRR calculations in Alon Levy, “LIRR Scheduling,” Pedestrian Observations, September 30, 2015, accessed October 24, 2023, https://pedestrianobservations.com/2015/09/30/lirr-scheduling/.
[44] George Raymond, “Developing the schedule,” Railweb.ch, 2001, accessed October 24, 2023, https://www.railweb.ch/funnel/sched/develop.htm.
[45] All commute volumes come from LEHD data and are as of 2019: https://onthemap.ces.census.gov/.
[46] Per the 2011-15 American Community Survey, Queens averaged 42.6 minutes one-way and the Bronx 43 minutes; the worst county in the United States, Pike, Pennsylvania, was 44. See Overflow Data, “What is the average commute time in each U.S. county?”, Tableau Public, accessed October 24, 2023, https://public.tableau.com/app/profile/overflowds/viz/WhatistheaveragecommutetimeineachU_S_county/WhatistheaveragecommutetimeineachU_S_county.
[47] Transit commuters in Nassau and Suffolk Counties outearn solo drivers by 50%, and in Westchester they do by 25%. In contrast, within the Bronx and Queens, transit commuters are poorer than solo drivers by 35% and 18% respectively. See Census Bureau, “Means of Transportation to Work by Selected Characteristics,” ACS 2019 one-year estimates.
[48] Federal Transit Administration, National Transit Database: Top 50 Profiles Report, https://www.transit.dot.gov/sites/fta.dot.gov/files/2020-11/2019%20Top%2050%20Profiles%20Report.pdf
[49] Ibid.
[50] Ibid.; see analysis in Alon Levy, https://mastodon.social/deck/@Alon/110864887479884652.
[51] See map by Christof Spieler: https://twitter.com/christofspieler/status/1026118951762382850.
[52] For example, in Germany, this is the Mobilität in Deutschland framework. The 2017 short report is available in English at BMVI, Mobility in Germany: Short Report, September 2019, https://www.mobilitaet-in-deutschland.de/archive/pdf/MiD2017_ShortReport.pdf, p. 19.
[53] In New York, only 20% of trips are for work or work-related purposes. See RSG, 2019 Citywide Mobility Survey Results, https://www.nyc.gov/html/dot/downloads/pdf/nycdot-citywide-mobility-survey-report-2019.pdf, p. 30.
[54] BMVI, Mobilität in Deutschland: Regionalbericht, Hauptstadtregion Berlin-Brandenburg , June 2020, https://mil.brandenburg.de/sixcms/media.php/9/20200703_MiD2017_infas_BerlinBrandenburg_Regionalbericht_MiD5431_20200629_final.pdf, p. 76. The 31% modal split is imputed from Berlin having about 60% of the combined total of both states; numbers are as of 2017.
[55] Marienfelde, “BVG-Zahlenspiegel 2019,” BahnInfo-Forum, accessed October 24, 2023,
https://www.bahninfo-forum.de/read.php?9,629337 gives 583 million subway and 204 million tram trips.
[56] Center Nahverkehr Berlin, Zahlen und Fakten zum ÖPNV, accessed October 24, 2023, https://www.cnb-online.de/hintergruende/zahlen-und-fakten-zum-oepnv/ gives 485 million commuter rail trips in 2019.
[57] Shaul Picker, https://twitter.com/Union_Tpke/status/1412199485762150400.
[58] Uday Schultz, https://twitter.com/A320Lga/status/1412273380066312199.
[59] The data can be downloaded from “Metrorail Ridership Data Download, October 2015,” Plan It Metro, accessed October 24, 2023, https://planitmetro.com/2016/03/14/metrorail-ridership-data-download-october-2015/.
[60] Federal Transit Administration and New Jersey Transit, Access to the Region's Core in Hudson County, New Jersey and New York County, New York: Environmental Impact Statement. New York: 2008, https://books.google.com/books?id=bEM3AQAAMAAJ&pg=RA11-SA18-PA33&dq=of+operating+through+-+MNR+trains&hl=en&newbks=1&newbks_redir=0&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwiswI2pyMb5AhVtGVkFHXkyCKkQ6AF6BAgHEAI#v=onepage&q&f=false, p. 18-33.
[61] Ken Valenti, "Train to the game: Metro-North draws Giants, Jets fans,” The Journal News, September 10, 2014, https://www.lohud.com/story/news/transit/2014/09/10/metro-north-service-reaches-meadowlands-games-rye-larchmont/15412379/.
[62] Judy Rife, “The draw of Secaucus: The junction is more than a hub for commuters, officials remind,” Times Herald-Record, October 21, 2007, https://www.recordonline.com/story/business/2007/10/22/the-draw-secaucus-junction-is/52418827007/.
[63] Judy Rife, “Metro-North Orange County trains don't match up well with Giants games,” Times Herald-Record, August 7, 2009, https://www.recordonline.com/story/business/2009/08/07/metro-north-orange-county-trains/51906235007/.
[64] Andrew Grossman, “Rough Ride: Unsnarling the Penn Choke Point,” Wall Street Journal, January 4, 2011, https://www.wsj.com/articles/SB10001424052748704278404576037631824416772#U401697556436zK.
[65] Shaul Picker, https://twitter.com/Union_Tpke/status/1558861653462159361.
[66] National Science Foundation, “NSF Award: Joint Columbia-CUNY-NYU Research Training Group in Number Theory,” 2008, https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=0739380.
[67] The Renaissance, Columbia-NYU university seminar, accessed October 24, 2023, https://universityseminars.columbia.edu/seminars/the-renaissance/.
[68] All numbers come from LEHD data and represent daily commutes as of 2019. New Jersey and Connecticut comprise the entire respective states, including trace numbers of commutes to areas beyond the metropolitan area; Long Island comprises Nassau and Suffolk Counties.
[69] Ito, “Through Service between Railway Operators in Greater Tokyo.”
[70] MTA, MTA Transportation Reinvention Commission: Report. New York: 2014. http://web.mta.info/mta/news/hearings/pdf/MTA_Reinvention_Report_141125.pdf.
[71] MTA Capital Construction, MTA Twenty-Year Capital Needs Assessment 2015-2034. October 2013. https://new.mta.info/document/11976, p. 131.
[72] The CityTicket program offers $5 off-peak and $7 peak in-city commuter rail fares, compared to $2.90 for the subway and buses.
[73] London Underground rolling stock lasts as long as that of New York City Transit even though it is driven 87,500 miles/year per TfL, “Tube trivia and facts,” Made by TfL Blog, accessed October 24, 2023, https://madeby.tfl.gov.uk/2019/07/29/tube-trivia-and-facts/ where NYCT stock averages 55,000, both having 40-year service life in theory but frequently keeping trainsets for 50 years or even a little more.
[74] The Paris Métro has the same service life as London and New York with 43,500 miles/trainset, imputed from 727 sets and train-kilometer figures from Comité d’évaluation de l’amélioration de l’offre de transport en Île-de-France, 2016, accessed October 24, 2023, https://www.iledefrance-mobilites.fr/medias/portail-idfm/a84b2f7d-1ade-49f5-950b-74849f417ebf_Rapport_Comite_Bailly_BAT.pdf, p. 10.
[75] Law Office of Kristine A Sova, “New York’s ‘Extra Pay’ Requirements for Non-Exempt Employees,” Lexology, accessed October 24, 2023,
https://www.lexology.com/library/detail.aspx?g=352358fe-be6a-4dfe-801a-f41de1cb9590.
[76] The LIRR has no split shifts, but gets only 450 annual service-hours out of every train operator; Metro-North gets 600, but has to pay extra for split shifts. Both figures are imputed from numbers of employees on the Empire Center, See Through NY, https://www.seethroughny.net/payrolls and some revenue-hour figures from FTA, Top 50 Profiles Report.
[77] The almost peak-free Berlin S-Bahn gets 673 annual per driver. See S-Bahn Berlin, “Auf einen Blick - Zahlen und Fakten,” accessed October 24, 2023, https://sbahn.berlin/das-unternehmen/unternehmensprofil/auf-einen-blick-zahlen-und-fakten/.
[78] FTA, Top 50 Profiles Report; train-miles are imputed from typical train lengths.
[79] Litman, “Transit Price Elasticities and Cross-Elasticities.”
[80] ETA, “A Step in the Right Direction.”
[81] STV Group, “Penn Station Utilization and Capacity Analysis,” by Christopher Kaiser. New York: 1995. https://archive.org/details/penn-station-utilization-and-capacity-analysis.
[82] Amtrak, “Analyzing the Potential for Commuter Train Run-Through Service at New York Penn Station.” 2014, http://irum.org/20140807_Amtrak_NYP_Thru_Running_Assessment.pdf, p. 3.
[83] New Jersey Transit, 2022 Capital Plan Appendix B: Project Sheets, https://content.njtransit.com/sites/default/files/njtplans/NJ%20TRANSIT%20Capital%20Plan%202022%20Update_Appendix%20B%20Project%20Sheets_7-24-23.pdf, pp. 201–202.
[84] Port Authority of NY and NJ, MTA, and New Jersey Transit, “Access to the Region’s Core Major Investment Study: Summary Report 2003.” https://www.irum.org/20031125_ARC_MIS_Summary_Report.pdf, p. 15.
[85] Sato and Essig, “How Tokyo’s Subways Inspired the Paris RER.”
[86] Ito, “Through Service between Railway Operators in Greater Tokyo.”
[87] Mitsuo Shinbo, “High-Density Transport Systems Supporting Giant Metropolis of Tokyo” JRTR 64 (2014): 84–95. https://www.ejrcf.or.jp/jrtr/jrtr64/pdf/84-95_web.pdf.
[88] Makoto Aoki, “Railway Operators in Japan 4: Central Tokyo” JRTR 30 (2002): 42–53. https://www.ejrcf.or.jp/jrtr/jrtr30/pdf/s42_aok.pdf.
[89] William Robbins, “Few Use Philadelphia Tunnel on 1st Day.” New York Times. September 5, 1984. https://www.nytimes.com/1984/09/05/us/few-use-philadelphia-tunnel-on-1st-day.html.
[90] RATP Group, “Pourquoi dit-on que la ligne du RER A est la plus fréquentée d’Europe?”, Askip, accessed October 25, 2023, https://askip.ratpgroup.com/question/pourquoi-dit-on-que-la-ligne-du-rer-a-est-la-plus-frequentee-deurope/.
[91] “RER B : Presque 1 million d'usagers par jour !”, Vivre Paris, May 3, 2019, https://vivreparis.fr/rer-b-presque-1-million-dusagers-par-jour/.
[92] SNCF, “Présentation du réseau Transilien,” SNCF Open Data, accessed October, 25, 2023, https://ressources.data.sncf.com/explore/dataset/presentation-reseau-transilien/table/.
[93] “Anne-Marie Idrac, Présidente-Directrice Générale de la RATP,” accessed October 25, 2023, https://docplayer.fr/46447879-Avant-propos-anne-marie-idrac-presidente-directrice-generale-de-la-ratp.html.
[94] In 1981 trains from either half of the modern RER B terminated at Gare du Nord, with a transfer between sections. 1983 was the start of through-service. The number of through-trains ramped up slowly between 1983 and 1987.
[95] “Tout sur l’alimentation en énergie électrique du RER B !”, RER B Le Blog, March 29, 2018, accessed October 25, 2023, https://www.rerb-leblog.fr/2-prises-electriques-differentes-faire-rouler-trains-rer-b/.
[96] “Mieux comprendre la gestion des circulations: Le RER A « La ligne de tous les superlatifs »”, RER A Le Blog, February 13, 2017, accessed October 25, 2023, https://rera-leblog.fr/mieux-comprendre-gestion-circulations-rer-a-ligne-de-superlatifs-1/.
[97] “Anne-Marie Idrac.”
[98] Pierre Zembri, “La difficile modernisation des transports parisiens à travers les avatars du RER (1965-1977).” 2006. https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Pierre-Zembri/publication/319669547_La_difficile_modernisation_des_transports_parisiens_a_travers_les_avatars_du_RER_1965-1977/links/5c376a6d458515a4c71b6e0e/La-difficile-modernisation-des-transports-parisiens-a-travers-les-avatars-du-RER-1965-1977.pdf.
[99] David Haydock, “Electrification completed on RER Line E extension to Nanterre,” International Railway Journal, June 28, 2023, https://www.railjournal.com/infrastructure/electrification-completed-on-rer-line-e-extension-to-nanterre/.
[100] Charles Booth, The Descriptive Map of London Poverty, 1889 remains the best visualization, but the pattern would not have been significantly different in the 1830s, 40s, and 50s, when those terminals were built. https://quod.lib.umich.edu/m/misc/2/BOOTH?bbdbid=2112927554;chaperone=S-MISC-X-2+BOOTH;lasttype=bbaglist;lastview=bbreslist;resnum=8;sort=dc_cr;start=1;subview=detail;view=bbentry;xc=1.
[101] “Public transport in Victorian London – underground,” London Transport Museum, accessed October 25, 2023,
https://www.ltmuseum.co.uk/collections/stories/transport/public-transport-victorian-london-underground.
[102] The Bakerloo line shares tracks with the Watford DC line, but the Watford DC line terminates at the north end of city center at Euston whereas the Bakerloo runs through and crosses the Thames.
[103] In fact, trains originally ran through the Snow Hill Tunnel and the City Widened Lines, producing through-running already in the 1860s and 70s. But service was awkward, and the steam trains on the line were outcompeted by the electric London Underground services starting in 1890; through-service ceased in 1916 and would only return with Thameslink.
[104] Service was later increased to 15 trains per hour to meet increased demand.
[105] Thameslink was much more popular than expected “and in the first year carried the number of passengers only predicted to be carried in the fifteenth year”. David Howarth, Capacity Achievement on Thameslink 2000. In IMechE Conference Transactions(May 1999), pp. 153–168, https://drive.google.com/file/u/2/d/1yCJ-lPbxRkd65bGan_QLJsoyT9ZHKmU9/view?usp=sharing.
[106] Work included platform extensions, major station upgrades, upgraded signaling, additional tracks to eliminate a bottleneck, a grade-separated duckunder, and new rolling stock. See Pedantic of Purley, “Making the Grade (Separation): The Bermondsey Diveunder,” London Reconnections, August 2, 2015, accessed October 25, 2023, https://www.londonreconnections.com/2015/bermondsey-diveunder/.
[107] Department for Transport, Thameslink Evaluation Programme: Baseline Report. London: 2018, https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/689701/thameslink-programme-baseline-evaluation-report.pdf.
[108] Christof Spieler, https://twitter.com/christofspieler/status/1558996150031732743.
[109] Pedantic of Purley, “Holy Grails and Thameslink Fails (Part 1): A Brief History of Thameslink,” London Reconnections, June 5, 2018, accessed October 25, 2023, https://www.londonreconnections.com/2018/holy-grails-and-thameslink-fails-a-brief-history-of-thameslink-part-1/.
[110] Ross Lydall, “Passenger numbers on Elizabeth line soar by 41 per cent in three months,” Evening Standard, March 16, 2023, https://www.standard.co.uk/news/transport/passengers-elizabeth-line-soar-41-per-cent-tfl-overcrowding-b1067730.html.
[111] Transport for London, Elizabeth Line Committee Meeting, p. 19.
[112] Taylor, “Elizabeth line sees hybrid workers flock back to the office.”
[113] Gwyn Topham, “Elizabeth line to be fully running from 21 May in ‘last milestone’ for Crossrail,” The Guardian, April 24, 2023, https://www.theguardian.com/business/2023/apr/24/elizabeth-line-to-be-fully-running-from-21-may-crossrail.
[114] More detail can be seen in Sandy Johnston, “Must (Only) the Rich Have Their Trains?”, master’s thesis (University at Albany, 2016), https://itineranturbanist.wordpress.com/masters-paper-must-only-the-rich-have-their-trains/.
[115] Jake Blumgart, “As SEPTA Looks Forward, a Few Suggestions for Improving Its Regional Rail,” NextCity, April 2, 2013, https://nextcity.org/urbanist-news/as-septa-looks-forward-a-few-suggestions-for-improving-its-regional-rail.
[116] Ronald DeGraw, “Regional Rail: The Philadelphia Story,” Transportation Research Record 1433 (1994), pp. 107–112, https://onlinepubs.trb.org/Onlinepubs/trr/1994/1433/1433-014.pdf.
[117] Pew Charitable Trusts, Philadelphia 2013: State of the City. https://web.archive.org/web/20130514094902/http://www.pewtrusts.org/uploadedFiles/wwwpewtrustsorg/Reports/Philadelphia_Research_Initiative/Philadelphia-City-Statistics.pdf, p. 43.
[118] “Public Transportation Ridership Report: Fourth Quarter, 2019,” APTA. https://www.apta.com/wp-content/uploads/2019-Q4-Ridership-APTA.pdf.
[119] See also “Regional Rail for Metropolitan Boston,” TransitMatters, Boston: 2018. https://transitmatters.org/regional-rail-report, p. 29.
[120] This point is made in Robert Lang and Jennifer LeFurgy, “Edgeless cities: Examining the Noncentered metropolis,” Housing Policy Debate 14 (3) (2003), pp. 427–460, https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/pdf/10.1080/10511482.2003.9521482. It can also be seen by directly examining LEHD data: a blob of 100 square kilometers surrounding the central business district, designed to include job centers as much as possible, has 520,000 jobs in Philadelphia, compared with 700,000 in Washington, 830,000 in Boston, and 900,000 in San Francisco and Oakland. For comparison, New York, with three times the metro population of Philadelphia, Boston, or the Bay Area, has in the same 100 square kilometer blob 3 million jobs, in the Manhattan core as well as Downtown Brooklyn, Long Island City, the biggest Uptown Manhattan job centers, and the Jersey City waterfront.
[121] Anthony Campisi, “Prominent transit planner criticizes SEPTA regional rail changes,” WHYY, June 15, 2011, https://whyy.org/articles/prominent-transit-planner-criticizes-septa-regional-rail-changes/.
[122] Blumgart, “As SEPTA Looks Forward, a Few Suggestions for Improving Its Regional Rail.”
[123] Vukan Vuchic and Shinya Kikuchi, A Plan for SEPTA's Regional Metrorail System. Philadelphia: 1993, https://repository.upenn.edu/entities/publication/d3c0343d-5c48-43d8-87b0-b91e46ff98ec.
[124] Josh Fernandez, “SEPTA takes the 'R' out of Regional Rail,” Philadelphia Inquirer, July 23, 2010, https://www.inquirer.com/philly/hp/news_update/20100723_SEPTA_takes_the__R__out_of_Regional_Rail.html.
[125] See traffic density map at Senatsverwaltung für Umwelt, Verkehr und Klimaschutz, Nahverkehrsplan Berlin 2019–2023: Anlage 2 – Rahmenbedingungen, https://www.berlin.de/sen/uvk/_assets/verkehr/verkehrsplanung/oeffentlicher-personennahverkehr/nahverkehrsplan/broschure_nvp_2019_anlage_2.pdf, p. 6.
[126] S-Bahn Berlin, “Auf einen Blick - Zahlen und Fakten.”
[127] For more information about the history of the Madrid Cercanías, see Isidro Barqueros, “La historia de Cercanías Madrid: 1975-1989: Los inicios,” Ecomovilidad.net, September 29, 2009, accessed October 25, 2023, https://ecomovilidad.net/madrid/historia-cercanias-madrid-1975-1989/.
[128] Alon Levy, Eric Goldwyn, and Elif Ensari, Transit Costs Project. The Sweden Case: How Stockholm Builds Infrastructure Cheaply, and Why It's Becoming More Expensive? New York, 2022: https://transitcosts.com/wp-content/uploads/Sweden_Case_Study.pdf, pp. 23–24.
[129] Adding up all railroads and metro systems in the region gives 15 billion riders per year. See Train Media, 2018, accessed October 25, 2023, http://web.archive.org/web/20190327142737/http://www.train-media.net/report/1810/index.html.
[130] Meghan Smith, “‘You literally stole my independence’: What happens when an airline breaks a wheelchair,” GBH, April 20, 2023, https://www.wgbh.org/news/local/2023-04-20/you-literally-stole-my-independence-what-happens-when-an-airline-breaks-a-wheelchair.
[131] Emily Alpert Reyes, “An airline broke an activist’s wheelchair. Her death months later amplified calls for change,” LA Times, January 6, 2022, https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2022-01-06/la-activist-broken-wheelchair-airlines-death.
[132] Lucy Webster, “'Airlines keep breaking my wheelchair,'” BBC, August 12, 2017, https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-40876598.
[133] Harry Low, “Spikes - and other ways disabled people combat unwanted touching,” BBC, October 15, 2019, https://www.bbc.com/news/disability-49584591.
[134] Morgan Mac Caisín, “Why You Shouldn't Touch Someone's Wheelchair Without Permission,” The Mighty, May 26, 2022, https://themighty.com/topic/disability/dont-touch-someones-wheelchair-without-permission/.
[135] Bernie Bookbinder, “In ‘69, LI-NY in Half the Time,” Newsday, December 13, 1966, https://www.newspapers.com/article/newsday-nassau-edition/121351888/.
[136] Cate Hewitt, “Waterbury Line To Receive $30 Million Federal Grant to Improve Three Stations,” Connecticut Examiner, December 19, 2022, https://ctexaminer.com/2022/12/19/waterbury-line-to-receive-federal-grant-to-improve-three-stations-for-accessibility/.
[137] Work is planned to upgrade Breakneck Ridge.
[138] New Jersey Transit, “Quarterly Ridership Trends Analysis: First Quarter, Fiscal Year 2013, July through September, 2012,” by A. Tillotson. 2012. https://media.nj.com/bergen_impact/other/1Q2013.pdf.
[139] New Jersey Transit, 2020 Capital Plan Appendix B: Project Sheets, https://web.archive.org/web/20220422162515/https://njtplans.com/downloads/archived/capital-project-sheets/2020%20Capital%20Plan%20project%20sheets.pdf, pp. 90–92; this covers 30 stations, of which six are on lines with no way to get to Penn Station. Two additional stations are Millburn and Jersey Avenue, where level boarding is funded separately.
[140] David Burroughs, “Bane Nor plans $US 1.7 bn investment in Trøndelag,” International Railway Journal, May 26, 2022, https://www.railjournal.com/infrastructure/bane-nor-plans-us-1-7bn-investment-in-trondelag/.
[141] TransitMatters, “Regional Rail Electrification.”
[142] Caltrain Citizens Advisory Committee, “Caltrain Electrification: Proposed Service Plan for Fall 2024,” September 20, 2023, https://www.caltrain.com/media/31624/download, p. 26.
[143] All data is from https://metrics.mta.info/ and represents a trailing 12-month average, current as of July 2023.
[144] Heiner Bette and Adriaan Roeleveld, “Benchmarking identifies good practice in rolling stock maintenance,” Railway Gazette, April 1, 2006, https://www.railwaygazette.com/news/benchmarking-identifies-good-practice-in-rolling-stock-maintenance/27406.article.
[145] Israel Torres Penchi, “Harlem Fumes Over Bus Depot,” The Indypendent, October 15, 2003, https://indypendent.org/2003/10/harlem-fumes-over-bus-depot/.
[146] Laura Rivera, “Where the Air Leaves Them Breathless,” New York Times, November 5, 2006, https://www.nytimes.com/2006/11/05/nyregion/thecity/05asth.html.
[147] Ananya Bhattacharya, “The dream of the first hydrogen rail network has died a quick death,” Quartz, August 7, 2023, https://qz.com/the-dream-of-the-first-hydrogen-rail-network-has-died-a-1850712386.
[148] In fact, all NBE lines that serve Hamburg are wired; NBE is purchasing battery trains for suburban orbitals not serving the city. See “Moin, Mobilität von morgen,” Nordbahn, accessed October 25, 2023, https://www.nordbahn.de/unternehmen/start-im-akku-netz/.
[149] A station was initially planned here as part of East Side Access; see Clayton Guse, “New NYC train service linking Long Island to Grand Central omits promised LIRR stop in Sunnyside, Queens,” New York Daily News, October 24, 2022, https://www.nydailynews.com/new-york/ny-nyc-lirr-train-grand-central-bypass-sunnyside-queens-20221024-rxiqpyodzjdoxhtmg7c2mqks4a-story.html.
[150] Metro-North Penn Station Access Major Investment Study/Draft Environmental Impact Statement: Comparative Screening Results Report. 2002. https://new.mta.info/document/36621, p. 43.
[151] “Harold interlocking Northeast Corridor congestion relief project,” MTA, accessed October 26, 2023, https://new.mta.info/projects/harold-interlocking.
[152] Northeast Corridor Commission, Northeast Corridor Capital Investment Plan: Fiscal Years 2023-2027. 2022. http://nec-commission.com/app/uploads/2022/11/FY23-27-Capital-Investment-Plan-02-Appendix-Oct-22.pdf, p. 210.
[153] NJT, 2022 Capital Plan Appendix B, pp. 188–189.
[154] Ibid., pp. 151–153.
[155] Ibid., pp. 149–150.
[156] Improved signaling is installed in the southern two East River Tunnels, and may be installed in the northern two East River Tunnels as part of Penn Station Access, or a future project. Northeast Corridor Commission, Northeast Corridor Capital Investment Plan: Fiscal Years 2021-2025. 2020 http://nec-commission.com/app/uploads/2020/11/FY21-25-Capital-Investment-Plan-Oct-20-1.pdf, p. 137.
[157] NJT, 2022 Capital Plan Appendix B, pp. 178–180.
[158] Ibid, pp. 201-202.
[159] Empire State Development, Empire Station Complex Appendix A: Response to Comments on the Draft Scope of Work, https://esd.ny.gov/sites/default/files/Empire-Station-Complex-Appendices-A-and-B.pdf, p. A-34.
[160] Empire State Development, Pennsylvania Station Area Civic and Land Use Improvement Project, Chapter 26: Response to Public Comments, 2022, https://esd.ny.gov/sites/default/files/PSACLUIP-FEIS-26-RTC_0.pdf, p. 26-18.
[161] “New management system for line B,” RATP, accessed October 26, 2023, https://web.archive.org/web/20110322150331/https://www.ratp.fr/en/ratp/c_11200/new-management-system-for-line-b/.
[162] Gabriel Dupuy, Corinne Gely, and Jean-Marc Offner, “RER & interconnexions: les vertus d’un réseau hybride,” FLUX Cahiers Scientifiques Internationaux Réseau et Territoires 6 (2) (1990), pp. 81–94. https://www.persee.fr/docAsPDF/flux_1154-2721_1990_num_6_2_1143.pdf.
[163] Aoki, “Railway Operators in Japan 4: Central Tokyo.”
[164] Ito, “Through Service between Railway Operators in Greater Tokyo.”
[165] Penn Station Capacity and Utilization Analysis Phase C, pp. 68–72.
[166] “Metro-North Railroad and New Jersey Transit 2005 Service Agreement Operations Planning Department.” 2005, https://archive.org/details/njt-agmt-2995.
[167] This folder includes multiple documents that detail the agreements: https://drive.google.com/drive/u/2/folders/134S69rObW2KK2sgIyZogXLjkGnpROvH6.
[168] MTA Capital Construction, MTA Twenty-Year Capital Needs Assessment 2015-2034, p. 131.
[169] “Organising Authority for Public Transport and Sustainable Mobility in Ile-de-France,” February 2022, accessed October 26, 2023, https://www.iledefrance-mobilites.fr/medias/portail-idfm/01409158-24f9-4f3b-b0ed-c3ceef4f9ba0_presentation+idf+mobilites+2022_EN+Disclaimer_VIDFM+fe%CC%81vrier+2022VF2.pdf.
[170] “How Germany standardizes signage, service and fare payment across separate transit providers,” Mobility Lab, September 10, 2018, accessed October 26, 2023, https://mobilitylab.org/2018/09/10/germany-standardizes-signage-and-wayfinding/.
[171] Ralph Buehler, John Pucher, and Oliver Dümmler, “Verkehrsverbund: The evolution and spread of fully integrated regional public transport in Germany, Austria, and Switzerland,” International Journal of Sustainable Transportation 13 (2019), pp. 36–50 https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/15568318.2018.1431821?journalCode=ujst20.
[172] “Electric Trains To Begin Operation On Western Lines of L.I.R.R. This Week, 1905,” The Standard Union, July 9, 1905, https://bklyn.newspapers.com/article/127749238/electric-trains-to-begin-operation-on-we/.
[173] “First Electric Train on N.Y. Central Today; It Will Run from Highbridge to the Grand Central,” New York Times, September 30, 1906, https://www.nytimes.com/1906/09/30/archives/first-electric-train-on-ny-central-today-it-will-run-from.html.
[174] “Stamford Road Open Soon, New Haven's New Electric Line Complete and Is Ready for Business,” New York Times, July 13, 1907, https://www.nytimes.com/1907/07/13/archives/stamford-road-open-soon-new-havens-new-electric-line-complete-and.html.
[175] “Gare d’Orsay,” Wikipedia, accessed October 26, 2023, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gare_d'Orsay.
[176] “South London Line,” Wikipedia, accessed October 26, 2023, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/South_London_line.
[177] The Thameslink through-running system in London uses dual-voltage trains running on 750 V DC third rail south of the Thames and 25 kV AC catenary to the north. “British Rail Class 700,” Wikipedia, accessed October 26, 2023, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/British_Rail_Class_700.
[178] The size of an onboard transformer is inversely proportional to frequency. Changing the power to the catenary in New Jersey from 25 Hz to 60 Hz would allow M8s to run west of Penn Station. Richard Howell, “Implementing an Electrification Program: The Northeast Corridor Improvement Project.” Transportation Research Board Special Report 180: Railroad Electrification, 1977, pp. 20–23. https://onlinepubs.trb.org/Onlinepubs/sr/sr180/180-006.pdf.
[179] MTA, “Contract No. PS864: General Engineering Consultant Professional Design Services for Metro-North Railroad Penn Station Access Project Scope of Services January 2019,” Penn Station Access Project: Environmental Assessment and Section 4(f) Evaluation; Agency Correspondence and Public Involvement: Appendix E, p. A-25. https://static1.squarespace.com/static/5d278d57950ce60001fd9b83/t/60a58751441b54130b026310/1621460819160/Appendix+E_Agency+Correspondence+and+Public+Involvement_Part+1.pdf#page=79.
[180] Barry Caro, https://web.archive.org/web/20220907161932/https://twitter.com/BarryCaro/status/1567547879899758596.
[181] The ARC Milestone Summary Report recommended low profile tri-voltage locomotives that can operate using either 25 Hz, 12.5 kV or 60 Hz, 25 kV overhead wire or DC third rail for New Jersey-Long Island through-running.
[182] William Vantuono “For NJ Transit, another rolling stock innovation,” Railway Age, December 12, 2018,
https://www.railwayage.com/passenger/commuterregional/for-njt-another-rolling-stock-innovation/.
[183] “Future plans for rolling stock purchases should take into account design needs for possible future regional rail operations.” MTA Capital Construction, MTA Twenty-Year Capital Needs Assessment 2015-2034, p. 131.
[184] Vukan Vuchic and Shinya Kikuchi, General Operations Plan for the SEPTA Regional High Speed System. Philadelphia: 1984. https://repository.upenn.edu/entities/publication/3bee13c2-c265-4745-a098-474d8e0b7e04.
[185] For example, if the Port Washington Branch was the only LIRR line to through-run to NJT, existing LIRR M7s and M9s that cannot run to New Jersey could continue running service that terminates at Atlantic Terminal, Grand Central, or Penn Station. By contrast, a New Jersey-Long Island trunk system would require most trains to run to New Jersey, requiring premature retirement of the M7 cars built from 1999 to 2006.
[186] Penn Station Access will bring Metro-North Railroad service from the New Haven Line to Penn Station. It will increase capacity on Amtrak’s Hell Gate Line through the East Bronx and construct four new stations there. The project is expected to be complete in 2027. LIRR has reduced Penn Station service following East Side Access completion.
[187] NEC Commission, NEC Capital Investment Plan: FYs 2023-2027, p. 200.
[188] Amtrak, New Jersey Transit, and MTA, Penn Station Master Plan.
[189] Access to the Region’s Core, “Technical Advisory Committee Meeting Highlights Thursday, November 16, 2000.” Accessed October 26, 2023, https://web.archive.org/web/20020426021212/http://www.accesstotheregionscore.com/site/html/interactive/min_tac_more4.html.
[190] Empire State Development, Moynihan Station Development Project Environmental Assessment. New York: 2010. https://cdn.esd.ny.gov/subsidiaries_projects/msdc/Data/NEPA/04_4%20StationPedCirculation.pdf, p. 4.4-27.
[191] Port Authority, MTA, and NJT, “Access to the Region’s Core Major Investment Study,” p. 14.
[192] 75% of the hard costs of Second Avenue Subway Phase 1 came from the stations, and only 25% came from the tunnels and systems. Modern tunnel-boring machines can weave between older tunnels, and it is station construction that is most difficult in such a constrained environment. See Goldwyn, Eric, Alon Levy, and Elif Ensari, Transit Costs Project, The New York Case Study. New York, 2023: https://transitcosts.com/wp-content/uploads/NewYork_Case_Study.pdf, pp. 19 and 52.
[193] Port Authority, MTA, and NJT, “Access to the Region’s Core Major Investment Study,” p. 15.
[194] Uday Schulz, https://twitter.com/A320Lga/status/1311729248588181506.
[195] The initial acceleration of subway trains is 2.5 mph/second. New York City Transit, Subway Car Procurement for the B Division: Technical Specification, New Car Procurement Contract R34211 (R211). New York: 2019. https://transitinnovation.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/R211%20Tech%20Spec.pdf p. 2-9.
[196] The Stadler FLIRT’s initial acceleration is 1.3 m/s^2, or 2.9 mph/s. “New BLS FLIRT Unveiled,” Railvolution, September 10, 2020, https://www.railvolution.net/news/new-bls-flirt-unveiled.
[197] Future bypass tracks near Sunnyside Yard will have 2.5% grades. See Andrew Byler, https://twitter.com/AndrewBylerPA/status/1462073815941451778.
[198] Empire State Development, “Through-Running at Empire Station Complex: ESD Community Advisory Committee Working Group Briefing,” 2021, https://reinventalbany.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/11/2021-05-18-Through-Running-Briefing-1.pdf, p. 38.
[199] Adrian St. John, John Barker, Stephen Frost, and David Harris, “Crossrail project: a deep-mined station on the Elizabeth line, London,” Proceedings of the Institution of Civil Engineers 170 (CE5) (2017), pp. 47–56, https://learninglegacy.crossrail.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2017/04/A-deep-mined-station-on-the-Elizabeth-line-London.pdf.
[200] “Capacity,” North South Rail Link, accessed October 26, 2023, http://www.northsouthraillink.org/capacity.
[201] “Philadelphia - Center City Commuter Connection,” North South Rail Link, accessed October 26, 2023, http://www.northsouthraillink.org/centercity-commuter-connection-philadelphia.
[202] Excluding the one-track Empire Connection from the west used by Amtrak trains to Albany.
[203] John Porcari, “Gateway Program Overview and Update.” 2017. https://www.gatewayprogram.org/wp-content/uploads/content/dam/nec/gdc-board-items/2017-01-12-Porcari-GDC-Final.pdf.
[204] Amtrak, “Analyzing the Potential for Commuter Train Run-Through Service at New York Penn Station,” p. 11.
[205] “MTA Announces the Grand Opening of the East End Gateway at Penn Station—an Iconic New Entrance to the LIRR Concourse at Seventh Avenue and 33rd Street,” MTA, December 31, 2020, https://new.mta.info/MTA-Announces-the-Grand-Opening-of-the-East-End-Gateway-at-Penn-Station%E2%80%94an-Iconic-New-Entrance-to-the-LIRR-Concourse-at-Seventh-Avenue-and-33rd-Street.
[206] Penn Station Capacity and Utilization Analysis Phase C, pp. 68–72.
[207] Federal Railroad Administration, Northeast Corridor Intercity and Commuter Rail Service Coordination Study. 1979. https://www.google.com/books/edition/Northeast_Corridor_Intercity_and_Commute/KA88z4a0esYC, p. 32.
[208] Penn Station Capacity and Utilization Analysis Phase A, 1992, https://drive.google.com/open?id=1Rf170C3FLOXHfWQMAmDdukSP-5O1uWaZ&authuser=2, p. 2.
[209] Penn Station Capacity and Utilization Analysis Phase B, 1992, https://drive.google.com/open?id=1VUstHGPyP2rZEkiXOfF_-5q5wCcTdbn3&authuser=2, p. 49.
[210] Empire State Development, Empire Station Complex Appendix A, p. A-33.
[211] Amtrak, New Jersey Transit, and MTA, Penn Station Master Plan, p. 29.
[212] More precisely, NFPA 130 specifies that platforms must have enough throughput to evacuate all passengers in four minutes under worst-case conditions, and that the farthest-away passengers must be to reach safety in six minutes. See NFPA, “Technical Committee on NFPA 130 Fixed Guideway Transit & Passenger Rail Systems.” 2011. https://www.nfpa.org/assets/files/aboutthecodes/130/fkt-aaa_ropagenda_01-12.pdf, §5.3.
[213] Empire State Development, “Empire Station Complex: Community Advisory Committee Working Group,” https://esd.ny.gov/sites/default/files/CACWG-Meeting-4-Minutes-05-18-21.pdf, p. 12.
[214] Amtrak, New Jersey Transit, and MTA, Penn Station Master Plan, p. 13.
[215] Empire State Development, Moynihan Station Development Project Section 13: Station Circulation, https://cdn.esd.ny.gov/subsidiaries_projects/msdc/Data/MSTM/13%20Station%20Circ.pdf, p. 79.
[216] Nolan Hicks, “Penn Station expansion could balloon beyond single block, hit whopping $16.7B, new plans reveal,” New York Post, September 19, 2023, https://nypost.com/2023/09/19/penn-station-expansion-could-balloon-beyond-single-block-hit-whopping-16-7b-new-plans-reveal/.
[217] Ibid.
[218] Empire State Development, “Empire Station Complex Project Final Scope of Work for the Preparation of an Environmental Impact Statement.” 2020. https://esd.ny.gov/sites/default/files/Empire-Station-Complex-Final-Scope-of-Work.pdf, p. 4.
[219] Empire State Development, “Letter of Mutual Agreement: Pennsylvania Station Area Civic and Land Use Improvement Project.” 2022. https://esd.ny.gov/sites/default/files/State-City-Penn-Letter-of-Mutual-Agreement-Signed-Final-071822.pdf, p. iii.
[220] SL, “Fakta om SL och länet 2019.” Stockholm: 2019, https://miljobarometern.stockholm.se/content/Trafikrelaterat/sl_och_regionen_2019.pdf, p. 52.
[221] Panu Söderström, Harry Schulman and Mika Ristimäki, “Urban Form in the Helsinki and Stockholm City Regions: Development of Pedestrian, Public Transport and Car Zones,” Reports of the Finnish Environment Institute 16 (2015), https://core.ac.uk/download/pdf/33735222.pdf, pp. 47–53.
[222] Lydall, “Passenger numbers on Elizabeth line soar by 41 per cent in three months.”
[223] MTA Capital Construction, MTA Twenty-Year Capital Needs Assessment 2015-2034, October 2023, accessed October 26, 2023, https://new.mta.info/20YN.
[224] One element sometimes included in the Gateway program is the Bergen Loop, which would connect the Erie lines to Penn Station via a loop southwest of Secaucus. However, the loop would be awkward to operate, as the trains would pass Secaucus twice, once on the Erie lines and once again on the Northeast Corridor.
[225] “Lower Manhattan Airport and Commuter Access Alternatives Analysis.” Lower Manhattan Development Corporation: 2004. http://www.renewnyc.com/plandesdev/transportation/pdf/Final_Report.pdf.
[226] The 72nd Street station box is 1,305 feet long, more than twice the length of the train; the norm in comparison cases is that the box is 5-15% longer. Moreover, following American tradition, 72nd Street has a full-length mezzanine; however, the fire code, NFPA 130, is also used in Spain and Turkey, where it is accommodated with smaller mezzanines. If it is possible to find slant digs for escalator shafts from the platform ends to street level, such as at the southern end of City Hall Park and at Zuccotti Park, then no mezzanine is needed. It is thus possible to build a four-track, two-level station for 12-car trains in the same approximate footprint as 72nd Street. Transit Costs Project, The New York Case Study, pp. 52–58.
[227] Both the present-day and future trip times exclude wait times, but do include time spent walking between platforms at transfer stations, which is deemed to be three minutes at Secaucus and Hoboken and four at commuter rail-subway and subway-PATH transfers.
[228] The reduction in trip time is partly because of through-running but also because of assumed electrification and high platforms on the Main Line, which we impute to reduce trip times by 14 minutes (two per station stop), regardless of through-running.
[229] Peak crowding is south of 42nd Street even though peak employment is at 42nd Street, not 14th Street or Fulton Street. MTA, Second Avenue Subway Final Environmental Impact Statement. New York: 2004, https://new.mta.info/project/second-avenue-subway-phase-2/final-eis, p. 5B-4.
[230] Regional Plan Association, “Combine three commuter rail systems into one network.”
[231] Regional Plan Association, A Region at Risk: The Third Regional Plan. February 1996. https://rpa.org/work/reports/a-region-at-risk-the-third-regional-plan.
[232] MTA, “Lower Manhattan Access Major Investment Study/Draft Environmental Impact Study: Information,” March 1999, http://web.archive.org/web/20000915213210/http://www.mta.nyc.ny.us/planning/lmas/pdf/bulletin3.pdf.
[233] The cross-platform transfer between the 1 and the 2 is assumed instantaneous, but the transfer to the L requires four minutes of walking between platforms under 14th Street.
[234] This includes a 25-minute Bx12 trip between Pelham Bay Park and Fordham.
[235] Overflow Data, “What is the average commute time in each U.S. county?”
[236] All data comes from the LEHD and is as of 2019.
[237] Istanbul has built the Marmaray tunnel connecting its European and Asian sides, at low cost considering the project’s complexity, comprising 8.5 miles of tunnel, partly under a dense city center with more than 2,000 years of archeology, partly under a mile-wide, earthquake-prone channel up to 190 feet below sea level. Ensari, Elif, Eric Goldwyn, and Alon Levy, Transit Costs Project. The Istanbul Case. New York, 2022: https://transitcosts.com/wp-content/uploads/Istanbul_Case_Study.pdf, pp. 56–78.
[238] This includes a one-minute transfer at Fulton Street-WTC.
[239] This includes a connection to the 7 train at Grand Central, with a four-minute transfer window. | ||
5064 | dbpedia | 2 | 26 | https://www.helen.fi/en/about-us/helen/about-us/history | en | History | [
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] | null | [] | 2013-10-28T11:08:08+02:00 | We were born out of a need to create a safer and more eco-friendly way of producing energy in a smoky city. Today, we are an internationally esteemed developer of the energy industry. | en | /favicon.ico | https://www.helen.fi/en/about-us/helen/about-us/history | 1908 The construction work of the Suvilahti steam power plant starts and lasts for two years. The power plant is Finland’s first building made of reinforced concrete. The elevation drawings of the buildings are drawn by Selim A. Lindqvist. Construction of the electricity network starts.
1908 The chimney stack of Suvilahti is built.
1909 After long consideration, the numerous small electricity companies in Helsinki are transferred to the ownership of the City, and the electricity company of the City of Helsinki is established. Municipalisation of the operations is based on legislative, economic and safety factors.
The Suvilahti steam turbine plant starts its operations in July. In the same year, the exhibition of the electricity works is opened in a new administration building at the corner of Pieni Roobertinkatu and Kasarmikatu. It exhibited ‘foot warmers and other heat radiators, irons, coffeepots, lamps, etc. electrical equipment’. These days, the name of our home energy advisory centre is the Energy Gallery.
1911 The Töölö substation is built on the corner of Runeberginkatu and Töölönkatu. Töölö is undergoing a busy construction phase, and electric lights are installed in the new, modern apartment blocks. The Kallio substation is also completed in Kaarlenkatu later in the same year.
1914–1918 The war puts a stop to fuel imports to Finland. Wood is introduced as raw material for energy generation. In 1917, accelerating inflation starts to hamper the operations of power plants. Towards the end of the Civil War, the Executive Committee of the Workers takes on the lead in the operations of the city’s technical plants. As a result, the directors, engineers and office workers of the plants stop working.
1929 The electricity and gas plants compete for customers. Electricity is mainly used for indoor and outdoor lighting while gas is used in homes and in industry. The gasworks campaign strongly for gas cookers in order to prevent electric cookers from taking over the market. Gradually, electric cookers become more common.
1930 Statistics on domestic appliances in Helsinki are drawn up in connection with the population census. The city has, e.g. 18,048 irons and 9,958 vacuum cleaners.
1939–1945 There is a shortage of energy due to the war. The electricity works have to urge citizens to save electricity. Along with the arrival of migrants, the city’s population grows by 20,000-30,000 people and the energy demand is huge. Distribution outages cannot be avoided.
1947–1949 After the war, a new plan for the country's energy supply is drawn up to stop excessive dependence on imported fuels. Areas that had previously produced hydropower have been lost. Electricity distribution and the construction of networks are hampered by a shortage of materials, and electricity has to be rationed.
1953 Salmisaari A power plant in Ruoholahti is commissioned. The plant produces both district heat and electricity.
1957 Water-based district heating is launched in Helsinki when the Hotel and Restaurant School in Perhonkatu 11 is connected to the water district heating network.
1960 Hanasaari A power plant is commissioned in the Sörnäinen energy supply area. The power plant was designed by architect Vera Rosendahl who was also involved in the design of the Salmisaari power plant.
1973 Sähkötalo, which is designed by Alvar Aalto, is completed in Kamppi in connection with the substation. Sähkötalo is used as the new administrative building of the electricity works.
1974 Hanasaari B power plant is commissioned to meet the city’s growing energy needs. A couple of years later, the Suvilahti power plant is decommissioned and later refurbished into a storage warehouse and a sports facility for the employees of the energy works. The premises of the gas works are used as an arts centre in the 1980s.
1977 Helsinki Energy Board is established when the electricity works and gas works are combined at the decision of the City Council. The gas works continues its operations as the gas department of the Helsinki Energy Board.
1981 The foundation stone of Salmisaari B power plant is laid.
1984 Salmisaari B power plant is commissioned. Three years later, the desulphurisation plant is also commissioned at Salmisaari.
1991 The natural gas era begins when Vuosaari A power plant starts its operations. The Hanasaari desulphurisation plant is commissioned in the same year.
1995 Helsinki Energy Board becomes a municipal public utility, and its new name is Helsingin Energia. The Electricity Market Act enters into force on 1 June and the sale of electricity is deregulated, first for major companies and in 1998 also for households and small companies.
2000 District cooling operations start in the Ruoholahti district.
2007 Hanasaari A power plant in Sörnäinen is demolished. The Society for the Industrial Heritage gives Helsingin Energia an industrial heritage award for the demolition work. According to the society, the documentation related to the power plant demolition was the most extensive recording ever performed in the termination of industrial operations in Finland. The Suvilahti plant reopens as a cultural venue.
2008 European Parliament selects Helsingin Energia as winner of the Regional Awards competition. According to the reasons for selecting Helsingin Energia, the company is a world leader in energy efficiency.
2009 Helsingin Energia as a company is 100 years old.
2010 The City Council of Helsinki approves our development programme Towards a Carbon Neutral Future. The development programme includes an action plan to achieve the 2020 climate targets and the outline of activities until 2050. The programme is implemented as significant investment projects.
2012 We launch sales of electric vehicle charging points and services related to the production of solar energy. Development of the smart grid and new services is accelerated once the installation of remotely read meters is completed. Test combustion of pellets starts at the Hanasaari power plant. | |||||
5064 | dbpedia | 2 | 30 | https://www.wikiwand.com/en/Rail_transport_in_Finland | en | Rail transport in Finland | [
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] | null | [] | null | The Finnish railway network consists of a total track length of 9,216 km (5,727 mi). The railways are built with a broad 1,524 mm track gauge, of which 3,249 km (2,019 mi) is electrified. Passenger trains are operated by the state-owned enterprise VR that runs services on 7,225 km (4,489 mi) of track. These services cover all major cities and many rural areas, though the coverage is less than the coverage provided by the bus services. Most passenger train services originate or terminate at Helsinki Central railway station, and a large proportion of the passenger rail network radiates out of Helsinki. VR also operates freight services. Maintenance and construction of the railway network itself is the responsibility of the Finnish Rail Administration, which is a part of the Finnish Transport Agency. The network consists of six areal centres, that manage the use and maintenance of the routes in co-operation. Cargo yards and large stations may have their own signalling systems. | en | Wikiwand | https://www.wikiwand.com/en/Rail_transport_in_Finland | The Finnish railway network consists of a total track length of 9,216 km (5,727 mi). The railways are built with a broad 1,524 mm (5 ft) track gauge, of which 3,249 km (2,019 mi) is electrified. Passenger trains are operated by the state-owned enterprise VR that runs services on 7,225 km (4,489 mi) of track. These services cover all major cities and many rural areas, though the coverage is less than the coverage provided by the bus services. Most passenger train services originate or terminate at Helsinki Central railway station, and a large proportion of the passenger rail network radiates out of Helsinki. VR also operates freight services. Maintenance and construction of the railway network itself is the responsibility of the Finnish Rail Administration, which is a part of the Finnish Transport Agency (Finnish: Väylävirasto, Swedish: Trafikledsverket). The network consists of six areal centres, that manage the use and maintenance of the routes in co-operation. Cargo yards and large stations may have their own signalling systems.
Finnish trains have a reputation for being spacious, comfortable and clean. [citation needed] The scenery surrounding the railway lines is considered to be of outstanding natural beauty, especially in Eastern Finland with its many lakes. Since the density of population is low in most parts of Finland, the country is not very well suited to railways. Commuter services are nowadays rare outside the Helsinki area, but there are express train connections between most of the cities. As in France, passenger services are mostly connections from various parts of the country to the capital, Helsinki. Currently[when?] there are about 260 passenger round trips driven daily in Finland, excluding Helsinki commuter rail. Nightly passenger trains only operate on the busiest lines between Helsinki or Turku via Oulu to Lapland (minimum distance of 676 km (420 mi), leaving most tracks free for nightly freight traffic (about 40 million tonnes per year).[clarification needed] In addition there are also good long-distance bus and airplane connections; buses are sometimes faster and/or cheaper than trains (e.g. Helsinki–Pori). | |||||
5064 | dbpedia | 3 | 9 | http://schwandl.blogspot.com/2018/05/helsinki-metro-rail-tram-2018.html | en | Robert Schwandl's Urban Rail Blog: HELSINKI | [
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] | null | [
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] | null | So here I am again leaving Helsinki five years after my last visit and my last comments posted here in2013 . So before I put down my thou... | http://schwandl.blogspot.com/favicon.ico | http://schwandl.blogspot.com/2018/05/helsinki-metro-rail-tram-2018.html | |||||||
5064 | dbpedia | 2 | 67 | http://www.tautonline.com/ole-design-principles/ | en | OLE Design Principles | http://www.tautonline.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/11/37195.jpg | http://www.tautonline.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/11/37195.jpg | [
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] | null | [] | 2017-11-22T10:57:19+00:00 | TAUT examines the tools and methods that electrification designers and installers use to create efficient and aesthetically pleasing overhead contact wire systems. | en | The International Light Rail Magazine | http://www.tautonline.com/ole-design-principles/ | Since the 1880s, tramways have made use of overhead contact wires to supply them with their lifeblood – electricity. Since the earliest German trials and the subsequent work of US pioneer Frank Sprague that need has remained the same. Yet while trolley poles have, almost universally, given way to pantographs, a reliable, uninterrupted flow of electric power from the lineside substation to the moving tram remains the key to mobility.
The most popular method of tramway and light rail electrification is to employ an energised contact wire suspended along the line of the tramway onto which a pantograph mounted on the roof of the vehicle is pressed. This contact is a sliding surface, with a force of around 100 newtons (10.5kg/22lb) and a tramcar speed of up to 80km/h (50mph).
The power circuit of any direct current-supplied rail system has six fundamental elements: the substations, which supply direct current at the line’s designated nominal voltage (normally 600V or 750V); the positive conductor (the overhead line); the positive distribution network; the load (the vehicle); the negative conductor (the rails, through which the current is returned to the substations); and the negative distribution network. In most cases the rails are bonded together at regular intervals, and bonded or welded at joints, to provide as low a resistance path as possible for the return current.
The past decade has seen massive advances in traction supplies that allow the removal of the overhead line – such as onboard energy storage, magnetic or inductive pickup or switched third rail systems. While these technologies are now relatively well-developed and proven in many cities, they are still mainly used for relatively short sections of line rather than whole systems. Even then their use is determined by various factors such as topography, geography, aesthetic appeal, height clearance for special events, economics and, often, political factors.
Yet as each new system is different, any common practice and ‘standardisation’ is more likely driven by market forces than by common characteristics.
Anyone involved in light rail OLE design needs to study historical and worldwide practice to gain a full appreciation of the technology. ‘Re-inventing the wheel’, or working entirely from first principles, is seldom appropriate in a field with a rich abundance of previous experience. Railway principles cannot be indiscriminately applied. There is, however, plenty of scope for imaginative and artistic enhancement based on established principles.
KEY DESIGN PRINCIPLES: Creating an elegant, efficient and cost-effective overhead power supply is as much an artistic endeavour as it is an engineering one, with a few key principles that require observation: Avoid visual impact clutter wherever possible, through rationalising and sharing of facilities. If equipment is required in the public space, it should either be disguised, or made into a feature; Visual impact of lineside equipment can be further minimised by integration into existing or new buildings and structures where possible or placement underground; Colour, design and equipment placement can be a key element where stakeholders can be engaged early to help generate positive project support.
Similarities and differences
Tramway and light rail overhead designs share the basic laws of physics with their main line railway counterparts, but require more detailed design and calculation due to their operating environment and development. Other infrastructure is often not present at the start of the scheme – even the proposed alignment may not be available until obstructing buildings have been demolished or new structures created – and the gradients involved are also likely to be steeper with more severe vertical and lateral curves.
Finally, any overhead system will be in full public view so must be designed as part of the overall project aesthetics and ‘fit’ seamlessly within its surroundings. This is particularly relevant in cities with a strong heritage or cultural identity where visual intrusion is an important consideration. This integration is largely achieved through the colour, shape, or style of key components, but by far the biggest effect is achieved by minimising the amount of electrical equipment that cannot be cost-effectively hidden or buried underground.
Service speeds and desired headways also make a difference as higher-speed suburban sections (often using old railway rights of way), can relinquish aesthetic considerations so the finished system may exhibit more of the features associated with the main line railway when it leaves built-up areas.
On a typical design-and-build project there will be many interfaces that the overhead designer must manage. As well as the obvious interactions with trackwork and civil disciplines, many other groups will become involved – local authorities will have an input to the location, style and colour of street items, heritage groups will be involved in attachments to historic buildings, and the emergency services will have a say in emergency isolation procedures.
Electrical design
It might be expected that tramway overhead line is an electrical design concept, but in reality this is a fairly straightforward task once a few basic parameters are known.
The first is to establish the required along-track resistance. This is predominantly a simulation process, where substation positions and line resistance are decided, taking into account the desired service density and the loss of power along the line due to electrical resistance. The number of substations required is directly related to the planned frequency and the amount of overhead line to be provided. Simply put, a greater number of substations means less copper but as substations can be expensive, both in terms of equipment and land usage, a balance between the two will give minimum system cost and optimum operational flexibility.
That said, substations are usually required at intervals of 2-3km along the route. Each is a fully-enclosed building with cabling ducted underground; due to internal heat generation, it is necessary to provide for ventilation. It is also possible to place a substation in an easily accessible location within an existing or new building, and wherever reasonably practicable this is preferable. If a new substation building is required, it should be sited to integrate into the surrounding landscape.
Wiring the ‘Up’ and ‘Down’ lines separately allows the flexibility of single-line operation in the case of a failure; but for tramways in tight urban locations this is not normally possible without major traffic disruption and so the opportunity is taken to bond together both lines of overhead. This provides parallel paths for the current and can reduce the overall weight and bulk of the overhead line requirement.
The overhead must be separated along its length by insulators and isolator switches to allow for maintenance and emergency working. This is achieved by splitting the line into sections, separated electrically by insulators that can be powered independently.
System and layout design
Once the approximate power requirements are established, the next thing is to design the basic overhead line system. For tramways the key principle is to minimise the equipment in the air, reducing the loads (both static and ice/wind loads) on the poles and foundations while also reducing the risk of theft and vulnerability to vandalism or terrorist acts.
To this end most designers adopt simple trolley wire, with or without automatic tensioning.
It is desirable that the contact wire should be as level as possible, without ‘hard spots’, so that wear of both wire and pantographs is minimised. Hard spots can result in pantograph bounce, and arcing. The contact wire should be flexibly mounted, using span wires or shorter bowstrings from bracket arms.
All this is more important the higher the operating speed. On high-speed sections, catenary suspension is best; this minimises the number of poles required, but can be visually more obtrusive. The catenary also carries current, so reducing resistance. In street-running sections, speeds are lower and simple suspension from span wires suffices. The contact wire can be suspended from the span with short ‘bridles’ to give a softer suspension, but this may require additional register arms to maintain lateral wire position. In city centre locations where the tram movements are slower, a hanger fitted on the span wire is often sufficient.
Clearly there must be at least one contact wire above the line and one 150mm2 wire is normally sufficient for a 750V dc system running up to 80km/h (50mph). To achieve a single contact wire, a parallel feeder is likely to be required; this is laid underground. Twin 107mm2 section contact wires not only increase cost and visual intrusion against the sky, but challenges around maintaining even wear also increase maintenance cost.
Other considerations include defective pantographs that can damage long lengths of overhead line, requiring time and resource to repair, during which the service is interrupted; conversely, a defect on the overhead line can damage the pantographs of passing trams. This risk of one system damaging the other in operation means that the pantograph and overhead contact system should be designed and maintained as one entity.
Once the alignment and trackwork layouts are available, a start can be made on drawing a more exact position for the contact wire. The wire shape need not follow all the curves of the trackwork; instead a series of chords is formed between support points.
The limits of the position of the wire are defined by calculations looking at the acceptable movement on the pantograph head, allowing for track tolerances, vehicle suspension and support structure movements, and wire displacement due to atmospheric conditions. The output is the maximum lateral deviation of the wire from the track centre line at support points and at mid-span areas, depending on the position of the pantograph relative to the track/vehicle geometry.
It would be convenient to have one length of overhead contact wire stretched from one end of the line to the other, but this is impossible for today’s longer lines. Overhead line must also be sectioned electrically (typically in 1000-1500m lengths), terminating off the track line to poles or other structures.
Tensioning is achieved either by weights placed inside poles or by gas or spring tensioners; these have the advantage of lower cost and reduced maintenance. If auto-tensioning is used, overlaps ensure continuity of contact with the tram’s pantograph. Modern innovations include systems that offer remote monitoring and adjustment for exceptional circumstances such as extreme temperature changes.
In practice, there will be many revisions to the alignment in any new-build project as the design proceeds. Platform and substation locations may change and overbridge details may change; these alterations all require compromises in the overhead line design. As such, very close co-operation is required between contractors throughout the design and installation for an optimum outcome.
Supporting structures
At each support point the contact wire must be attached to poles, span wires (either stranded galvanised steel, stainless steel or synthetic materials) or structures, which can be some distance from the track bearing in mind that the further away the fixing is, the higher it will have to be on the structure to which it is being fixed. If long span wires or pull-offs cross an urban space, which may be required from time to time for temporary features such as Ferris Wheels, temporary block-mounted poles can be substituted.
The positioning of permanent poles can be particularly challenging, with spacing being a key consideration. Locations must be found where they are not likely to be knocked down or damaged – the presence of large, fixed obstacles near road and tramway intersections can significantly worsen the consequences of a collision between a road vehicle and a tram – and a balance needs to be found so that they can be placed as far apart as possible to limit installation cost, but not so far apart that the wires sag excessively.
Intelligent and considered design means that poles can be multi-use and enhance the urban realm by providing additional functions such as supporting street lighting, road traffic signals and signage. To maintain safety, suitable distances of usually a metre or more are necessary between high-voltage tramway equipment and other equipment and accessories mounted to the poles.
Poles must also be placed in optimum locations relative to bridges and stops, due to the wires’ design in these areas, but elsewhere the intention is to achieve an even spacing. Where there is a strong visual axis along the length of a street, the rhythm of the poles should be considered for the street as an entity.
The number of supports can be minimised by means of ‘bridling’, a technique which may also be used in the conventional horizontal plane or the less conventional vertical plane to enable fixings to be made to buildings clear of architectural or decorative features.
The number of poles can also be reduced by supporting two sets of wires from one pole, placed between tracks. This solution results in a well-balanced design that puts all overhead equipment in the track area
and away from pavements and walkways. As the poles are evenly loaded, they may be of modest size. The next best approach is to use double-track bracket arm, where one pole supports both lines from one side, although this must necessarily be of larger diameter and height as it is loaded unevenly.
Span wires need to be positioned where high road vehicles will not hit them, and should be schemed so that if individual wires are damaged or poles are knocked down the tramway operation should be able to continue without allowing the wire to fall so low that it becomes a hazard for pedestrians.
In locations where large convoys crossing the tramway’s path are expected, solutions need to be employed to raise and lower the contact wire. An obvious choice is to use onboard traction energy storage to remove the requirement for overhead contact wires entirely, but if this is not practical or cost-effective then technology exists for extendable support structures that allow the wires to be raised and lowered by a few metres.
At complex junctions, the skill of the designer is in supporting the contact wires with minimum support structures to both reduce the possibility of obstruction of sight lines and for aesthetic appeal.
Building fixings are always preferable for overhead wire support in urban environments, but the major challenge here is one of consent and legal formality. Permission needs to be obtained from the building owner and detailed surveys are required to prove that the structure is suitable for the required loadings. If many such fixings are desired, the process of obtaining approvals from different building owners will necessarily require agreements and interfaces with different surveyors and solicitors, often creating a cumbersome and time-consuming process.
So if wall fixings are to be used, they must be agreed in principle by the client or main contractor in the very early project design stages, undertaking an outline or reference design in advance. Further opportunities for building fixings and for overhead line rationalisation and improvement should continue to be sought throughout the life of an urban tramway. Property owners, for example, may develop a more positive attitude towards the tramway when it is in operation and benefiting them. In particular, standards achieved on extensions should be retrospectively applied to existing installations.
There are a number of foundation options for poles. The preferred option is usually steel piles, although reinforced concrete or pre-cast units that are dug into the ground are suitable alternatives that require less extensive civil works. Pole foundations are dimensioned on the basis of the forces applied by the contact wires, any additional low voltage equipment (public lighting etc), the geotechnical properties of supporting ground conditions and buildings and structures in close proximity.
If the pole base is to be bolted onto the foundation or adjustment – with advantages for future replacement – disguising the base and protective covering of the bolts must be addressed. There are all manner of ways of doing this, including decorative ornamentation and the application of street furniture surrounds.
For aesthetic and technical reasons it is important that poles never lean, or appear to lean, towards the track. They should be installed with positive ‘rake’, leaning away until their loads are applied, pulling them near to, but never beyond, vertical.
Where overhead clearance is limited, particularly under road or pedestrian footbridges, it is often sensible to fix the contact wire directly to the structure or to install a rigid overhead bar. This may also be used where the wire is required to follow a severe vertical track curve. The cost of lowering track, especially in city streets where you may find conflict with under-street utilities apparatus, has to be balanced against the cost of potentially complex future maintenance. The bar may be a standard contact wire backed up by a steel or aluminium structure, or it may be a separate conductor rail of stainless-capped aluminium. In either case the transition to conventional contact wire must be made with care.
Wire profile and hazard analysis
The next job is deciding the vertical profile of the wire. This is done with reference to the standards that define the required wire heights above the rail level on street, in pedestrian areas, and segregated line, and then there are occasional complications of allowing abnormal loads to move under the wires. These heights are relative to the track, which has its own inherent gradient profile, and the wire gradient relative to the track is a feature on which the pantograph performance depends, defined in outline in international specifications.
Registration arms set the horizontal position of the contact wire, the stagger, which is alternately either side of the centre line of the track by a set distance of usually between 75-200mm on straight track and 200-350mm on curves. The purpose of this is to ensure even pantograph wear and account for factors such as changing day and night-time and seasonal temperatures and conditions.
The result is a complex set of calculations to produce a set of wire heights at each support point. There is now enough information to produce the layout plans, showing support points, wire heights and staggers, and the position of poles, wall fixings and special supports, switchgear and ducting schematics. Modern CAD and BIM systems allow the overhead line to be entered onto the main civil interface drawing as a separate layer so interfaces can be shared with other disciplines to address potential conflicts at an early stage.
The design process is accompanied by a comprehensive hazard analysis that identifies the possible risks associated with the equipment during installation and operation. Such incidents might include the breakage of a span wire, a pole being toppled or damaged, or an act of vandalism or terrorism. Such analyses form a strong justification of the design and a good source of reliability predictions.
Safety, materials and decoration
Insulation: The overhead line for most tramway systems is energised at either 600V or 750V dc and it is obvious that all the live conductors must be properly insulated from earth and from the running rails. Tramways will usually use a double insulated system which simplifies the bonding requirements and provides the opportunity to work live on the finished installation. This practice also simplifies and speeds up emergency responses.
Modern insulators use glassfibre or composite cores with silicone moulded sheathing, and cast stainless steel crimped end fittings. These are often combined with stainless steel rope to produce a complete insulated span segment, or a support stitch. The position of these insulators is chosen to reduce the chances, should components fail, of danger to pedestrians from live equipment.
The alternative of insulating synthetic ropes avoids the need for extra insulators, and these have been used in many systems across Europe in the past few decades. Cost savings of around 20-30% per km can be seen from these examples through the reduction in additional components and a consequent saving in installation time. Certain experience has shown that these ropes can suffer from greater environmental degradation in coastal and heavily polluted environments, and so their use must be carefully considered.
Where pedestrian bridges run over overhead lines, suitable barriers such as walls, fences or railings must be positioned to avoid contact with live parts of the system. These must respect local or international standards.
Isolation: As mentioned earlier, the overhead contact wire is divided into electrical sections that can be individually switched on and off. This allows part of the network to be shut down due to an emergency or for planned work.
Such sectioning locations are related to the track layout, in particular near junctions and emergency crossovers. These isolator switches may be mounted at the pole top, with linkages down to a handle at shoulder level, but the resulting assembly is cumbersome so it is preferable to mount such equipment in a lineside cubicle that can be more easily disguised with the cables running in ducts to the poles. Where a substation is located near a sectioning point, the associated switchgear will be located within the substation building.
The section insulators themselves are the most visual of all the overhead components, and create more maintenance effort and wear and tear than any other item on the line, so there are great practical advantages to reducing their mass and size.
Finials: Finials prevent water ingress into hollow poles and come in an almost infinite array of shapes, designs and colours, from the traditional ‘spike and ball’ arrangement to a design that may reflect a local theme or the operator’s logo or corporate shape.
Materials: To reduce maintenance, components are best made from
non-corroding materials such as composites or stainless steel, or should be galvanised, and, for insulators, plastics or glass-fibre reinforced plastics or composites.
Remote monitoring: Bluetooth and wireless technology has seen the advancement of technologies for the remote monitoring of the height and stagger of the contact wire. Portable or hard-wired laser-based solutions remove the need for physical interaction with the energised wires and can be used in any weather conditions, increasing safety and reducing maintenance costs.
Finding a way forward
From the above considerations, it is easy to see that overhead line design, installation and maintenance is a complex process with many disciplines and interfaces. The final design will inevitably therefore be a compromise between civil and electrical requirements; engineering excellence and reasonable cost; first cost and lifecycle maintenance; and artistic and political aspirations.
Negotiating the minefield of competing requirements and achieving an installed system that is at the same time robust and visually appealing is not an easy one. Yet with careful consideration, engagement and plenty of forward planning, tramway and light rail overhead line equipment can indeed be a pleasant addition to any cityscape, both enhancing its unique identity and providing a reliable power supply for decades to come.
Note: This article is a compilation of material from various contributors, to show international practice, and previous TAUT articles, including two excellent pieces from former Brecknell Willis Chief Engineer David Hartland (1999 and 2011). Thanks are due to LRTA members David Holt and David Gibson for their additions.
Feature originally published in October 2017 TAUT (958). | |||
5064 | dbpedia | 0 | 52 | http://schwandl.blogspot.com/2013/06/ | en | Robert Schwandl's Urban Rail Blog | http://schwandl.blogspot.com/favicon.ico | http://schwandl.blogspot.com/favicon.ico | [
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] | null | http://schwandl.blogspot.com/favicon.ico | http://schwandl.blogspot.com/2013/06/ | After exploring the urban rail systems of Helsinki, I took the modern Allegro train to St. Petersburg.When I visited Moscow in 2010, I was quite annoyed by the lack of order at the immigration procedure. In the U.S. you may find a long queue, too, but it is strictly organised and vigilated, so although you may have to wait, you know you will eventually get there. Not so in Russia (at least Moscow Domodedovo): there is a huge crowd waiting in front of numerous immigration desks, and you just have to keep your elbows out and you may eventually make it. Until a few seconds before it is your turn, you don't even know which counter will be the one available for you. The Allegro from Helsinki to St. Petersburg, which runs three times a day in only 3 hours and a half, seems to be the only civilised way to get into Russia, you just stay sitting in your train seat and wait until someone asks you for your passport, just like in Western Europe before Schengen. You need to fill in those little papers, of course (keep one half for departure from Russia). The border guards get on at Vyborg and then check people on the way to St. Petersburg.
Now for the real subject of this blog, St. Petersburg urban rail systems, primarily the METRO. There is not much I can say that hasn't already been said, so here's a little brainstorming (I'll add + and – to express what I think):
(–) it is extremely deep
(–) long distances between stations
(+) very clean
(+) quite frequent
(+) not too overcrowded
(+) feels pretty safe and civilized people
(–) extremely loud
(+) mostly well ventilated
(–) up to three different names for what is one interchange station!
(++) 'western-style' signage with colours and line numbers
(+) precious, though not too overloaded stations
(+) smartcard available
(–) rather long walks between lines
(+) most things written in English, too
(–) intransparent platform doors
Of course, one tends to compare St. Petersburg's Metro to Moscow's. I'd say the strongest point in favour of St. Petersburg is the new signage introduced some years ago. For purists, this may ruin the classic design of the stations, but I'd say, it's perfectly integrated and in fact the line colours add a special note. On older photos many stations look dull, with so much marble in all different tones, but nothing much more except the indirectly lit vault. So, now you have got a nice Russian metro with good global signage, which I missed in Moscow. The addition of English on virtually all signs helps a lot, but also makes one lazier when trying to get used to reading Cyrillic. I guess they had professional advisors from London Underground, as everything seems to be in correct English, although I don't know why they decided to use 'Subway' when everybody understands 'Metro' nowadays, whereas 'subway' still is a bit misleading for many British people and they may be surprised how deep those underpasses are.... Transliteration of station names from Cyrillic into Latin is often a subject of discussion, but here it is done at least in a rather consistent form (they use, for example, Ploschad' instead of Ploshchad' as I had learned and thus used on my maps).
One feature exclusive to the St. Petersburg Metro are the old-style platform doors, in many stations on line 3 and a few on the southern leg of line 2. Well, I don't like them at all, they give me a certain feeling of claustrophoby, like in a lift where can cannot even look through the door. Well, I guess I'm not the only one, and that's why both lifts and platform screen doors are always transparent nowadays. In St. Petersburg, these were installed in the late 1960s when the concept as such was unknown in other metros, so they were pioneers and used full metal doors to reduce the costs of the otherwise typical 3-nave tunnel stations. But when you're on the train, you are unable to see who is on the platform (as stations are always quite busy this is not so much of an issue here as it could be in cities like Berlin where you often find non-passenger people hanging round the stations), but when you wait on the platform, it is a kind of surprise whether the door that opens in front of you will lead you into a crowded or an empty car. Intelligent passengers like me 'scan' the train as it enters the station and try to get into the car that is less packed. So travelling south on line 3, it was kind of a relief to reach Proletarskaya, the first 'normal' station without these doors.
What I don't understand about Russian metros is why they are so loud. I know, they mostly use metal linings in tube tunnels, their tracks are not welded so like in London you get the endless clack-clack, but even in the stations you can hardly talk when a train enters. As a result, noone speaks on the train, all look rather serious and grumpy or play with their mobile devices as the entire systems seems to have coverage with several providers. What I like, though, is that acoustic announcements are exactly placed when the noise volume is the lowest and that not only the next station is announced but also the following one (acoustic announcements are in Russian only). But it will be quite relaxing to ride again on the Berlin U-Bahn, for some reason one of the quietest I've seen (but with often dirty stations, badly behaved people, etc.).
The network is growing steadily, and most of the new stations are also quite attractive, although two of them have clearly been made 'cheaper', Volkovskaya in the south and Komandantskiy Prospekt in the north, well they are a bit in the 'global' style, although the arches add some Eastern touch, too. My favourite is probably Obvodniy Kanal, although I was surprised that the new stations are all smaller than the rest, well, again, they have a more 'global' size, the size you would encounter in most western metros, too. The colourful signage, of course, adds a certain Viennese or Boston touch. Of the older stations, I like, for example, Akademicheskaya, simply because it is different, whereas many of the other stations, though elegant, they lack this individual touch which helps passengers recognise their station at once, when the train arrives there. The newest station, Mezhdunarodnaya on M5 was almost 'too much' with its massive golden columns!
When praising the cleanliness of the stations, I'm not just referring to the ever polished floors or handrails, but also to hidden corners or surfaces hardly accessible and only visible from escalators, where in other cities dust and dirt would pile up for years without anybody caring. I guess also the tunnels are washed regularly as even after a day of photographing in the stations I did not observe any dust in my nostrils, whereas they are all black when I do the same in London!
It's amazing how much Russian people have to walk and how much time they have to spend on escalators, would be fun to calculate that for a typical lifetime. The long distances between stations even in the city centre, and often just a single access, require long walks to reach the stations. Also bus or tram stops are not located very near to metro entrances, when I thought they could have been. The new tram line 3, for example, stops south of Pl. Sennaya, although the trams have to go to the square to reverse anyway. If you want to get to Moskovskiy Vokzal on a Nevskiy Prospekt trolleybus, you need to walk some 500 m until you actually get to the railway station. The car lobby seems to be the only lobby here. So, the overall impression one gets is that passengers have to bear with what is there, and they are used to it. But it is certainly not a passenger-friendly transport system.
Fares are relatively low for western standards, just 28 roubles for one metro ride (some discounts with smartcards), so that's just around 70 eurocents, but if you travel a lot there is no unlimited pass, it seems, less so for the entire transport system. The only piece of integration is the Porodozhnik smartcard, you add value to it and then you can use it on Metro, trams and buses, but each time you pay a new fare. A passenger who is lucky to work and live in walking distance from a metro station, will only pay two fares a day, but someone who is not lucky enough, will pay at least double, which seems not much for one day, but adds up to a big sum over several years. I would consider it simply unjust that someone whose daily trip requires more than one vehicle (well, you can change between metro lines as often as you like), pays many times more than those with a single vehicle. This is not only so for metro/tram/bus transfer passengers, but also if you have to take two trams. And sometimes it appears that lines are broken up on purpose, like the long tram line 41 which terminates somewhere 'near' the centre, while line 16 would be a logical extension (although now it was extended to Narvskaya metro station), but this way, most passengers will have to pay twice.
The TRAM system is quite a case anyway. It is still the second largest in the world after Melbourne and before Berlin, but its network looks very much reduced, especially in the central area, where it was virtually banned. The first tram I took was line 6 from Sportivnaya metro station to Primorska metro station. I was hardly able to identify the stop, there was a shelter, but without any information. While waiting I realised that from the overhead line hangs a board which lists the trams that stop there at a height of some 10 m. A tram logo sign also hangs above the street, but later I learned that this is not meant for passengers but for car drivers. The tram stops where the numbers are hung. All without any platforms, of course, in the middle of the street, car drivers slow down more or less, but you'd better watch out! When I stated that in the Metro everything is clean and tidy, tram vehicles look worn out and dirty. After a long day's walks I found it also difficult to climb the high steps. Like on buses and trolleybuses, all trams carry a conductor, mostly female, who checks the smartcards or sells single fares like in the old days. So this is a way of creating a lot of jobs, although the few times I was on trams and buses I observed several people who simply ignored the conductors, so they do lose control when things get busy. The ride is slow and bumpy, too many cars prevent a fluid trip. Stops were announced acoustically and correctly, also with the following stop included. The track is often in bad condition, and as in Tallinn, I preferred riding trolleybuses, at least they speed up when they can. I haven't been to the suburbs on the trams, I guess that there they play an important role as a feeder to metro stations, but overall the picture was not good. Line 3 that was implemented a few months ago on some recuperated section along Sadovaya ulitsa is slightly better as it is operated with quite acceptible new double-articulated and partly low-floor trams. The low-floor element is only of limited advantage as the step from the street into the tram is still quite essential, some 30 cm. So I guess, it's time for St. Petersburg to upgrade what they want to keep of their huge tram system, and give trams priority, at least with marked off or separated lanes, but this is certainly only possible if their is a political consensus to reduce car traffic in the city centre. If this is not possible, I suggest to change most lines to trolleybus operation, which is much more flexible when there are parked cars or, as I observed on two ocasions within this short time, there is a minor car accident which blocks an intersection forever while they are waiting for the police to clear things.
What I have been criticising again and again is the lack of using the full potential of suburban lines to create a proper S-Bahn/RER type of metropolitan railway in Russia. In St. Petersburg, a sort of Passante seems obvious to me: If Baltiyskiy Vokzal is the busiest terminus for suburban trains from the south/southwest, and metro line 1 is the most overloaded, then it should only be logical that instead of spilling virtually all passengers from the Elektricky into the metro, those trains should go directly into the city centre. My spontaneous proposal would be for a tunnel from Baltiyskiy Vokzal to a city centre station at the Sennaya Ploschad hub, then to Pl. Vosstaniya to serve the Moskovskiy Vokzal, too and finally join up with the suburban lines that head north from Finlandskiy Vokzal, and you've got the "Peterburgskiy Krossrail". At least, the Metro is fairly well connected to suburban rail stations at three termini and several other stations, too. Devyatkino at the northern end of M1 even provides same-platform interchange!
LINKS
St. Petersburg at UrbanRail.Net (with more links)
[Edit May 2018: After another visit 5 years later I have made some updates you can find here]
Besides doing a bit of sight-seeing, of course, I had four full days to explore the Greater Helsinki transport system (11-15 June 2013 – 1 day taken off for a day trip to Tallinn – see separate blog entry). I already knew Helsinki from a visit in 2003 in preparation for my book 'Metros in Scandinavia'. At that time I focussed mostly on the metro, although I did ride the tram and suburban trains too, but now I had more time to see it all again. Not too much has changed since my first visit, lots of new trains are in service on the suburban lines, and the tram system has been expanded with short extensions mostly in the West Harbour area.
Helsinki has a well-integrated fare system, which distinguishes between fares for Helsinki only (or any of the other adjoining cities) or a 'region ticket' for Greater Helsinki (or the Capital Region) which includes the cities of Vantaa in the north (where the airport is) and Espoo and the small town of Kauniainen in the west. A day ticket for Helsinki alone would be 8 EUR, and for the entire region 12 EUR. To be flexible enough, I bought a 5-day region ticket for 36 EUR. Yes, fares are higher than in Central Europe, but compared to other things, tickets are only slightly more expensive. On buses, those passes (sold as smartcards) need to be held against the card reader at each boarding, but on trams, metro and trains they just have to be shown to ticket inspectors. The metro does not have access barriers. People who use a smartcard as a cash card need to select the fare zone before touching in. Metro and tram run exclusively within the Helsinki boundaries, so the zonal system is only relevant for trains and regional buses (those with a 3-digit number, if I understood it correctly).
Maps (a blue one for Helsinki and a green one for the region) can be picked up at several HSL information centres like inside Rautatientori metro station. The problem with the Helsinki hand-out map is that on one side it shows all bus lines on a city map, but NO tram lines, and on the other it shows only tram lines and NO buses, so changing from buses to trams and viceversa can become quite a tricky business if you're not familiar with the city (and I picked up the English/German edition certainly produced for visitors). Also, the geographical tram map shows stops, but no names for these stops, instead there is an additional diagram map with stop names. This map, however, does not show the destination which is actually displayed on the trams, as it mostly does not coincide with the name of the last stop (a thing I will never really understand! But this happens, unfortunately, in a lot of cities). The large tram maps posted at tram stops do include bus routes, too. All rather unsatisfying, and with a lot of room for improvement. I hope that the planned renumbering of tram lines 3B and 3T into lines 3 and 2 will take place during this summer as it is indeed confusing (at the railway station, both lines use the same stop!). I never got it right in my head, probably also because the T in 3T doesn't mean anything to me. And while on line 3 the distinction is between two halves of the circular route, on the othe circle line 7, the 7A and 7B denotes the direction of the route taken, clockwise or anti-clockwise.
Generally the TRAM system is in a good shape, although it is a very classic system with a lot of street running, but many sections are marked off from the road lanes or have even been slightly raised or separated by a curb. Only a few outer sections are on a dedicated right-of-way lined by trees, most notably along Mäkelänkatu, the main entry road from the airport shared by lines 1 and 7. Line 1, however, is the odd line within the system, and does not operate after 19 hours or on weekends! And the unprefixed line 1 only operates during some off-peak hours terminating in the city centre, whereas at times line 1A is extended down to Eira. Some of the busier lines even run until 01:30. Riding trams is, however, rather slow, due to numerous traffic lights and no priority for trams. I always hate it when even left-turning cars are given priority although they have a separate lane. Most stops have next-tram indicators of various types, which is good as the timetable is not strictly followed... Line 4 appears to be the most frequent with trams about every 5 minutes serving the Katajanokka branches alternately most of the day. This morning, I observed that the 4T branch to the ferry terminal gets extremely busy with ferry passengers when a ship arrives and apparently HKL does not react to this regular influx by sending more trams, which could just shuttle between the terminal and the city centre, instead all trams run to Munkkiniemi.
With the first of the new Transtech low-floor trams just rolled out for testing, the tram system is currently operated with two generations of vehicles, the older Valmet high-floor trams, a lot of which have meanwhile been retrofitted with a low-floor section, which doesn't really give them much more capacity but helps to speed up boarding especially for the large numbers of prams in this child-friendly country. It was certainly wise to extend the lives of this older stock as they are quite comfortable to ride.
The newer Variotrams, which were already in service in 2003 but at that time rather scarce due to many teething problems, are now regularly seen especially on lines 3, 6 and 9, if my observation is right. I would say, they are o.k., although Variotrams anywhere aren't among my favourites, mostly the seats are not very comfortable, both the way they are placed on top of the wheelsets, and the upholstery they used, so all in all a tour on the older trams is more pleasant, but on hot days the Variotrams may be your choice due to the air-conditioning. Generally the tram provides a good service in the inner city, an area most tourists would not leave anyway, and as most lines are frequent and easy to understand, the trams are in fact frequently used by tourists.
The METRO's function is quite different as it is only of very limited use for trips within the central area. Located between Stockholm and St. Petersburg, Helsinki also opted for a deep-level metro, in this case (unlike St. Petersburg) it was fairly easy to dig (or rather blast) through solid bedrock and thus avoid too much disruption on the surface. The negative consequence of such a decision is that passengers may find it too cumbersome to go down so deep just for a few stations and instead opt for the surface tram. On the other hand, the metro is a fast and reliable service to reach the eastern districts of the city. The trains ride very smooth, the track is well-laid, just the plastic seats are a bit hard. Overall I like the strong orange identity present in everything, a proper logo, large signs, etc. The stations are mostly o.k., but in the deep-cavern stations, a hung-in ceiling mostly doesn't let you appreciate the cavern as they would in Stockholm. Most of the surface stations look rather plain, although Siilitie has nicely been rebuilt a few years ago. The fill-in Kalasatama station is also very modest, and it looked quite dirty from the dust coming from the surrounding construction sites; it is still waiting to develop its full potential as many areas of the large port redevelopment are still underway or hardly started.
Along with the metro's western extension, the existing line will be made driverless. The only preparation for this that is visible are the platform screen doors installed for testing at the Vuosaari departure platform edge. They already calculated that travel times will actually increase slightly, probably because of the door opening and closing procedure. And they still have to educate users, as I observed one woman who even tried to force the doors with her pram. These people not only put themselves and their babies at risk, but are also responsible for the delays as a driverless system may be halted for quite a while until someone interferes manually at the control centre. Maybe people will be convinced that it is better to wait for the next train, as they are promised to be more frequent. Right now there is a train every 10 minutes on each of the eastern branches, this should be reduced to half the waiting time, resulting in a train every 2.5 min on the trunk section.
In Espoo, the construction of the Länsimetro (West Metro) is clearly visible at many sites, but as this section is also blasted through bedrock, construction sites are only necessary at selected locations, for shafts and accesses. But as all sites are protected by metro-orange boards they can easily be spotted. It's actually a pity that also the section between Lauttasaari and Keilaniemi is deep underground, because a surface bridge alignment would have provided a nice view of the island hopping between Helsinki and Espoo.
What seems a bit exaggerated on all rail systems is the equal treatment of Finnish and Swedish on all signs. This is, however, quite useful if you have some notion of Swedish, which for German and English speakers is at least a sort of cousin language, so many things are easier to read as most of us will not understand many words in Finnish. But although Swedish (only spoken by some 6% in the Helsinki area) is always listed in the second place I'd suggest to use Italics to make it clearer distinguishable what is what. Sometimes you get a Spanish/Catalan effect and only one letter is different as in Kaisaniemi/Kajsaniemi, mostly it is a direct translation of the name like Ruoholahti/Gräsviken (Grass Bay), and sometimes it looks like two completely different things (Pasila/Böle). Anyway, it's fun to learn some of these languages through station names. And Finnish is pretty easy to pronounce, just put the accent on the first syllable....
The service VR provides on the suburban lines is quite metro-like on some routes, with trains every 10 minutes stopping at all stations to Kerava, Vaantankoski and Leppävaara, where these trains have their own dedicated pair of tracks, and I think, no level crossings at all. Suburban trains that run further out and skip the inner stations, run on the mainline tracks shared by long-distance trains. The metro-like routes are now mostly exclusively served by new Stadler FLIRT trains, which have low-level access throughout, although with steps between carriages, but generally a very pleasant train.
There are two things I don't like about this suburban service:
1) the lack of a proper identity like S-Bahn, S-tog or Pendeltag, instead these trains are just listed as 'local traffic' (Lähijunat/Närtrafik - in English they actually use 'Commuter trains', a term I don't like at all except for real American commuter trains which only run inbound a few times in the mornings and back home again in the evening). So, I would hope they used some sort of trendy image for this excellent service, maybe even 'metro' and although it is still part of the VR network, it could form a unified metro system with the HKL Metro in the eyes of the passengers. With the completion of the airport ring line, it should even become more metro-like on the inner sections.
2) the excessive use of route identifying letters, almost as complex as the 4-letter codes on the Paris RER system, almost intransparent for the occasional user. But the current system obviously has a long tradition and may not easily be overthrown, but maybe some letters used for only a few services should be phased out for the sake of simplicity. I have not studied the different stopping pattern enough to make a suggestion, but I'm sure something could be done. I don't know whether the Vaantankoski line, which is quite metro-like and a new edition from 1975 was given the letter M for Martinlaakso (where it initially terminated) or to insinuate its metro character, as additionally it is also identified by the orange colour. Well, in fact it's older than the proper metro (1982).
3) A third point I would make on the negative side would be the long way you have to walk to actually catch one of the more frequent services. But as a solution is already in the making in the form of an underground loop that will even more create a proper metro line, I will only describe the current situation. A and M trains depart from some added platforms on the western side of the central railway station, but these are some 200 m further north than the older tracks, the same is true for the N etc. services to Kerava on the eastern side. So if you happen to be at the rear of one of these trains and you need to catch the tram or the metro, you easily have to walk 500+ metres, i.e. almost a typical inner-city metro interstation distance. The future loop will have a 'Keskus' (centre) station further south, actually to the south of the present metro station, and while interchange with trams should also get easier, most people will also be carried closer to their final destination in the city centre. There will be two intermediate stations, one at Töölö, the other next to the metro station at Hakaniemi. As interchange with long-distances trains is available at Pasila anyway, it shouldn't be a problem that the central railway station will be a bit far from Keskus station. I don't know what the current plans are, but I assume that the airport line will operate as a proper ring (a sort of 8-shaped route) while the Leppävaara (or Espoo) and Kerava lines can form another through line. So, between Huopolahti and Tikkurila or Hiekkaharju there should then be a train every 5 minutes during most of the day. Outer suburban services are planned to continue terminating at Helsinki station.
LINKS
Helsinki at UrbanRail.Net
HKL - Metro & Tram Operator
HSL - Greater Helsinki Transport Authority
[Edit May 2018: After another visit 5 years later I have made some updates you can find here] | |||||
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] | null | [] | 2018-10-13T00:00:00 | HSL (Helsingin seudun liikenne) is the regional transportation authority for Greater Helsinki responsible for all tram, subway (underground), commuter rail, bus, ferry and bike share services. Interestingly enough HSL does not own any rolling stock, but uses third party contractors to accomplish the day to day operation of the system. For example the tram system… | en | TRAINPHILOS | https://trainphilos.com/2018/10/13/trams-and-such-a-trip-on-hsl/ | HSL (Helsingin seudun liikenne) is the regional transportation authority for Greater Helsinki responsible for all tram, subway (underground), commuter rail, bus, ferry and bike share services. Interestingly enough HSL does not own any rolling stock, but uses third party contractors to accomplish the day to day operation of the system. For example the tram system is operated by Helsinki City Transport (Helsingin kaupungin liikennelaitos). HSL however is solely in control of the sale and inspection of transit tickets. There are no gates at commuter rail stations or at subway stations. Ticket inspections are frequent and fines for not having a valid ticket are steep.
The Helsinki tram system is one of the oldest, electrified networks in the world. The route length is about 60 miles. The 11 routes are all double track and use meter gauge (3 feet 3 3/8 inches). Overhead line voltage is at 600 volts. HKL has about 130 units, all of them uni-directional. Over 57 million passenger journeys were recorded in 2016. Service starts at 05:00 on some lines and ends around 01:30 on the Nr. 2, 3, 4 and 9 lines.
Basically the system has four types of rolling stock. The Valmet 1 series, Valmet II series, Bombardier Variotram and the Transtech Artic units. Valmet is a Finnish manufacturer, as is Transtech. Skoda Transportation is the parent company of Transtech. Bombardier is headquartered in Canada with factories in many parts of the world.
Helsinki purchased forty of these Variotrams. The trams proved to be totally unreliable. They also could not deal with the tight curves and steep hills on the tram system. It got to be so bad that Helsinki and Bombardier agreed to have the trams returned to Bombardier starting in 2018. Bombardier also agreed to pay Helsinki 33 million Euros as compensation.
These are the newest trams on the network. HKL is replacing the older trams with these Transtech “Artic” units. HKL published a pamphlet on these new trams detailing the features and technology. For enthusiasts it’s well worth reading. The link to the pamphlet is here.
All photos by Ralf Meier and Brad Wing, unless otherwise noted. (Sony a6500, iPhone X and iPhone 8) ©2018 | |||||
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] | 2013-05-12T12:55:43+00:00 | en | /static/apple-touch/wikipedia.png | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_tram_systems_by_gauge_and_electrification | Country Network Route length Gauge Voltage Comment Algeria Algiers tramway 23.2 km 1,435 mm (4 ft 8+1⁄2 in) 750 V Algeria Constantine tramway 18.3 km 1,435 mm (4 ft 8+1⁄2 in) 750 V Algeria Trams in Monstaganem [fr] 14.2 km 1,435 mm (4 ft 8+1⁄2 in) 750 V Algeria Oran Tramway 18.7 km 1,435 mm (4 ft 8+1⁄2 in) 750 V Algeria Ouargla tramway 9.7 km 1,435 mm (4 ft 8+1⁄2 in) 750 V Algeria Sétif tramway 22.4 km 1,435 mm (4 ft 8+1⁄2 in) 750 V Algeria Sidi Bel Abbès tramway 13.7 km 1,435 mm (4 ft 8+1⁄2 in) 750 V Argentina Premetro (Buenos Aires) 7.4 km 1,435 mm (4 ft 8+1⁄2 in) 750 V Argentina Metrotranvía Mendoza 12.5 km 1,435 mm (4 ft 8+1⁄2 in) 600 V Australia Trams in Adelaide 15 km 1,435 mm (4 ft 8+1⁄2 in) 600 V Originally built as 1,600 mm (5 ft 3 in) Australia Trams in Ballarat 1.37 km 1,435 mm (4 ft 8+1⁄2 in) 600 V Heritage streetcar Australia Trams in Bendigo 1,435 mm (4 ft 8+1⁄2 in) 600 V Heritage streetcar Australia Light rail in Canberra 12 km 1,435 mm (4 ft 8+1⁄2 in) 750 V Australia Trams in Gold Coast 20 km 1,435 mm (4 ft 8+1⁄2 in) 750 V Australia Trams in Melbourne 250 km 1,435 mm (4 ft 8+1⁄2 in) 600 V Largest network in the world. Partially 1,600 mm (5 ft 3 in) until 1959 Australia Trams in Newcastle 2.7 km 1,435 mm (4 ft 8+1⁄2 in) 750 V, at stops and depot only (ACR), for charging Ultracapacitors Standard gauge used on both original tramways (from 1887-1950) and light rail (opened in February 2019). Australia Trams in Sydney 24.7 km 1,435 mm (4 ft 8+1⁄2 in) 750 V
(partially on APS) Standard gauge used on both original tramways (from 1879-1961) and light rail (opened in August 1997). Australia Victor Harbor Horse Drawn Tram 3.1 km 1,600 mm (5 ft 3 in) Horse-drawn Heritage system reinstated in 1986 Austria Trams in Gmunden 20.1 km 1,000 mm (3 ft 3+3⁄8 in) 600 V Includes Traunseebahn interurban tram Austria Trams in Graz 67.2 km 1,435 mm (4 ft 8+1⁄2 in) 600 V Austria Trams in Innsbruck 44.8 km 1,000 mm (3 ft 3+3⁄8 in) 900 V Includes Stubai Valley Railway interurban tram Austria Trams in Linz 26.8 km 900 mm (2 ft 11+7⁄16 in) 600 V Austria Trams in Vienna 176.9 km 1,435 mm (4 ft 8+1⁄2 in) 600 V Belarus Trams in Mazyr [be] 20.3 km 1,524 mm (5 ft) 600 V Belarus Trams in Minsk 62.8 km 1,524 mm (5 ft) 600 V Converted from metre gauge in 1929 Belarus Trams in Navapolatsk 13.7 km 1,524 mm (5 ft) 550 V Belarus Trams in Vitebsk [be] 34.5 km 1,524 mm (5 ft) 600 V Belgium Trams in Antwerp 83.7 km 1,000 mm (3 ft 3+3⁄8 in) 600 V Includes Antwerp Pre-metro Belgium Trams in Brussels 140.9 km 1,435 mm (4 ft 8+1⁄2 in) 750 V Belgium Light Rail in Charleroi 33 km 1,000 mm (3 ft 3+3⁄8 in) 600 V Belgium Coast Tram 68 km 1,000 mm (3 ft 3+3⁄8 in) 600 V Belgium Trams in Ghent 30 km 1,000 mm (3 ft 3+3⁄8 in) 600 V Metre gauge since 1904, converted from standard gauge (1874-1904) Bosnia and Herzegovina Trams in Sarajevo 11.1 km 1,435 mm (4 ft 8+1⁄2 in) 600 V 1885-1960 at 760 mm (2 ft 5+15⁄16 in), converted to metre gauge in 1960 Brazil Trams in Rio de Janeiro 28 km 1,435 mm (4 ft 8+1⁄2 in) 750 V on APS and ultracapacitors Brazil Santos Light Rail 11.5 km 1,435 mm (4 ft 8+1⁄2 in) Brazil Santa Teresa Tram 6 km 1,100 mm (3 ft 7+5⁄16 in) 600 V Brazil Santos tramways[2] 1,350 mm (4 ft 5+5⁄32 in) Closed 1971, heritage streetcar opened 2000[3] Bulgaria Trams in Sofia 114 km 1,009 mm (3 ft 3+23⁄32 in) 600 V 40 km 1,435 mm (4 ft 8+1⁄2 in) Canada Calgary C-Train 59.9 km 1,435 mm (4 ft 8+1⁄2 in) 600 V Street running in Downtown Calgary Canada Edmonton LRT 24.3 km 1,435 mm (4 ft 8+1⁄2 in) 600 V Capital Line and Metro Line 13.1 km 750 V Valley Line Canada Edmonton High Level Bridge Streetcar 3 km 1,435 mm (4 ft 8+1⁄2 in) Heritage streetcar. Last part of Edmonton Radial Railway (1908-1951) (same gauge) Canada Nelson Electric Tramway 1.2 km 1,435 mm (4 ft 8+1⁄2 in) 600 V Heritage streetcar Canada Ottawa Confederation Line 12.5 km 1,435 mm (4 ft 8+1⁄2 in) 1500 V Ottawa Electric Railway (1891-1959) with the same gauge Canada Toronto streetcar system 83 km 4 ft 10+7⁄8 in (1,495 mm) 600 V Light rail lines 5 and 6 will use standard gauge Canada Waterloo Ion Light Rail 19 km 1,435 mm (4 ft 8+1⁄2 in) 750 V China Trams in Beijing 20.6 km 1,435 mm (4 ft 8+1⁄2 in) 750 V Xijiao line and Yizhuang T1 line China Trams in Changchun 12.8 km 1,435 mm (4 ft 8+1⁄2 in) 600 V China Changchun Rail Transit
(light rail part) 68 km 1,435 mm (4 ft 8+1⁄2 in) 750 V Line 3, Line 4 and Line 8 China Trams in Chengdu 39.3 km 1,435 mm (4 ft 8+1⁄2 in) China Trams in Dalian 23.4 km 1,435 mm (4 ft 8+1⁄2 in) 550 V China Trams in Foshan 6.5 km 1,435 mm (4 ft 8+1⁄2 in) Fuel cells Gaoming Line 9.5 km 1,435 mm (4 ft 8+1⁄2 in) 750 V Nanhai Tram China Guangzhou Trams 15.4 km 1,435 mm (4 ft 8+1⁄2 in) 900 V, at stops only, for charging Ultracapacitors The trams recharge their onboard energy storage units at stops China Trams in Huai'an 20.1 km 1,435 mm (4 ft 8+1⁄2 in) 900 V, at stops only, for charging Ultracapacitors The trams recharge their onboard energy storage units at stops China Jiaxing Tram 10.6 km 1,435 mm (4 ft 8+1⁄2 in) ??? V, at stops only, for charging Battery The trams recharge their onboard energy storage units at stops China Trams in Nanjing 17.2 km 1,435 mm (4 ft 8+1⁄2 in) 750 V, mostly at stops only, for charging Battery The trams recharge their onboard energy storage units at stops China Qingdao Tram 8.8 km 1,435 mm (4 ft 8+1⁄2 in) 750 V China Trams in Sanya 1 km 1,435 mm (4 ft 8+1⁄2 in) 1500 V, at stops only, for charging Ultracapacitors China Trams in Shanghai 31 km 1,435 mm (4 ft 8+1⁄2 in) 750 V China Rubber-tyred trams in Shanghai 9.8 km Rubber-tyred tram 750 V Translohr China Trams in Shenyang 60 km 1,435 mm (4 ft 8+1⁄2 in) 750 V, Catenary and ultracapacitors China Shenzhen Tram 11.7 km 1,435 mm (4 ft 8+1⁄2 in) 900 V, at stops only, for charging Ultracapacitors China Trams in Suzhou 18.2 km 1,435 mm (4 ft 8+1⁄2 in) 750 V China Trams in Tianjin 9.8 km Rubber-tyred tram 750 V Translohr China Tianshui Tram 12.93 km 1,435 mm (4 ft 8+1⁄2 in) battery China Trams in Wuhan 53.2 km 1,435 mm (4 ft 8+1⁄2 in) 750-900 V, at stops only, for charging Ultracapacitors The trams recharge their onboard energy storage units at stops Hong Kong Hong Kong Tramways 13 km 1,067 mm (3 ft 6 in) 550 V Hong Kong Hong Kong Light Rail 36.2 km 1,435 mm (4 ft 8+1⁄2 in) 750 V Colombia Trams in Medellín 4.3 km Rubber-tyred tram 750 V Translohr Croatia Trams in Osijek 12 km 1,000 mm (3 ft 3+3⁄8 in) 600 V Croatia Trams in Zagreb 54.2 km 1,000 mm (3 ft 3+3⁄8 in) 600 V 1891-1911 at 760 mm (2 ft 5+15⁄16 in), converted to 1,000 mm (3 ft 3+3⁄8 in) in 1910 Czech Republic Trams in Brno 70.4 km 1,435 mm (4 ft 8+1⁄2 in) 600 V Negative polarity Czech Republic Trams in Liberec [cs] 21.5 km 1,435 mm (4 ft 8+1⁄2 in) 600 V Includes Liberec–Jablonec interurban tram Czech Republic Trams in Most and Litvínov 18.6 km 1,435 mm (4 ft 8+1⁄2 in) 600 V Czech Republic Trams in Olomouc 15 km 1,435 mm (4 ft 8+1⁄2 in) 600 V Czech Republic Trams in Ostrava 62.7 km 1,435 mm (4 ft 8+1⁄2 in) 600 V Negative polarity Czech Republic Trams in Plzeň 20.3 km 1,435 mm (4 ft 8+1⁄2 in) 600 V Czech Republic Trams in Prague 150.3 km 1,435 mm (4 ft 8+1⁄2 in) 600 V Denmark Aarhus Letbane 107 km 1,435 mm (4 ft 8+1⁄2 in) 750 V Denmark Odense Letbane 14.4 km 1,435 mm (4 ft 8+1⁄2 in) 750 V Ecuador Cuenca tram 20.4 km 1,435 mm (4 ft 8+1⁄2 in) 750 V
(partially on APS) Egypt Trams in Alexandria 32 km 1,435 mm (4 ft 8+1⁄2 in) Egypt Trams in Greater Cairo 1,000 mm (3 ft 3+3⁄8 in) Estonia Trams in Tallinn 19.7 km 1,067 mm (3 ft 6 in) 600 V Ethiopia Addis Ababa Light Rail 31.6 km 1,435 mm (4 ft 8+1⁄2 in) 750 V Finland Trams in Helsinki 55.6 km 1,000 mm (3 ft 3+3⁄8 in) 600/750 V[4] Finland Helsinki Light Rail 25 km 1,000 mm (3 ft 3+3⁄8 in) 750 V Line 15 Finland Tampere light rail 16 km 1,435 mm (4 ft 8+1⁄2 in) 750 V France Trams in Angers 22.4 km 1,435 mm (4 ft 8+1⁄2 in) 750 V
(partially on APS) Originally metre gauge (1896-1949), restarted in 2011 as standard gauge France Trams in Aubagne 2.8 km 1,435 mm (4 ft 8+1⁄2 in) 750 V France Trams in Avignon 5.2 km 1,435 mm (4 ft 8+1⁄2 in) 750 V France Trams in Besançon 14.5 km 1,435 mm (4 ft 8+1⁄2 in) 750 V Originally metre gauge (1897-1952), restarted in 2014 as standard gauge France Trams in Bordeaux 82 km 1,435 mm (4 ft 8+1⁄2 in) 750 V
(partially on APS) Originally metre gauge (1880-1958), restarted in 2003 as standard gauge France Trams in Brest 14.3 km 1,435 mm (4 ft 8+1⁄2 in) 750 V Originally metre gauge (1898-1944), restarted in 2012 as standard gauge France Trams in Caen 15.7 km 1,435 mm (4 ft 8+1⁄2 in) 750 V Originally metre gauge (1860-1937). Guided bus in 2002-2017. Restarted in 2019 as standard gauge conventional tram France Trams in Dijon 19 km 1,435 mm (4 ft 8+1⁄2 in) 750 V Originally metre gauge (1895-1961), restarted in 2012 as standard gauge France Clermont-Ferrand tramway 15.7 km Rubber-tyred tram 750 V Translohr France Trams in Grenoble 43.7 km 1,435 mm (4 ft 8+1⁄2 in) 750 V Originally metre gauge (1894-1952), restarted in 1987 as standard gauge France Trams in Le Havre 13 km 1,435 mm (4 ft 8+1⁄2 in) 750 V Original network (1874-1951), restarted in 2012. Both as standard gauge France Trams in Le Mans 18.8 km 1,435 mm (4 ft 8+1⁄2 in) 750 V Originally metre gauge (1897-1947), restarted in 2007 as standard gauge France Trams in Lille 17.5 km 1,000 mm (3 ft 3+3⁄8 in) 750 V Continuously operating since 1874. Partially at standard gauge until 1907 France Trams in Lyon 83.7 km 1,435 mm (4 ft 8+1⁄2 in) 750 V Originally both metre gauge and standard gauge (1880-1956), restarted in 2001 as standard gauge France Trams in Marseille 13 km 1,435 mm (4 ft 8+1⁄2 in) 750 V Continuously operating since 1876 (2004-2007 closed for renovation works) France Trams in Montpellier 60.5 km 1,435 mm (4 ft 8+1⁄2 in) 750 V Originally metre gauge (1897-1949), restarted in 2000 as standard gauge France Trams in Mulhouse 16.2 km 1,435 mm (4 ft 8+1⁄2 in) 750 V Originally metre gauge (1882-1957), restarted in 2006 as standard gauge France Trams in Nantes 43.5 km 1,435 mm (4 ft 8+1⁄2 in) 750 V Original network (1879-1958), restarted in 1985. Both as standard gauge France Nice tramway 24.2 km 1,435 mm (4 ft 8+1⁄2 in) 750 V and battery Original network (1878-1953), restarted in 2007. Both as standard gauge France Trams in Orléans 29.3 km 1,435 mm (4 ft 8+1⁄2 in) 750 V
(partially on APS) Original network (1877-1938), restarted in 2000. Both as standard gauge France Trams in Paris 116.8 km 1,435 mm (4 ft 8+1⁄2 in) 750 V and 25 kV Original network (1855-1938), restarted in 1992. Both as standard gauge 20.6 km Rubber-tyred tram 750 V Translohr, Line 5 and Line 6 France Trams in Reims 11.2 km 1,435 mm (4 ft 8+1⁄2 in) 750 V
(partially on APS) Originally metre gauge (1881-1939), restarted in 2011 as standard gauge France Trams in Rouen 15.1 km 1,435 mm (4 ft 8+1⁄2 in) 750 V Original network (1877-1953), restarted in 1994. Both as standard gauge France Trams in Saint-Étienne 16 km 1,000 mm (3 ft 3+3⁄8 in) 600 V Continuously operating since 1881 France Trams in Strasbourg 49.1 km 1,435 mm (4 ft 8+1⁄2 in) 750 V Originally both metre gauge and standard gauge (1878-1960), restarted in 1994 as standard gauge France Trams in Toulouse 16.7 km 1,435 mm (4 ft 8+1⁄2 in) 750 V Original network (1862-1957), restarted in 2010. France Trams in Tours 14.8 km 1,435 mm (4 ft 8+1⁄2 in) 750 V
(partially on APS) Originally metre gauge (1877-1949), restarted in 2013 as standard gauge France Trams in Valenciennes 33.8 km 1,435 mm (4 ft 8+1⁄2 in) 750 V Originally metre gauge (1881-1966), restarted in 2006 as standard gauge Germany Trams in Augsburg 45.4 km 1,000 mm (3 ft 3+3⁄8 in) Germany Trams in Bad Schandau 7.9 km 1,000 mm (3 ft 3+3⁄8 in) 600 V Germany Trams in Berlin 196.3 km 1,435 mm (4 ft 8+1⁄2 in) 750 V First network with electric trams (1881). 600 V until 2023 Germany Bielefeld Stadtbahn 33.1 km 1,000 mm (3 ft 3+3⁄8 in) 750 V 600 V until 2011 Germany Trams in Bochum/Gelsenkirchen 86.2 km 1,000 mm (3 ft 3+3⁄8 in) 600/750 V Germany Bochum Stadtbahn 15 km 1,435 mm (4 ft 8+1⁄2 in) 750 V Germany Trams in Bonn and Bonn Stadtbahn 125.4 km 1,435 mm (4 ft 8+1⁄2 in) 750 V Germany Trams in Brandenburg 17.6 km 1,000 mm (3 ft 3+3⁄8 in) 600 V Germany Trams in Braunschweig 39.6 km 1,100 mm (3 ft 7+5⁄16 in) 600 V Germany Trams in Bremen 114.6 km 1,435 mm (4 ft 8+1⁄2 in) 600 V Germany Trams in Chemnitz 30.6 km 1,435 mm (4 ft 8+1⁄2 in) 600 V Converted from 914 mm (3 ft) (1893-ca 1914) and 925 mm (3 ft 13⁄32 in) (ca 1914-1950s / 1988) Germany Cologne Stadtbahn 198 km 1,435 mm (4 ft 8+1⁄2 in) 750 V Both lines between Cologne and Bonn were originally heavy load train lines electrified at 1,200 V. Line 18 once was metre gauge Germany Trams in Cottbus 20.1 km 1,000 mm (3 ft 3+3⁄8 in) 600 V Germany Trams in Darmstadt 42 km 1,000 mm (3 ft 3+3⁄8 in) 600 V Germany Dortmund Stadtbahn 75 km 1,435 mm (4 ft 8+1⁄2 in) 750 V 600 V until 1999 Germany Trams in Dresden 134.3 km 1,450 mm (4 ft 9+3⁄32 in) 600 V 1,440 mm (4 ft 8+11⁄16 in) until 1903 Germany Trams in Duisburg 43.7 km 1,435 mm (4 ft 8+1⁄2 in) 750 V Partially on metre gauge until 1966 Germany Trams in Düsseldorf 79.8 km 1,435 mm (4 ft 8+1⁄2 in) 600 V Germany Düsseldorf Stadtbahn 85.5 km 1,435 mm (4 ft 8+1⁄2 in) 750 V Germany Erfurt Stadtbahn 45.2 km 1,000 mm (3 ft 3+3⁄8 in) 750 V 600 V until 2014 Germany Trams in Essen 52.5 km 1,000 mm (3 ft 3+3⁄8 in) 750 V Germany Essen Stadtbahn 21.5 km 1,435 mm (4 ft 8+1⁄2 in) 750 V Germany Trams in Frankfurt (Oder) 19.5 km 1,000 mm (3 ft 3+3⁄8 in) 600 V Germany Trams in Frankfurt am Main 67.2 km 1,435 mm (4 ft 8+1⁄2 in) 600 V Germany Trams in Freiburg im Breisgau 34.7 km 1,000 mm (3 ft 3+3⁄8 in) 750 V 600 V until 1983 Germany Trams in Gera 18.5 km 1,000 mm (3 ft 3+3⁄8 in) 600 V Germany Trams in Görlitz 11.8 km 1,000 mm (3 ft 3+3⁄8 in) 600 V Germany Trams in Gotha 25 km 1,000 mm (3 ft 3+3⁄8 in) 600 V Germany Trams in Halberstadt 11.7 km 1,000 mm (3 ft 3+3⁄8 in) 600 V Germany Trams in Halle (Saale) 87.6 km 1,000 mm (3 ft 3+3⁄8 in) 750 V Germany Hanover Stadtbahn 127 km 1,435 mm (4 ft 8+1⁄2 in) 600 V Germany Trams in Heidelberg 25.1 km 1,000 mm (3 ft 3+3⁄8 in) 750 V Germany Trams in Jena 23.26 km 1,000 mm (3 ft 3+3⁄8 in) 600 V Germany Trams in Karlsruhe 71.5 km 1,435 mm (4 ft 8+1⁄2 in) 750 V Germany Trams in Kassel 73.6 km 1,435 mm (4 ft 8+1⁄2 in) 600 V Germany Trams in Krefeld 36.7 km 1,000 mm (3 ft 3+3⁄8 in) Germany Trams in Leipzig 148.3 km 1,458 mm (4 ft 9+13⁄32 in) 600 V Germany Trams in Magdeburg 64.1 km 1,435 mm (4 ft 8+1⁄2 in) 600 V Germany Trams in Mainz 29.7 km 1,000 mm (3 ft 3+3⁄8 in) 750 V 600 V until 2018 Germany Trams in Mannheim/Ludwigshafen 61 km 1,000 mm (3 ft 3+3⁄8 in) 750 V 600 V until 2006 Germany Trams in Mülheim/Oberhausen 32 km 1,000 mm (3 ft 3+3⁄8 in) 750 V Germany Trams in Munich 83 km 1,435 mm (4 ft 8+1⁄2 in) 750 V 600 V until 2001 Germany Trams in Naumburg (Saale) 2.9 km 1,000 mm (3 ft 3+3⁄8 in) 600 V Germany Trams in Nordhausen 18 km 1,000 mm (3 ft 3+3⁄8 in) 600 V/diesel Germany Trams in Nuremberg 33 km 1,435 mm (4 ft 8+1⁄2 in) 600 V Germany Trams in Plauen 16.4 km 1,000 mm (3 ft 3+3⁄8 in) 600 V Germany Trams in Potsdam 28.9 km 1,435 mm (4 ft 8+1⁄2 in) 750 V 600 V until 2015 Germany Trams in Rostock 35.6 km 1,435 mm (4 ft 8+1⁄2 in) 750 V 600 V until 2017 Germany Trams in Saarbrücken 43.4 km 1,435 mm (4 ft 8+1⁄2 in) 750 V Germany Trams in Schöneiche 14.1 km 1,000 mm (3 ft 3+3⁄8 in) Germany Trams in Schwerin 21 km 1,435 mm (4 ft 8+1⁄2 in) 600 V Germany Trams in Strausberg 6.2 km 1,435 mm (4 ft 8+1⁄2 in) 750 V Germany Stuttgart Stadtbahn 131 km 1,435 mm (4 ft 8+1⁄2 in) 750 V Originally metre gauge. Part of the network on dual gauge until 2007. Some parts still on dual gauge only for heritage rolling stocks Germany Trams in Ulm 19.1 km 1,000 mm (3 ft 3+3⁄8 in) 750 V Germany Trams in Woltersdorf 5.6 km 1,435 mm (4 ft 8+1⁄2 in) 600 V Germany Trams in Würzburg 19.7 km 1,000 mm (3 ft 3+3⁄8 in) 750 V Germany Trams in Zwickau 20.2 km 1,000 mm (3 ft 3+3⁄8 in) 600 V Greece Athens Tram 32.4 km 1,435 mm (4 ft 8+1⁄2 in) 750 V Originally metre gauge (1882-1960), restarted in 2004 as standard gauge Hungary Trams in Budapest 149.0 km 1,435 mm (4 ft 8+1⁄2 in) 600 V Opened in 1866. Anciently partially on metre gauge Hungary Trams in Debrecen 8.8 km 1,435 mm (4 ft 8+1⁄2 in) 600 V Hungary Trams in Miskolc 12 km 1,435 mm (4 ft 8+1⁄2 in) 600 V Hungary Trams in Szeged 17 km 1,435 mm (4 ft 8+1⁄2 in) 600 V India Trams in Kolkata 28 km 1,435 mm (4 ft 8+1⁄2 in) 550 V Ireland Trams in Dublin 42.1 km 1,435 mm (4 ft 8+1⁄2 in) 750 V Closed 1949, new system opened 2004 Israel Trams in Jerusalem 13.8 km 1,435 mm (4 ft 8+1⁄2 in) 750 V Israel Tel Aviv Light Rail 24 km 1,435 mm (4 ft 8+1⁄2 in) 1500 V Red Line runs partially as a premetro Italy Bergamo–Albino light rail 12.5 km 1,435 mm (4 ft 8+1⁄2 in) 750 V Italy Trams in Cagliari 12 km 950 mm (3 ft 1+3⁄8 in) 750 V Since 2008 Italy Trams in Florence 16.5 km 1,435 mm (4 ft 8+1⁄2 in) 750 V Italy Trams in Messina 7.7 km 1,435 mm (4 ft 8+1⁄2 in) 750 V 950 mm (3 ft 1+3⁄8 in) from 1917 to 1951, restarted as standard gauge in 2003 Italy Trams in Milan 116.5 km 1,445 mm (4 ft 8+7⁄8 in) 550 V Italy Trams in Naples 11.8 km Unclear 750 V 600 V until 2001 (changed with the new fleet of AnsaldoBreda Sirio). Unclear if the gauge is 1,445 mm (4 ft 8+7⁄8 in) or standard gauge Italy Trams in Padua 10.3 km Rubber-tyred tram 750 V Translohr Italy Trams in Palermo 23.3 km 1,435 mm (4 ft 8+1⁄2 in) 750 V Originally metre gauge (1878-1947), restarted in 2015 as standard gauge Italy Trams in Rome 36 km 1,445 mm (4 ft 8+7⁄8 in) 550 V Italy Trams in Sassari 4.9 km 950 mm (3 ft 1+3⁄8 in) 750 V Italy Trieste-Opicina tramway 5.2 km 1,000 mm (3 ft 3+3⁄8 in) 600 V Opened 1902 Italy Trams in Turin 88 km 1,445 mm (4 ft 8+7⁄8 in) 550 V Italy Trams in Venice 20 km Rubber-tyred tram 750 V Translohr since 2010; former, classic system 1907-1941 Japan Chikuhō Electric Railroad Line 16 km 1,435 mm (4 ft 8+1⁄2 in) 600 V Japan Hakodate City Tram 10.9 km 4 ft 6 in (1,372 mm) 600 V Japan Hankai Tramway 19.6 km 1,435 mm (4 ft 8+1⁄2 in) 600 V Japan Hiroshima Electric Railway 35.1 km 1,435 mm (4 ft 8+1⁄2 in) 600 V Japan Kagoshima City Transportation Bureau 13.1 km 1,435 mm (4 ft 8+1⁄2 in) 600 V Japan Trams in Kōchi 25.3 km 1,067 mm (3 ft 6 in) 600 V Japan Kumamoto City Transportation Bureau 12.2 km 1,435 mm (4 ft 8+1⁄2 in) 600 V Japan Trams in Matsuyama 9.2 km 1,067 mm (3 ft 6 in) 600 V Japan Nagasaki Electric Tramway 11.5 km 1,435 mm (4 ft 8+1⁄2 in) 600 V Japan Okayama Electric Tramway 4.7 km 1,067 mm (3 ft 6 in) 600 V Japan Trams in Takaoka 12.8 km 1,067 mm (3 ft 6 in) 600 V Man'yōsen Shinminatokō Line and Man'yōsen Takaoka Kidō Line Japan Sapporo Streetcar 8.9 km 1,067 mm (3 ft 6 in) 600 V Japan Toden Arakawa Line 12.2 km 4 ft 6 in (1,372 mm) 600 V Japan Tōkyū Setagaya Line 5 km 4 ft 6 in (1,372 mm) 600 V Japan Toyama City Tram Line 7.3 km 1,067 mm (3 ft 6 in) 600 V Japan Toyama Light Rail Toyamakō Line 7.6 km 1,067 mm (3 ft 6 in) 600 V Japan Trams in Toyohashi 5.4 km 1,067 mm (3 ft 6 in) 600 V Japan Utsunomiya Light Rail 14.6 km 1,067 mm (3 ft 6 in) 750 V Kazakhstan Astana Light Metro 22.6 km 1,524 mm (5 ft) 600 V Kazakhstan Trams in Oskemen 33 km 1,524 mm (5 ft) 550 V Kazakhstan Trams in Pavlodar 44.6 km 1,524 mm (5 ft) 550 V Kazakhstan Trams in Temirtau 1,524 mm (5 ft) 550 V Latvia Trams in Daugavpils 27 km 1,524 mm (5 ft) Latvia Trams in Liepāja 15.8 km 1,000 mm (3 ft 3+3⁄8 in) 600 V Latvia Trams in Riga 61 km 1,524 mm (5 ft) Luxembourg Trams in Luxembourg 8.5 km 1,435 mm (4 ft 8+1⁄2 in) 750 V Standard gauge 1875-1908 and since 2017, metre gauge 1874-1964 Mauritius Metro Express 26 km 1,435 mm (4 ft 8+1⁄2 in) 750 V Mexico Guadalajara Light Rail 47 km 1,435 mm (4 ft 8+1⁄2 in) Mexico Light Rail in Mexico City 13 km 1,435 mm (4 ft 8+1⁄2 in) Morocco Casablanca Tramway 47.5 km 1,435 mm (4 ft 8+1⁄2 in) 750 V Morocco Rabat–Salé tramway 19.5 km 1,435 mm (4 ft 8+1⁄2 in) 750 V Netherlands Trams in Amsterdam 95 km 1,435 mm (4 ft 8+1⁄2 in) 600 V 1,422 mm / 4 ft 8 in until 1906 Netherlands Trams in The Hague 105 km 1,435 mm (4 ft 8+1⁄2 in) 600 V Connects with the trams in Rotterdam through Delft with RandstadRail service Netherlands Trams in Rotterdam 75 km 1,435 mm (4 ft 8+1⁄2 in) 600 V Some parts originally 1,067 mm (3 ft 6 in) and metre gauge Netherlands Trams in Utrecht 28.3 km 1,435 mm (4 ft 8+1⁄2 in) 750 V Netherlands
Aruba Trams in Oranjestad 1.9 km 1,435 mm (4 ft 8+1⁄2 in) Fuel cells
and battery Heritage streetcar New Zealand Trams in Auckland 1.2 km 1,435 mm (4 ft 8+1⁄2 in) Currently a heritage streetcar. Original system 1902-1956 also used standard gauge. New Zealand Trams in Christchurch 1.5 km 1,435 mm (4 ft 8+1⁄2 in) 600 V Currently a heritage streetcar Nigeria Abuja Light Rail 44.7 km 1,435 mm (4 ft 8+1⁄2 in) North Korea Trams in Chongjin 13 km 1,435 mm (4 ft 8+1⁄2 in) 600 V North Korea Trams in Pyongyang 3.5 km 1,000 mm (3 ft 3+3⁄8 in) 600 V Kŭmsusan Line only 50 km 1,435 mm (4 ft 8+1⁄2 in) Line 1,2 and 3 Norway Bergen Light Rail 20.4 km 1,435 mm (4 ft 8+1⁄2 in) 750 V Norway Trams in Bergen 0.3 km 1,435 mm (4 ft 8+1⁄2 in) 600 V, 750 V on heritage trams. 1897-1964. Heritage tram since 1993 Norway Trams in Oslo 36.9 km 1,435 mm (4 ft 8+1⁄2 in) 750 V 600 V until 2000 Norway Trams in Trondheim 8.8 km 1,000 mm (3 ft 3+3⁄8 in) 600 V Poland Trams in Bydgoszcz 29.1 km 1,000 mm (3 ft 3+3⁄8 in) 600 V Horse-drawn 1888-1896, electric since 1896[5] Poland Trams in Częstochowa 14.7 km 1,435 mm (4 ft 8+1⁄2 in) 600 V Since 1959,[5] negative polarity Poland Trams in Elbląg 16 km 1,000 mm (3 ft 3+3⁄8 in) 600 V Since 1895,[5] negative polarity Poland Trams in Gdańsk 58.1 km 1,435 mm (4 ft 8+1⁄2 in) 600 V Horse-drawn 1873-1896, electric since 1896[5] Poland Trams in Gorzów Wielkopolski 12.2 km 1,435 mm (4 ft 8+1⁄2 in) 600 V Since 1899 (break 1922-1924),[5] negative polarity Poland Trams in Grudziądz 9 km 1,000 mm (3 ft 3+3⁄8 in) 600 V Horse-drawn 1896-1899, electric since 1899,[5] negative polarity Poland Trams in Kraków 97 km 1,435 mm (4 ft 8+1⁄2 in) 600 V Horse-drawn 1882-1901, electric (900 mm gauge) 1901-1953, electric standard gauge since 1913.[5] Includes Kraków Fast Tram Poland Trams in Łódź 124.1 km 1,000 mm (3 ft 3+3⁄8 in) 600 V Electric since 1898, steam-powered 1916-1927.[5] Extensive suburban service. Negative polarity. Poland Trams in Mrozy 1.75 km 900 mm (2 ft 11+7⁄16 in) Horse-drawn Horse-drawn 1902-1967 and since 2012[5] Poland Trams in Olsztyn 11 km 1,435 mm (4 ft 8+1⁄2 in) 600 V Originally metre gauge (1907-1965), restarted in 2015 as standard gauge Poland Trams in Poznań 65.6 km 1,435 mm (4 ft 8+1⁄2 in) 600 V Horse-drawn 1880-1898, electric since 1898.[5] Includes Poznań Fast Tram Poland Silesian Interurbans 181 km 1,435 mm (4 ft 8+1⁄2 in) 660 V[6] Steam-powered 1894-1901, horse-drawn 1895-1899, electric (785 mm gauge) 1898-1951, electric standard gauge since 1912[5] Poland Trams in Szczecin 64 km 1,435 mm (4 ft 8+1⁄2 in) 600 V Horse-drawn 1879-1898, electric since 1897[5] Poland Trams in Toruń 22 km 1,000 mm (3 ft 3+3⁄8 in) 600 V Horse-drawn 1891-1902, electric since 1899[5] Poland Trams in Warsaw 150 km 1,435 mm (4 ft 8+1⁄2 in) 600 V Horse-drawn 1866-1916,[5] electric since 1908, diesel-powered (one route) in 1924. Converted from 1,524 mm (Russian gauge) in 1946-1950.[7] Poland Trams in Wrocław 84 km 1,435 mm (4 ft 8+1⁄2 in) 600 V Horse-drawn 1877-1906, electric since 1893[5] Portugal Almada and Seixal Light Rail 13.5 km 1,435 mm (4 ft 8+1⁄2 in) 750 V Portugal Trams in Lisbon 31 km 900 mm (2 ft 11+7⁄16 in) 600 V Converted from standard gauge in 1888 Portugal Trams in Porto 8.9 km 1,435 mm (4 ft 8+1⁄2 in) 600 V Heritage streetcar Portugal Porto Light Rail 67 km 1,435 mm (4 ft 8+1⁄2 in) 750 V Portugal Trams in Sintra 11.5 km 1,000 mm (3 ft 3+3⁄8 in) Heritage streetcar Qatar Msheireb tram 2 km 1,435 mm (4 ft 8+1⁄2 in) fuel cells [8] Qatar Education City tram 2.4 km 1,435 mm (4 ft 8+1⁄2 in) Catenary at stops only, for charging Ultracapacitors [9] Qatar Lusail Tram 19 km 1,435 mm (4 ft 8+1⁄2 in) 750 V
(partially on APS) [9] Romania Trams in Arad 48 km 1,000 mm (3 ft 3+3⁄8 in) 750 V Romania Trams in Botoșani 7.4 km 1,435 mm (4 ft 8+1⁄2 in) 600 V Voltage lowered from Romanian standard 750 V due to massive import of second hand German trams Romania Trams in Brăila 22.7 km 1,435 mm (4 ft 8+1⁄2 in) 600 V Romania Bucharest Light Rail 143 km 1,435 mm (4 ft 8+1⁄2 in) 750 V Romania Trams in Cluj-Napoca 11.7 km 1,435 mm (4 ft 8+1⁄2 in) 750 V Romania Trams in Craiova 16.7 km 1,435 mm (4 ft 8+1⁄2 in) 600 V Voltage lowered from Romanian standard 750 V due to massive import of second hand German trams Romania Trams in Galați 20.4 km 1,435 mm (4 ft 8+1⁄2 in) 750 V Romania Trams in Iași 35 km 1,000 mm (3 ft 3+3⁄8 in) 600 V 825 V until 2005 Romania Trams in Oradea 16.7 km 1,435 mm (4 ft 8+1⁄2 in) 600 V Romania Trams in Ploiești 10.3 km 1,435 mm (4 ft 8+1⁄2 in) 750 V Romania Trams in Reșița 10.3 km 1,435 mm (4 ft 8+1⁄2 in) 750 V Romania Trams in Timișoara 37.5 km 1,435 mm (4 ft 8+1⁄2 in) 600 V Russia Trams in Achinsk [ru] 26.5 km 1,524 mm (5 ft) Russia Trams in Angarsk [ru] 34 km 1,524 mm (5 ft) 550 V Russia Trams in Barnaul 125 km 1,524 mm (5 ft) Russia Trams in Biysk [ru] 71 km 1,524 mm (5 ft) 600 V Russia Trams in Chelyabinsk [ru] 68.7 km 1,524 mm (5 ft) Russia Trams in Cherepovets [ru] 1,524 mm (5 ft) Russia Trams in Cheryomushki [ru] 5.5 km 1,524 mm (5 ft) Russia Trams in Irkutsk 23.4 km 1,524 mm (5 ft) 600 V Russia Trams in Izhevsk 75.5 km 1,524 mm (5 ft) Russia Trams in Kaliningrad 21.5 km 1,000 mm (3 ft 3+3⁄8 in) Russia Trams in Kazan [ru] 120 km 1,524 mm (5 ft) 550 V Russia Trams in Kemerovo [ru] 56.1 km 1,524 mm (5 ft) 550 V Russia Trams in Khabarovsk 33.5 km 1,524 mm (5 ft) 660 V Russia Trams in Kolomna [ru] 46 km 1,524 mm (5 ft) Russia Trams in Krasnodar [ru] 123.6 km 1,524 mm (5 ft) Russia Trams in Krasnoturyinsk [ru] 3.5 km 1,524 mm (5 ft) Russia Trams in Krasnoyarsk 19 km 1,524 mm (5 ft) Russia Trams in Kursk [ru] 40.4 km 1,524 mm (5 ft) 600 V Russia Trams in Lipetsk [ru] 37 km 1,524 mm (5 ft) 600 V Russia Trams in Magnitogorsk [ru] 76 km 1,524 mm (5 ft) 600 V Russia Trams in Moscow 181 km 1,524 mm (5 ft) 550 V Russia Trams in Naberezhnye Chelny [ru] 50.6 km 1,524 mm (5 ft) 550 V Russia Trams in Nizhnekamsk [ru] 63.5 km 1,524 mm (5 ft) Russia Trams in Nizhny Novgorod 98.5 km 1,524 mm (5 ft) 600 V Russia Trams in Nizhny Tagil [ru] 1,524 mm (5 ft) Russia Trams in Novocherkassk [ru] 43.5 km 1,524 mm (5 ft) Russia Trams in Novokuznetsk 52.2 km 1,524 mm (5 ft) 600 V Russia Trams in Novosibirsk 83 km 1,524 mm (5 ft) Russia Trams in Novotroitsk [ru] 13 km 1,524 mm (5 ft) 550 V Russia Trams in Omsk [ru] 60 km 1,524 mm (5 ft) 550 V Russia Trams in Orsk [ru] 36 km 1,524 mm (5 ft) 600 V Russia Trams in Oryol [ru] 38.9 km 1,524 mm (5 ft) 600 V Russia Trams in Osinniki [ru] 18.6 km 1,524 mm (5 ft) 550 V Russia Trams in Perm [ru] 110 km 1,524 mm (5 ft) Russia Trams in Prokopyevsk [ru] 36.1 km 1,524 mm (5 ft) 550 V Russia Trams in Pyatigorsk [ru] 47.8 km 1,000 mm (3 ft 3+3⁄8 in) Russia Trams in Rostov-on-Don [ru] 67.2 km 1,435 mm (4 ft 8+1⁄2 in) 550 V Russia Trams in Saint Petersburg 230 km 1,524 mm (5 ft) 550 V Russia Trams in Salavat [ru] 26.7 km 1,524 mm (5 ft) 550 V Russia Trams in Samara [ru] 69 km 1,524 mm (5 ft) Russia Trams in Saratov [ru] 142 km 1,524 mm (5 ft) 550 V Russia Trams in Smolensk [ru] 41.3 km 1,524 mm (5 ft) 550 V Russia Trams in Stary Oskol [ru] 26.9 km 1,524 mm (5 ft) 550 V Russia Trams in Taganrog [ru] 45 km 1,524 mm (5 ft) Russia Trams in Tomsk [ru] 45.1 km 1,524 mm (5 ft) 550 V Russia Trams in Tula [ru] 92.1 km 1,524 mm (5 ft) 550 V Russia Trams in Ufa 97 km 1,524 mm (5 ft) Russia Trams in Ulan-Ude [ru] 56.5 km 1,524 mm (5 ft) Russia Trams in Ulyanovsk [ru] 130 km 1,524 mm (5 ft) Russia Trams in Usolye-Sibirskoye [ru] 11.8 km 1,524 mm (5 ft) 550 V Russia Trams in Ust-Katav [ru] 4 km 1,524 mm (5 ft) Russia Trams in Vladikavkaz [ru] 46.5 km 1,524 mm (5 ft) Russia Trams in Vladivostok 5.5 km 1,524 mm (5 ft) Russia Trams in Volchansk 7.9 km 1,524 mm (5 ft) 550 V Russia Trams in Volgograd [ru] 135 km 1,524 mm (5 ft) 550 V Russia Volgograd Metrotram 17.3 km 1,524 mm (5 ft) 550 V Russia Trams in Volzhsky [ru] 1,524 mm (5 ft) 550 V Russia Trams in Yaroslavl [ru] 40.3 km 1,524 mm (5 ft) 600 V Russia Trams in Yekaterinburg [ru] 80.6 km 1,524 mm (5 ft) Russia Trams in Zlatoust [ru] 22.7 km 1,524 mm (5 ft) 550 V Serbia Trams in Belgrade 43.5 km 1,000 mm (3 ft 3+3⁄8 in) 600 V Slovakia Trams in Bratislava 39.6 km 1,000 mm (3 ft 3+3⁄8 in) 600 V Slovakia Trams in Košice 33.7 km 1,435 mm (4 ft 8+1⁄2 in) 600 V Negative polarity Slovakia Trams in Trenčianske Teplice 5.4 km 760 mm (2 ft 5+15⁄16 in) 600 V Spain Alicante Tram 110.7 km 1,000 mm (3 ft 3+3⁄8 in) 750 V
(partially diesel) Spain Trams in Barcelona 30.4 km 1,435 mm (4 ft 8+1⁄2 in) 750 V Spain Trams in Bilbao 5.6 km 1,000 mm (3 ft 3+3⁄8 in) 750 V Spain Trams in Granada 15.9 km 1,435 mm (4 ft 8+1⁄2 in) 750 V Spain Jaén Tram 4.7 km 1,435 mm (4 ft 8+1⁄2 in) 750 V Service suspended Spain Trams in Madrid 27.8 km 1,435 mm (4 ft 8+1⁄2 in) 750 V Spain Málaga Metro 13.2 km 1,435 mm (4 ft 8+1⁄2 in) 750 V Spain Trams in Murcia 17.5 km 1,435 mm (4 ft 8+1⁄2 in) 750 V Spain Parla Tram 8.3 km 1,435 mm (4 ft 8+1⁄2 in) 750 V Spain Tram in Seville 2.2 km 1,435 mm (4 ft 8+1⁄2 in) ACR Spain Trams in Sóller 4.9 km 914 mm (3 ft) 600 V Heritage streetcar Spain Tenerife Tram 15.1 km 1,435 mm (4 ft 8+1⁄2 in) 750 V Spain Trams in Valencia 21.7 km 1,000 mm (3 ft 3+3⁄8 in) 750 V Lines 4, 6 and 8 only Spain Trams in Vitoria-Gasteiz 7.8 km 1,000 mm (3 ft 3+3⁄8 in) 750 V Spain Trams in Zaragoza 12.8 km 1,435 mm (4 ft 8+1⁄2 in) 750 V and ACR Originally metre gauge (1885–1976), restarted in 2011 as standard gauge Sweden Trams in Gothenburg 95 km 1,435 mm (4 ft 8+1⁄2 in) 750 V Sweden Trams in Malmö 2 km 1,435 mm (4 ft 8+1⁄2 in) Heritage streetcar Sweden Lund tramway 5.5 km 1,435 mm (4 ft 8+1⁄2 in) 750 V Sweden Trams in Norrköping 18.7 km 1,435 mm (4 ft 8+1⁄2 in) 750 V Sweden Trams in Stockholm 38 km 1,435 mm (4 ft 8+1⁄2 in) 750 V Switzerland Trams in Basel 46.6 km 1,000 mm (3 ft 3+3⁄8 in) 600 V Switzerland Trams in Bern 33.4 km 1,000 mm (3 ft 3+3⁄8 in) 600 V Switzerland Trams in Geneva 36 km 1,000 mm (3 ft 3+3⁄8 in) 600 V Switzerland Trams in Neuchâtel 8.8 km 1,000 mm (3 ft 3+3⁄8 in) 600 V Switzerland Riffelalp tram 0.675 km 800 mm (2 ft 7+1⁄2 in) Battery 1899-1960 and since 2001. Battery 80 V / 400 Ah Switzerland Trams in Zürich 77 km 1,000 mm (3 ft 3+3⁄8 in) 600 V Includes Stadtbahn Glattal interurban tram and Limmattalbahn portion at 600 V. Converted from standard gauge, 1890? 9.2 km 1,000 mm (3 ft 3+3⁄8 in) 1200 V Limmattalbahn portion at 1200 V Turkey Bursa modern tramway 6 km 1,435 mm (4 ft 8+1⁄2 in) 750 V Turkey Bursa heritage tramway 2.2 km 1,000 mm (3 ft 3+3⁄8 in) 750 V Turkey Trams in Eskişehir 45 km 1,000 mm (3 ft 3+3⁄8 in) 750 V Turkey Trams in Gaziantep [tr] 22 km 1,435 mm (4 ft 8+1⁄2 in) 750 V Turkey Istanbul nostalgic tramways 4.2 km 1,000 mm (3 ft 3+3⁄8 in) 750 V Heritage streetcar Turkey Istanbul Tram 42.6 km 1,435 mm (4 ft 8+1⁄2 in) 750 V
(partially on APS) T5 Line uses APS Turkey Tram İzmir 32.6 km 1,435 mm (4 ft 8+1⁄2 in) 750 V Turkey Trams in İzmit [tr] 16.2 km 1,435 mm (4 ft 8+1⁄2 in) 750 V Turkey Trams in Kayseri 17.8 km 1,435 mm (4 ft 8+1⁄2 in) 750 V Turkey Trams in Konya [tr] 41 km 1,435 mm (4 ft 8+1⁄2 in) 750 V Turkey Samsun Tram 36 km 1,435 mm (4 ft 8+1⁄2 in) 750 V Ukraine Trams in Dnipro 88 km 1,524 mm (5 ft) 600 V Ukraine Trams in Donetsk 129.5 km 1,524 mm (5 ft) 600 V Ukraine Trams in Druzhkivka [uk] 26.4 km 1,524 mm (5 ft) 600 V Ukraine Trams in Horlivka [uk] 56.7 km 1,524 mm (5 ft) 600 V Ukraine Trams in Kamianske [uk] 77.6 km 1,524 mm (5 ft) 600 V Ukraine Trams in Kharkiv 217.6 km 1,524 mm (5 ft) 600 V Ukraine Kyiv Light Rail 21 km 1,524 mm (5 ft) 600 V Ukraine Trams in Kyiv 230.2 km 1,524 mm (5 ft) 600 V Ukraine Trams in Konotop [uk] 28 km 1,524 mm (5 ft) 600 V Ukraine Trams in Kryvyi Rih 88.1 km 1,524 mm (5 ft) 600 V Ukraine Trams in Lviv 78.4 km 1,000 mm (3 ft 3+3⁄8 in) 600 V Horse-drawn 1880-1908, electric since 1894[5] Ukraine Trams in Mariupol 100.3 km 1,524 mm (5 ft) 600 V Ukraine Trams in Mykolaiv 48.2 km 1,524 mm (5 ft) 600 V Ukraine Trams in Odesa 197.3 km 1,524 mm (5 ft) 600 V Ukraine Trams in Vinnytsia 21.2 km 1,000 mm (3 ft 3+3⁄8 in) 600 V Since 1913 Ukraine Trams in Yenakiieve 32.7 km 1,524 mm (5 ft) 600 V Ukraine Trams in Yevpatoria 20 km 1,000 mm (3 ft 3+3⁄8 in) 600 V Since 1914 Ukraine Trams in Zaporizhia [uk] 99.3 km 1,524 mm (5 ft) 600 V Ukraine Trams in Zhytomyr [uk] 17.5 km 1,000 mm (3 ft 3+3⁄8 in) 600 V Horse-drawn freight service since 1897, electric passenger service since 1899 United Arab Emirates Trams in Dubai 9.5 km 1,435 mm (4 ft 8+1⁄2 in) 750 V on APS United Kingdom Trams in Blackpool 17.7 km 1,435 mm (4 ft 8+1⁄2 in) 600 V 550 V until 2011 United Kingdom Trams in Edinburgh 18.5 km 1,435 mm (4 ft 8+1⁄2 in) 750 V United Kingdom Great Orme Tramway 1.5 km 1,067 mm (3 ft 6 in) Cable car Only remaining cable-operated street tramway in UK, and one of only a few surviving in the world United Kingdom Trams in London 28 km 1,435 mm (4 ft 8+1⁄2 in) 750 V Some street running in Croydon United Kingdom Manchester Metrolink 100 km 1,435 mm (4 ft 8+1⁄2 in) 750 V United Kingdom Nottingham Express Transit 32 km 1,435 mm (4 ft 8+1⁄2 in) 750 V United Kingdom Seaton Tramway 4.8 km 2 ft 9 in (838 mm) 120 V Since 1970 United Kingdom South Yorkshire Supertram 34.6 km 1,435 mm (4 ft 8+1⁄2 in) 750 V Part of the route operates as a Tram-train United Kingdom Telford steam tram 2 ft (610 mm) Steam United Kingdom Volk's Electric Railway 1.6 km 2 ft 8+1⁄2 in (825 mm) 110 V third rail United Kingdom West Midlands Metro 22 km 1,435 mm (4 ft 8+1⁄2 in) 750 V United Kingdom Wirral Tramway 1.1 km 1,435 mm (4 ft 8+1⁄2 in) 550 V Heritage streetcar Isle of Man Douglas Bay Horse Tramway 2.6 km 914 mm (3 ft) Horse-drawn Heritage horse tram Isle of Man Manx Electric Railway 27 km 914 mm (3 ft) 550 V Heritage streetcar Isle of Man Snaefell Mountain Railway 8 km 1,067 mm (3 ft 6 in) 550 V Heritage streetcar The third rail is for the Fell Brake and does not carry any power USA Atlanta Streetcar 4.3 km 1,435 mm (4 ft 8+1⁄2 in) 750 V USA Baltimore Light Rail 48.3 km 1,435 mm (4 ft 8+1⁄2 in) 750 V Baltimore Streetcar System used 1,638 mm (5 ft 4+1⁄2 in)[10] until its closure. Gauge now used only in the Baltimore Streetcar Museum. USA Boston Green Line 43 km 1,435 mm (4 ft 8+1⁄2 in) 600 V USA Boston Mattapan Trolley 4.1 km 1,435 mm (4 ft 8+1⁄2 in) 600 V PCC streetcars USA Buffalo Metro Rail 10.3 km 1,435 mm (4 ft 8+1⁄2 in) 650 V USA Camden-Trenton line (New Jersey) 55 km 1,435 mm (4 ft 8+1⁄2 in) Diesel USA Charlotte, CityLynx Gold Line 2.4 km 1,435 mm (4 ft 8+1⁄2 in) Heritage streetcar USA Charlotte, Lynx Blue Line 31.1 km 1,435 mm (4 ft 8+1⁄2 in) 750 V USA Cincinnati Streetcar 5.8 km 1,435 mm (4 ft 8+1⁄2 in) 750 V Originally 1,588 mm (5 ft 2+1⁄2 in) (1859-1951) former system operated by Cincinnati Street Railway, restarted in 2016 standard gauge USA Blue, Green, and Waterfront Lines 24.6 km 1,435 mm (4 ft 8+1⁄2 in) 600 V USA Dallas Light Rail 150 km 1,435 mm (4 ft 8+1⁄2 in) 750 V USA Dallas Streetcar 3.9 km 1,435 mm (4 ft 8+1⁄2 in) 750 V USA Dallas, McKinney Avenue Transit Authority 7.4 km 1,435 mm (4 ft 8+1⁄2 in) 600 V Heritage streetcar USA Denver Light Rail 93.6 km 1,435 mm (4 ft 8+1⁄2 in) 750 V Originally 1,067 mm (3 ft 6 in) (?), restarted in 1994 as standard gauge. Some street running USA Streetcar in Detroit 5.3 km 1,435 mm (4 ft 8+1⁄2 in) 750 V and battery USA El Paso Streetcar 7.7 km 1,435 mm (4 ft 8+1⁄2 in) 650 V USA Houston Light Rail 24.5 km 1,435 mm (4 ft 8+1⁄2 in) 600/750 V USA Hudson–Bergen Light Rail 27.4 km 1,435 mm (4 ft 8+1⁄2 in) 750 V USA Trams in Kansas City 3.5 km 1,435 mm (4 ft 8+1⁄2 in) 750 V USA Streetcars in Kenosha, Wisconsin 2.7 km 1,435 mm (4 ft 8+1⁄2 in) 600 V Heritage streetcar USA Streetcar in Little Rock 5.5 km 1,435 mm (4 ft 8+1⁄2 in) 600 V Heritage streetcar USA Los Angeles Light Rail 142.1 km 1,435 mm (4 ft 8+1⁄2 in) 750 V Only A, C, E, and K Lines USA Streetcar in Memphis 10.1 km 1,435 mm (4 ft 8+1⁄2 in) 600 V Heritage streetcar USA Milwaukee Streetcar 3.4 km 1,435 mm (4 ft 8+1⁄2 in) 750 V USA Minneapolis-Saint Paul Light Rail 35.1 km 1,435 mm (4 ft 8+1⁄2 in) 750 V USA Newark Light Rail 10 km 1,435 mm (4 ft 8+1⁄2 in) 750 V USA New Orleans streetcar system 35.9 km 1,588 mm (5 ft 2+1⁄2 in) 600 V USA Norfolk Light Rail 11.9 km 1,435 mm (4 ft 8+1⁄2 in) 750 V USA Oklahoma City Streetcar 7.7 km 1,435 mm (4 ft 8+1⁄2 in) 740 V and
battery USA Philadelphia Light Rail and Streetcars 72.3 km 1,581 mm (5 ft 2+1⁄4 in) 600 V SEPTA Subway–Surface Trolley Lines, Routes 101 and 102 and Route 15 USA Phoenix Light Rail 45 km 1,435 mm (4 ft 8+1⁄2 in) 750 V USA Pittsburgh Light Rail 42.2 km 1,588 mm (5 ft 2+1⁄2 in) 650 V Pittsburgh Railways (1902-1964) use the same track gauge and partially the same route USA Portland Light Rail 96.6 km 1,435 mm (4 ft 8+1⁄2 in) 750/825 V Sections west of NE 9th Avenue & Holladay Street utilize a 750 V system USA Portland Streetcar 11.6 km 1,435 mm (4 ft 8+1⁄2 in) 750 V USA SacRT light rail 69 km 1,435 mm (4 ft 8+1⁄2 in) 750 V USA St. Louis MetroLink 74 km 1,435 mm (4 ft 8+1⁄2 in) 750 V USA St. Louis Streetcar 3.5 km 1,435 mm (4 ft 8+1⁄2 in) 600 V Heritage streetcar USA Salt Lake City Light Rail 72.1 km 1,435 mm (4 ft 8+1⁄2 in) 750 V USA Salt Lake City Streetcar 3.2 km 1,435 mm (4 ft 8+1⁄2 in) USA San Diego Trolley 103.8 km 1,435 mm (4 ft 8+1⁄2 in) 600 V Oldest "second-generation" light rail system in the United States USA San Francisco cable car system 8.3 km 1,067 mm (3 ft 6 in) Cable car Part of San Francisco Municipal Railway USA San Francisco Muni Metro 62.6 km 1,435 mm (4 ft 8+1⁄2 in) 600 V Part of San Francisco Municipal Railway USA San Francisco, E Embarcadero and F Market & Wharves 1,435 mm (4 ft 8+1⁄2 in) 600 V Heritage streetcar, part of San Francisco Municipal Railway USA VTA light rail 67.9 km 1,435 mm (4 ft 8+1⁄2 in) 750 V USA Link Light rail 50.2 km 1,435 mm (4 ft 8+1⁄2 in) 1500 V 1 Line and 2 Line 2.6 km 750 V T Line. Originally 1,067 mm (3 ft 6 in) until 1938, restarted in 2003 as standard gauge USA Seattle Streetcar 6.1 km 1,435 mm (4 ft 8+1⁄2 in) 750 V USA Streetcars in Tampa 4.3 km 1,435 mm (4 ft 8+1⁄2 in) 600 V Heritage streetcar USA Tucson Streetcar 6.3 km 1,435 mm (4 ft 8+1⁄2 in) 750 V USA Trams in Washington, D.C. 3.9 km 1,435 mm (4 ft 8+1⁄2 in) 750 V Standard gauge used on both original tramways (from 1862-1962) and light rail (opened in August 2016). | ||||||
5064 | dbpedia | 0 | 64 | https://www.fingrid.fi/en/pages/contacts/offices/ | en | Offices | [
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] | null | [] | 2017-05-19T01:01:29+03:00 | en | Fingrid | https://www.fingrid.fi/en/pages/contacts/offices/ | Fingrid Oyj, head office
Läkkisepäntie 21
FI-00620 Helsinki
P.O.Box 530
FI-00101 Helsinki, Finland
Location on map
See available parking spaces
Tel. +358 30 395 5000
Visiting address of our head office: Läkkisepäntie 21, 00620 Helsinki
How to find us:
The entrances are located at Läkkisepäntie 21 (the main entrance) and at Läkkisepänkäytävä (if you arrive by train or on the buses on Tuusulanväylä).
Parking: There are 8 marked parking spaces for customers in the yard at Läkkisepäntie 21. Spaces 69-70 must be reserved in advance (please contact your host at Fingrid in advance). A parking disc is required for parking on the street in the Metsälä area, e.g. on Läkkisepäntie and Asesepänkuja. You can also park on the street on Osmontie on the other side of the railway track. Osmontie is a short walk from our office.
Public transport: Commuter trains I and K from Helsinki to Käpylä and commuter train P from the north (including the airport) to Käpylä station run every 10 minutes. Käpylä station is a few minutes' walk from Fingrid.
Buses from Rautatientori square and Kamppi in central Helsinki and from the north drive along Tuusulanväylä to Käpylä station near Läkkisepäntie. The buses run every 5 minutes. | ||||||
5064 | dbpedia | 2 | 92 | https://yle.fi/a/3-9280204 | en | Tampere tram project aims at 2021 completion | https://images.cdn.yle.fi/image/upload/w_1200,ar_1.91,c_fill,g_faces/q_auto:eco,f_auto,fl_lossy/13-3-9146766 | https://images.cdn.yle.fi/image/upload/w_1200,ar_1.91,c_fill,g_faces/q_auto:eco,f_auto,fl_lossy/13-3-9146766 | [
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] | null | [] | 2016-11-09T07:00:00+02:00 | The Tampere City Council approved plans to build a 330-million-euro light rail public transport system to serve their city on Monday. Project Manager Ville-Mikael Tuominen estimates that the first front-end hoes will begin their work along the motorway to the Hervanta suburb already in February or March of next year. | en | News | https://yle.fi/a/3-9280204 | Tampere city councillors voted 41-25 with one abstention on Monday to approve a light rail infrastructure project for the southern Finnish city. Project head Ville-Mikael Tuominen predicts that the positive decision will soon be made apparent in more job advertisements in the region.
“Service providers, construction workers and designers will be needed to make this project a reality,” he said on Tuesday.
The railway alliance implementation plan outlines that work will begin already in the first months of the coming year at the main depot and eight other locations. Tuominen is confident that things will begin on schedule.
“We have been working on a plan with the builders for little over a year, and have received a binding offer for construction of the line that would connect the Hervanta area with the Central Hospital. The workers are waiting to start.”
Machines laying the foundations and building the rail lines will become a familiar sight in Tampere next year, particularly along the streets of Hermiankatu, Insinöörinkatu, Sammonkatu and Itsenäisyydenkatu, as well as alongside the Hervanta motorway.
“The goal is to start building the line from the Hervanta depot to Itsenäisyydenkatu first. Depending on the location, we will be excavating land, felling trees, fencing off work areas and setting up site offices, etc,” says Tuominen, who believes that most of the construction will take place between 2017 and 2020.
Operator still not decided
Next year will also be the time to decide which provider will take over administration and operation of the tram service.
“Deciding on the tram operator will be a critical choice: who will come to operate it and under what kind of agreement,” says Tuominen.
He hopes to keep as many streets open to traffic as possible during the building phase.
“For example, traffic on Sammonkatu, Teiskontie, Itsenäisyydenkatu and Pirkankatu should continue as normal despite the work, for both motor and light traffic. But we will have to see if we’ll be able to keep the Hämeensilta bridge open through it all. We will start to build there in 2018.”
The third largest city, after Helsinki and Espoo
If everything goes according to plan, Tampere’s tram network will be ready for use in 2021.
Unlike the southwest coastal city of Turku, Tampere has not had a previously existing tram system.
The Turku network was broken up in 1972 as the rolling stock reached the end of its lifespan. This led to a drop in public transport passengers in the city, despite clear population growth. Turku is now also considering the establishment of a new light rail network.
The Tampere metropolitan area has a population of over 350,000 people, making it the most populous Finnish city outside the greater Helsinki area. The largest inland city in the Nordics, it serves as a major economic and cultural hub to the inner regions of the country. | |||
5064 | dbpedia | 1 | 86 | https://medium.com/illumination/spectacular-new-technology-and-trains-seen-as-stunning-5d54bd6499 | en | Spectacular New Technology and Trains — Seen as Stunning | [
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"Terry Day",
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] | 2023-01-24T22:11:34.461000+00:00 | This is my second article on Finland and the trains that are used there. In this article we will look at many topics such as opposition, new railways, etc.,) | en | https://miro.medium.com/v2/5d8de952517e8160e40ef9841c781cdc14a5db313057fa3c3de41c6f5b494b19 | Medium | https://medium.com/illumination/spectacular-new-technology-and-trains-seen-as-stunning-5d54bd6499 | Dear Reader,
This is my second article on Finland and the trains that are used there. In this article we will look at many topics such as opposition (why would anyone oppose new trains, new railways, etc.,), who the operators of the trains are both private and government, trips that can be taken with electrified train and plans for additional opportunities.
We also look at safety, railway links to adjacent countries, Metros, Trams, and Light Rail. It is my hope that by the time you have read both articles you will have a basic understanding of the trains being used in Finland. I value your opinion so please let me know if you enjoyed reading these articles. Many thanks in advance! With that I suspect we’d better get started.
Opposition
Environmental and cultural concerns affect these plans. The indigenous Sami people are concerned that the proposed line would pass through reindeer grazing. I suspect that they are good people who would like to see the trains arrive and be used but they want to ensure that it is done in a reasonable manner with the least impact to the society and wildlife of the areas where the train will operate. | ||||
5064 | dbpedia | 3 | 5 | https://boards.cruisecritic.com/topic/1970568-tram-23-in-helsinki-better-than-a-hoho/ | en | Tram 2/3 in Helsinki - better than a HOHO? | [
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] | null | [
"honeymoon cruiser 614"
] | 2014-05-31T19:43:58+00:00 | Hello, Husband and I are currently debating on whether or not to do a hoho tour of Helsinki or make our own using directions from Rick Steves for the 2/3 tram tour. I was wondering if anyone had done the 2/3 tram tour and could attest to how easy it is and how much time it actually takes. Basical... | en | //content.invisioncic.com/j283755/monthly_2023_05/android-chrome-36x36.png?v=1718729844 | Cruise Critic Community | https://boards.cruisecritic.com/topic/1970568-tram-23-in-helsinki-better-than-a-hoho/ | Hello,
Husband and I are currently debating on whether or not to do a hoho tour of Helsinki or make our own using directions from Rick Steves for the 2/3 tram tour. I was wondering if anyone had done the 2/3 tram tour and could attest to how easy it is and how much time it actually takes. Basically is it worth it just to pay more for the convenience of the Ho Ho bus or not? TIA
As a local I am not able to reliably tell how easy it seems for a visitor, but I will comment on other aspects.
The route of the 2/3 is very different from the HOHO. The tram route is longer and takes you to parts of Helsinki the HOHO does not go to so you will be seeing more of "regular city" instead of just the typical tourist attractions. To compare here are
HSL's 2/3 brochure with map: https://www.hsl.fi/sites/default/files/uploads/helsinki_sightseeing.pdf
One of the HOHO routes: http://www.redbuses.com/img/helsinki-map.jpg
The whole figure-8 onboard 2/3 would take just under one hour. The HOHO route is somewhat shorter. Trams run about every 10 minutes which is more frequent than the HOHOs that may have even 30 or 45 minute intervals. The cost of the day ticket for public transport is 8 euros and HOHOs are 25 euros.
The 2/3 runs by only the EPL berth whereas the HOHOs visit pretty much every port with a ship in port. However you can get to the 2/3 relatively easily from all berths by other public transport. Tram #9 from LMA berth, bus #14 from LHB and LHC, and tram #4/4T from Katajanokka berths. The longest walk required is from LMA to tram #9 which is nearly 600 meters.
It is available on line somewhere but please note that most of them are outdated as tram routes were renumbered/modified not many months ago.
At the transport desk at airport I saw 2/3 brochure and I am sure any tourist info office will have it but don't think you need that brochure upfront (especially given info above)
If money is not an issue or you have mobility issue or you are timid about public transport then HOHO might be of help otherwise for most people Helsinki's trams are extremely easy to use and very helpful
Sibelius monument (spelling?) involves taking a bus or 3 block walk from tram (on the other hand I regretted wasting my precious time going to it - would rather have gone atop atljee bar)
For all other places, tram 2 or 4 were ideal.
Would strongly recommend going to island fortress though. And your tram day pass will cover the boat ride
Edited June 2, 2014 by hal2008 | ||||
5064 | dbpedia | 2 | 84 | https://www.urban-transport-magazine.com/en/skoda-drei-staedte-drei-neue-trams-und-ein-neuer-o-busauftrag/ | en | three new trams and a new trolleybus order | [
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"Editorial | UTM"
] | 2022-10-25T10:40:02+00:00 | 18 October 2022 is likely to go down as a very special milestone in Škoda Transportation’s corporate history: Škoda delivered new trams to three operators in three countries on the same day, while a supply contract for 33 new trolleybuses for the Czech city of Ústí nad Labem was signed shortly before. It should be […] | en | Urban Transport Magazine | https://www.urban-transport-magazine.com/en/skoda-drei-staedte-drei-neue-trams-und-ein-neuer-o-busauftrag/ | 18 October 2022 is likely to go down as a very special milestone in Škoda Transportation’s corporate history: Škoda delivered new trams to three operators in three countries on the same day, while a supply contract for 33 new trolleybuses for the Czech city of Ústí nad Labem was signed shortly before.
It should be extremely rare that a manufacturer delivers three trams almost simultaneously or presents them to the public. But that is exactly what happened on Tuesday, 18 October. While the first ForCity Smart 45T tram for Brno was presented to the public, the first ForCity Smart 36T reached the RNV depot in Ludwigshafen, while a good 2,000 km to the north, the second ForCity Smart Artic X54 for the Jokeri line in Helsinki was delivered. But let’s have a look at the different projects step by step:
Brno
On 18 October, the first new ForCity Smart 45T for the second largest Czech city in Moravia (Jihomoravský kraj) was presented to the public in front of invited guests. From mid-December, the new ForCity Smart 45T will be in service on the new tram line 8 leading to the university campus. In the coming weeks, the tram will cover the kilometres required for commissioning and approval and then go into trial operation with passengers.
The ForCity Smart 45T tram is a bi-directional, low-floor, three-car vehicle with turnable bogies. The middle car rests on two bogies, while the end cars each are mounted on one bogie each. Reliable driving characteristics even in bad weather are ensured by the vehicle’s full adhesion. The 31-metre-long tram has room for up to 233 passengers, 64 of whom are seated. The maximum speed is 70 km/h. Air conditioning and two large multifunctional spaces for wheelchairs, trolleys or bicycles are also available. The new tram also offers a modern, clear information system with screens and panels. To ensure safety, the vehicle is equipped with a camera system.
Brno Public Transport has signed a contract with the Škoda Group for the purchase of up to 40 new trams – five vehicles are currently on order. The total value of the contract is CZK 2.4 billion (approx. € 98.1 million).
The new tram has a spacious, air-conditioned interior equipped with stainless steel handrails, widescreen LCD information monitors and USB chargers. The RIS2 control and information system or EOC2 validators are also available. For the transport of several wheelchair users, the tram has a total of four tilting platforms. The tram is also equipped with an external and internal CCTV system and partially tinted side windows.
The driver’s cab has been redesigned. In addition to the clear console, which focuses on simplicity and good visibility, some of the controls are located directly on the driver’s seat. The windscreens are equipped with heating, the front windscreen with design daytime running lights. The electrical equipment enables recuperation, i.e. the feeding of electricity back into the grid during braking, which reduces the vehicle’s overall consumption and thus its operating costs.
Ludwigshafen (RNV)
In the early hours of 18 October, the time had finally come: the first RNT 2020 tram, the first Rhine-Neckar tram, was delivered from Pilsen in the Czech Republic to the Ludwigshafen depot of Rhein-Neckar-Verkehr GmbH (rnv). In the coming days, the first tests will begin at the rnv depot before the vehicle can set off on test runs in the transport area. The vehicle will be presented to the press on Wednesday, 26 October.
“Škoda a has been working very intensively on the completion of the first vehicles over the last few days and weeks and now it actually went quite quickly,” reports Martin in der Beek, technical managing director of RNV. “We are delighted that the first tram is finally here in the region,” says in der Beek. However, it will still take quite some time before passenger service begins. “Together with Škoda, we still have a lot of work ahead of us before passengers can ride the RNT for the first time.” In the coming months, thousands of test kilometres will have to be covered, functional tests carried out, procedures tested and staff trained before the trams actually go into operation.
While the tram with the number 1401 could be seen at the international rail fair InnoTrans in Berlin in September, the first car to be delivered is the number 1402.
The order comprises a total of 80 vehicles and has a volume of over EUR 250 million, of which around EUR 95 million will be financed by a loan from KfW IPEX-Bank. The European Investment Bank EIB is also involved with a long-term loan.
They are supplied in three different length variants:
31 trams with 30 m length
37 trams with 40 m length
12 trams with 58 m length
The long trams are intended to avoid multiple trams at rush hour and thus accommodate more passengers in the same space. According to Škoda and RNV, the 60-metre version of the RNT would be the longest tram in the world.
Helsinki
Far to the north, the second of a total of 29 new ForCity Smart Artic XL for Joker Linie was delivered. The new type of tram stands out from previous 100% low-floor trams thanks to its innovative vehicle architecture: The five-section vehicles have four bogies, each housed under the first and second module.
After a 10,000 km endurance test conducted on Helsinki’s existing tram network, the first vehicle was delivered to the new Jokeri Line depot in Roihupelto on 12 July.
Since then, the first test and setting runs have been taking place on the new 25 km long tangential line. Commissioning is scheduled for 2024.
Ústí nad Labem
From tram to trolleybus: On 7 October, the Czech city of Ústí nad Labem ordered a total of 33 new Škoda 27Tr trolleybuses, with Solaris supplying the mechanical part. This order will exceed the amount of CZK 650 million (approx. 25.5 million euros) and will build on our previous cooperation.
25.10.2022 | |||||
5064 | dbpedia | 0 | 72 | https://tractors.fandom.com/wiki/Tram | en | Tram | https://static.wikia.nocookie.net/tractors/images/a/a1/4trams_vienna.jpg/revision/latest/scale-to-width-down/1200?cb=20130225035422 | https://static.wikia.nocookie.net/tractors/images/a/a1/4trams_vienna.jpg/revision/latest/scale-to-width-down/1200?cb=20130225035422 | [
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"Contributors to Tractor & Construction Plant Wiki"
] | 2024-07-29T22:27:06+00:00 | A tram (also known as a tramcar; a streetcar or street car; and a trolley, trolleycar, or trolley car) is a passenger rail vehicle which runs on tracks along public urban streets and also sometimes on separate rights of way. Trams powered by electricity, which were the most common type... | en | /skins-ucp/mw139/common/favicon.ico | Tractor & Construction Plant Wiki | https://tractors.fandom.com/wiki/Tram | This article is about public transport vehicles running on rails. For other uses of "tram", see Tram (disambiguation).
"Streetcar" redirects here. For other uses, see Streetcar (disambiguation).
Rail transport Operations Track Maintenance High-speed Gauge Stations Trains Locomotives Rolling stock Railways History Attractions Terminology By country Accidents
Modelling
A tram (also known as a tramcar; a streetcar or street car; and a trolley, trolleycar, or trolley car) is a passenger rail vehicle which runs on tracks along public urban streets and also sometimes on separate rights of way. Trams powered by electricity, which were the most common type historically, were under the classification of electric street railways. Trams also include horse railways which were widely used in urban areas before electrification.
Trams may also run between cities and/or towns (interurbans, tram-train), and/or partially grade separated even in the cities (light rail). Trams very occasionally also carry freight.
Trams are usually lighter and shorter than conventional trains and rapid transit trains. However, the differences between these modes of public transportation are often unclear. Some trams (for instance tram-trains) may also run on ordinary railway tracks, a tramway may be upgraded to a light rail or a rapid transit line, two urban tramways may be united to an interurban, etc.
Most trams today use electrical power, usually fed by a pantograph; in some cases by a sliding shoe on a third rail or trolley pole. If necessary, they may have several power systems. Certain types of cable car are also known as trams. Another power source is diesel; a few trams use electricity in the streets and diesel in more rural environments. Steam, petrol (gasoline), gas and animals have historically been used as power sources. Horse and mule driven trams do still occur.
Tramways are now included in the wider term "light rail",[citation needed] which also includes segregated systems. Some systems have both segregated and street-running sections, but are usually then referred to as trams, because it is the equipment for street-running which tends to be the decisive factor. Vehicles on wholly segregated light rail systems are generally called trains, although cases have been known of "trains" built for a segregated system being sold to new owners and becoming "trams".
Etymology and terminology[]
Main article: Passenger rail terminology
The terms tram and tramway were originally (ca. 1500) Scottish words for the type of truck used in coal mines and the tracks on which they ran, probably derived from Middle Flemish tram "beam, handle of a barrow, bar, rung", a North Sea Germanic word of unknown origin meaning the beam or shaft of a barrow or sledge, also the barrow itself. Tram-car is attested from 1873.[1]
Although tram and tramway have been adopted by many languages, they are not used universally in English; North Americans prefer trolley, trolleycar or streetcar. The term streetcar is first recorded in 1840. When electrification came, Americans began to speak of trolleycars or later, trolleys, believed to derive from the troller, a four-wheeled device that was dragged along dual overhead wires by a cable that connected the troller to the top of the car and collected electrical power from the overhead wires, sometimes simply strung, sometimes on a catenary.[2] The trolley pole, which supplanted the troller early on, is fitted to the top of the car and is spring-loaded in order to keep the trolley wheel or alternately, a grooved lubricated "skate", at the top of the pole, firmly in contact with the overhead wire. The terms trolley pole and trolley wheel both derive from the troller.[3] Trams using trolley-pole current collection are normally powered through a single pole, grounded through the wheels and rails. The motor circuit is designed to allow electrical current to flow through the underframe. Although this use of "trolley" for tram was not adopted in Europe, the term was associated with "trolleybus": a rubber-tyred vehicle without tracks, which draws its power from overhead wires.
Modern trolley cars often use a metal shoe with a carbon insert instead of a trolley wheel, or have a pantograph. In North America, trams are sometimes called trolleys, even though strictly this may be incorrect: for example, cable cars, or conduit cars that draw power from an underground supply.
Tourist buses made to look like streetcars are sometimes called trolleys in the U.S. (tourist trolley). Open, low-speed segmented vehicles on rubber tires, generally used to ferry tourists short distances, can be called trams, for example on the Universal Studios backlot tour.
Electric buses, which use twin trolley poles (one for live current, one for return) but have wheels with tyres rolling on a hard surface rather than tracks, are called trolleybuses, trackless trolleys (particularly in the Northeastern U.S.), or sometimes (in the UK, as well as in Seattle and Vancouver) simply trolleys.
History[]
Main article: History of trams
Technical developments[]
Horse-drawn[]
Main article: Horsecar
External images Watch video of horse tram in Belfast in 1901
The very first tram was on the Swansea and Mumbles Railway in south Wales, UK; it was horse-drawn at first, and later moved by steam and electric power. The Mumbles Railway Act was passed by the British Parliament in 1804, and the first passenger railway (similar to streetcars in the US some 30 years later) started operating in 1807.[4] The first streetcars, also known as horsecars in North America, were built in the United States and developed from city stagecoach lines and omnibus lines that picked up and dropped off passengers on a regular route without the need to be pre-hired. These trams were an animal railway, usually using teams of horses and sometimes mules to haul the cars, usually two as a team. Occasionally other animals were put to use, or humans in emergencies. The first streetcar line, developed by Irish-American John Stephenson, was the New York and Harlem Railroad's Fourth Avenue Line which ran along the Bowery and Fourth Avenue in New York City. Service began in 1832. It was followed in 1835 by New Orleans, Louisiana, which has the oldest continuously operating street railway system in the world, according to the American Society of Mechanical Engineers.[5]
These early forms of public transport developed out of industrial haulage routes or from the omnibus that first ran on public streets, using the newly invented iron or steel rail or 'tramway'. These were local versions of the stagecoach lines and picked up and dropped off passengers on a regular route, without the need to be pre-hired. Horsecars on tramlines were an improvement over the omnibus as the low rolling resistance of metal wheels on iron or steel rails (usually grooved from 1852 on), allowed the animals to haul a greater load for a given effort than the omnibus and gave a smoother ride. The horse-drawn streetcar combined the low cost, flexibility, and safety of animal power with the efficiency, smoothness, and all-weather capability of a rail right-of-way.
Steam[]
Main article: Tram engine
The first mechanical trams were powered by steam. Generally, there were two types of steam tram. The first and most common had a small steam locomotive (called a tram engine in the UK) at the head of a line of one or more carriages, similar to a small train. Systems with such steam trams included Christchurch, New Zealand; Sydney, Australia; other city systems in New South Wales; Munich, Germany (from August 1883 on)[6] and the Dublin & Blessington Steam Tramway in Ireland. Steam tramways also were used on the suburban tramway lines around Milan; the last Gamba de Legn ("Peg-Leg") tramway ran on the Milan-Magenta-Castano Primo route in late 1958.[citation needed]
Tram engines usually had modifications to make them suitable for street running in residential areas. The wheels, and other moving parts of the machinery, were usually enclosed for safety reasons and to make the engines quieter. Measures were often taken to prevent the engines from emitting visible smoke or steam. Usually the engines used coke rather than coal as fuel to avoid emitting smoke. And condensers or superheating were used to avoid emitting visible steam.
The other style of steam tram had the steam engine in the body of the tram, referred to as a tram engine or steam dummy. The most notable system to adopt such trams was in Paris. French-designed steam trams also operated in Rockhampton, in the Australian state of Queensland between 1909 and 1939. Stockholm, Sweden, had a steam tram line at the island of Södermalm between 1887 and 1901. A major drawback of this style of tram was the limited space for the engine, so that these trams were usually underpowered.
Cable-hauled[]
Main article: Cable car (railway)
The next type of tram was the cable car, pulled along a track by a moving cable. The power to move the cable is normally provided at a site away from the actual operation. The first cable car line was tested in San Francisco, in 1873. The second city to operate cable trams was Dunedin in New Zealand, from 1881 to 1957. A large cable system operated in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, from 1885 to 1940. There were also two isolated cable lines in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. A line in Washington DC ran to Georgetown (where some of the vaults can still be seen today.) Los Angeles also had several cable car lines, including the Second Street Cable Railroad, which operated from 1885 to 1889, and the Temple Street Cable Railway, which operated from 1886 to 1898. In Dresden, Germany, in 1901 an elevated suspended cable car following the Eugen Langen one-railed floating tram system started operating.
Cable Cars operated on Highgate Hill in North London and Kennington to Brixton Hill In South London.
They also worked around "Upper Douglas" in the Isle of Man, Cable Car 72/73 being the sole survivor of the fleet.
Cable cars suffered from high infrastructure costs, since an expensive system of cables, pulleys, stationary engines and vault structures between the rails had to be provided. They also require strength and skill to operate, to avoid obstructions and other cable cars. The cable had to be dropped at particular locations and the cars coast, for example when crossing another cable line. Breaks and frays in the cable, which occurred frequently, required the complete cessation of services over a cable route, while the cable was repaired. After the development of electrically powered trams, the more costly cable car systems declined rapidly.
Cable cars were especially effective in hilly cities as their undriven wheels cannot slip on the rails as they climb a steep hill. The cable physically pulls the car up the hill at a steady pace, unlike a low-powered steam or horse-drawn car. Cable cars do have wheel brakes, but the cable can also hold the car going downhill at a constant speed.
This concept partially explains their survival in San Francisco. However, the most extensive cable system in the U.S. was in Chicago, a much flatter city. The largest cable system in the world, in the city of Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, had at its peak 592 trams running on 74 kilometres of track.
The San Francisco cable cars, though significantly reduced in number, continue to perform a regular transportation function, in addition to being a tourist attraction. A single line also survives in Wellington, New Zealand (rebuilt in 1979 as a funicular but still called the "Wellington Cable Car").
Hybrid funicular[]
The Opicina Tramway in Trieste operates a hybrid funicular system where the trams are pushed uphill by cable tractors.
Electric (trolley cars)[]
Main article: History of electric trams
Electric trams (known as streetcars or trolleys in North America) were first experimentally installed in Saint Petersburg, Russia, invented and tested by Fyodor Pirotsky as early as 1880. These trams, like virtually all others mentioned in this section, used either a trolley pole or a pantograph, to feed power from electric wires strung above the tram route. Nevertheless, there were early experiments with battery-powered trams but these appear to have all been unsuccessful. The first trams in Bendigo, Australia, in 1892, were battery-powered but within as little as three months they were replaced with horse-drawn trams. In New York City some minor lines also used storage batteries. Then, comparatively recently, during the 1950s, a longer battery-operated tramway line ran from Milan to Bergamo.
The first regular electric tram service using pantographs or trolley poles, the Gross-Lichterfelde Tramway, went into service in Lichterfelde, a suburb of Berlin, Germany, by Siemens & Halske AG, in May 1881.[7] The company Siemens still exists.
Another was by John Joseph Wright, brother of the famous mining entrepreneur Whitaker Wright, in Toronto in 1883. Earlier installations proved difficult or unreliable. Siemens' line, for example, provided power through a live rail and a return rail, like a model train, limiting the voltage that could be used, and providing electric shocks to people and animals crossing the tracks.[8] Siemens later designed his own method of current collection, from an overhead wire, called the bow collector.
In 1883, Magnus Volk constructed his 2 feet (610 mm) gauge Volk's Electric Railway along the eastern seafront at Brighton, England. This two kilometer line, re-gauged to 2 feet 9 inches (840 mm) in 1884, remains in service to this day, and is the oldest operating electric tramway in the world. The first tram for permanent service with overhead lines was the Mödling and Hinterbrühl Tram in Austria. It began operating in October 1883, but was closed in 1932.
Multiple functioning experimental electric trams were exhibited at the 1884 World Cotton Centennial World's Fair in New Orleans, Louisiana, but they were not deemed good enough to replace the Lamm fireless engines that then propelled the St. Charles Avenue Streetcar in that city.
Electric trams were first tested in service in the United States in Richmond, Virginia, in 1888, in the Richmond Union Passenger Railway built by Frank J. Sprague, though the first commercial installation of an electric streetcar in the United States was built in 1884 in Cleveland, Ohio and operated for a period of one year by the East Cleveland Street Railway Company.[10]
The first electric street tramway in Britain, the Blackpool Tramway, was opened on 29 September 1885 using conduit collection along Blackpool Promenade. Since the closure of the Glasgow Corporation Tramways in 1962, this has been the only first-generation operational tramway in the UK.
Sarajevo had the first electric trams on the continent of Europe, with a city-wide system in 1885.[11] Budapest established its tramway system in 1887, and this line has grown to be the busiest tram line in Europe, with a tram running every 60 seconds at rush hour (however Istanbul's line T1, with a minimum headway of two minutes, probably carries more passengers – 265,000 per day). Bucharest and Belgrade[12] ran a regular service from 1894.[13][14] Ljubljana introduced its tram system in 1901 – it closed in 1958.[15]
In Australia there were electric systems in Sydney, Newcastle, Broken Hill, Melbourne, Geelong, Ballarat, Bendigo, Brisbane, Adelaide, Perth, Kalgoorlie, Laverton, Hobart and Launceston. By the 1970s, the only trams remaining in Australia were the Melbourne system and a single line connecting Adelaide to the beachside suburb of Glenelg. An unusual line that operated from 1889 to 1896 connected Box Hill, then an outer suburb of Melbourne, to Doncaster, then a favoured picnic spot but now a dormitory suburb. In recent years the Melbourne system, generally recognised as one of the largest in the world, has been considerably moderrnised and expanded. The Adelaide line has also been extended to the Entertainment Centre, and there are plans to expand further.
In 1904 trams were put into operation in Hong Kong. The Hong Kong Tramway is still in operation today and uses double-decker trams exclusively.
Gas trams[]
In the late 19th and early 20th centuries a number of systems in various parts of the world employed trams powered by gas, naphtha gas or coal gas in particular. Gas trams are known to have operated between Alphington and Clifton Hill in the northern suburbs of Melbourne, Australia (1886–1888); in Berlin and Dresden, Germany; in Estonia (1920s–1930); between Jelenia Góra, Cieplice, and Sobieszów in Poland (from 1897); and in the UK at Lytham St Annes, Neath (1896–1920), and Trafford Park, Manchester (1897–1908).
Comparatively little has been published about gas trams. However, research on the subject was carried out for an article in the October 2011 edition of "The Times", the historical journal of the Australian Association of Timetable Collectors.[16][17]
A tram system powered by compressed gas is due to open in Malaysia in 2012.[18]
Other power sources[]
In some places, other forms of power were used to power the tram. Hastings and some other tramways, for example Stockholms Spårvägar in Sweden and some lines in Karachi, used petrol trams. Paris operated trams that were powered by compressed air using the Mekarski system.
Galveston Island Trolley in Texas operates diesel trams due to the city's hurricane-prone location, which would result in frequent damage to an electrical supply system.
Although Portland, Victoria promotes its tourist tram[19] as being a cable car it actually operates using a hidden diesel motor. The tram, which runs on a circular route around the town of Portland, uses dummies and salons formerly used on the extensive Melbourne cable tramway system and now beautifully restored.
Design[]
Low floor[]
For more details on this topic, see Low-floor tram.
The latest generation of light rail vehicles is of partial or fully low-floor design, with the floor 300 to 360 mm (11.8 to 14.2 in) above top of rail, a capability not found in older vehicles. This allows them to load passengers, including those in wheelchairs, directly from low-rise platforms that are not much more than raised footpaths/sidewalks. This satisfies requirements to provide access to disabled passengers without using expensive wheelchair lifts, while at the same time making boarding faster and easier for other passengers. Various companies have developed particular low-floor designs, varying from part-low-floor (with internal steps between the low-floor section and the high-floor sections over the bogies), e.g. Citytram[20] and Siemens S70, to 100% low-floor, where the floor passes through a corridor between the drive wheels, thus maintaining a relatively constant (stepless) level from end to end of the tram. However, prior to the introduction of the Škoda ForCity,[citation needed] this carried the mechanical penalty of requiring bogies to be fixed and unable to pivot (except for less than 5 degrees in some trams) and thus reducing curve negotiation. This creates undue wear on the tracks and wheels. However, passengers appreciate the ease of boarding and alighting from low-floor trams and moving about inside 100% low-floor trams. Passenger satisfaction with low-floor trams is high.[21] Low-floor trams are now running in many cities around the world, including Amsterdam, Dublin, Hiroshima, Houston, Istanbul, Melbourne, Milan, Prague, Riga, Strasbourg, Vienna, Zagreb, Helsinki and Zürich.
Articulated[]
Articulated trams, invented and first used by the Boston Elevated Railway in 1912–13[22] at a total length of about twelve meters long (40 ft) for each pioneering example of twin-section articulated tram car, have two or more body sections, connected by flexible joints and a round platform at their pivoting midsection(s). Like articulated buses, they have increased passenger capacity. In practice, these trams can be up to 53 metres (170 ft) long[23] (such as in Budapest, Hungary),[24] while a regular tram has to be much shorter. With this type, the articulation is normally suspended between carbody sections. In the Škoda ForCity, which is the world's first 100% low floor tram with pivoting bogies, a Jacobs bogie supports the articulation between the two or more carbody sections. An articulated tram may be low-floor variety or high (regular) floor variety. Newer model trams may be up to 72 metres (240 ft) long and carry 510 passengers at a comfortable 4 passengers/m2. At crush loadings this would be even higher.[25]
Double decker[]
Main article: Double-decker tram
Double decker trams were commonplace in Great Britain and Dublin Ireland before most tramways were torn up in the 1950s and 1960s.
Hobart, Tasmania, Australia made extensive use of double decker trams. Arguably the most unusual double decker tram used to run between the isolated Western Australian outback village of Laverton and its small suburb of Gwalia.
Double decker trams still operate in Alexandria, Blackpool and Hong Kong.
Tram-train[]
Main article: Tram-train
Tram-train operation uses vehicles such as the Flexity Link and Regio-Citadis, which are suited for use on urban tram lines and also meet the necessary indication, power, and strength requirements for operation on main-line railways. This allows passengers to travel from suburban areas into city-centre destinations without having to change from a train to a tram.
It has been primarily developed in Germanic countries, in particular Germany and Switzerland. Karlsruhe is a notable pioneer of the tram-train.
Non-commuter trams[]
Cargo trams[]
Goods have been carried on rail vehicles through the streets, particularly near docks and steelworks, since the 19th century (most evident on the Weymouth Harbour Tramway in Weymouth, Dorset[26]), and Belgian vicinal tramway routes were used to haul timber and coal from Blégny colliery. Several of the US interurbans carried freight. At the turn of the 21st century, a new interest has arisen in using urban tramway systems to transport goods. The motivation now is to reduce air pollution, traffic congestion and damage to road surfaces in city centres. Dresden has a regular CarGoTram service, run by the world's longest tram trainsets (59.4 metres (195 ft)), carrying car parts across the city centre to its Volkswagen factory.[27] Vienna and Zürich use trams as mobile recycling depots. Kislovodsk had a freight-only tram system comprising one line which was used exclusively to deliver bottled Narzan mineral water to the railway station.[28]
In the spring of 2007, Amsterdam piloted a cargo tram operation, aiming to reduce particulate pollution by 20% by halving the number of lorries—currently 5,000—unloading in the inner city during the permitted timeframe from 07:00 till 10:30. The pilot, operated by City Cargo Amsterdam, involved two cargo trams, operating from a distribution centre and delivering to a "hub" where electric trucks delivered to the final destination.
The trial was successful, releasing an intended investment of €100 million in a fleet of 52 cargo trams distributing from four peripheral "cross docks" to 15 inner-city hubs by 2012. These specially built vehicles would be 30 feet (9.14 m) long with 12 axles and a payload of 30 tonnes (33.1 short tons; 29.5 long tons). On weekdays, trams are planned to make 4 deliveries per hour between 7 a.m. and 11 a.m. and two per hour between 11 a.m. and 11 p.m. With each unloading operation taking on average 10 minutes, this means that each site would be active for 40 minutes out of each hour during the morning rush hour. In early 2009 the scheme was suspended owing to the financial crisis impeding fund-raising.[29]
Between 1927 and 1977, three different Freight Cars operated in Melbourne.[30]
Hearse-tram[]
Specially appointed hearse trams were used for funerals in Milan, Italy, from the 1880s (initially horse-drawn) to the 1920s. The main cemeteries, Cimitero Monumentale and Cimitero Maggiore, included funeral tram stations. Additional funeral stations were located at Piazza Firenze and at Porta Romana.[31]
In the mid-1940s at least one special hearse tram was used in Turin, Italy. It was introduced due to the wartime shortage of automotive fuel.[32]
Newcastle, NSW, Australia also operated two hearse trams[33] between 1896 and 1948.
Dog car[]
In Melbourne a "dog car" was used between 1937 and 1955 for transporting dogs and their owners to the Royal Melbourne Showgrounds.[30]
Contractors' mobile offices[]
Two former passenger cars from the Melbourne system were converted and used as mobile offices within the Preston Workshops between 1969 and 1974, by personnel from Commonwealth Engineering and ASEA who were connected with the construction of Melbourne's Z Class cars.[30]
Restaurant trams[]
A number of systems have introduced restaurant trams, particularly as a tourist attraction. This is specifically a modern trend. Inter alia, tram systems which have or have had restaurant trams include: Adelaide, Australia; Bendigo, Australia; Brussels, Belgium, Christchurch, New Zealand, (currently suspended pending post earthquake infrastructure assessment); Melbourne, Australia; Milan, Italy; Moscow, Russia; Turin, Italy; Zürich, Switzerland.
These type of vehicles are particularly popular in Melbourne where three of the iconic "W" class trams have been converted to restaurant trams. All three often run in tandem and there are usually different sittings for meals. Bookings often close months in advance.
Bistro trams with buffets operate between Krefeld and Düsseldorf in Germany,[34] while Helsinki in Finland has a pub tram.
Other[]
Most systems had cars that were converted to specific uses on the system, other than simply the carriage of passengers. As just one example, the Melbourne system used or uses the following: a Ballast Motor, Ballast Trailers, a Blow Car, Breakdown Cars, Conductors and/or Drivers' Instruction Cars, a Laboratory Testing Car, a Line Marking Car, a Pantograph Testing Car, Per Way Locomotives, Rail Grinders, a Rail Hardner Loco., a Scrapper Car, Scrubbers, Sleeper Carriers, Track Cleaners, a Welding Car, a Wheel Transport Car and a Workshops Locomotive.[30]
After World War Two, in both Warsaw and Wrocław, Poland, so-called tramways-nurseries[35] were in operation, collecting children from the workplaces of their parents (often tram employees). These mobile nursuries either carried the children around the system or delivered them to the nursery school run by transport company.[36]
Many systems have passenger carrying vehicles with all-over advertising on the exterior and/or the interior.
Tramway operation[]
There are two main types of Tramways, the classic tramway build in the early 20th century with the tram system operating in mixed traffic and the later type which is most often associated with the tram system having its own right of way. Tram systems that have their own right of way are often called Light Rail but this does not always hold true. Though these two systems differ in their operation their equipment is much the same.
Infrastructure and equipment
Tram stop
Main article: Tram stop
Controls
Main article: Tram controls
Track
Main article: Tramway track
Power supply
Ground-level power supply
Conduit current collection
Tram and light-rail transit systems around the world[]
See also: List of tram and light-rail transit systems
Main article: Tram and light-rail transit systems
Throughout the world there are many tram systems; some dating from the late 19th or early 20th centuries. However a large number of the old systems were closed during the mid-20th century because of such perceived drawbacks as route inflexibility and maintenance expense. This was especially the case in North American, British, French and other West European cities. Some traditional tram systems did however survive and remain operating much as when first built over a century ago. In the past twenty years their numbers have been augmented by modern tramway or light rail systems in cities that had discarded this form of transport.
Popularity[]
Tramways with tramcars (British English) or street railways with streetcars (American English) were common throughout the industrialised world in the late 19th and early 20th centuries but they had disappeared from most British, Canadian, French and U.S. cities by the mid-20th century.[37]
By contrast, trams in parts of continental Europe continued to be used by many cities, although there were contractions in some countries, including the Netherlands.[38]
Since 1980 trams have returned to favour in many places, partly because their tendency to dominate the roadway, formerly seen as a disadvantage, is now considered to be a merit. New systems have been built in the United States, Great Britain, Ireland, France and many other countries.
In Milan, Italy, the old "Ventotto" trams are considered by its inhabitants a "symbol" of the city.
Largest tram systems[]
The Silesian Interurbans in Poland and the Trams in Melbourne, Australia, are claimed to be the largest tram networks in the world. Before its decline the BVG in Berlin operated a very large network with 634 km of route. The largest tram system ever with 857 km existed in Buenos Aires before the 1960s. During a period in the 1980s the world's largest tram system was in Leningrad, USSR, being included in Guinness World Records.
The longest single tram line in the world is the Belgian Coast tram, which runs almost the entire length of the Belgian coast. Other large systems include (but not limited to) Vienna , Budapest, Leipzig, Prague, Kiev, Turin, Milan, Warsaw, Amsterdam, Brussels, Zagreb, Zurich, Bucharest and Toronto.
Until the system started to be converted to trolleybus (and later bus) in the 1930s, the first-generation London network was also one of the world's largest, with 526 km (327 mi) of route in 1934.[39] While the largest streetcar network in the world used to be located in Chicago, with over 850 kilometres (530 mi) of track,[40] all of it was converted to bus service by the late 1950s.
On the basis of work effectiveness, another measure of size is patronage. The ten largest systems are (figures in millions of passengers carried per year):
1. St Petersburg: 476 million
2. Budapest: 364 million
3. Prague: 350 million
4. Warsaw: 270 million
5. Moscow: 251 million
6. Vienna: 240 million
7. Zagreb: 214 million
8. Zurich: 199 million
9. Brno: 188 million
10. Melbourne: 182.7 million (despite having the largest tram network in the world)
(Sources: most recent annual reports of operators)
Asia[]
Main article: Trams in Asia
Tramway systems were well established in the Asian region at the start of the 20th century, but started a steady decline during the mid to late 1930s. The 1960s marked the end of its dominance in public transportation with most major systems closed and the equipment and rails sold for scrap; however, some extensive original lines still remain in service in Hong Kong and Japan. In recent years there has been renewed interest in the tram with modern systems being built in Japan, the Philippines, and South Korea.
Trams still operate in Calcutta, India. Trams were discontinued in Bombay, India in 1960. There were Trolley Buses also in Bombay (now called Mumbai), the last of which operated between Mazagon and Grant Road, which was discontinued in the late 1970s.
The first Japanese tram line was inaugurated in 1895 as the Kyoto Electric Railroad. The tram reached its zenith in 1932 when 82 rail companies operated 1,479 kilometers of track in 65 cities. The tram declined in popularity through the remaining years of the 1930s, a trend that was accelerated by the damage of the War and continued through the Occupation and rebuilding years. During the 1960s many of the remaining operational tramways were shut down and dismantled in favor of auto, bus, and rapid rail service; however, when one compares the number of operational lines that survived this era to their American counterparts, they can be defined as quite extensive.
Europe[]
Main article: Trams in Europe
In many European cities much tramway infrastructure was lost in the mid-20th century, though not always on the same scale as in other parts of the world such as North America. Most of Eastern Europe retained tramway systems until recent years but some cities are now reconsidering their transport priorities. In contrast, some Western European cities are rehabilitating, upgrading, expanding and reconstructing their old tramway lines. Many Western European towns and cities are also building new tramway lines.
North America[]
Main article: Streetcars in North America
Main article: Great American Streetcar Scandal
In North America trams are generally known as streetcars or trolleys[dubious – discuss]; the term tram is more likely to be understood as a tourist trolley, an aerial tramway, or a people-mover.
In most North American cities, streetcar lines were largely torn up in the mid-20th century for a variety of financial, technological and social reasons, mainly as a result of the Great American Streetcar Scandal. Exceptions included Boston, New Orleans, Newark, Seattle, Philadelphia (with a much smaller network than once had existed), Pittsburgh, San Francisco and Toronto. In a trend started in the 1980s, some American cities have brought back streetcars, examples of these being Memphis, Portland, Tampa, Little Rock and Seattle. Several additional cities, such as Washington, D.C., Tucson and Detroit are planning or proposing to do the same. Pittsburgh kept most of its streetcar system serving the city and many suburbs until 27 January 1967, making it the longest-lasting large-network U.S. streetcar system. In the late 20th century, several cities installed light rail systems, in part along the same corridor as the old streetcars.
Toronto currently has the largest streetcar system in the Americas in terms of track length and ridership, operated by the Toronto Transit Commission. It is the only streetcar system existing in Canada, not including the light rail systems that some Canadian cities currently operate, or heritage streetcar lines operating only seasonally. Toronto's system uses Canadian Light Rail Vehicles and Articulated Light Rail Vehicles, after a history of using PCCs, Peter Witt cars, and horse-drawn carriages. The TTC has ordered a fleet of Bombardier's Flexity Outlook (also used in some European tram systems) as a replacement and is currently in acceptance testing.[41] Streetcars once existed in Edmonton and Calgary, but both cities have since converted their systems to support light rail vehicles instead. Streetcars also once existed in Ottawa, Montreal, Kitchener, Hamilton, Kingston and Peterborough. Some cities have restored their old streetcars and run them as a heritage feature for tourists, like the Vancouver Downtown Historic Railway.
Australia and New Zealand[]
Main article: Trams in Australia
In Australia, trams are used extensively only in Melbourne, and to a lesser extent, Adelaide, all other major cities having largely dismantled their networks by the 1970s. Sydney reintroduced its tram in 1997 as a modern system (Metro Light Rail), while Ballarat reintroduced their trams as a heritage system. Bendigo had a heritage system for a while which has recently been upgraded to a simple public transport system through an increase in frequency. Christchurch also reintroduced heritage trams, albeit over a new CBD route, but the system was greatly destroyed by the earthquake of 2011 and their reintroduction is currently tied into the debates about what form the city should take in the future. Auckland has recently introduced heritage trams into the Wynyard area, near the CBD, however former Melbourne trams are used as no operable former Auckland cars are believed to exist.
A distinctive feature of many Australian trams was the early use of a lowered central section between bogies (wheel-sets). This was intended to make passenger access easier, by reducing the number of steps required to reach the inside of the vehicle. It is believed that the design first originated in Christchurch in the first decade of the 20th century. Cars with this design feature were frequently referred to as "drop-centres". Trams built since the 1970s have had conventional high or low floors.
The trams made by Boon & Co. of Christchurch, New Zealand in 1906–07 for use in Christchurch may have been the first with this feature; they were referred to as drop-centres or Boon cars. Trams for Christchurch and Wellington built in the 1920s with an enclosed section at each end and an open-sided middle section were also known as Boon cars, but did not have the drop-centre.
South America[]
Buenos Aires in Argentina had once one of the most extensive tramway networks in the world with over 857 km (535 mi) of track, most of it dismantled during the 1960s in favor of bus transportation. Now slowly coming back, the 2 km Puerto Madero Tramway running in the Puerto Madero district is spearheading the move with extensions to Retiro station and La Boca in the planning stages. Another line, the PreMetro line E2 system feeding the Line E of the Buenos Aires Subway has been operating for the past few years on the outskirts of Buenos Aires, and a unique leisure "Tren de la Costa", an artery that stretches for 15 kilometres by the River Plate, from Olivos to the village of Tigre has also been running in Buenos Aires.
Also in the city Mendoza, in Argentina, a new tramway system is in construction, the Metrotranvía of Mendoza, which will have a route of 12.5 km and will link five districts of the Greater Mendoza conurbation. The opening of the system is scheduled for August 2011.
In Medellín, Colombia, there is a tram line under construction and the opening schedule is for December 2011.[42]
Pros and cons of tram systems[]
All transit services, except personal rapid transit, involve a trade-off between speed and frequency of stops. Services that stop frequently have a lower overall speed, and are therefore less attractive for longer trips. Metros, light rail, monorail, and bus rapid transit are all forms of rapid transit, which generally signifies high speed and widely spaced stops. Trams are often used as a form of local transit, making frequent stops. Thus, the most meaningful comparison of advantages and disadvantages is with other forms of local transit, primarily the local bus.
Advantages[]
Steel wheels on steel track create about one-seventh as much friction as rubber tyres on bitumen, thus creating dramatically less pollution when carrying the same load.[43]
Unlike omnibuses, but like trolleybuses, (electric) trams give off no exhaust emissions at point of use.
Most trams can be driven from either end (the major exception being the PCC car used in North America). This means that the infrastructure needed at termini can be quite simple. In comparison, trolleybuses usually require loops that take up much space, and omnibuses often travel over a circular route at termini thus doing damage to more roads, as well as being confusing to potential passengers.
Compared to motorbuses the noise of trams is generally perceived to be less disturbing.[citation needed] However, the use of solid axles with wheels fixed to them causes slippage between wheels and tracks when negotiating curves. This produces a characteristic squeal.
They can use overhead wire set to be shared with trolleybuses (a three wire system).
The existence of a fixed route gives people confidence in the robustness and long-term future of the system, allowing them to rely on it and build their lifestyles around it. A bus route could be cancelled at any time, but a tram line is far less likely to close down.
Some trams can adapt to the number of passengers by adding more cars during rush hour (and removing them during off-peak hours). No additional driver is then required for the trip in comparison to buses.
In general, trams provide a higher capacity service than buses.
Multiple entrances allow trams to load faster than suburban coaches, which tend to have a single entrance. This, combined with swifter acceleration and braking, lets trams maintain higher overall speeds than buses, if congestion allows.[44]
The trams' stops in the street are easily accessible, unlike stations of subways and commuter railways placed underground (with several escalators, stairways etc.) or in the outskirts of the city center.
Rights-of-way for trams are narrower than for buses. This saves valuable space in cities with high population densities and/or narrow streets.
Trams can trackshare with mainline railways, servicing smaller towns without requiring special track as in Stadtbahn Karlsruhe and at greater speed than buses.
Passenger comfort is normally superior to buses because of controlled acceleration and braking and curve easement. Rail transport such as used by trams provides a smoother ride than road use by buses.
Because the tracks are visible, it is easy for potential riders to know where the routes are.
Because trams run on rails, the ride is far more comfortable than that of a rubber-tyred bus. Blemishes in the road surface are far less noticeable.
Vehicles run more efficiently and overall operating costs are lower.[45]
Trams can run on renewable electricity without the need for very expensive and short life batteries.[46]
Consistent market research and experience over the last 50 years in Europe and North America shows that car commuters are willing to transfer some trips to rail-based public transport but not to buses. Typically light rail systems attract between 30 and 40% of their patronage from former car trips. Rapid transit bus systems attract less than 5% of trips from cars, less than the variability of traffic.[46]
Disadvantages[]
Tram infrastructure (such as island platforms) occupies urban space at ground-level, sometimes to the exclusion of other users.
The capital cost is higher than for buses, even though a tramcar usually has a much longer lifetime than a bus.
One study concluded that it would cost less to buy new fuel efficient cars for the low income riders of light rail who do not have cars than it does to subsidize light rail.[47] However, others assert the study was "poorly researched and analytically deficient"[48] or otherwise deficient.[49]
Trams can cause speed reduction for other transport modes (buses, cars) when stops in the middle of the road do not have pedestrian refuges, as in such configurations other traffic cannot pass whilst passengers alight or board the tram.
When operated in mixed traffic, trams are more likely to be delayed by disruptions in their lane. Buses, by contrast, can sometimes manoeuver around obstacles. Opinions differ on whether the deference that drivers show to trams—a cultural issue that varies by country—is sufficient to counteract this disadvantage.
Tram tracks can be hazardous for cyclists, as bikes, particularly those with narrow tyres, may get their wheels caught in the track grooves.[50] It is possible to close the grooves of the tracks on critical sections by rubber profiles that are pressed down by the wheelflanges of the passing tram but that cannot be lowered by the weight of a cyclist. If not well-maintained, however, these lose their effectiveness over time.
When wet, tram tracks tend to become slippery and thus dangerous for bicycles and motorcycles, especially in traffic.[50][51][52] In some cases, even cars can be affected.[53]
Steel wheel trams are noisier than rubber-wheeled buses or trolleybuses when cornering if there are no additional measures taken (e.g. greasing wheel flanges, which is standard in new-built systems). In older trams, the wheels are fixed onto axles so they have to rotate together, but going around curves, one wheel or the other has to slip, and that causes loud unpleasant squeals. A related improvement is rubber isolation between the wheel disc and the rim, as used on Boston (Massachusetts, U.S.) Green Line 3400 and 3600 series cars. These cars are much quieter than those with solid metal wheels. (This construction requires a flexible cable to electrically connect the tire to the wheel body.)[citation needed]
Trams usually have less effective suspension systems than buses, which tends to negate the ride quality benefits of steel rails.[citation needed]
The opening of new tram and light rail systems has sometimes been accompanied by a marked increase in car accidents, as a result of drivers' unfamiliarity with the physics and geometry of trams.[54] Though such increases may be temporary, long-term conflicts between motorists and light rail operations can be alleviated by segregating their respective rights-of-way and installing appropriate signage and warning systems.[55]
Rail transport can expose neighbouring populations to moderate levels of low-frequency noise. However, transportation planners use noise mitigation strategies to minimize these effects.[56] Most of all, the potential for decreased private motor vehicle operations along the trolley's service line because of the service provision could result in lower ambient noise levels than without.
In the event of a breakdown or accident, or even roadworks and maintenance, a whole section of the tram network can be blocked. Buses and trolleybuses can often get past minor blockages, although trolleybuses are restricted by how far they can go from the wires. Conventional buses can divert around major blockages as well, as can most modern trolleybuses that are fitted with auxiliary engines or traction batteries. The tram blockage problem can be mitigated by providing regular crossovers so a tram can run on the opposite line to pass a blockage, although this can be more difficult when running on road sections shared with other road users or when both tracks happen to be blocked. On extensive networks diversionary routes may be available depending on the location of the blockage. Breakdown related problems can be reduced by minimising the situations where a tram would be stuck on route, as well as making it as simple as possible for another tram to rescue a failed one.
The most nowadays advantage of tram – the other road(secluded paths to avoid traffic), which often cannot be crossed by other vehicles(by law, or physical lacking of the other path) can be achieved nowadays in other ways, sometimes cheaper for the whole new system like ULTra or sometimes just by secluded bus roads, with petrol/gas or electric buses(in this case even some commuters like Paris and BHNS (fr. Bus àHaut Niveau de Service, eng. High Level Service Bus) ordered buses looking similar to new trams, e.g. Solaris Urbino 18 Hybrid MetroStyle).
In other media[]
In literature[]
One of the earliest literary references to trams occurs on the second page of Henry James's novel The Europeans:
From time to time a strange vehicle drew near to the place where they stood—such a vehicle as the lady at the window, in spite of a considerable acquaintance with human inventions, had never seen before: a huge, low, omnibus, painted in brilliant colours, and decorated apparently with jingling bells, attached to a species of groove in the pavement, through which it was dragged, with a great deal of rumbling, bouncing, and scratching, by a couple of remarkably small horses.
Published in 1878, the novel is set in the 1840s, though horse trams were not introduced in Boston till the 1850s. Note how the tram's efficiency surprises the European visitor; how two "remarkably small" horses sufficed to draw the "huge" tramcar.
James also makes comical reference to the novelty and excitement of trams in Portrait of a Lady (1881):
Henrietta Stackpole was struck with the fact that ancient Rome had been paved a good deal like New York, and even found an analogy between the deep chariot-ruts traceable in the antique street and the overjangled iron grooves which express the intensity of American life.[57]
A quarter of a century later, Joseph Conrad described Amsterdam's trams in chapter 14 of The Mirror of the Sea (1906): From afar at the end of Tsar Peter Straat, issued in the frosty air the tinkle of bells of the horse tramcars, appearing and disappearing in the opening between the buildings, like little toy carriages harnessed with toy horses and played with by people that appeared no bigger than children.
In episode 6 (Hades) of James Joyce's Ulysses (1918), the party on the way to Paddy Dignam's funeral in a horse-drawn carriage idly debates the merits of various tramway improvements:
- I can't make out why the corporation doesn't run a tramline from the parkgate to the quays, Mr Bloom said. All those animals could be taken in trucks down to the boats.
- Instead of blocking up the thoroughfare, Martin Cunningham said. Quite so. They ought to.
- Yes, Mr Bloom said, and another thing I often thought is to have municipal funeral trams like they have in Milan, you know. Run the line out to the cemetery gates and have special trams, hearse and carriage and all. Don't you see what I mean?
– O that be damned for a story, Mr Dedalus said. Pullman car and saloon diningroom.
– A poor lookout for Corny [the undertaker], Mr Power added.
– Why? Mr Bloom asked, turning to Mr Dedalus. Wouldn't it be more decent than galloping two abreast?[58]
In his fictionalised but autobiographical Memoirs of an Infantry Officer, published in 1930, Siegfried Sassoon's narrator ruminates from his hospital bed in Denmark Hill, London, in 1917 that "Even the screech and rumble of electric trams was a friendly sound; trams meant safety; the troops in the trenches thought about trams with affection."[59]
Danzig trams figure extensively in the early stages of Günter Grass's Die Blechtrommel (The Tin Drum). In the last chapter the novel's hero Oskar Matzerath and his friend Gottfried von Vittlar steal a tram late at night from outside Unterrath depot on the northern edge of Düsseldorf.
It is a surreal journey. Von Vittlar drives the tram through the night, south to Flingern and Haniel and then east to the suburb of Gerresheim. Meanwhile, inside, Matzerath tries to rescue the half-blind Victor Weluhn (who had escaped from the siege of the Polish post office in Danzig at the beginning of the book and of the war) from his two green-hatted would-be executioners. Mazerath deposits his briefcase, which contains Sister Dorotea's severed ring finger in a preserving jar, on the dashboard "where professional motorman put their lunchboxes". They leave the tram at the terminus and the executioners tie Weluhn to a tree in von Vittlar's mother's garden and prepare to machine-gun him. But Matzerath drums, Weluhn sings, and together they conjure up the Polish cavalry, who spirit both victim and executioners away. Matzerath asks von Vittlar to take his briefcase in the tram to the police HQ in the Fürstenwall, which he does.
The latter part of this route is today served by tram route 703 terminating at Gerresheim Stadtbahn station ("by the glassworks" as Grass notes, referring to the famous glass factory).[60]
In his 1967 spy thriller An Expensive Place to Die, Len Deighton misidentifies the Flemish coast tram: "The red glow of Ostend is nearer now and yellow trains rattle alongside the motor road and over the bridge by the Royal Yacht Club[61]..."[62]
In popular culture[]
Dziga Vertov's experimental 1929 film Man with a Movie Camera includes shots of trams (at 10 and 42 minutes).
The Rev W. Awdry wrote about GER Class C53 called Toby the Tram Engine, which starred his The Railway Series with his faithful coach, Henrietta.
A Streetcar Named Desire (play)
A Streetcar Named Desire (1951 film)
Black Orpheus (1959), of which the main male character Orfeu is a tram driver in Rio de Janeiro's tram system.
Toonerville Folks comic strip (1908–55) by Fontaine Fox featuring the "Toonerville Trolley that met all the trains."
The children's TV show Mister Rogers' Neighborhood featured a trolley.
The central plot of the film Who Framed Roger Rabbit involves Judge Doom, the villain, dismantling the streetcars of Los Angeles.
"The Trolley Song" in the film Meet Me in St. Louis received an Academy Award nomination.
The 1944 World Series was also known as the "Streetcar Series".
Malcolm (film), an Australian film about a tram enthusiast who uses his inventions to pull off a bank heist.
Luis Buñuel filmed La Ilusión viaja en tranvía[63] (English: Illusion Travels by Streetcar) in Mexico in 1953.
In Akira Kurosawa's film Dodesukaden a mentally ill boy pretends to be a tram conductor.
The Stompin' Tom Connors song "To It And At It" mentions a man who "can't afford the train, he's sittin' on a streetcar, but he's eastbound just the same."
The predominance of trams (trolleys) gave rise to the disparaging term trolley dodger for residents of the borough of Brooklyn in New York City. That term, shortened to "Dodger" became the nickname for the Brooklyn Dodgers (now the Los Angeles Dodgers).
Jens Lekman has a song titled "Tram No. 7 to Heaven", a reference to line 7 of the Gothenburg tram which passes through his native borough of Kortedala.
The band Beirut has a song titled "Fountains and Tramways" on the EP Pompeii.
The Elephant Will Never Forget, an 11-minute film made in 1953 by British Transport Films to celebrate the London tram network at the time of the last few days of its operation.
A W-class tram was used at the opening ceremony of the 2006 Commonwealth Games in Melbourne.
The Full Monty, set in Sheffield, managed to squeeze a tram passing in the background into three scenes.
2009 Thomas Haggerty composed and produced 'Tram' generations 1, 2 and 3 for the popular group TRAM.
A collaboration between John Ward and Elizabeth Harrod: "a great tram."
In Chrome Shelled Regios, trams are being used in the Academy City Zuelni.
Trams feature in the opening credits of the world's longest running TV soap opera Coronation Street, set in a fictional suburb of Greater Manchester. A Blackpool tram killed one of the main characters in 1989 and the most recent faked accident involved a tram (modelled on the Manchester Metrolink) careering off a viaduct into the set in 2009.
In the news[]
In the Tottenham Outrage in 1909, two armed robbers hijacked a tram and were chased by the police in another tram.
On 7 June 1926 Catalan architect Antoni Gaudí was knocked down by a Barcelona tram and subsequently died.
In scale modelling[]
Model trams are popular in HO scale (1:87) and O scale (1:48 in the US and generally 1:43,5 and 1:45 in Europe and Asia). They are typically powered and will accept plastic figures inside. Common manufacturers are Roco and Lima, with many custom models being made as well. The German firm Hödl[64] and the Austrian Halling[65] specialize in 1:87 scale.[66]
In the US, Bachmann Industries is a mass supplier of HO trams and kits. Bowser Manufacturing has produced white metal models for over 50 years.[67] There are many boutique vendors offering limited run epoxy and wood models. At the high end are highly detailed brass models which are usually imported from Japan or Korea and can cost in excess of $500. Many of these run on Error: gauge specification "16.5mm" not known gauge track, which is correct for the representation of 4 ft 8+1⁄2 in (1,435 mm) (standard gauge) in HO scale as in US and Japan, but incorrect in 4 mm (1:76.2) scale, as it represents 4 ft 8+1⁄2 in (1,435 mm). This scale/gauge hybrid is called OO scale. O scale trams are also very popular among tram modellers because the increased size allows for more detail and easier crafting of overhead wiring. In the US these models are usually purchased in epoxy or wood kits and some as brass models. The Saint Petersburg Tram Company[68] produces highly detailed polyurethane non-powered O Scale models from around the world which can easily be powered by trucks from vendors like Q-Car.[69]
In the US, one of the best resources for model tram enthusiasts is the East Penn Traction Club of Philadelphia.[70]
It is thought that the first example of a working model tramcar in the UK built by an amateur for fun was in 1929, when Frank E. Wilson created a replica of London County Council Tramways E class car 444 in 1:16 scale, which he demonstrated at an early Model Engineer Exhibition. Another of his models was London E/1 1800, which was the only tramway exhibit in the Faraday Memorial Exhibition of 1931. Together with likeminded friends, Frank Wilson went on to found the Tramway & Light Railway Society[71] in 1938, establishing tramway modelling as a hobby.
Types[]
Regional[]
See also[]
References[]
Further reading[]
[]
"Tramway" (article in the 1911 Encyclopaedia Britannica), 1911encyclopedia.org
What is a streetcar?[dead link] at American Public Transportation Association, apta.com
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5064 | dbpedia | 1 | 45 | http://www.mystinenportaali.com/bussi/eng/tekstit/ | en | A brief history of local buses in the Helsinki Region | [
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History
The early days
After the wars
The regional ticket system
Recent changes
Competitive tendering and privatization
The floor height revolution
The electronic ticket system
Current trends
Plans for the future
Troubled times
Glossary
Sources
History
The early days
Local bus traffic started in Helsinki in the 1920's. Many other parts of the country got their first bus routes nearly ten years earlier, as the existing electric tram network made uneconomical to operate buses in Helsinki. The early routes were mostly short regional routes to the edges of Helsinki and the neighbouring towns and villages and were usually operated by individual entrepreneurs or small companies with only a few owners.
After the depression in the first half of the 30's, Helsinki's internal bus traffic also started to grow rapidly. The traffic was operated mostly by Helsingin Raitiotie- ja Omnibus-Osakeyhtiö (Helsinki Tram and Bus Company), in which the city was a majority owner. Several other companies were merged into HRO in 1937 and 1938. In 1939 just before the beginning of the Winter War HRO had 103 diesel buses and twenty petroleum powered buses. The most common makes were Büssing (70) from Germany and Scania-Vabis (20) from Sweden.
After the wars
The Winter and Continuation wars struck bus operations severely. The army took over more than half of all buses and many of those that were left were converted into trucks in order to transport critical supplies. Practically all civilian vehicles were fitted with wood gas converters as liquid fuels were not available. Tires were also in short supply.
After the war ended in 1944, the city decided to take over HRO and the municipal transport department Helsinki City Transport (Helsingin Kaupungin Liikennelaitos, HKL) was founded. Initially the company had only 17 buses left and it took until 1949 before larger amounts of new buses could be bought. Trolleybuses were also taken into use in 1949 on route 14 and were used until 1985.
The regional ticket system
A law change in 1985 placed the Helsinki Metropolitan Area Council (Pääkaupunkiseudun yhteistyövaltuuskunta, YTV) in charge of regional public transport routes in Helsinki, Espoo, Vantaa and Kauniainen. A flat rate regional ticket was introduced and YTV took charge of route planning and route permits. The actual routes were operated by both municipal companies (Espoon Auto, Vantaan Liikenne and HKL) and private companies. All internal routes were planned by the cities and operated under contracts. Internal tickets were made valid inside the specific town on regional routes. Helsinki trams, the metro and the ferry to Suomenlinna were also included in the regional ticket system just like they were included in Helsinki's own ticket system.
Technically the regional ticket and new internal tickets were implemented as Almex stampable cardboard tickets and cardboard season passes in plastic sleeves. A special tariff sign was also introduced for the front of regional buses. Helsinki and Vantaa routes kept their existing signs and Espoo got a common sign, which was later replaced by the regional sign even for internal routes.
Recent changes
Competitive tendering and privatization
Bus route operating contracts in and around Helsinki were considered highly profitable. In an attempt to lower costs and improve service, YTV started to award contracts based on competitive tendering in 1995. Espoo, Vantaa and Helsinki all followed in time. The adopted tendering model means that the cities and YTV collect the fares and pay the operators a certain sum for operating the routes with buses that meet specific requirements. Each time a route or group of routes is up for tendering, the ordering party specifies the minimum requirements and extra points given for better equipped vehicles. The most points are of course awarded for the price, which is divided into vehicle days (use of a specific bus on a specific day), vehicle hours and route kilometres. Operating contracts are generally made for four to seven years at a time.
With the beginning of competitive tendering, Espoo and Vantaa decided to sell their municipal transport companies. Espoon Auto and the privately owned Transbus were bought by Swebus from Sweden in 1995 and 1994 respectively. Swebus was bought by the Scottish Stagecoach group in 1997, which in turn sold its Nordic operations in 2000 and the Concordia Bus group was created. Vantaan Liikenne was sold to the Swedish Linjebuss in 1994, which in turn was sold to CGEA (part of Vivendi-Universal) from France in 1998. The company is now part of the international Connex Group, which is owned by the global Veolia Environnement, former Vivendi Environnement. Helsinki merely separated the bus part of HKL into a separate unit called HKL-Bussiliikenne and did not privatize it. Helsinki also owns practically all of Suomen Turistiauto (STA), which is a limited company.
From Vantaan Liikenne..
..to Linjebuss..
..to Connex.
Harsh competition has killed many traditional bus companies in and around Helsinki. These include Metsälän Linja Oy, Oy Liikenne Ab (then part of Koiviston Auto) and Keskuslinja Oy. Other smaller operators have survived, including Åbergin Linja and Westendin Linja from Espoo and Tammelundin Liikenne from Helsinki. Saaren Auto was bought by the state owned Pohjolan Liikenne -group and Lähilinjat was bough by Koiviston Auto, which operates across the country. Many others were merged into Espoon Auto or Vantaan Liikenne before they were sold abroad.
The floor height revolution
Nearly all the buses used in the Helsinki Metropolitan Area had high floors until 1992. The middle engined Volvo B10M was very popular and two steps at each door was the norm. A few exceptional buses had semi low floors with only one step at the front and middle doors and Tammelundin Liikenne introduced their first low floored Mercedes-Benz buses in 1990. HKL tried several low floored alternatives and kept the Scania/Wiima K202 test bus they introduced in 1991. Vantaan Liikenne soon followed suite in 1992 with several Scania/Carrus City L's. HKL also bought a Volvo/Carrus City L in 1992 and in 1994 they bought several Scania/Carrus City L's. Soon almost all the bus operators were buying low floored buses and the pace only grew with competitive tendering, which favoured low floored buses.
Prototype 1
Prototype 2
Perfection
Currently most of the buses used in the Helsinki Region have low floors. New high floored buses are not accepted in operating bids with the exception of some routes in the more remote parts of Espoo. An unfortunate side effect of low floors is that articulated buses have all but disappeared as low floored articulated buses are expensive to operate and have very few seats, which counts as a disadvantage in the tendering process. The long (14,5-15 metres) bogie buses that have replaced articulated buses have less standing space and are less manouverable on routes in the city centre. High floored articulated buses with lots of standing space could still easily defend their place in rush hour operations on some Helsinki routes.
The new Helsinki trams that have been arriving since 1998 also have 100% low floors. New local trainsets have 50-70% low floors and the Helsinki metro has always had lift access to all of its stations.
Low.
Low.
Low
The electronic ticket system
The cardboard Almex system without magnetic strips was already rather old in 1986 when the regional ticket was taken into use. Koskilinjat Oy in Oulu had successfully deployed their Buscom contactless smart card system in 1992 and several other towns soon followed. YTV also tested different smart card based ticket systems as early as 1992 to 1993. A special project group was founded in 1994.
Buscom Oy from Oulu and Olivetti were chosen as the device contractors in 1996 with half a dozen other companies delivering software, ticket vending machines and other services. The project was delayed by disagreements between YTV and the cities and between the different contractors. The first driver terminals for selling new thermally printed tickets were taken into test use in 1997. All vehicles were fitted with them in early 2000. The first test tickets were introduced in 2001 and the first normal users received their tickets in September 2001. Nearly all types of Almex tickets were finally decommissioned in the beginning of April 2003. The only remaining tickets and stamping machines are used in trams for prepurchased single trip tickets. These will probably be replaced completely by mobile phone based tickets in the near future.
Helsinki is the first capital city in Europe to use a complete smart card system. The system is also very complicated as the cities insisted on keeping nearly all of the old ticket types in the new system. This means that each smart card or Travel Card can simultaneously contain value (money) for purchasing single tickets and two non-overlapping internal or regional season passes. The lenght of the passes can be decided very freely and there is a multitude of different single trip tickets available for purchase with the card reader. The card can simultaneously contain two different types of single tickets and up to 30 tickets of each type.
Additional ticket types are available as thermally printed tickets from the driver and these can be payed for either with value stored on the card or by using cash. These tickets can also be bought from vending machines. Any card can be charged at any of the 200 salespoints in the region. A new tariff sign was also introduced for regional, Vantaa and Espoo routes as part of the Travel Card system.
The driver terminal.
The card reader.
The new tariff sign.
Current trends
Plans for the future
Rail transport has been on the rise for some years now. The first dedicated local traffic rails were build from Huopalahti to Martinlaakso in 1975 and they were later extended to Vantaakoski. Separate local rails alongside the existing ones were completed from Helsinki to Tikkurila in the 90's and from Helsinki via Huopalahti to Leppävaara in 2001. An extension from Tikkurila to Kerava will be completed in 2004.
Future extensions will probably add local train rails from Leppävaara to Espoon Keskus or Kauklahti and completely new rails from Vantaankoski via the Helsinki-Vantaa Airport to Koivukylä or Tikkurila. An extension of the Helsinki metro into Southern Espoo has been an issue of heated discussion for a long time and will probably remain one for a few years to come. It is probably inevitable at some time, hopefully sooner than later.
A new circular route in and around Helsinki is started in August 2003 as route 550. Hopefully it will be improved in the next few years with route specific livery, special buses, entry via all doors and real time passenger information and traffic light control. In the future this route may be operated with light rail trams. Helsinki is also planning a new tram route with the number 9 and extensions to two other routes into new parts of town when the Helsinki harbour is moved. An extension of route 6 into the new Arabianranta district is currently being built.
Tests with real time passenger information in Espoo and Helsinki have proved successful and profitable in terms of saved time and extra passengers. Helsinki has also incorporated traffic light control into these systems. Expansions will hopefully follow in the near future when the economic situation improves. An advanced route planner with integrated maps is already available on the Internet and there is a possibility of improving it with real time information in the future.
Route 550.
A multimodal terminal.
Troubled times
The economic situation of the cities in the Helsinki Region is currently declining rapidly. The world economy is not at its best and the government has been taking ever more money from growing cities and giving it to rural areas. Cost cuts have also hit public transport. Several less vital routes have been cut back or closed. Less buses and trains move during the summer and on weekends. Helsinki is planning to close two tram lines. Many improvements and especially large investments have been delayed indefinetely.
At the moment one can only hope for better times and changes in governmental policy. It remains to be seen when either of these will take place.
Glossary
Finnish abbreviations
HRO
Helsingin Raitiotie- ja Omnibus-Osakeyhtiö, the largest early tram and bus company in Helsinki
HKL
Helsingin kaupungin liikennelaitos, Helsinki City Transport
YTV
Pääkaupunkiseudun yhteistyövaltuuskunta, the Helsinki Metropolitan Area Council
Difficult English words and jargon
entrepreneur
A person who organizes, operates, and assumes the risk for a business venture [1]
The Winter War
The first Finnish war with The Soviet Union from 30.11.1939 to 14.3.1940
The Continuation War
The second Finnish war with The Soviet Union from 25.6.1941 to 4.9.1944
trolleybus
An electric bus powered by two overhead wires similarily to a tram.
tariff sign
A sign attached to a bus or other vehicle showing which kinds of tickets are accepted. Usually placed at the front of the vehicle either permanently or in a special holder.
competitive tendering
Asking for (sealed) bids to manage a specific contract. The bids are evaluated according to a publically available grading system and the best overall bid is selected.
smart card
A plastic card containing at least memory. May also contain a microprocessor.
contactless smart card
A a smart card that uses radio waves and a built in antenna for communication. The radio waves also power the card.
articulated bus
A bus consisting of two separate parts joined by together with a flexible walk through joint. Sometimes referred to as a bendy bus.
Sources
[1] Dictionary.com/entrepreneur - Source: The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition Copyright © 2000 by Houghton Mifflin Company. (visited 5.6.2003)
Kimmo Nylander; Volvo KN202 - Helsingin Perusbussi, Suomen Linja-autohistoriallinen Seura r.y., 1999 ISBN: 951-96869-3-2
Olli J. Ojanen; Linja-autot Niemistä ja notkelmista maakyliin ja maailmalle, Alfamer Kustannus Oy, 2002 ISBN: 952-5089-70-3
Matkakorttikokeilu; Pääkaupunkiseudun yhteistyövaltuuskunta YTV, Pääkaupunkiseudun julkaisusarja B 1993:9
HKL-tietoa / historia; Helsingin Kaupungin Liikennelaitos HKL (visited 4.6.2003)
Suomen raitiovaunut; Suomen Raitiotieseura ry (visited 4.6.2003)
Helsingin seudun Matkakortti; YTV & HKL (visited 4.6.2003)
Bussipysäkki / The Bus Stop; Lauri Pitkänen & Niko Setälä 1998-2003 (visited 6.6.2003) | |||||||
5064 | dbpedia | 2 | 10 | https://www.smartcitiesdive.com/ex/sustainablecitiescollective/finland-points-way-future-urban-transportation/259641/ | en | Finland points the Way to the Future of Urban Transportation | https://www.smartcitiesdive.com/favicon.ico?v=2 | https://www.smartcitiesdive.com/favicon.ico?v=2 | [
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] | null | [] | null | Smart Cities | en | /favicon.ico?v=2 | https://www.smartcitiesdive.com/ex/sustainablecitiescollective/finland-points-way-future-urban-transportation/259641/ | Finland has set itself a target of becoming a model for sustainable transport by 2020 by using a system which will allow people to choose the most optimum means of travel for each particular journey which they hope will become a viable alternative to buying a private car.
It is expected that the share of public transport and carpooling in densely populated urban areas will increase in most cities as overall efficiency and ease of use become the principles governing transit operations. By 2020 an increasing number of new cars will run on renewable energy.
In Finland itself it is expected that up to 15% of new car sales will be taken up by electric cars with rechargeable hybrids particularly popular. In Helsinki metropolitan area, the electrification of bus traffic has already begun, and by 2020 there should be over 100 electric buses in operation.
VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland (VTT)'s Research Professor and TransSmart Programme Manager Nils-Olof Nylund have issued a mission plan arguing that: "Fine-tuning vehicles or developing renewable fuels will simply not be enough in the long run. The entire system needs revamping. You won't make the world a better place by filling Helsinki with electric cars, for example. They take up just as much room as conventional cars running on petrol or diesel. The ways to achieve change will be through increasing the share of public transport, and rethinking mobility and logistics services to include the views of the people who need the services".
The whole project relies upon intelligent transport services, which, as a sector, are growing at a rate of 20% per year according to VTT. They rely upon in-vehicle communication systems linked to a city-wide network. One early example of an ITS service offered by public authorities improving traffic safety is the eCall in-vehicle emergency call service, based on the European emergency number 112. The service will be introduced in EU Member States no later than 2017, when it will become compulsory for all new car and van models. In the event of a road accident, in-vehicle sensors detect the accident, the eCall system opens an emergency call from the vehicle to the nearest emergency response centre (ERC) and sends the minimum set of data including the vehicle's exact geographic location. After transmitting the minimum set of data, the in-vehicle system opens a voice connection between the vehicle and the emergency response centre.
After safety, logistics is the second area of immediate growth. Requirements for just-in-time deliveries and the need to fill otherwise empty trucks and vans returning to base is driving this development. Also, Local Authority Intelligent Transport Systems use them to tell people when buses will arrive and give buses priority at traffic lights.
VTT, as a major partner in the Finnish project, sees the future as containing a mix of technologies, a combination of electric propulsion and renewable fuels, not in competition but rather complementing each other.
Senior Scientist Raine Hautala, leader of the TransSmart programme's Transport Services theme, explains: "Smart transport solutions create more efficient travel- and logistics chains and an overview of the status of the transport system in real-time. The idea is that the travellers will be able to select several service options and to easily combine them into suitable travel chains: private car, on foot, bicycle, bus, taxi, demand responsive transport, carpooling, car and transport joint use, tram, metro, train or aeroplane. This would lead to a reduced need for car ownership or for the construction of parking spaces and streets. The crux of the idea is to achieve an increase in the fluency, ease of use and accessibility of travel chains. Service accessibility also covers safe and trouble-free payment".
There are three keys to decarbonizing transport:
reducing the need to travel,
reducing the energy consumption of travel by a modal shift to a different form of transport such as cycling or walking, and
reducing the carbon intensity of the remaining power transport through use of renewable energy.
The diagram below shows the distance travelled on one litre of fuel. Public transport will take you much further than motorised personal transport, while cycling and walking to not require any fuel.
Using electric vehicles alone is not a guarantee of low carbon emissions and depends upon decarbonization of the grid; for example an electric car powered by coal-based electricity creates more carbon dioxide emissions than a conventional petrol or diesel-fuelled car.
The chart below shows the fuel cycle (well-to-wheel) greenhouse gas emissions for different passenger car technologies. It should be noted that not all biofuels are equal: third generation biofuels will be more sustainable.
The concept of Mobility as a Service (MaaS) is gaining traction. People are becoming used to using their smart phones to order taxis and even book bicycles. as well as plan their journeys. It's easy to see how this can develop into a coordinated transport policy, with cities offering apps that offer citizens the chance to plan their journey based on the optimum transport mode, and book or rent a cycle, taxi or take public transport, or use a carpool or hire a car. Emissions and congestion should be reduced as a result.
Here's a visualisation by VTT of how the combined effect of these trends could pan out.
Hopefully it should also be cheaper for travellers. It's been estimated that on average in 2005, US households spend approximately one fifth of their income, $8300, on transportation (approximately 95% of this on self-provided transportation). In European terms this is equivalent to €6000. This is a huge amount of money compared with, for example, what people spend on communication expenses.
If people can be persuaded that not having a private vehicle and spending less than this per year on other transport services provides good value for them for the same level of service, then transport providers can see their way to a revenue stream.
Chariot e-bus
One strong contender for public transit buses might be the Chariot e-bus currently being trialled in Sofia, Bulgaria. This bus uses ultra-capacitor technology which enables it to capture energy from braking and use it to propel the bus forward to reach previously unachievable ranges for electric buses.
Such buses have been used in Shanghai for over seven years but are only just beginning to be used in Europe.
Zwika Zimmerman, Chairman of the Board of Chariot Motors, said: "This is the first electric bus on European streets that does not require traditional battery charging and can cover its whole route on a single charge requiring just a few minutes. Cities across Europe face increased demand for public transportation at the same time as facing increased concerns over air pollution. Electric buses can both meet that demand and address those concerns."
The Chariot e-bus charging
The new bus has the autonomy and payload of a regular bus and is running a 23km round-trip route on a single, few minutes' charge each time upon returning to its terminal. Its average daily energy consumption has been already test-proven in Sofia to be about 0.95kWh/km. The manufacturers say that it is 2.5 times less energy intensive in terms of kWh/km than diesel buses and three times less intensive than compressed natural gas (LPG) buses.
Right: The Chariot e-bus charging point at a terminus. | |||
5064 | dbpedia | 1 | 12 | https://www.helen.fi/en/about-us/helen/about-us/history | en | History | [
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] | null | [] | 2013-10-28T11:08:08+02:00 | We were born out of a need to create a safer and more eco-friendly way of producing energy in a smoky city. Today, we are an internationally esteemed developer of the energy industry. | en | /favicon.ico | https://www.helen.fi/en/about-us/helen/about-us/history | 1908 The construction work of the Suvilahti steam power plant starts and lasts for two years. The power plant is Finland’s first building made of reinforced concrete. The elevation drawings of the buildings are drawn by Selim A. Lindqvist. Construction of the electricity network starts.
1908 The chimney stack of Suvilahti is built.
1909 After long consideration, the numerous small electricity companies in Helsinki are transferred to the ownership of the City, and the electricity company of the City of Helsinki is established. Municipalisation of the operations is based on legislative, economic and safety factors.
The Suvilahti steam turbine plant starts its operations in July. In the same year, the exhibition of the electricity works is opened in a new administration building at the corner of Pieni Roobertinkatu and Kasarmikatu. It exhibited ‘foot warmers and other heat radiators, irons, coffeepots, lamps, etc. electrical equipment’. These days, the name of our home energy advisory centre is the Energy Gallery.
1911 The Töölö substation is built on the corner of Runeberginkatu and Töölönkatu. Töölö is undergoing a busy construction phase, and electric lights are installed in the new, modern apartment blocks. The Kallio substation is also completed in Kaarlenkatu later in the same year.
1914–1918 The war puts a stop to fuel imports to Finland. Wood is introduced as raw material for energy generation. In 1917, accelerating inflation starts to hamper the operations of power plants. Towards the end of the Civil War, the Executive Committee of the Workers takes on the lead in the operations of the city’s technical plants. As a result, the directors, engineers and office workers of the plants stop working.
1929 The electricity and gas plants compete for customers. Electricity is mainly used for indoor and outdoor lighting while gas is used in homes and in industry. The gasworks campaign strongly for gas cookers in order to prevent electric cookers from taking over the market. Gradually, electric cookers become more common.
1930 Statistics on domestic appliances in Helsinki are drawn up in connection with the population census. The city has, e.g. 18,048 irons and 9,958 vacuum cleaners.
1939–1945 There is a shortage of energy due to the war. The electricity works have to urge citizens to save electricity. Along with the arrival of migrants, the city’s population grows by 20,000-30,000 people and the energy demand is huge. Distribution outages cannot be avoided.
1947–1949 After the war, a new plan for the country's energy supply is drawn up to stop excessive dependence on imported fuels. Areas that had previously produced hydropower have been lost. Electricity distribution and the construction of networks are hampered by a shortage of materials, and electricity has to be rationed.
1953 Salmisaari A power plant in Ruoholahti is commissioned. The plant produces both district heat and electricity.
1957 Water-based district heating is launched in Helsinki when the Hotel and Restaurant School in Perhonkatu 11 is connected to the water district heating network.
1960 Hanasaari A power plant is commissioned in the Sörnäinen energy supply area. The power plant was designed by architect Vera Rosendahl who was also involved in the design of the Salmisaari power plant.
1973 Sähkötalo, which is designed by Alvar Aalto, is completed in Kamppi in connection with the substation. Sähkötalo is used as the new administrative building of the electricity works.
1974 Hanasaari B power plant is commissioned to meet the city’s growing energy needs. A couple of years later, the Suvilahti power plant is decommissioned and later refurbished into a storage warehouse and a sports facility for the employees of the energy works. The premises of the gas works are used as an arts centre in the 1980s.
1977 Helsinki Energy Board is established when the electricity works and gas works are combined at the decision of the City Council. The gas works continues its operations as the gas department of the Helsinki Energy Board.
1981 The foundation stone of Salmisaari B power plant is laid.
1984 Salmisaari B power plant is commissioned. Three years later, the desulphurisation plant is also commissioned at Salmisaari.
1991 The natural gas era begins when Vuosaari A power plant starts its operations. The Hanasaari desulphurisation plant is commissioned in the same year.
1995 Helsinki Energy Board becomes a municipal public utility, and its new name is Helsingin Energia. The Electricity Market Act enters into force on 1 June and the sale of electricity is deregulated, first for major companies and in 1998 also for households and small companies.
2000 District cooling operations start in the Ruoholahti district.
2007 Hanasaari A power plant in Sörnäinen is demolished. The Society for the Industrial Heritage gives Helsingin Energia an industrial heritage award for the demolition work. According to the society, the documentation related to the power plant demolition was the most extensive recording ever performed in the termination of industrial operations in Finland. The Suvilahti plant reopens as a cultural venue.
2008 European Parliament selects Helsingin Energia as winner of the Regional Awards competition. According to the reasons for selecting Helsingin Energia, the company is a world leader in energy efficiency.
2009 Helsingin Energia as a company is 100 years old.
2010 The City Council of Helsinki approves our development programme Towards a Carbon Neutral Future. The development programme includes an action plan to achieve the 2020 climate targets and the outline of activities until 2050. The programme is implemented as significant investment projects.
2012 We launch sales of electric vehicle charging points and services related to the production of solar energy. Development of the smart grid and new services is accelerated once the installation of remotely read meters is completed. Test combustion of pellets starts at the Hanasaari power plant. | |||||
5064 | dbpedia | 2 | 47 | https://medium.com/illumination/spectacular-new-technology-and-trains-seen-as-stunning-5d54bd6499 | en | Spectacular New Technology and Trains — Seen as Stunning | [
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"Terry Day",
"medium.com"
] | 2023-01-24T22:11:34.461000+00:00 | This is my second article on Finland and the trains that are used there. In this article we will look at many topics such as opposition, new railways, etc.,) | en | https://miro.medium.com/v2/5d8de952517e8160e40ef9841c781cdc14a5db313057fa3c3de41c6f5b494b19 | Medium | https://medium.com/illumination/spectacular-new-technology-and-trains-seen-as-stunning-5d54bd6499 | Dear Reader,
This is my second article on Finland and the trains that are used there. In this article we will look at many topics such as opposition (why would anyone oppose new trains, new railways, etc.,), who the operators of the trains are both private and government, trips that can be taken with electrified train and plans for additional opportunities.
We also look at safety, railway links to adjacent countries, Metros, Trams, and Light Rail. It is my hope that by the time you have read both articles you will have a basic understanding of the trains being used in Finland. I value your opinion so please let me know if you enjoyed reading these articles. Many thanks in advance! With that I suspect we’d better get started.
Opposition
Environmental and cultural concerns affect these plans. The indigenous Sami people are concerned that the proposed line would pass through reindeer grazing. I suspect that they are good people who would like to see the trains arrive and be used but they want to ensure that it is done in a reasonable manner with the least impact to the society and wildlife of the areas where the train will operate. | ||||
5064 | dbpedia | 1 | 7 | https://www.railway-technology.com/projects/kalasatama-pasila-tramway-finland/ | en | Kalasatama-Pasila Tramway, Finland | [
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"samatharenigunta"
] | 2024-03-07T15:07:27+00:00 | The Kalasatama-Pasila tramway expands the existing tram network in Helsinki, Finland, connecting the metro and local and long-distance trains. | en | Railway Technology | https://www.railway-technology.com/projects/kalasatama-pasila-tramway-finland/ | The 4.5km Kalasatama-Pasila tramway is a much-anticipated expansion of the existing tram network in Helsinki, Finland. It will enable smooth connections to the metro and local and long-distance trains.
The project is being developed by Helsinki City’s Helsinki Urban Environment Division and Metropolitan Area Transport (Paakaupunkiseudun Kaupunkiliikenne) with an estimated investment of €260m ($287m).
The development phase of the project began in 2020, followed by the execution phase in 2021 and construction works in January 2022. Test runs are expected to start in 2024, following which the completed tramway will commence operations during the same year.
The project will also enhance existing roadways as well as pedestrian and bicycle environments.
Location and development details
The Kalasatama-Pasila tramway is being developed in the Kalasatama region, a former port and industrial area that is currently being developed into a smart city.
When the Kalasatama region development is completed in 2040, more than 10,000 jobs are expected to be created and 30,000 residents will live in the neighbourhood.
The Kalasatama-Pasila tramway extension will provide a dependable public transport link unaffected by traffic jams, serving the entire Kalasatama region. It is expected to become one of the busiest lines on the tram network.
Kalasatama–Pasila tramway details
The Kalasatama-Pasila tramway project includes the construction of tram line 13 from Nihti through the centre of Kalasatama and Vallilanlaakso through the Makelankatu junction to Pasila and includes a balloon loop in Nihti.
The tramway will primarily operate in the middle of the street, in its dedicated lane. Junonkatu and Leonkatu streets will be exceptions as they do not have dedicated tram lanes. The tramway will travel through a park in Vallilanlaakso.
The distance between the tram stops will be around 525m. The typical tram speed in Helsinki is 14km/h, whereas the Kalasatama-Pasila tramway project aims for an average speed between 19km/h and 21km/h.
The tramway’s Nihti terminal at Kalasatama will also feature a transfer link to the Crown Bridges light rail along with a connection to the Pasila tramline at the northern end.
Construction details
The Kalasatama-Pasila tramway project will include the construction of 11,989m of tracks, 25 tram stop shelters, 34 turnouts, 17 track crossings, 56km of cables and four power supply substations.
The tramway tracks will be made up of a track superstructure, points and rail insulation, a rail groove dewatering system and noise insulation on the ground. The rails, rail mounting, electrical insulation of the rails, sleepers in between the tracks, and a slab track form the superstructure. A track gauge of 1,000mm is used and semi-sleepers are 750mm apart.
73,868m²(795,108ft²) of pile slabs, 121m of retaining wall, 928m of streets, a cycle superhighway, pedestrian walkways, cycle paths, bus stops and pedestrian bridges will be developed.
Rolling stock details
The Kalasatama-Pasila tramway project will initially operate with the existing Helsinki trams. It will adopt the new and bigger ForCity Smart Artic X54 light rail trams from 2027.
The ForCity Smart Artic X54 light rail carriage is the Metropolitan Area’s first, with two-way control cabins and doors. The trains feature 34m-long carriages that are ecologically clean, energy-efficient, versatile and simple to maintain.
Sustainability
The Kalasatama-Pasila tramway project is being built to ensure a friendly urban environment, preserve biodiversity and embrace sustainable construction technologies. Its design, procurement and construction decisions are guided by Building Research Establishment Environmental Assessment Methodology infrastructure certification, which considers socioeconomic and environmental aspects.
The goals of the carbon-neutral Helsinki 2035 action plan, which encourages the expansion of sustainable transport options, are met by the new tram route.
In addition to using recycled furniture and stones, low-carbon concrete will be used for piling in the project. Civil Engineering Environmental Quality Assessment and Awards Scheme accreditation will be used to validate the sustainability initiatives.
The project employs lifecycle assessment (LCA) for decision-making, aiming to select options with minimal environmental impact, considering technical requirements, functionality and maintainability. LCAs are conducted using one click LCA software, using data from soil mass and quantity tables as input.
Contractors involved
The project construction is being handled by two alliances: the Sorkan alliance comprising WSP Finland, Destia, Destia Rail and Sweco Infra & Rail, and the Karaatti alliance of GRK Suomi and AFRY Finland along with FLOU and landscape architects Nakyma as subcontractors.
The project from the northern section of Hermannin Rantatie via Vallilanlaakso to Pasila is being engineered and constructed by GRK Suomi, a Finnish infrastructure company, and AFRY, a Swedish engineering, design and consultancy services provider.
The project also includes conduit relocations and new construction by Joint Municipal Engineering Worksite (JMEWS) partners including Helen Sahkaverkko, Helsinki Region Environmental Services (HSY) and many other network operators. | |||||
5064 | dbpedia | 0 | 67 | https://cs.trains.com/trn/f/742/t/269394.aspx%3Fsortorder%3Ddesc | en | Error | [] | [] | [] | [
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Either the site is offline or an unhandled error occurred. We apologize and have logged the error. Please try your request again or if you know who your site administrator is let them know too. | ||||||||
5064 | dbpedia | 2 | 29 | https://futuremobilityfinland.fi/electric-bus-breakthrough-happening-now-simulation-reveals-best-solutions/ | en | Electric bus breakthrough happening now – simulation reveals best solutions | [
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] | null | [] | null | In nearly all competitive procurements last year the number of electric buses chosen for city use exceeded the minimum requirements. Electric buses have made a real breakthrough. This presents a challenge to many communities on how the new equipment should be introduced. Tampere took advantage of VTT Smart eFleet simulation… | en | Future Mobility Finland | https://futuremobilityfinland.fi/electric-bus-breakthrough-happening-now-simulation-reveals-best-solutions/ | In nearly all competitive procurements last year the number of electric buses chosen for city use exceeded the minimum requirements. Electric buses have made a real breakthrough. This presents a challenge to many communities on how the new equipment should be introduced. Tampere took advantage of VTT Smart eFleet simulation service in preliminary studies for electrification.
The technological development of electric buses has advanced by leaps and bounds in recent years. Meanwhile, pressures to reduce emissions in city transport help promote the electrification of bus services. Urban bus transport is regulated by an EU directive, and the national regulation linked with it is taking effect in Finland in 2021.
According to the directive, 41% of procurements for new buses in Finland should be based on clean energy. This means buses powered by electricity, biogas, biodiesel, or hydrogen. In addition, the directive requires that half of these buses should be zero-emission buses powered by electricity or fuel cells.
High expectations, complicated optimisation
Electric buses come with high expectations: they are expected to be as reliable diesel buses, but they must also be energy efficient, and have low emissions. The user experience should also improve. The introduction of electric buses requires comprehensive evaluation of costs and performance. The actors are not always aware of everything that should be considered in the evaluation.
VTT Smart eFleet solution serves as a roadmap for the electrification of bus transport. It offers unbiased information as a basis for decision-making. With the help of the service, it is possible to ascertain the most cost-effective way to introduce electric buses, while maintaining the quality of service.
Planning infrastructure for charging is one of the key questions. “The type of charging is affected by issues such as the features of the buses, their use, and preconditions for maintaining battery capacity on bus lines. Simulation makes it possible to visualise the effects of different choices. The aim is green transport with lower total costs than those of diesel buses”, says VTT’s Research Scientist Mikaela Ranta.
The VTT Smart eFleet service supports the electrification of public transport in many ways. It can be used as a tool for strategic planning and the anticipation of technological development. Simulation can also help in the planning of investments in infrastructure for charging. It also helps in the planning of tendering out public transport and for comparing the profitability of electric and hydrogen buses.
Electric bus traffic expanding in Tampere
An extensive change is taking place in Nysse, the public transport system of the Tampere area, where tram transport begins this summer. Meanwhile, Tampere and its nearby municipalities are planning the electrification of bus transport. The first four electric buses were introduced in the area already in 2016, but now there are moves for more extensive electric bus transport.
In preliminary studies for the electrification of urban buses Tampere has utilised VTT Smart eFleet solution. The simulation tool has given information to help planning in matters such as technical solutions for electrification and their costs.
“We used the service to model four distinct bus routes. We examined the kinds of situations in which fast charging on a route is the most sensible option, and when it is better to charge the batteries at a charging station at the depot, outside the route”, says Juha-Pekka Häyrynen, Transport Planner at Nysse.
“The key observation was that there are no self-evident solutions for the choice of a suitable charging strategy. Battery technology has made great advances, but it is not profitable to run all transport on depot charging. On some bus lines charging on the route remains an economically sensible option.”
By using the simulation service, Tampere did not aim at a detailed comparison of the options, or to optimise actual transport. Instead, the aim was to find fundamental principles for the bigger picture. ”VTT Smart eFleet is a useful and functioning tool for this kind of advance planning. Without simulation it would have been difficult for us to verify what was examined in the advance report”, Häyrinen says.
Switching the driving power to electricity is a significant move in urban bus transport. “Carriers, bus manufacturers, and those ordering the service have varying degrees of readiness for involvement in the change, and development moves forward at different speeds for different actors. Coordination is a challenge for the transition phase: buses have an operating life of about 15 years and the change in the driving power should be implemented in a manner that does not waste investments. This is a change that we plan to carry out in a controlled manner”, Häyrynen says.
Data promotes success in electrification
The VTT Smart eFleet examines the introduction of electric buses with data in mind. Background data requires information about the buses’ routes and schedules, as well as the planned equipment and its technical information. It is also possible to utilise traffic data from peak times and information on the planned charging locations. VTT also takes urban topography into account.
“VTT can collect a large portion of this information, and information about the vehicles is available directly from the manufacturers. In addition, the more information the client can give, the more detailed analysis can be made”, Mikaela Ranta notes.
The VTT Smart eFleet is the result of decades of research, experimental measurements, and technical data. This data is utilised in the analysis of different kinds of vehicles, infrastructures, and operating environments. The aim of the service is the successful electrification of bus transport and the best possible technical and economic solution for an electrified public transport system.
Read more about VTT Smart eFleet solution and contact VTT’s experts.
This article is published on Linja magazine of Linja-autoliitto 06/2021 | |||||
5064 | dbpedia | 3 | 6 | https://www.theguardian.com/edinburgh/2010/nov/15/edinburgh-trams-helsinki-finland-willie-miller | en | Spotlight on trams: Helsinki | [
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"Guardian staff",
"Willie Miller"
] | 2010-11-15T00:00:00 | <p>In the latest of an occasional series looking at trams across the world's cities, guest blogger <strong>Willie Miller</strong> discovers Finland's capital mirrors Edinburgh in many ways, yet trams are just a fraction of its transport aspirations</p> | en | the Guardian | https://www.theguardian.com/edinburgh/2010/nov/15/edinburgh-trams-helsinki-finland-willie-miller | Imagine a country with around the same population as Scotland that builds Metro lines and high speed rail links, that has the ambition to build a 50 mile undersea tunnel link to another country and is built around an extensive welfare state.
Imagine the same country regularly topping international comparisons of national performance in health, education and quality of life, as well as being the seventh most competitive country in the world.
Imagine its capital city, with a similar population to Edinburgh, with an extensive district heating system, the foresight to introduce a vacuum powered district waste disposal scheme that eliminates bin collections and which is extending its tram based public transport system with six major new lines over the next few years.
Helsinki is a city of 480,000 people with a surrounding metropolitan area of around 1.3 million people. It is very similar in size to Edinburgh (478,000) and it also the capital of its country with a population slightly less than that of Scotland at 5.3 million.
It is a remarkable and beautiful city with big plans for the future which include a fast rail link to St Petersburg, promoting and developing its airport as a European hub to China and investigating a 50 mile tunnel link to Tallinn in Estonia. This is a city in which seventy percent of the land area and almost all development land is owned by the City Council. This is a city with big plans and the ability to implement them.
The city also has ambitious plans for its own expansion, particularly on to waterfront areas previously occupied by docklands and inner harbours which have moved out to a new complex at Vuosaaric on the eastern edge of the conurbation. It is expected that an additional 100,000 people will be accommodated in these new developments. A key factor in planning these new development areas is integrated public transport by Metro in part but mainly by tram.
Helsinki's tram network is one of the oldest electrified tram networks in the world. It forms part of the city public transport system organised by Helsinki Regional Transport Authority and operated by Helsinki City Transport. The trams are the main means of transport within the city centre and 56.6 million trips were made back in 2004, which is more than those made with the Helsinki Metro.
The first tram network was established in 1890 and electrification took place in 1900. In common with many other European cities, the tram system was under threat from buses in the mid 20th century and the city decided to close the system in the early 1960s. However this decision was reversed during the early 1970s and by 1976 the network was being expanded again. Today the tram is a key part of the city's infrastructure.
The city has a current total of twelve lines with a further six lines planned over the next few years. As well as owning almost 70% of the land area of the city, the Helsinki authorities also own the public transport system and critically, the energy company that supplies power for the tram network. This degree of ownership of the core elements of the system means that it is relatively easy to extend the network and guarantee connections to new housing areas without having to haggle with different land owners, developers, public utility owners and contractors.
Another aspect of infrastructure provision in Helsinki is the way in which it seems to happen efficiently and painlessly. Not for them the contractual disputes, delays in implementation or flaws in construction which are leapt upon by a triumphant public and trumpeted in the media elsewhere.
Perhaps it is in the dour uncomplaining Finnish character to just let other people get on with things in the knowledge that they will eventually be successful. Or perhaps they are just used to doing infrastructure provision really well. | |||||
5064 | dbpedia | 2 | 13 | https://www.railway-technology.com/projects/ring-rail-line-helsinki/ | en | Ring Rail Line, Helsinki | [
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"Praveen"
] | 2015-08-23T17:30:00+00:00 | The Ring Rail Line is a new 18km-long commuter rail line built in Vantaa, Greater Helsinki Metropolitan Area, Finland. The… | en | Railway Technology | https://www.railway-technology.com/projects/ring-rail-line-helsinki/ | The Ring Rail Line is a new 18km-long commuter rail line built in Vantaa, Greater Helsinki Metropolitan Area, Finland. The new urban line connects the Vantaankoski line with the main line at Hiekkaharju via Helsinki-Vantaa Airport.
Construction of the new commuter rail line began in May 2009 and was completed in July 2015. Excavation of the underground stations using the drill and blast method started in mid-2009, while the underground tunnel beneath the airport was completed in March 2010.
The Finnish Transport Agency, the City of Vantaa and Finavia are the joint developers of the Ring Rail Line project. The railway line provides public transportation to approximately 200,000 commuters.
Ring Rail project details
The Ring Rail project combines the Martinlaakso line with the Helsinki-Lahti rail line via a short stretch of the Helsinki-Turku line before connecting to the old Helsinki-Hämeenlinna-Tampere rail line.
The new line passes through an 8km-long twin tunnel via Ruskeasanta groundwater area and cross the Päijänne tunnel closely. The twin tunnel starts from the north-east side of the Katriinantie-Tikkurilantie intersection and resurfaces in Ilola, to the east of Laaksotie and south of Koivukylänväylä.
"The railway line provides public transportation to approximately 200,000 commuters."
Three at-surface stations, Vehkala, Kivistö and Leinelä, and two underground stations at Aviapolis and Airport were built under the first stage. Underground stations are also proposed to be built at Ruskeasanta and Viinikkala, and a surface station at Petas.
All the stations feature 230m-long platforms. All the surface stations are accessible by covered stairs and lifts, while elevators are provided additionally at Kivistö station. Approximately 14,000 passengers a day are expected to access the new stations in 2025.
The project also includes the construction of 38 bridges. Park & Ride facilities for 700 cars and 840 bicycles were created during the initial phase of the project.
Passengers from the north have an option to change trains in Tikkurila, while the trip from Tikkurila to the airport takes only eight minutes. The line provides a direct link to the airport for ensuring the passengers to reach the airport from Helsinki city centre within 30 minutes.
Rolling stock for the Ring Rail line
The line uses new electric FLIRT (fast light innovative regional train) SM5 low-floor trains (train codes: I and P). Supplied by Stadler Bussnang, the trains can carry approximately 2,000 passengers an hour in each direction during peak hours, running at ten-minute intervals in both directions.
The FLIRT SM5 train is 75m-long and has seating capacity for 232 people. The passenger and driver compartments of the train are completely air-conditioned. The trains have six doors on each side for fast entry and exit of passengers. The operating speed of the trains is 120km/h.
Financing
The project was completed at a cost of approximately €750.m ($824m), of which the Finnish Transport Agency contributed €474m ($565m), and the City of Vantaa and Finavia contributed €234.5m ($280m) and €30m ($35m) respectively. The project was also co-financed by the European Union under the Trans-European Transport Network (TEN-T) programme.
Contractors involved
Pöyry was contracted to conduct general planning and environmental impact assessment for the project. The contractual scope also included detailed design of the access tunnels and rock excavation design for the underground stations.
The Boston GLX project primarily involves the extension of the Green Line, the oldest light rail transit in the US.
Lemminkäinen Group’s Lemminkäinen Infra Oy was awarded the construction contract for the eastern section of the Ring Rail Line’s tunnel. Lemminkäinen was awarded the interior construction contract for a section of the tunnel and the construction of a station reservation centre in April 2013. The contractual scope included the construction of a 2.6m section of double-tunnel and a tunnel station reservation, in addition to HVAC and electrical works.
KONE supplied elevators and escalators, along with ten-year KONE Care® Premium maintenance.
PES-Architects were appointed as the architect for the Aviapolis, Airport, Ruskeasanta and Viinikkala underground stations.
ISITC Tunnel Construction was contracted for grouting, blasting works, installation of rock bolts, and for complete recording of all the works related to the tunnel. | |||||
5064 | dbpedia | 1 | 11 | https://encyclopedia.pub/entry/36661 | en | List of Railway Electrification Systems | [
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] | null | [] | 2022-11-27T10:16:07+01:00 | Encyclopedia is a user-generated content hub aiming to provide a comprehensive record for scientific developments. All content free to post, read, share and reuse. | en | /favicon.ico | https://encyclopedia.pub/entry/36661 | This is a list of the power supply systems that are, or have been, used for tramway and railway electrification systems. Note that the voltages are nominal and vary depending on load and distance from the substation. Many modern trams and trains use on-board solid-state electronics to convert these supplies to run three-phase AC induction motors. Tram electrification systems are listed here.
1. Key to the Tables below
Volts: voltage or volt
Current:
DC = direct current
# Hz = frequency in hertz (alternating current (AC))
AC supplies are usually single-phase (1Ø) except where marked three-phase (3Ø).
Conductors:
overhead line or
conductor rail, usually a third rail to one side of the running rails. Conductor rail can be:
top contact: oldest, least safe, most affected by ice, snow, rain and leaves. Protection boards are being installed on most top contact systems, which increases safety and reduces these affections.
side contact: newer, safer, less affected by ice, snow, rain and leaves
bottom contact: newest, safest, least affected by ice, snow, rain and leaves
2. Systems Using Standard Voltages
Voltages are defined by two standards: BS EN 50163[1] and IEC 60850.[2]
2.1. Overhead Systems
600 V DC
Country Location Name of system Notes
Worldwide
Many tram systems This voltage is mostly used by older tram systems worldwide but by a few modern ones as well. See List of tram systems by gauge and electrification. Germany Trossingen Trossingen Railway Hungary Budapest Budapest Metro Line M1 Japan Chōshi, Chiba Chōshi Electric Railway Kyoto, Kyoto Eizan Electric Railway Kanagawa Enoshima Electric Railway Matsuyama, Ehime Iyotetsu Takahama Line Shizuoka, Shizuoka Shizuoka Railway Romania Sibiu county Sibiu-Răşinari Narrow Gauge Railway Part of the former Sibiu tram line Spain Madrid Madrid Metro lines 1, 4, 5, 6 and 9. In process to be converted to 1500 V United Kingdom Crich, England National Tramway Museum United States Boston Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority Green and Mattapan Lines, the at-grade section of Blue Line northeast of Airport station Cleveland RTA Rapid Transit Red line heavy rail
750 V DC
Country Location Name of system Notes
Worldwide
Many tram systems This voltage is used for most modern tram and light rail systems. See List of tram systems by gauge and electrification Austria Upper Austria Local lines of Stern & Hafferl Also listed as having 1500 and 600 V lines Austria
Switzerland Rhine / Lake Constance Internationale Rheinregulierungsbahn Construction railway for the regulation works of the river Rhine near its outfall into Lake Constance, now preserved. The river forms the border between Austria and Switzerland, and the railway operated in both countries. Germany Karlsruhe to Bad Herrenalb with a branch to Ittersbach Albtalbahn Railway of the Upper Rhine Italy Genoa Genoa Metro Japan Hamamatsu, Shizuoka Enshū Railway Hakone, Kanagawa Hakone Tozan Railway Line Between Hakone-Yumoto and Gōra Ehime Iyotetsu Yokogawara Line and Gunchū Line Yokkaichi, Mie Yokkaichi Asunarou Railway Utsube Line, Hachiōji Line Mie Sangi Railway Hokusei Line Mexico Mexico City STC Line A Netherlands The Hague, Zoetermeer, Rotterdam and adjacent cities Randstadrail Rotterdam Rotterdam Metro North of Capelsebrug station overhead wires Philippines Metro Manila Manila LRT Line 1 (Manila Light Rail Transit System) Between Baclaran and Roosevelt Manila MRT Line 3 (Manila Metro Rail Transit System) Between North Avenue and Taft Avenue Switzerland Canton of Aargau Menziken–Aarau–Schöftland railway line Republic of China (Taiwan) New Taipei New Taipei Metro: all Light Rail lines Turkey Adana Adana Metro Istanbul Istanbul Metro Line M1
1200 V DC
Country Location Name of system Notes Cuba Havana – Matanzas and branches Ferrocarriles Nacionales de Cuba Originally (and still known as) the Hershey Electric Railway Germany Lusatia 900 mm (2 ft 117⁄16 in) gauge mining railways in the lignite district Spain Barcelona, Catalonia Barcelona Metro Uses an overhead conductor rail/beam system Palma – Sóller, Majorca Sóller Railway [3] Switzerland Canton of Bern / canton of Solothurn Aare Seeland mobil (ASm) [4][5] Dietikon, canton of Zürich – Wohlen, canton of Aargau Bremgarten-Dietikon-Bahn Zürich – Esslingen, canton of Zürich Forchbahn Forchbahn proper only; Forchbahn trains access their Zürich terminus via the Zürich tram network, which is electrified at 600 V DC. The rolling stock is equipped to run off both voltages. Frauenfeld, canton of Thurgau – Wil, canton of St. Gallen Frauenfeld-Wil-Bahn Meiringen – Innertkirchen, canton of Bern Meiringen–Innertkirchen Bahn Zürich – Uetliberg, canton of Zürich Sihltal Zürich Uetliberg Bahn Uetliberg line only – uses an offset overhead line and pantograph to allow running on track shared with the AC-electrified Sihltal line[6] United States Los Angeles – Inland Empire, California Pacific Electric Upland–San Bernardino 600 V in city limits
1500 V DC
Country Location Name of system Notes Argentina Buenos Aires Buenos Aires Metro Lines A, C, D, E and H Tren de la Costa Suburban line Australia Melbourne Melbourne Suburban Railways Sydney Sydney Trains Sydney Metro Except Western Sydney Airport line, which will use 25 kV 50 Hz AC[7] Brazil São Paulo São Paulo Metro Lines 4 and 5 Bulgaria Sofia Sofia Metro Line 3 Gorna Banya – Hadzhi Dimitar Canada Montreal Réseau express métropolitain Incl. Deux-Montagnes line that was built by CNoR in 1918 as 2400 V DC, converted to 3000 V DC in the 1980s, converted to 25 kV 60 Hz in 1995 by ARTM, being converted to light-metro standard and 1500 V DC Ottawa O-Train Confederation Line only; the Trillium Line is diesel LRT. China Beijing Beijing Subway Lines 6, 14 and 16 Changchun Changchun Rail Transit Lines 1 and 2 Changsha Changsha Metro Changzhou Changzhou Metro Chengdu Chengdu Metro Except lines 17, 18 and 19 Chongqing Chongqing Rail Transit Lines 1, 4, 5, 6, 10 and Loop Line Dalian Dalian Metro Dongguan Dongguan Rail Transit Fushun Fushun Electric Railway Fuzhou Fuzhou Metro Guangzhou Guangzhou Metro Except Lines 4, 5, 6, 14 and 21, but overhead wires installed in depots. Guiyang Guiyang Metro Hangzhou Hangzhou Metro Harbin Harbin Metro Hefei Hefei Metro Hohhot Hohhot Metro Jinan Jinan Metro Lanzhou Lanzhou Metro Nanchang Nanchang Metro Nanjing Nanjing Metro Nanning Nanning Metro Ningbo Ningbo Rail Transit Line 4 uses third rail for returning current Shanghai Shanghai Metro Except Lines 16 and 17, but overhead wires installed in the depot for line 16. Shenyang Shenyang Metro Shenzhen Shenzhen Metro Except Lines 3 and 6, but overhead wires installed in the depot for line 6. Shijiazhuang Shijiazhuang Metro Suzhou Suzhou Metro Tianjin Tianjin Metro Lines 5, 6 and 9 only Ürümqi Ürümqi Metro Wuhan Wuhan Metro Line 6 only Xi’an Xi'an Metro Xiamen Xiamen Metro Xuzhou Xuzhou Metro Zhengzhou Zhengzhou Metro Colombia Medellín Medellín Metro Lines A and B Czech Republic Tábor – Bechyně Czech Railway Infrastructure Administration (SŽDC) Tábor – Bechyně line only (24 km, built in 1903) Dominican Republic Santo Domingo Santo Domingo Metro Egypt Cairo Cairo Metro Line 1[8][9] France Société Nationale des Chemins de fer (SNCF) 25 kV AC used on new high speed lines (TGV) and in the north (see below) Hong Kong Hong Kong Mass Transit Railway Except East Rail line and Tuen Ma line which use 25 kV 50 Hz AC (see below) and the light rail which uses 750 V DC Hungary Budapest Budapest Cog-wheel Railway Converted from 550 V DC (city trams nominal voltage at that time) during the 1973 reconstruction. Indonesia Jakarta KRL Jabodetabek
Jakarta MRT
Yogyakarta-Solo KRL Commuterline Yogyakarta–Solo Ireland Dublin Dublin Area Rapid Transit Italy Rome Rome Metro Line A, Line B, Line Roma-Ostia Lido Japan Japan Railways (JR) lines Most electrified lines in Kantō, Chūbu, Kansai, Chūgoku, and Shikoku (except Shinkansen and Hokuriku region) Most private railway lines See Railway electrification in Japan for more details including excpetions Most subway lines South Korea Seoul National Capital Area Seoul Subway Except Korail Subway Line (except Line 3)
(see below) Busan Busan Subway Daegu Daegu Subway Daejeon Daejeon Subway Gwangju Gwangju Subway Incheon Incheon Subway Line 1 Mexico Mexico City STC Line 12 Monterrey Sistema de Transporte Colectivo Metrorrey Netherlands Nederlandse Spoorwegen – Dutch Railways (NS) 25 kV AC used on high speed lines and freight line Betuweroute (see below); The existing 1500V DC lines will be converted to 3kV DC. New Zealand Wellington Wellington suburban Except Wairarapa Line beyond Upper Hutt. Since 2011, the nominal voltage was 1600 V but with the same tolerances as 1500 V (i.e. 1300–1800 V), making it backwards-compatible with 1500 V rolling stock. Since May 2016 the operating voltage was increased to 1700 V DC following the full introduction of the Matangi EMUs. Philippines Metro Manila Manila MRT Makati Intra-city Subway (Line 5) and Metro Manila Subway (Line 9) only. Line 7 uses 750 V DC third rail. Metro Manila
Rizal Manila LRT Line 2 only. Line 1 uses 750 V DC. Metro Manila
Central Luzon
Laguna Philippine National Railways North–South Commuter Railway Portugal Lisbon, Oeiras and Cascais Linha de Cascais To be converted to 25kV AC.[10] Singapore Singapore Mass Rapid Transit North East Line, operated by SBS Transit Slovakia Tatra Mountains in the area of Poprad Tatra Electric Railway Spain Catalonia Ferrocarrils de la Generalitat de Catalunya Madrid ADIF Only Cercedilla-Cotos line Mallorca Serveis Ferroviaris de Mallorca North coast (Asturias-Leon-Cantabria-Basque Country) FEVE Basque Country Euskotren Trena Valencian Community Ferrocarrils de la Generalitat Valenciana Sweden Stockholm Roslagsbanan Switzerland Aigle – Leysin, canton of Vaud Chemin de fer Aigle–Leysin (AL) Aigle, Vaud – Champéry, canton of Valais Chemin de fer Aigle–Ollon–Monthey–Champéry (AOMC) Aigle – Les Diablerets, canton of Vaud Chemin de fer Aigle–Sépey–Diablerets (ASD) Interlaken – Lauterbrunnen / Grindelwald, canton of Bern Berner Oberland Bahn (BOB) Canton of Jura Chemins de fer du Jura (CJ) Metre gauge lines only Lausanne – Bercher, canton of Vaud Chemin de fer Lausanne–Échallens–Bercher (LEB) Nyon – La Cure, canton of Vaud Chemin de fer Nyon-St-Cergue-Morez (NStCNM) Converted in the 1980s from 2200 V DC Vitznau / Goldau – Rigi Rigi Bahnen (VRB/ARB) Wilderswil – Schynige Platte, canton of Bern Schynige Platte Bahn (SPB) Liestal – Waldenburg, canton of Basel-Country Waldenburgerbahn (WB) Lauterbrunnen – Grindelwald, canton of Bern Wengernalpbahn (WAB) Turkey Bursa Bursaray Istanbul Istanbul Metro Except lines M1, M2 and M6 United Kingdom Newcastle, Sunderland, Gateshead and Tyneside Tyne & Wear Metro Light rail United States Chicago Metra Electric District Maryland Purple Line Light rail under construction Northern Indiana & Chicago South Shore Line Seattle Central Link Light rail
3 kV DC
Country Location Name of system Note Belgium Belgium National Railways (SNCB) National standard. 25 kV AC used on high speed lines and some lines in the south (see below). Brazil Rio de Janeiro SuperVia Trens Urbanos Brazil São Paulo Companhia Paulista de Trens Metropolitanos Chile Empresa de los Ferrocarriles del Estado Czech Republic Czech Railway Infrastructure Administration (SŽDC) Northern part of network only (approx. the Děčín – Praha – Ostrava route). The system change stations are Kadaň-Prunéřov, Beroun, Benešov u Prahy, Kutná Hora hl.n., Svitavy, Nezamyslice, Nedakonice. The southern part uses 25 kV 50 Hz (see below).
The 3 kV system is to be phased out in favour of 25 kV AC.[11] Estonia Tallinn Elron Commuter rail only Georgia Georgian Railways In fact 3,300 V Italy Rete Ferroviaria Italiana 25 kV AC used on new high speed lines (see below) North Korea Korean State Railway National standard Latvia Latvian Railways Commuter rail only, to be converted to 25 kV AC, in order to connecting to Russia, Belarus and Lithuania Morocco ONCF National standard Netherlands ProRail Planned Poland Polish State Railways National standard. Broad-gauge lines will use 25 kV AC[12] Warsaw and suburbs Warszawska Kolej Dojazdowa 600 V DC until 27 May 2016 Russia Russian Railways New electrification use only 25 kV AC (see below), except Moscow Central Circle and other interconnection lines in Moscow, and 2 interconnection lines (Veymarn line and Kamennogorsk line) in St. Petersburg. Sverdlovsk railway and West Siberian railway to be converted to 25 kV AC. Slovakia Slovak Republic Railways (ŽSR) Northern main line (connected to Czech Republic and Poland ) and eastern lines (around Košice and Prešov), conversion to 25 kV AC planned,[11] and the broad gauge line between Košice and the Ukraine border (it will remain 3 kV until new broad gauge line construction, then convert to 25 kV AC), planned new broad gauge line is supposed to use 25 kV AC. Currently, the part north and east of the station Púchov uses 3 kV DC, the rest uses 25 kV 50 Hz (see below). Slovenia Slovenian Railways National standard South Africa Transnet Freight Rail; Metrorail National standard; also 25 kV AC (see below) and 50 kV AC used Spain Administrador de Infraestructuras Ferroviarias 25 kV AC used on high speed lines (AVE) (see below) Ukraine Ukrainian Railways In east (Donetsk industrial zone), in west (west from L'viv – connecting to Slovakia and Poland), to be converted to 25 kV AC[13] (see below)
15 kV AC, 162⁄3 Hz / 16.7 Hz
Country Location Name of system Notes Austria ÖBB National standard. Planned new high speed lines will near the border use 25 kV AC: Innsbruck-Italy and broad gauge to Ukraine Germany Deutsche Bahn - German National Railways (DB) National standard Norway Norwegian National Rail Administration Sweden Swedish Transport Administration Switzerland Canton of Bern BLS Central Switzerland and Bernese Highlands Zentralbahn Canton of Vaud Chemin de fer Bière-Apples-Morges (BAM) Canton of Zürich Sihltal Zürich Uetliberg Bahn Sihltal line only; shares track with the 1200 V DC electrified Uetliberg line that uses an offset overhead line and pantograph to allow such sharing Swiss Federal Railways
25 kV AC, 50 Hz
Country Location Name of system Notes Argentina Buenos Aires Roca Line Constitución – Ezeiza
Constitución – Alejandro Korn
Constitución – Bosques
Constitución – La Plata Australia Brisbane, North Coast line, Blackwater and Goonyella coal railways Queensland Rail Perth Transperth Adelaide Adelaide Metro Seaford/Flinders and Gawler lines electrified Sydney Sydney Metro Western Sydney Airport line only[7] Belarus National standard Belgium Belgium National Railways (NMBS/SNCB) High-speed lines and some other lines. The rest of the network is 3 kV DC (see above) Bosnia and Herzegovina Botswana Proposed line to Namibia Bulgaria Bulgarian State Railways China China Railway Corporation National standard Beijing Beijing Subway Daxing Airport Line only Chengdu Chengdu Metro Lines 17, 18 and 19 only Wenzhou Wenzhou Rail Transit Croatia Croatian Railways Lines Zagreb-Rijeka and Rijeka-Šapjane formerly used 3kv DC traction Czech Republic Czech Railway Infrastructure Administration (SŽDC) Southern lines only (linking Karlovy Vary – Cheb – Plzeň – České Budějovice – Tábor – Jihlava – Brno – Břeclav – Slovakia), northern lines use 3 kV DC (see above) Denmark Banedanmark National standard, excluding Copenhagen S-train Djibouti Addis Ababa–Djibouti Railway Ethiopian Railway Corporation Ethiopia Addis Ababa–Djibouti Railway Ethiopian Railway Corporation Finland National standard France North and new lines SNCF A number of lines also electrified with 1.5 kV (see above) Germany Harz Rübelandbahn Greece Hellenic Railways Organisation National standard Hong Kong Kowloon, New Territories Mass Transit Railway East Rail and Tuen Ma lines All other lines except the light rail use Template:1,500 V DC (see above) Hungary Hungarian State Railways and Raaberbahn India Indian Railways Entire IR network uses the current system since 2016. Mumbai Mumbai Suburban Railway Conversion from 1.5 kV DC to the current system was completed in 2012 (for Western line[14]) and 2016 (for Central line[15][16][17]) respectively Mumbai Mumbai Metro (Line 1) Chennai (Madras) Chennai Metro Delhi Delhi Metro Hyderabad Hyderabad Metro Pune Pune Metro Nagpur Nagpur Metro Jaipur Jaipur Metro Lucknow Lucknow Metro Iran Planned Israel Israel Railways Construction contract awarded in December 2015.[18] Initial test runs began December 2017. Italy Rete Ferroviaria Italiana (Italian Railways Network) New high-speed lines only, other lines use 3 kV DC (see above) Japan Kantō (northeast of Tokyo), Tōhoku, and Hokkaido regions JR East Tohoku Shinkansen, Joetsu Shinkansen, and Hokuriku Shinkansen (sections between Tokyo – Karuizawa, and between Jōetsumyōkō – Itoigawa)
JR Hokkaido Hokkaido Shinkansen 25 kV AC 60 Hz in some areas (see below). Kazakhstan Laos Boten–Vientiane railway Latvia Latvian Railways Eastern lines only (planned) Lithuania Kena — Kaunas and Lentvaris — Trakai Lithuanian Railways (LG) Electrification of Naujoji Vilnia – Kena —
Gudogai (BCh) route for Vilnius – Minsk (Belarus) services is established on 2017. Further Kaunas – Klaipeda and Kaunas – Kybartai corridors electrification will follow projects.
Luxembourg Chemins de fer luxembourgeois (CFL) National standard Malaysia Padang Besar – KL Sentral – Gemas KTM ETS (run through West Coast railway line), Keretapi Tanah Melayu Berhad Under construction: Hat Yai (in Thailand) – Padang Besar (to be opened by 2020) and Gemas – Johor Bahru (to be opened by 2022) Bukit Mertajam – Padang Regas and Butterworth – Padang Besar KTM Komuter Northern Sector, Keretapi Tanah Melayu Berhad Batu Caves – Pulau Sebang/Tampin, Tanjung Malim – Port Klang and KL Sentral – Terminal Skypark KTM Komuter Central Sector (Seremban Line, Port Klang Line and Skypark Link), Keretapi Tanah Melayu Berhad KL Sentral – KLIA2 Express Rail Link (KLIA Ekspres and KLIA Transit) Montenegro Belgrade–Bar railway and Nikšić–Podgorica railway Railways of Montenegro Morocco Kenitra–Tangier high-speed rail line ONCF Casablanca–Kenitra section of high-speed rail remains at 3 kV DC[19] Namibia Proposed line to Botswana Netherlands HSL-Zuid high speed line and Betuweroute freight line Nederlandse Spoorwegen 1.5 kV DC used on the rest of the network (see above) New Zealand Auckland Auckland suburban 77 km between Swanson and Papakura; first service 28 April 2014 Central North Island North Island Main Trunk 411 km between Palmerston North and Hamilton North Macedonia Makedonski Železnici Poland Hrubieszów Broad Gauge Metallurgy Line (LHS) A section from the border to Hrubieszów will be electrified in conjunction with the electrification of the connecting border – Izov – Kovel line in Ukraine.[20] The reminder sections will follow. Portugal Portuguese Railways (CP) Except the Linha de Cascais (1500 V DC) Romania Caile Ferate Romane Russia Russian Railways National standard used for new electrification; some areas still use 3 kV DC (see above) Serbia Serbian Railways Slovakia Slovak Republic Railways (ŽSR) South-western lines only (around Bratislava, Kuty, Trencin, Trnava, Nove Zamky, Zvolen) and the rest of the network (except narrow gauge lines), currently 3 kV DC, to follow (see above) South Africa Transnet Freight Rail, Gautrain Also 3 kV DC (see above) and 50 kV 50 Hz used. Spain ADIF Alta Velocidad High-speed lines only, other lines use 3 kV DC (see above) Thailand Bangkok Suvarnabhumi Airport Link Tunisia [21] Turkey Turkish State Railways (TCDD) National standard United Kingdom Network Rail Except Southern region and Merseyrail and Northern Ireland Ukraine Ukrainian Railways National standard, in most of the west; also 3 kV DC in the east (see above) Uzbekistan Zimbabwe Gweru – Harare National Railways of Zimbabwe (NRZ) De-energised in 2008. May be renewed in the future.[22]
25 kV AC, 60 Hz
Country Location Name of system Notes Japan Kantō (west of Tokyo), Chūbu, Kansai, Chūgoku, and Kyushu regions Tōkaidō-Sanyō Shinkansen
Hokuriku Shinkansen (sections between Karuizawa – Jōetsumyōkō, and between Itoigawa – Kanazawa)
Kyushu Shinkansen 25 kV AC 50 Hz in eastern Japan (see above) Saudi Arabia Haramain high-speed railway Saudi Railways Organization Renfe and Adif will operate the trains and manage the line until 2030 South Korea Korail All Korail freight/passenger lines except Seoul subway Line 3 which is 1.5 kV DC (see above) Seoul Shinbundang line Incheon, Seoul A'REX Mexico Greater Mexico City Ferrocarril Suburbano de la Zona Metropolitana del Valle de México [23] State of Mexico Toluca–Mexico City commuter rail Under construction. Expected end of 2022 Yucatán Peninsula Tren Maya Under construction. About 40% of the route to be electrified [24] Republic of China (Taiwan) Taiwan Railways Administration National standard Western Taiwan Taiwan High Speed Rail United States New Jersey Morris & Essex Lines, New Jersey Transit Former 3,000 V DC system Aberdeen-Matawan to Long Branch, New Jersey North Jersey Coast Line, New Jersey Transit Converted in 1978 from Pennsylvania Railroad 11 kV 25 Hz system to the 12.5 kV 25 Hz on the Rahway-Matawan ROW and 12.5 kV 60 Hz electrification extended to Long Branch in 1988. The Matawan-Long Branch voltage converted from 12.5 kV 60 Hz system to the 25 kV 60 Hz in 2002. New York to Boston Northeast Corridor (NEC), Amtrak Electrified in 2000; see Amtrak's 60 Hz traction power system Denver Denver RTD Opened in 2016; separate 750 V DC system for light rail San Francisco Peninsula Caltrain Under construction, expected by 2024; see Electrification of Caltrain New Mexico Navajo Mine Railroad Texas Texas Utilities, Monticello & Martin Lake see E25B and Internet reference[25]
2.2. Conductor Rail Systems
600 V DC conductor
All systems are third rail unless stated otherwise. Used by some older metros.
Country Location Name of system Notes Argentina Buenos Aires Urquiza Line Federico Lacroze-General Lemos Canada Toronto Toronto subway Only on subway lines Greece Athens EIS/ISAP used between 1904 and 1985 Italy Turin Superga Rack Railway Japan Tokyo Tokyo Metro Ginza Line and Marunouchi Line Nagoya, Aichi Nagoya Municipal Subway Higashiyama Line and Meijō Line Sweden Stockholm Stockholm Metro 650 V, Green and Red Lines United Kingdom Glasgow Glasgow Subway United States Boston Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority Red and Orange Lines, the subway part of the Blue Line southwest of Airport station Chicago Chicago "L" elevated and subway lines Staten Island Staten Island Railway New York City metro area PATH Philadelphia Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority Broad Street Line Bay Lake, Florida Walt Disney World Monorail System
750 V DC conductor
Conductor rail systems have been separated into tables based on whether they are top, side or bottom contact. Used by most metros outside Asia and the former Eastern bloc.
Country Location Name of system Notes Algeria Algiers Algiers Metro Austria Vienna Vienna U-Bahn Brazil São Paulo São Paulo Metro Except Lines 4 and 5 China Beijing Beijing Subway Capital Airport Line only Kunming Kunming Metro Except Line 4 Tianjin Tianjin Metro Lines 2 and 3 only Wuhan Wuhan Metro Lines 1, 2, 3 and 4 only Czech Republic Prague Prague Metro Denmark Copenhagen Copenhagen Metro Egypt Cairo Cairo Metro Line 2 and Line 3 Finland Helsinki Helsinki Metro Germany Berlin Berlin U-Bahn Lines from U5 to U9 (large profile). Negative polarity. Hamburg Hamburg U-Bahn Munich Munich U-Bahn Nuremberg Nuremberg U-Bahn India Bangalore Namma Metro Kochi Kochi Metro Ahmedabad Ahmedabad Metro Kanpur Kanpur Metro Gurgaon Rapid Metro Gurgaon South Korea Busan Busan-Gimhae Light Rail Transit Malaysia Klang Valley Klang Valley Integrated Transit System LRT & MRT (Ampang, Sri Petaling, Kelana Jaya and Sungai Buloh–Kajang lines), and KL Monorail to be used on Bandar Utama–Klang and Sungai Buloh–Serdang–Putrajaya lines Netherlands Amsterdam Amsterdam Metro including line 51 north of Station Zuid Rotterdam Rotterdam Metro North of Capelsebrug station overhead wires Norway Oslo Oslo T-bane Poland Warsaw Warsaw Metro Romania Bucharest Bucharest Metro Singapore Singapore Mass Rapid Transit North South line, East West line, Circle line and Thomson-East Coast line operated by SMRT Trains
Downtown line operated by SBS Transit
Republic of China (Taiwan) Kaohsiung Kaohsiung Mass Rapid Transit Taipei Taipei Metro Taoyuan–Taipei Taoyuan Metro Turkey Ankara Ankara Metro Istanbul Istanbul Metro Lines M2 and M6 only Izmir Izmir Metro United Kingdom London Docklands Light Railway United States New York City Metro-North Railroad
Country Location Name of system Notes Canada Montreal Montreal Metro (guide bars, see DC, four-rail below) China Shanghai Shanghai Metro – Pujiang line Central guide rail for rubber-tyred Bombardier Innovia APM 300 Chile Santiago Santiago Metro France Paris Paris Métro (Rubber tired) Positive (and sometimes negative) polarity on guide bars.
See DC, four-rail below. Lyon Lyon Métro Marseille Marseille Métro Lille Lille Métro Rennes Rennes Métro Toulouse Toulouse Métro Hong Kong Hong Kong Hong Kong International Airport
Automated People Mover (APM) Mitsubishi "Crystal Mover" system using two power rails (positive and negative) with side collection. Indonesia Palembang Palembang Light Rail Transit Palembang Light Rail Transit and Greater Jakarta Light Rail Transit are operated by Kereta Api Indonesia. Jakarta Light Rail Transit is operated by Jakarta Propertindo (Jakpro). Jakarta Jakarta Light Rail Transit Greater Jakarta Light Rail Transit Japan Sapporo, Hokkaido Sapporo Municipal Subway Namboku Line Singapore Singapore Light Rail Transit Sengkang LRT Line and Punggol LRT Line operated by SBS Transit Singapore Sentosa Express Sentosa Express operated by SDC United States Las Vegas Las Vegas Monorail
Country Location Name of system Notes China Beijing Beijing Subway Capital Airport Line use bottom contact Tianjin Tianjin Metro Line 1 only France Paris Paris Métro (Conventional metro) Germany Berlin Berlin U-Bahn Lines from U1 to U4 (small profile) Greece Athens Athens Metro Line 1 was 600 V before 1985. Hungary Budapest Budapest Metro Except line M1, which is 600 V DC with overhead lines. India Kolkata Kolkata Metro Japan Osaka, Osaka Osaka Metro Except the Sakaisuji Line, Nagahori Tsurumi-ryokuchi Line, and the Imazatosuji Line, which are 1,500 V DC with overhead lines. Suita, Osaka
Toyonaka, Osaka Kita-Osaka Kyuko Railway Higashiosaka, Osaka
Ikoma, Nara
Nara, Nara Kintetsu Keihanna Line Yokohama, Kanagawa Yokohama Municipal Subway Blue Line (Line 1 and Line 3) only North Korea Pyongyang Pyongyang Metro based on fleet of cars from Beijing and Germany South Korea Yongin Everline Portugal Lisbon Lisbon Metro Puerto Rico San Juan Tren Urbano Sweden Stockholm Stockholm Metro Nominal voltage 650 V, subway 3 (blue line) 750 V. Subway 1 and 2 will change in the long term to 750 V. United Kingdom Liverpool Merseyrail London Northern City Line access to City (Moorgate) London Suburban electrification of the LNWR Suburban Network formerly four-rail out of Euston and Broad Street, curtailed, upgraded and standardised Southern England Southern Region of British Railways and successors 660 V system upgraded and expanded London, England Waterloo and City line Upgraded by Railtrack to 750V prior to sale to London Underground United States Atlanta, Georgia MARTA Los Angeles, California Los Angeles Metro Rail B and D Lines Miami, Florida Metrorail New York City and Long Island
East River Tunnels shared with Amtrak Long Island Rail Road Central, Greenport, and Oyster Bay branches not electrified; Montauk Branch not electrified east of Babylon; Port Jefferson Branch not electrified east of Huntington Philadelphia, PA PATCO Speedline Puerto Rico Tren Urbano Washington, D.C. Washington Metro within the Hudson and East River Tunnels as well as under Manhattan
Northeast Corridor Amtrak within the Hudson Tunnel into Manhattan New Jersey Transit
Mixed
Type Country Location Name of system Notes See note China Tianjin Tianjin Metro Top contact in Line 1, bottom contact in Lines 2 and 3
1200 V DC conductor
All systems are third rail and side contact unless stated otherwise.
Country Location Name of system Notes Germany Hamburg Hamburg S-Bahn Template:15 kV AC with overhead line in part of network. United Kingdom Manchester Bury Line Dismantled 1991, converted to Manchester Metrolink tramway (750 V DC overhead)
1500 V DC conductor
All systems are third rail unless stated otherwise.
Type Country Location Name of system Notes Bottom contact France Paris Paris Métro Line 18 Currently under construction Toulouse Toulouse Aerospace Express Currently under construction Side contact Chambéry – Modane Culoz–Modane railway used between 1925 and 1976, today overhead wire Bottom contact China Beijing Beijing Subway Line 7 only Guangzhou Guangzhou Metro Lines 4, 5, 6, 14 and 21 only. Overhead wires in depots; all trains are equipped with pantographs Kunming Kunming Metro Line 4 only Qingdao Qingdao Metro Shanghai Shanghai Metro Lines 16 and 17 only. Overhead wires in depot of Line 16, all trains on Line 16 have pantographs for depot use. Shenzhen Shenzhen Metro Lines 3 and 6 only. Overhead wires in depot of Line 6, all trains on Line 6 have pantographs for depot use. Wuhan Wuhan Metro Lines 7, 8, 11 and Yangluo Line only Wuxi Wuxi Metro
3. Systems Using Non-standard Voltages
3.1. Overhead Systems
DC voltage
Voltage Country Location Name of system Notes 120 United Kingdom Seaton, Devon Seaton Tramway Half scale trams. Operated 1969-now. Substations have battery banks for back up. 250 United States Chicago Chicago Tunnel Company operated 1906–1959 525 Switzerland Lauterbrunnen Bergbahn Lauterbrunnen-Mürren 550 Hong Kong Hong Kong Island Hong Kong Tramways Isle of Man Isle of Man Manx Electric Railway including Snaefell Mountain Railway India Kolkata Trams in Kolkata United States Bakersfield, California Bakersfield and Kern Electric Railway operated 1888–1942 Fresno, California Fresno Traction Company operated 1903–1939 Phoenix, Arizona Phoenix Street Railway operated 1888–1948[26] 650 United States Buffalo, New York Buffalo Metro Rail El Paso, Texas El Paso Streetcar Pittsburgh Pittsburgh Light Rail Switzerland Basel Basel Trams (BVB/BLT) 700 Switzerland Bex – Col de Bretaye, Vaud Chemin de fer Bex-Villars-Bretaye 730 United States Pennsylvania Philadelphia Suburban Transportation Company purchased by Philadelphia and Western Railroad in 1953 and converted to 600 VDC[27] 800 Poland Tricity Szybka Kolej Miejska (Tricity) Operated 1951–1976. Converted to 3,000 V DC in 1976. 825 United States Portland, Oregon MAX, TriMet Light rail sections west of NE 9th Avenue & Holladay Street utilize a 750 V system 850 Switzerland Capolago – Monte Generoso, Ticino Ferrovia Monte Generoso (MG) 900 Fribourg Gruyere – Fribourg – Morat Montreux Montreux-Oberland Bernois 1,000 Italy
Switzerland St Moritz, canton of Graubünden – Tirano, Lombardy Rhätische Bahn (RhB) Bernina line only; remainder of system electrified at 11 kV AC, 16 2⁄3 Hz. The Bernina line is an international line linking Switzerland (St. Moritz) with Italy (Tirano) Hungary Budapest Budapest Commuter Rail and Rapid Transit (BHÉV) [28] 1,100 Argentina Buenos Aires Buenos Aires Metro (Subterráneos de Buenos Aires) Only Line A (converted to 1,500 V DC with La Brugeoise trains replaced by new rolling stock in 2013) 1,250 Switzerland Canton of Bern Regionalverkehr Bern-Solothurn (RBS) All lines except tram line 6 between Bern and Worb, which is electrified at 600 V DC[29] 1,350 Italy
Switzerland Domodossola, Piedmont – Locarno, canton of Ticino Domodossola–Locarno railway line (FART / Società Subalpina Imprese Ferroviarie (de)) International railway between Italy (Domodossola) and Switzerland (Locarno) Switzerland Lugano – Ponte Tresa, canton of Ticino Ferrovia Lugano–Ponte Tresa (FLP) 1,650 Denmark Copenhagen Copenhagen S-train Suburban rail network in Copenhagen Italy Rome Rome–Giardinetti railway Isolated Italian metre gauge line. 2,400 Germany Lausitzer work line of the Lausitzer Braunkohle coal company Poland Konin Konin Coal Mine[30] Turek PAK KWB ADAMÓW[30] mine closed in February 2021, the railway will be dismantled[31] France Grenoble Chemin de fer de La Mure −1,200 V, +1,200 V two wire system from 1903 to 1950. 2,400 V since 1950.[32] United States Montana Butte, Anaconda and Pacific Railway electrified 1913–1967, dismantled in favor of diesel power 3,500 United Kingdom Manchester Bury – Holcombe Brook operated 1913–1918
AC voltage
Voltage Frequency Country Location Name of system Notes 3,300 15 Hz United States Tulare County, California Visalia Electric Railroad 1904–1992 25 Hz United States Napa and Solano Counties, California San Francisco, Napa and Calistoga Railway 1905–1937 5,500 162⁄3 Hz Germany Murnau Ammergau Railway 1905–1955, after 1955 15 kV, 16.7 Hz 6,250 50 Hz United Kingdom London, Essex, Herts Great Eastern suburban lines Great Eastern suburban lines from Liverpool Street London, 1950s–c1980 (converted to 25 kV) 6,500 25 Hz Austria Sankt Pölten Mariazellerbahn 6,600 Norway Orkdal Thamshavnbanen 6,700 25 Hz United Kingdom Morecambe branch line Lancaster to Heysham 1908–1951
Converted to 25 kV 50 Hz as a test bed for the future main line electrification system South London line London Victoria to London Bridge 1909–1928
Converted to 660 V (later 750 V) DC third-rail supply 8 kV 25 Hz Germany Karlsruhe Alb Valley Railway 1911–1966, today using 750 V DC 10 kV Netherlands The Hague – Rotterdam Hofpleinlijn from 1908, in 1926 converted to 1,500 DC, In 2006 replaced by 750 V DC light rail 10 kV 50 Hz Russia industrial railways at quarries Russian Railways operated from 1950s at coal and ore quarries Ukraine Ukrainian Railways Kazakhstan some private industrial railways in Kazakhstan 11 kV 162⁄3 Hz Switzerland Graubünden Rhätische Bahn (RhB) Except the Bernina line, which is electrified at 1,000 V DC Matterhorn-Gotthard-Bahn (MGB) formerly Furka Oberalp Bahn (FO) and BVZ Zermatt-Bahn 50 Hz France Saint-Gervais-les-Bains Mont Blanc Tramway 11 kV 25 Hz United States Pennsylvania Railroad
Etc., All lines now 12 kV 25 Hz or 12.5 kV 60 Hz
See Railroad electrification in the United States United States Washington (state) Cascade Tunnel Converted from three-phase 6600 V 25 Hz in 1927, dismantled 1956 United States Colorado Denver and Intermountain Railroad dismantled c. 1953[33] 12 kV 162⁄3 Hz France lines in Pyrenees Chemin de fer du Midi most converted to 1,500 V 1922–23; Villefranche-Perpignan diesel 1971, then 1,500 V 1984 12 kV 25 Hz United States Washington, DC – New York City Northeast Corridor (NEC), Amtrak 11 kV until 1978 Harrisburg, PA to Philadelphia, PA Keystone Corridor, Amtrak 11 kV until 1978 Philadelphia SEPTA Regional Rail system only; 11 kV until 1978 12 kV 25 Hz United States Rahway to Aberdeen-Matawan, New Jersey North Jersey Coast Line, New Jersey Transit 1978–2002 (11 kV until 1978). Converted to 25 kV 60 Hz 12.5 kV 60 Hz United States Pelham, NY-New Haven, CT New Haven Line, Metro-North Railroad, Amtrak 11 kV until 1985 16 kV 50 Hz Hungary Budapest–Hegyeshalom railway Budapest to Hegyeshalom Kandó system 1931–1972, converted to 25 kV 50 Hz 20 kV Germany Freiburg Höllentalbahn Operated 1933–1960. Converted to 15 kV 162⁄3 Hz. France Aix-les-Bains – La Roche-sur-Foron Société Nationale des Chemins de fer (SNCF) Operated 1950–1953. Converted to 25 kV 50 Hz. 20 kV 50 Hz Japan most electrified JR/the third sector lines in Hokkaidō and Tōhoku JR East, JR Hokkaidō, and others 60 Hz most electrified JR/the third sector lines in Kyūshū and Hokuriku region JR Kyūshū and others 50 kV 50 Hz South Africa Northern Cape, Western Cape Sishen–Saldanha railway line opened in 1976 and hauls iron ore 60 Hz Canada British Columbia Tumbler Ridge Subdivision of BC Rail (Now Canadian National Railway) Opened in 1983 to serve a coal mine in the northern Rocky Mountains. No longer in use. United States Arizona Black Mesa and Lake Powell Railroad First line to use 50 kV electrification when it opened in 1973. This was an isolated coal-hauling short line; no longer in use. 60 Hz United States Utah Deseret Power Railroad Formerly Deseret Western Railway. This is an isolated coal-hauling short line.
Three-phase AC voltage
Two wires
Voltage Current Country Location Name of system Notes 725 50 Hz, 3Ø Switzerland Zermatt – Gornergrat, canton of Valais Gornergratbahn 750 40 Hz, 3Ø Burgdorf – Thun Burgdorf-Thun Bahn Operated 1899–1933
converted to 15 kV 162⁄3 Hz in 1933 900 60 Hz, 3Ø Brazil Rio de Janeiro Corcovado Rack Railway 1125 50 Hz, 3Ø Switzerland Interlaken Jungfraubahn 3600 15 Hz, 3Ø Italy Northern Italy Valtellina Electrification 1902–1917 50 Hz, 3Ø France Saint-Jean-de-Luz to Larrun Chemin de Fer de la Rhune 3600 16 Hz, 3Ø Italy
Switzerland Simplon Tunnel 1906–1930 3600 162⁄3 Hz, 3Ø Italy operated 1912–1976 in Upper Italy (more info needed) Porrettana railway FS 1927–1935 3600 162⁄3 Hz, 3Ø Italy Trento/Trient to Brenner Brenner Railway 1929–1965 5200 25 Hz, 3Ø Spain Almeria – Gergal 1911–1966? 6600 25 Hz, 3Ø United States Cascade Tunnel Great Northern Railway (U.S.) 1909–1929 10 kV 45 Hz, 3Ø Italy Roma – Sulmona FS 1929–1944[34]
Three wires
Voltage Current Country Location Name of system Notes 3000 V 50 Hz Germany Kierberg Zahnradbahn Tagebau Gruhlwerk rack railway (0.7 km)
operated 1927–1949 10000 V Berlin-Lichterfelde (de) test track (1.8 km);
variable voltage and frequency;
trial runs 1898–1901 14 kV
(See notes) 38 Hz – 48 Hz
(See notes) Zossen – Marienfelde test track (23.4 km);
trial runs 1901–1904
variable voltage between 10 kV and 14 kV and frequency between 38 Hz and 48 Hz.
50 Hz Russia Ship elevator of Krasnoyarsk Reservoir length: 1.5 km, 9000 mm gauge
3.2. Conductor Rail Systems (DC Voltage)
Conductor rail systems have been separated into tables based on whether they are top, side or bottom contact.
Voltage Type Country Location Name of system Notes 50 See notes United Kingdom Brighton Volk's Electric Railway Volk's Railway prior to 1884
(current fed through running rails) 110 third rail Claims to be the world's oldest operational electric railway 160 Volk's Railway between 1884 and 1980s 100 fourth rail Beaulieu Beaulieu Monorail (National Motor Museum – Beaulieu Palace House) current fed by 2 contact wires 180 See notes Germany Berlin-Lichterfelde Siemens streetcar Current fed through the running rails
Operated 1881–1891 200 third rail United Kingdom Southend Southend Pier Railway Until 1902[35] 250 Hythe, Hampshire Hythe Pier Railway United States Chicago, Illinois Chicago Tunnel Company Morgan Rack
1904, revenue service 1906–1908
300 Georgia New Athos Cave Railway 400 Germany Berchtesgaden Berchtesgaden Salt Mine Railway 440 London Post Office Railway Disused by post office since 2003[36] Now small section near Mount Pleasant operated as tourist attraction with battery powered stock[37]
150 V was used in station areas to limit train speed
550 Argentina Buenos Aires Buenos Aires Metro (Subterráneos de Buenos Aires) Only Line B 625 United States New York City New York City Subway 630 Philadelphia SEPTA – Norristown High Speed Line fourth rail London London Underground Supplied at +420 V and −210 V (630 V total). 650 See notes Euston to Watford DC Line Third rail with fourth rail bonded to running rail
To enable London Underground trains to operate between Queens Park and Harrow & Wealdstone. Similar bonding arrangements are used on the North London Line between Richmond and Gunnersbury and one the District Line between Putney Bridge and Wimbledon.
660 third rail Southern Railway & London & South Western Railway some areas up to 1939, original standard, mostly upgraded to 750 V (except for sections that operate with LUL stock). 700 United States Baltimore, Maryland Baltimore Metro SubwayLink 800 Germany Berlin Berlin S-Bahn discontinued, today 750 V 825 North Korea Pyongyang Pyongyang Metro uses old 750 V Berlin U-Bahn rolling stock 1000 United States San Francisco Bay Area Rapid Transit [38]
All third rail unless otherwise stated.
Voltage Country Location Name of system Notes 850 France Martigny Ligne de Saint Gervais - Vallorcine 1200 Germany Hamburg Hamburg S-Bahn Since 1940. Used both third rail DC (1200 V) and overhead line AC (6.3 kV 25 Hz) until 1955. Also uses German standard 15 kV AC 16 2/3 Hz overhead electrification on the section between Neugraben and Stade on line S3, opened in December 2007.
All third rail unless otherwise stated.
Voltage Country Location Name of system Notes 650 Canada Vancouver SkyTrain Expo Line (1985) and Millennium Line (2006). Linear induction. 700 United States New York Metro-North Railroad Hudson and Harlem Lines, southern part of New Haven Line. Original New York Central Railroad electrification scheme to Grand Central Terminal. Philadelphia SEPTA – Market-Frankford Line Originally 600 V, raised to 700 V 825 Bulgaria Sofia Sofia Metro Lines 1 and 2 Moscow Moscow Metro Nominal voltage: 825 V; allowed range: 550 V – 975 V[39] Saint Petersburg Saint Petersburg Metro Kazan Kazan Metro Nizhny Novgorod Nizhny Novgorod Metro Novosibirsk Novosibirsk Metro Samara Samara Metro Yekaterinburg Yekaterinburg Metro Ukraine Kyiv Kyiv Metro FSU underground systems share the same standard[40] Dnipro Dnipro Metro Kharkiv Kharkiv Metro 830 Argentina Buenos Aires Mitre Line Retiro – José León Suárez
Retiro – Bartolomé Mitre
Retiro – Tigre Once – Moreno Sarmiento Line 850 France Villefranche Ligne de Cerdagne Often referred to as the "Yellow Train" Austria Vienna Wiener Lokalbahn 900 Belgium Brussels Brussels Metro
3.3. Conductor Rail Systems (AC Voltage)
Voltage Current Contact Country Location Name of system Notes 500 50 Hz, 1Ø bottom Australia Gold Coast, Queensland Sea World Monorail Operated 1986–2021 Oasis Shopping Centre Operated 1989–2017 Sydney, New South Wales Sydney Monorail Operated 1988–2013 600 50 Hz, 3Ø side China Guangzhou Guangzhou Metro – APM Line Singapore LRT – Bukit Panjang line [41] Japan Saitama New Shuttle Tokyo Nippori-Toneri Liner Yurikamome 60 Hz, 3Ø Kobe, Hyōgo Kobe New Transit Osaka Osaka Metro – Nankō Port Town Line Kansai International Airport – Wing Shuttle Taiwan Taoyuan Taoyuan International Airport – Skytrain
4. Special or Unusual Types
4.1. DC, Plough Collection from Conductors in Conduit Below Track
London County Council Tramways, later operated by London Transport
streetcars in New York City (Manhattan), New York
Washington, D.C. streetcars
Panama Canal locks' ship handlers (called mules)
4.2. DC, One Ground-Level Conductor
Wolverhampton Corporation Tramways, England (stud contact) (1902–1921)
Bordeaux Tramway, France (conductor rail)
Sydney Light Rail (tramway)
4.3. DC, Two-Wire
Greenwich, England. Previously used by trams when in the vicinity of Greenwich Observatory; separate from trolleybus supply.
Cincinnati, Ohio, US. Tram (streetcar) system used this arrangement throughout, probably due to legal constraints on ground return currents.
Havana and Guanabacoa, Cuba. Tram (streetcar) systems in both cities used this arrangement.
Lisbon, Portugal. Elevador da Bica, Elevador da Glória and Elevador da Lavra.
4.4. DC, Power from Running Rails
Gross-Lichterfelde Tramway (1881–1893), 180 V
Ungerer Tramway (1886–1895)
transportable railways as a ride for children
4.5. DC, Four-Rail
Voltage Type Contact system Name of system Location Country Notes 750 guide bars lateral to both guide bars (one guide connected to running rail) Paris Metro Paris France rubber-tyred lines only Lateral (positive) and top of running rails (negative) contact Montreal Metro Montreal Canada rubber-tyred lines Mexico City Metro Mexico City Mexico rubber-tyred lines Third and fourth rail lateral (positive) and top (negative) contact Milan Transportation System Milan Italy metro (only line 1) Top contact London Underground London United Kingdom Transport for London[42] 630 | |||||
5064 | dbpedia | 1 | 4 | https://trainphilos.com/2018/10/13/trams-and-such-a-trip-on-hsl/ | en | Trams and such: A trip on HSL | [
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""
] | null | [] | 2018-10-13T00:00:00 | HSL (Helsingin seudun liikenne) is the regional transportation authority for Greater Helsinki responsible for all tram, subway (underground), commuter rail, bus, ferry and bike share services. Interestingly enough HSL does not own any rolling stock, but uses third party contractors to accomplish the day to day operation of the system. For example the tram system… | en | TRAINPHILOS | https://trainphilos.com/2018/10/13/trams-and-such-a-trip-on-hsl/ | HSL (Helsingin seudun liikenne) is the regional transportation authority for Greater Helsinki responsible for all tram, subway (underground), commuter rail, bus, ferry and bike share services. Interestingly enough HSL does not own any rolling stock, but uses third party contractors to accomplish the day to day operation of the system. For example the tram system is operated by Helsinki City Transport (Helsingin kaupungin liikennelaitos). HSL however is solely in control of the sale and inspection of transit tickets. There are no gates at commuter rail stations or at subway stations. Ticket inspections are frequent and fines for not having a valid ticket are steep.
The Helsinki tram system is one of the oldest, electrified networks in the world. The route length is about 60 miles. The 11 routes are all double track and use meter gauge (3 feet 3 3/8 inches). Overhead line voltage is at 600 volts. HKL has about 130 units, all of them uni-directional. Over 57 million passenger journeys were recorded in 2016. Service starts at 05:00 on some lines and ends around 01:30 on the Nr. 2, 3, 4 and 9 lines.
Basically the system has four types of rolling stock. The Valmet 1 series, Valmet II series, Bombardier Variotram and the Transtech Artic units. Valmet is a Finnish manufacturer, as is Transtech. Skoda Transportation is the parent company of Transtech. Bombardier is headquartered in Canada with factories in many parts of the world.
Helsinki purchased forty of these Variotrams. The trams proved to be totally unreliable. They also could not deal with the tight curves and steep hills on the tram system. It got to be so bad that Helsinki and Bombardier agreed to have the trams returned to Bombardier starting in 2018. Bombardier also agreed to pay Helsinki 33 million Euros as compensation.
These are the newest trams on the network. HKL is replacing the older trams with these Transtech “Artic” units. HKL published a pamphlet on these new trams detailing the features and technology. For enthusiasts it’s well worth reading. The link to the pamphlet is here.
All photos by Ralf Meier and Brad Wing, unless otherwise noted. (Sony a6500, iPhone X and iPhone 8) ©2018 | |||||
5064 | dbpedia | 0 | 84 | https://www.kaupunkiliikenne.net/English_site/history.html | en | Helsinki history | [
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] | null | [] | null | ../KL-Logo_16.png | null | Two generations of tram history in Helsinki. 2-axle trams were taken out of service during 1970's when the first articulated trams arrived. The Variobahns on the left were the first low floor trams in Helsinki delivered from 1999. After only 20 years service they were withdrawn as not suitable for the Helsinki tram network. AA 30.7.2006
Helsinki area public transport history
Early years
Railways started to operate in Finland in 1862 from Helsinki to Hämeenlinna, 100 kms north from Helsinki. Public transport in the city of Helsinki started in 1888 with horse drawn carriages. First horse tram rails were laid in 1981 and electric power was taken into service in 1900.
Motor bus services started to grow in 1920's to the directions were rails were not built. For the first there was plenty of independent companies, but during the World War II Helsinki city bought the united transport company that was then organized to City Transport Authority.
Tramways expanded to the 1950's. New rolling stock was purchased for suburban services. Helsinki's population expanded and suburbs were built outside the old city center. The public transport was planned to take care with high speed tram lines using multiple unit tram trains.
But then the automotive industry learned to make cars cheaper and cheaper, and the labor parties proposed 1955 in Helsinki City Council, that public transport must be put under ground to free the streets for private cars.
Top of the page.
Closure of tramways in plan
During the 1960's plans were made to replace plenty of old buildings in the city center with motorways. Tramways were planned to close and public transport would be taken care with an underground system. This plan in knows as âSmithâPolvinen traffic planâ according engineering agencies Wilbur Smith in USA and Pentti Polvinen in Finland as makers of the plan. The public transport section was anyhow imported as is from the Metro Committee's papers.
Motorways planned to city centre of Helsinki in SmithâPolvinen traffic plan of 1968.
The motorway building was luckily cancelled, but in 1969 Helsinki signed an order to be a pilot customer for a Finnish company Valmet rail industry as new age metro train production. In Valmet the managers thought that the demand for heavy metro trains would explore in the world at the time the high cost of metro building led into cancellation of metro plans in many cities.
The key features of Valmet metro trains was welded aluminum body and semiconductor control. These really were revolutionary technologies, but unfortunately applied to wrong kind of rolling stock. And what was also sad was, that these revolutionary trains were the largest in the world being wider than wide Finnish railway profile, 3200 millimeters. This made the track geometry much similar to railway lines and difficult to implement into a city structure.
Soon after the metro decision the initial closure of the tramway system was cancelled and new articulated trams were ordered. A reason for this was that tram traffic was calculated to be cheaper than bus operation. And extending of the metro would not replace trams fast enough, so old 2-axle trams required replacement. The new plan was to close the system in year 2000 and the ordered trams would be the last ones in Helsinki.
Valmet, same company as the metro train builder, got an order for articulated trams. They were based on Düwag's technology, but body was designed in Finland and power control was similar semiconductor chopper as was designed for the prototype metro train.
Articulated trams built by Finnish Valmet and delivered from 1973 supposed to be the last trams in Helsinki. These thyristor chopper controlled vehicles are partly still in service as extended with a low floor middle section. Rear of the Valmet tram is a former Mannheimer Düwag tram. AA 19.5.2006.
Top of the page.
Heavy rail dominance
Helsinki area has had own local train rolling stock since the first years of 20th century. Tank type steam locomotives were only motive power up to 1950's. Tank locomotives did not need a turntable at the end of the service and they also had high adhesion weight for fast acceleration.
In 1950's Valmet started to build light diesel motor units based on a Swedish licence of Hilding Carlsson. These DMU's were used around Finland but they became also main rolling stock in Helsinki area commuter trains until electrification.
Finnish railways started electric operation from Helsinki's commuter trains. The first section was to Kirkkonummi, west from Helsinki. Semiconductor controlled Valmet built EMU's started to operate in 1968. Railways local traffic was developed to a S-Bahn-like style, and one commuter train line was built during 1970's to new suburb Martinlaakso. Martinlaakso line was originally a part of the metro net plan, but the building could not wait for developing of Valmet's metro techology.
Finnish Valmet built EMU's started the new era in Helsinki region commuter services. They were first electric service in Finnish State Railways. But they were also very modern having semiconductor based propulsion control. The left hand side version still in original livery. AA 22.3.2003.
EMU's were delivered in two classes from 1968 to 1981. Then there was total of 100 two coach units in service a year before the metro started to operate. The available commuter train service shaped strongly the urban structure along the railway lines and the region expanded mostly outside the Helsinki in the neighbour cities Espoo and Vantaa.
Heavy rail connections formed only 3 âfingersâ. The area between these fingers was serviced with motorways. Orbital public transport connections missed and the result was that the road traffic started to dominate Helsinki area transport. When the metro line finally opened in 1982, it replaced the buses on the motorway beside. The bus lines were cut to end to metro stations, and the connecting feeder service system had born. This extended the travelling times. During the operating of the electric commuter trains and the metro the share of public transport has decreased from 70 % to the current 40 %.
Top of the page.
Political metro war
Helsinki has planned to extend the metro line to the western neighbour city Espoo since the first ideas of the metro network. This has caused a long political war since 1980's when Helsinki metro started to operate. With it's low population density, Espoo has not been interested in investing to a heavy metro and cut the straight bus lines to feeder service. Neither has Espoo been interested in increasing the population density, as it prefers to offer a higher living quality alternative on the Helsinki urban area.
Light Rail was taken in discussion as an alternative in Espoo. A pressing group started to promote Light Rail in 1989, and the city of Espoo adopted the idea soon. The Ministry of Transport and the Helsinki area cities called 3 auditors to evaluate the Helsinki urban area transportation system in 1992, and the auditors analysis supported the idea of a Light Rail system to the area. But Helsinki has been strongly against Light Rail to enter the area to compete against it's heavy metro.
Authorities has ordered plans for the metro to Espoo in approximately 10 years intervals. Allways the result has been that metro increases travelling times and public transport cost. The latest study was Environmental impact study released in January 2006. That proved, that also car traffic in Helsinki will increase if the metro extension will be built.
In September 2006 Espoo city council changed it's mind. Espoo agreed the idea of the metro extension, but with many conditions to quarantee the high quality of the metro in Espoo. Rumors say that the real reason was to make Helsinki to agree the extension of the Ring road 2 from Espoo to Helsinki side.
A project plan was made during 2007 resulting to app. double cost of what was the 452 M⬠base for the decision in autumn 2006. For the final building decision a reduction to the price was required. After state decided to support metro with 200 Mâ¬, metro planners published a price tag of 714 M⬠which fitted to the 30 % support requirement in the Espoo city council decision conditions. A 100 M⬠price reduction was explained by shortening the stations, which decreased the system capacity with one third portion.
The building did not proceed within the original timetables. Finally in spring 2016 Länsimetro Oy, the city owned company to organize the building of the systen, announced that operation will start in August. A great campaign started, but everything collapsed in June. Managers had to give up, as there were even plenty of missing components and no chance to start any testing of the system.
It took more than a year until doors were opened for public in November 2017. Still the largest station, Tapiola, was under construction with regard to the bus station.
But troubles were not over. When direct bus services to Helsinki were cut, the new real world proved that the metro did not shorten travel times. It extended travel times for many citizens. And not only some minutes, but doubled the travel time to near one hour in worst cases. Also the final cost of the project started to formulate. The worse calculation was made by the leading newspaper Helsingin Sanomat. Their result was some 2000 million Euros for the project that was decided for a price tag of 452 million Euoros.
Top of the page.
Trams finally to suburbs
New low floor trams were delivered to Helsinki from 1999. Some minor extensions of tram lines has been built for few new areas, but the Helsinki authorities has considered trams as slow street tram system not capable for suburban service.
Despite the metro hegemony, city planners have drawn some plans to extend the tram network outside the city centre. The first big plan was an orbital tram line called âJokerâ released already in 1990. The idea competed with the metro extension to Vuosaari and was not realised. The line was finally opened as a bus service in 2005. The number of passengers has grown on the line continuously over the capacity of buses, but still major traffic planners were against to build the line to tram. The daily number of passengers in September 2007 had grown to 20.000 and in 2009 it was already 30.000. Headway of the 3-axle buses is 5 min., but still some support service is required.
The project became true finally in March 2016 after the governmet decided to support the project with a compensaton of 84 Mâ¬. The condition of the support was that the project must be started immediately. The planning started in 2017 and the construction in 2019. Estimated opening of the service is for 2024.
A new northern suburb Viikki was planned with a tram line in 1990's, but the tram is still missing and the inhabitants claim for bad public transport service. The first real tram extension was the former western harbour Jätkäsaari. It is just near city centre so the extension of two existing tram lines 6 and 8 was quite natural. The first extension for line 8 was ready from the start of 2012. New track to harbour was taken into service in August 2012 for lines 6 and 9.
The first real suburban tram line will be the line to Kruunuvuorenranta across the sea east from Helsinki city centre. This connection was originally planned as heavy metro, but this idea is cancelled because of the high price and low passenger number for an investment of that price. The line will cross seawater offering several kilometers shorter route than with cars. There existed a political understanding that the line must be built at the time the houses are built to have the benefit in the land price and make the tram familiar for the inhabitants instead of travelling with cars. But the tram was delayed by forces against investing into public transport only bridge. First houses need to wait trams for several years, though the process is on the way.
A remarcable movement towards real growth of tram operations was the Helsinki city master plan of 2017. It includes the idea of tram network to cover the suburban area of Helsinki. It is connected to the conversion of motorways to boulevards to make possible to use the protective waste land near current motorways for housing.
Back to home page. Top of the page. | |||||||
5064 | dbpedia | 1 | 27 | https://www.kaupunkiliikenne.net/English_site/history.html | en | Helsinki history | [
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] | null | [] | null | ../KL-Logo_16.png | null | Two generations of tram history in Helsinki. 2-axle trams were taken out of service during 1970's when the first articulated trams arrived. The Variobahns on the left were the first low floor trams in Helsinki delivered from 1999. After only 20 years service they were withdrawn as not suitable for the Helsinki tram network. AA 30.7.2006
Helsinki area public transport history
Early years
Railways started to operate in Finland in 1862 from Helsinki to Hämeenlinna, 100 kms north from Helsinki. Public transport in the city of Helsinki started in 1888 with horse drawn carriages. First horse tram rails were laid in 1981 and electric power was taken into service in 1900.
Motor bus services started to grow in 1920's to the directions were rails were not built. For the first there was plenty of independent companies, but during the World War II Helsinki city bought the united transport company that was then organized to City Transport Authority.
Tramways expanded to the 1950's. New rolling stock was purchased for suburban services. Helsinki's population expanded and suburbs were built outside the old city center. The public transport was planned to take care with high speed tram lines using multiple unit tram trains.
But then the automotive industry learned to make cars cheaper and cheaper, and the labor parties proposed 1955 in Helsinki City Council, that public transport must be put under ground to free the streets for private cars.
Top of the page.
Closure of tramways in plan
During the 1960's plans were made to replace plenty of old buildings in the city center with motorways. Tramways were planned to close and public transport would be taken care with an underground system. This plan in knows as âSmithâPolvinen traffic planâ according engineering agencies Wilbur Smith in USA and Pentti Polvinen in Finland as makers of the plan. The public transport section was anyhow imported as is from the Metro Committee's papers.
Motorways planned to city centre of Helsinki in SmithâPolvinen traffic plan of 1968.
The motorway building was luckily cancelled, but in 1969 Helsinki signed an order to be a pilot customer for a Finnish company Valmet rail industry as new age metro train production. In Valmet the managers thought that the demand for heavy metro trains would explore in the world at the time the high cost of metro building led into cancellation of metro plans in many cities.
The key features of Valmet metro trains was welded aluminum body and semiconductor control. These really were revolutionary technologies, but unfortunately applied to wrong kind of rolling stock. And what was also sad was, that these revolutionary trains were the largest in the world being wider than wide Finnish railway profile, 3200 millimeters. This made the track geometry much similar to railway lines and difficult to implement into a city structure.
Soon after the metro decision the initial closure of the tramway system was cancelled and new articulated trams were ordered. A reason for this was that tram traffic was calculated to be cheaper than bus operation. And extending of the metro would not replace trams fast enough, so old 2-axle trams required replacement. The new plan was to close the system in year 2000 and the ordered trams would be the last ones in Helsinki.
Valmet, same company as the metro train builder, got an order for articulated trams. They were based on Düwag's technology, but body was designed in Finland and power control was similar semiconductor chopper as was designed for the prototype metro train.
Articulated trams built by Finnish Valmet and delivered from 1973 supposed to be the last trams in Helsinki. These thyristor chopper controlled vehicles are partly still in service as extended with a low floor middle section. Rear of the Valmet tram is a former Mannheimer Düwag tram. AA 19.5.2006.
Top of the page.
Heavy rail dominance
Helsinki area has had own local train rolling stock since the first years of 20th century. Tank type steam locomotives were only motive power up to 1950's. Tank locomotives did not need a turntable at the end of the service and they also had high adhesion weight for fast acceleration.
In 1950's Valmet started to build light diesel motor units based on a Swedish licence of Hilding Carlsson. These DMU's were used around Finland but they became also main rolling stock in Helsinki area commuter trains until electrification.
Finnish railways started electric operation from Helsinki's commuter trains. The first section was to Kirkkonummi, west from Helsinki. Semiconductor controlled Valmet built EMU's started to operate in 1968. Railways local traffic was developed to a S-Bahn-like style, and one commuter train line was built during 1970's to new suburb Martinlaakso. Martinlaakso line was originally a part of the metro net plan, but the building could not wait for developing of Valmet's metro techology.
Finnish Valmet built EMU's started the new era in Helsinki region commuter services. They were first electric service in Finnish State Railways. But they were also very modern having semiconductor based propulsion control. The left hand side version still in original livery. AA 22.3.2003.
EMU's were delivered in two classes from 1968 to 1981. Then there was total of 100 two coach units in service a year before the metro started to operate. The available commuter train service shaped strongly the urban structure along the railway lines and the region expanded mostly outside the Helsinki in the neighbour cities Espoo and Vantaa.
Heavy rail connections formed only 3 âfingersâ. The area between these fingers was serviced with motorways. Orbital public transport connections missed and the result was that the road traffic started to dominate Helsinki area transport. When the metro line finally opened in 1982, it replaced the buses on the motorway beside. The bus lines were cut to end to metro stations, and the connecting feeder service system had born. This extended the travelling times. During the operating of the electric commuter trains and the metro the share of public transport has decreased from 70 % to the current 40 %.
Top of the page.
Political metro war
Helsinki has planned to extend the metro line to the western neighbour city Espoo since the first ideas of the metro network. This has caused a long political war since 1980's when Helsinki metro started to operate. With it's low population density, Espoo has not been interested in investing to a heavy metro and cut the straight bus lines to feeder service. Neither has Espoo been interested in increasing the population density, as it prefers to offer a higher living quality alternative on the Helsinki urban area.
Light Rail was taken in discussion as an alternative in Espoo. A pressing group started to promote Light Rail in 1989, and the city of Espoo adopted the idea soon. The Ministry of Transport and the Helsinki area cities called 3 auditors to evaluate the Helsinki urban area transportation system in 1992, and the auditors analysis supported the idea of a Light Rail system to the area. But Helsinki has been strongly against Light Rail to enter the area to compete against it's heavy metro.
Authorities has ordered plans for the metro to Espoo in approximately 10 years intervals. Allways the result has been that metro increases travelling times and public transport cost. The latest study was Environmental impact study released in January 2006. That proved, that also car traffic in Helsinki will increase if the metro extension will be built.
In September 2006 Espoo city council changed it's mind. Espoo agreed the idea of the metro extension, but with many conditions to quarantee the high quality of the metro in Espoo. Rumors say that the real reason was to make Helsinki to agree the extension of the Ring road 2 from Espoo to Helsinki side.
A project plan was made during 2007 resulting to app. double cost of what was the 452 M⬠base for the decision in autumn 2006. For the final building decision a reduction to the price was required. After state decided to support metro with 200 Mâ¬, metro planners published a price tag of 714 M⬠which fitted to the 30 % support requirement in the Espoo city council decision conditions. A 100 M⬠price reduction was explained by shortening the stations, which decreased the system capacity with one third portion.
The building did not proceed within the original timetables. Finally in spring 2016 Länsimetro Oy, the city owned company to organize the building of the systen, announced that operation will start in August. A great campaign started, but everything collapsed in June. Managers had to give up, as there were even plenty of missing components and no chance to start any testing of the system.
It took more than a year until doors were opened for public in November 2017. Still the largest station, Tapiola, was under construction with regard to the bus station.
But troubles were not over. When direct bus services to Helsinki were cut, the new real world proved that the metro did not shorten travel times. It extended travel times for many citizens. And not only some minutes, but doubled the travel time to near one hour in worst cases. Also the final cost of the project started to formulate. The worse calculation was made by the leading newspaper Helsingin Sanomat. Their result was some 2000 million Euros for the project that was decided for a price tag of 452 million Euoros.
Top of the page.
Trams finally to suburbs
New low floor trams were delivered to Helsinki from 1999. Some minor extensions of tram lines has been built for few new areas, but the Helsinki authorities has considered trams as slow street tram system not capable for suburban service.
Despite the metro hegemony, city planners have drawn some plans to extend the tram network outside the city centre. The first big plan was an orbital tram line called âJokerâ released already in 1990. The idea competed with the metro extension to Vuosaari and was not realised. The line was finally opened as a bus service in 2005. The number of passengers has grown on the line continuously over the capacity of buses, but still major traffic planners were against to build the line to tram. The daily number of passengers in September 2007 had grown to 20.000 and in 2009 it was already 30.000. Headway of the 3-axle buses is 5 min., but still some support service is required.
The project became true finally in March 2016 after the governmet decided to support the project with a compensaton of 84 Mâ¬. The condition of the support was that the project must be started immediately. The planning started in 2017 and the construction in 2019. Estimated opening of the service is for 2024.
A new northern suburb Viikki was planned with a tram line in 1990's, but the tram is still missing and the inhabitants claim for bad public transport service. The first real tram extension was the former western harbour Jätkäsaari. It is just near city centre so the extension of two existing tram lines 6 and 8 was quite natural. The first extension for line 8 was ready from the start of 2012. New track to harbour was taken into service in August 2012 for lines 6 and 9.
The first real suburban tram line will be the line to Kruunuvuorenranta across the sea east from Helsinki city centre. This connection was originally planned as heavy metro, but this idea is cancelled because of the high price and low passenger number for an investment of that price. The line will cross seawater offering several kilometers shorter route than with cars. There existed a political understanding that the line must be built at the time the houses are built to have the benefit in the land price and make the tram familiar for the inhabitants instead of travelling with cars. But the tram was delayed by forces against investing into public transport only bridge. First houses need to wait trams for several years, though the process is on the way.
A remarcable movement towards real growth of tram operations was the Helsinki city master plan of 2017. It includes the idea of tram network to cover the suburban area of Helsinki. It is connected to the conversion of motorways to boulevards to make possible to use the protective waste land near current motorways for housing.
Back to home page. Top of the page. | |||||||
5064 | dbpedia | 2 | 33 | https://blog.bimajority.org/2017/04/25/every-american-transportation-planner-should-spend-a-week-in-helsinki-part-3-of-3/ | en | Every American transportation planner should spend a week in Helsinki (part 3 of 3) | [
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] | null | [] | 2017-04-25T00:00:00 | As I mentioned in part 1, Helsinki has trams, or as we'd say in American English, streetcars. (I try to avoid the "t" word -- "trolley" -- since to so many people that now means a diesel bus with goofy bodywork, whereas "streetcar" is unambiguous, I hope.) Actual street-running light rail vehicles, in an old,… | en | https://s1.wp.com/i/favicon.ico | Occasionally Coherent | https://blog.bimajority.org/2017/04/25/every-american-transportation-planner-should-spend-a-week-in-helsinki-part-3-of-3/ | As I mentioned in part 1, Helsinki has trams, or as we’d say in American English, streetcars. (I try to avoid the “t” word — “trolley” — since to so many people that now means a diesel bus with goofy bodywork, whereas “streetcar” is unambiguous, I hope.) Actual street-running light rail vehicles, in an old, congested central business district with narrow, winding cobblestone streets, hills, and salt water. And yet still has room for cars and on-street parking, not to mention buses, a single-line subway, and all those commuter trains I described in part 2. This post will hit some of the highlights, although I did not ride most of the lines and saw the termini of only three (the 9 in Pasila, the 7B at Senate Square, and the 6 outside my hotel in Hietalahti). I’m also going to include some other bits of Helsinki transportation that don’t have a whole post to themselves, including bike and pedestrian infrastructure, which I didn’t take nearly enough photos of. I also didn’t have time to visit the tram museum in Töölö. Given another week to spend, I would have taken all of the tram routes, spent more time on the Metro, and visited some of the outlying suburbs by bus and commuter rail — but this trip was expensive enough and thoroughly exhausting, so I was ready to head back home by day 9. One more Helsinki post after this one will wrap things up with some architecture, and then I’ll have some more architecture from my day-trip to Turku — and finally after all that, I’ll close with some photos of my not-quite-a-day in Reykjavik on the way out, if I can remember what any of the pictures were.
The photos below were taken over several days, and I mostly was not setting out to document the tram system in any great detail — there are several photos that I find I should have taken but didn’t — so you will probably have an easier time following if you open up the geographically accurate tram network map in another window while you page through the photos.
On my daily trips up to Hartwall Arena to see the World Figure Skating Championships, I would usually catch the 6 or the 9 to Helsinki Central Railway Station and then the commuter rail for the five-minute trip up to Pasila. One day when I had plenty of time, I took the 9 tram — which goes to the same place — all the way; it takes about 45 minutes, about 15 minutes longer for the one-seat ride, which is long enough that many people would probably choose to transfer. (However, if you are paying a cash fare, it’s cheaper to stay on the tram, because a tram-only ticket costs less than an all-mode Helsinki city zone ticket.) | ||||
5064 | dbpedia | 3 | 90 | https://finlandtoday.fi/public-transport/ | en | Public transport | [
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5064 | dbpedia | 0 | 1 | https://encyclopedia.pub/entry/36661 | en | List of Railway Electrification Systems | [
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] | null | [] | 2022-11-27T10:16:07+01:00 | Encyclopedia is a user-generated content hub aiming to provide a comprehensive record for scientific developments. All content free to post, read, share and reuse. | en | /favicon.ico | https://encyclopedia.pub/entry/36661 | This is a list of the power supply systems that are, or have been, used for tramway and railway electrification systems. Note that the voltages are nominal and vary depending on load and distance from the substation. Many modern trams and trains use on-board solid-state electronics to convert these supplies to run three-phase AC induction motors. Tram electrification systems are listed here.
1. Key to the Tables below
Volts: voltage or volt
Current:
DC = direct current
# Hz = frequency in hertz (alternating current (AC))
AC supplies are usually single-phase (1Ø) except where marked three-phase (3Ø).
Conductors:
overhead line or
conductor rail, usually a third rail to one side of the running rails. Conductor rail can be:
top contact: oldest, least safe, most affected by ice, snow, rain and leaves. Protection boards are being installed on most top contact systems, which increases safety and reduces these affections.
side contact: newer, safer, less affected by ice, snow, rain and leaves
bottom contact: newest, safest, least affected by ice, snow, rain and leaves
2. Systems Using Standard Voltages
Voltages are defined by two standards: BS EN 50163[1] and IEC 60850.[2]
2.1. Overhead Systems
600 V DC
Country Location Name of system Notes
Worldwide
Many tram systems This voltage is mostly used by older tram systems worldwide but by a few modern ones as well. See List of tram systems by gauge and electrification. Germany Trossingen Trossingen Railway Hungary Budapest Budapest Metro Line M1 Japan Chōshi, Chiba Chōshi Electric Railway Kyoto, Kyoto Eizan Electric Railway Kanagawa Enoshima Electric Railway Matsuyama, Ehime Iyotetsu Takahama Line Shizuoka, Shizuoka Shizuoka Railway Romania Sibiu county Sibiu-Răşinari Narrow Gauge Railway Part of the former Sibiu tram line Spain Madrid Madrid Metro lines 1, 4, 5, 6 and 9. In process to be converted to 1500 V United Kingdom Crich, England National Tramway Museum United States Boston Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority Green and Mattapan Lines, the at-grade section of Blue Line northeast of Airport station Cleveland RTA Rapid Transit Red line heavy rail
750 V DC
Country Location Name of system Notes
Worldwide
Many tram systems This voltage is used for most modern tram and light rail systems. See List of tram systems by gauge and electrification Austria Upper Austria Local lines of Stern & Hafferl Also listed as having 1500 and 600 V lines Austria
Switzerland Rhine / Lake Constance Internationale Rheinregulierungsbahn Construction railway for the regulation works of the river Rhine near its outfall into Lake Constance, now preserved. The river forms the border between Austria and Switzerland, and the railway operated in both countries. Germany Karlsruhe to Bad Herrenalb with a branch to Ittersbach Albtalbahn Railway of the Upper Rhine Italy Genoa Genoa Metro Japan Hamamatsu, Shizuoka Enshū Railway Hakone, Kanagawa Hakone Tozan Railway Line Between Hakone-Yumoto and Gōra Ehime Iyotetsu Yokogawara Line and Gunchū Line Yokkaichi, Mie Yokkaichi Asunarou Railway Utsube Line, Hachiōji Line Mie Sangi Railway Hokusei Line Mexico Mexico City STC Line A Netherlands The Hague, Zoetermeer, Rotterdam and adjacent cities Randstadrail Rotterdam Rotterdam Metro North of Capelsebrug station overhead wires Philippines Metro Manila Manila LRT Line 1 (Manila Light Rail Transit System) Between Baclaran and Roosevelt Manila MRT Line 3 (Manila Metro Rail Transit System) Between North Avenue and Taft Avenue Switzerland Canton of Aargau Menziken–Aarau–Schöftland railway line Republic of China (Taiwan) New Taipei New Taipei Metro: all Light Rail lines Turkey Adana Adana Metro Istanbul Istanbul Metro Line M1
1200 V DC
Country Location Name of system Notes Cuba Havana – Matanzas and branches Ferrocarriles Nacionales de Cuba Originally (and still known as) the Hershey Electric Railway Germany Lusatia 900 mm (2 ft 117⁄16 in) gauge mining railways in the lignite district Spain Barcelona, Catalonia Barcelona Metro Uses an overhead conductor rail/beam system Palma – Sóller, Majorca Sóller Railway [3] Switzerland Canton of Bern / canton of Solothurn Aare Seeland mobil (ASm) [4][5] Dietikon, canton of Zürich – Wohlen, canton of Aargau Bremgarten-Dietikon-Bahn Zürich – Esslingen, canton of Zürich Forchbahn Forchbahn proper only; Forchbahn trains access their Zürich terminus via the Zürich tram network, which is electrified at 600 V DC. The rolling stock is equipped to run off both voltages. Frauenfeld, canton of Thurgau – Wil, canton of St. Gallen Frauenfeld-Wil-Bahn Meiringen – Innertkirchen, canton of Bern Meiringen–Innertkirchen Bahn Zürich – Uetliberg, canton of Zürich Sihltal Zürich Uetliberg Bahn Uetliberg line only – uses an offset overhead line and pantograph to allow running on track shared with the AC-electrified Sihltal line[6] United States Los Angeles – Inland Empire, California Pacific Electric Upland–San Bernardino 600 V in city limits
1500 V DC
Country Location Name of system Notes Argentina Buenos Aires Buenos Aires Metro Lines A, C, D, E and H Tren de la Costa Suburban line Australia Melbourne Melbourne Suburban Railways Sydney Sydney Trains Sydney Metro Except Western Sydney Airport line, which will use 25 kV 50 Hz AC[7] Brazil São Paulo São Paulo Metro Lines 4 and 5 Bulgaria Sofia Sofia Metro Line 3 Gorna Banya – Hadzhi Dimitar Canada Montreal Réseau express métropolitain Incl. Deux-Montagnes line that was built by CNoR in 1918 as 2400 V DC, converted to 3000 V DC in the 1980s, converted to 25 kV 60 Hz in 1995 by ARTM, being converted to light-metro standard and 1500 V DC Ottawa O-Train Confederation Line only; the Trillium Line is diesel LRT. China Beijing Beijing Subway Lines 6, 14 and 16 Changchun Changchun Rail Transit Lines 1 and 2 Changsha Changsha Metro Changzhou Changzhou Metro Chengdu Chengdu Metro Except lines 17, 18 and 19 Chongqing Chongqing Rail Transit Lines 1, 4, 5, 6, 10 and Loop Line Dalian Dalian Metro Dongguan Dongguan Rail Transit Fushun Fushun Electric Railway Fuzhou Fuzhou Metro Guangzhou Guangzhou Metro Except Lines 4, 5, 6, 14 and 21, but overhead wires installed in depots. Guiyang Guiyang Metro Hangzhou Hangzhou Metro Harbin Harbin Metro Hefei Hefei Metro Hohhot Hohhot Metro Jinan Jinan Metro Lanzhou Lanzhou Metro Nanchang Nanchang Metro Nanjing Nanjing Metro Nanning Nanning Metro Ningbo Ningbo Rail Transit Line 4 uses third rail for returning current Shanghai Shanghai Metro Except Lines 16 and 17, but overhead wires installed in the depot for line 16. Shenyang Shenyang Metro Shenzhen Shenzhen Metro Except Lines 3 and 6, but overhead wires installed in the depot for line 6. Shijiazhuang Shijiazhuang Metro Suzhou Suzhou Metro Tianjin Tianjin Metro Lines 5, 6 and 9 only Ürümqi Ürümqi Metro Wuhan Wuhan Metro Line 6 only Xi’an Xi'an Metro Xiamen Xiamen Metro Xuzhou Xuzhou Metro Zhengzhou Zhengzhou Metro Colombia Medellín Medellín Metro Lines A and B Czech Republic Tábor – Bechyně Czech Railway Infrastructure Administration (SŽDC) Tábor – Bechyně line only (24 km, built in 1903) Dominican Republic Santo Domingo Santo Domingo Metro Egypt Cairo Cairo Metro Line 1[8][9] France Société Nationale des Chemins de fer (SNCF) 25 kV AC used on new high speed lines (TGV) and in the north (see below) Hong Kong Hong Kong Mass Transit Railway Except East Rail line and Tuen Ma line which use 25 kV 50 Hz AC (see below) and the light rail which uses 750 V DC Hungary Budapest Budapest Cog-wheel Railway Converted from 550 V DC (city trams nominal voltage at that time) during the 1973 reconstruction. Indonesia Jakarta KRL Jabodetabek
Jakarta MRT
Yogyakarta-Solo KRL Commuterline Yogyakarta–Solo Ireland Dublin Dublin Area Rapid Transit Italy Rome Rome Metro Line A, Line B, Line Roma-Ostia Lido Japan Japan Railways (JR) lines Most electrified lines in Kantō, Chūbu, Kansai, Chūgoku, and Shikoku (except Shinkansen and Hokuriku region) Most private railway lines See Railway electrification in Japan for more details including excpetions Most subway lines South Korea Seoul National Capital Area Seoul Subway Except Korail Subway Line (except Line 3)
(see below) Busan Busan Subway Daegu Daegu Subway Daejeon Daejeon Subway Gwangju Gwangju Subway Incheon Incheon Subway Line 1 Mexico Mexico City STC Line 12 Monterrey Sistema de Transporte Colectivo Metrorrey Netherlands Nederlandse Spoorwegen – Dutch Railways (NS) 25 kV AC used on high speed lines and freight line Betuweroute (see below); The existing 1500V DC lines will be converted to 3kV DC. New Zealand Wellington Wellington suburban Except Wairarapa Line beyond Upper Hutt. Since 2011, the nominal voltage was 1600 V but with the same tolerances as 1500 V (i.e. 1300–1800 V), making it backwards-compatible with 1500 V rolling stock. Since May 2016 the operating voltage was increased to 1700 V DC following the full introduction of the Matangi EMUs. Philippines Metro Manila Manila MRT Makati Intra-city Subway (Line 5) and Metro Manila Subway (Line 9) only. Line 7 uses 750 V DC third rail. Metro Manila
Rizal Manila LRT Line 2 only. Line 1 uses 750 V DC. Metro Manila
Central Luzon
Laguna Philippine National Railways North–South Commuter Railway Portugal Lisbon, Oeiras and Cascais Linha de Cascais To be converted to 25kV AC.[10] Singapore Singapore Mass Rapid Transit North East Line, operated by SBS Transit Slovakia Tatra Mountains in the area of Poprad Tatra Electric Railway Spain Catalonia Ferrocarrils de la Generalitat de Catalunya Madrid ADIF Only Cercedilla-Cotos line Mallorca Serveis Ferroviaris de Mallorca North coast (Asturias-Leon-Cantabria-Basque Country) FEVE Basque Country Euskotren Trena Valencian Community Ferrocarrils de la Generalitat Valenciana Sweden Stockholm Roslagsbanan Switzerland Aigle – Leysin, canton of Vaud Chemin de fer Aigle–Leysin (AL) Aigle, Vaud – Champéry, canton of Valais Chemin de fer Aigle–Ollon–Monthey–Champéry (AOMC) Aigle – Les Diablerets, canton of Vaud Chemin de fer Aigle–Sépey–Diablerets (ASD) Interlaken – Lauterbrunnen / Grindelwald, canton of Bern Berner Oberland Bahn (BOB) Canton of Jura Chemins de fer du Jura (CJ) Metre gauge lines only Lausanne – Bercher, canton of Vaud Chemin de fer Lausanne–Échallens–Bercher (LEB) Nyon – La Cure, canton of Vaud Chemin de fer Nyon-St-Cergue-Morez (NStCNM) Converted in the 1980s from 2200 V DC Vitznau / Goldau – Rigi Rigi Bahnen (VRB/ARB) Wilderswil – Schynige Platte, canton of Bern Schynige Platte Bahn (SPB) Liestal – Waldenburg, canton of Basel-Country Waldenburgerbahn (WB) Lauterbrunnen – Grindelwald, canton of Bern Wengernalpbahn (WAB) Turkey Bursa Bursaray Istanbul Istanbul Metro Except lines M1, M2 and M6 United Kingdom Newcastle, Sunderland, Gateshead and Tyneside Tyne & Wear Metro Light rail United States Chicago Metra Electric District Maryland Purple Line Light rail under construction Northern Indiana & Chicago South Shore Line Seattle Central Link Light rail
3 kV DC
Country Location Name of system Note Belgium Belgium National Railways (SNCB) National standard. 25 kV AC used on high speed lines and some lines in the south (see below). Brazil Rio de Janeiro SuperVia Trens Urbanos Brazil São Paulo Companhia Paulista de Trens Metropolitanos Chile Empresa de los Ferrocarriles del Estado Czech Republic Czech Railway Infrastructure Administration (SŽDC) Northern part of network only (approx. the Děčín – Praha – Ostrava route). The system change stations are Kadaň-Prunéřov, Beroun, Benešov u Prahy, Kutná Hora hl.n., Svitavy, Nezamyslice, Nedakonice. The southern part uses 25 kV 50 Hz (see below).
The 3 kV system is to be phased out in favour of 25 kV AC.[11] Estonia Tallinn Elron Commuter rail only Georgia Georgian Railways In fact 3,300 V Italy Rete Ferroviaria Italiana 25 kV AC used on new high speed lines (see below) North Korea Korean State Railway National standard Latvia Latvian Railways Commuter rail only, to be converted to 25 kV AC, in order to connecting to Russia, Belarus and Lithuania Morocco ONCF National standard Netherlands ProRail Planned Poland Polish State Railways National standard. Broad-gauge lines will use 25 kV AC[12] Warsaw and suburbs Warszawska Kolej Dojazdowa 600 V DC until 27 May 2016 Russia Russian Railways New electrification use only 25 kV AC (see below), except Moscow Central Circle and other interconnection lines in Moscow, and 2 interconnection lines (Veymarn line and Kamennogorsk line) in St. Petersburg. Sverdlovsk railway and West Siberian railway to be converted to 25 kV AC. Slovakia Slovak Republic Railways (ŽSR) Northern main line (connected to Czech Republic and Poland ) and eastern lines (around Košice and Prešov), conversion to 25 kV AC planned,[11] and the broad gauge line between Košice and the Ukraine border (it will remain 3 kV until new broad gauge line construction, then convert to 25 kV AC), planned new broad gauge line is supposed to use 25 kV AC. Currently, the part north and east of the station Púchov uses 3 kV DC, the rest uses 25 kV 50 Hz (see below). Slovenia Slovenian Railways National standard South Africa Transnet Freight Rail; Metrorail National standard; also 25 kV AC (see below) and 50 kV AC used Spain Administrador de Infraestructuras Ferroviarias 25 kV AC used on high speed lines (AVE) (see below) Ukraine Ukrainian Railways In east (Donetsk industrial zone), in west (west from L'viv – connecting to Slovakia and Poland), to be converted to 25 kV AC[13] (see below)
15 kV AC, 162⁄3 Hz / 16.7 Hz
Country Location Name of system Notes Austria ÖBB National standard. Planned new high speed lines will near the border use 25 kV AC: Innsbruck-Italy and broad gauge to Ukraine Germany Deutsche Bahn - German National Railways (DB) National standard Norway Norwegian National Rail Administration Sweden Swedish Transport Administration Switzerland Canton of Bern BLS Central Switzerland and Bernese Highlands Zentralbahn Canton of Vaud Chemin de fer Bière-Apples-Morges (BAM) Canton of Zürich Sihltal Zürich Uetliberg Bahn Sihltal line only; shares track with the 1200 V DC electrified Uetliberg line that uses an offset overhead line and pantograph to allow such sharing Swiss Federal Railways
25 kV AC, 50 Hz
Country Location Name of system Notes Argentina Buenos Aires Roca Line Constitución – Ezeiza
Constitución – Alejandro Korn
Constitución – Bosques
Constitución – La Plata Australia Brisbane, North Coast line, Blackwater and Goonyella coal railways Queensland Rail Perth Transperth Adelaide Adelaide Metro Seaford/Flinders and Gawler lines electrified Sydney Sydney Metro Western Sydney Airport line only[7] Belarus National standard Belgium Belgium National Railways (NMBS/SNCB) High-speed lines and some other lines. The rest of the network is 3 kV DC (see above) Bosnia and Herzegovina Botswana Proposed line to Namibia Bulgaria Bulgarian State Railways China China Railway Corporation National standard Beijing Beijing Subway Daxing Airport Line only Chengdu Chengdu Metro Lines 17, 18 and 19 only Wenzhou Wenzhou Rail Transit Croatia Croatian Railways Lines Zagreb-Rijeka and Rijeka-Šapjane formerly used 3kv DC traction Czech Republic Czech Railway Infrastructure Administration (SŽDC) Southern lines only (linking Karlovy Vary – Cheb – Plzeň – České Budějovice – Tábor – Jihlava – Brno – Břeclav – Slovakia), northern lines use 3 kV DC (see above) Denmark Banedanmark National standard, excluding Copenhagen S-train Djibouti Addis Ababa–Djibouti Railway Ethiopian Railway Corporation Ethiopia Addis Ababa–Djibouti Railway Ethiopian Railway Corporation Finland National standard France North and new lines SNCF A number of lines also electrified with 1.5 kV (see above) Germany Harz Rübelandbahn Greece Hellenic Railways Organisation National standard Hong Kong Kowloon, New Territories Mass Transit Railway East Rail and Tuen Ma lines All other lines except the light rail use Template:1,500 V DC (see above) Hungary Hungarian State Railways and Raaberbahn India Indian Railways Entire IR network uses the current system since 2016. Mumbai Mumbai Suburban Railway Conversion from 1.5 kV DC to the current system was completed in 2012 (for Western line[14]) and 2016 (for Central line[15][16][17]) respectively Mumbai Mumbai Metro (Line 1) Chennai (Madras) Chennai Metro Delhi Delhi Metro Hyderabad Hyderabad Metro Pune Pune Metro Nagpur Nagpur Metro Jaipur Jaipur Metro Lucknow Lucknow Metro Iran Planned Israel Israel Railways Construction contract awarded in December 2015.[18] Initial test runs began December 2017. Italy Rete Ferroviaria Italiana (Italian Railways Network) New high-speed lines only, other lines use 3 kV DC (see above) Japan Kantō (northeast of Tokyo), Tōhoku, and Hokkaido regions JR East Tohoku Shinkansen, Joetsu Shinkansen, and Hokuriku Shinkansen (sections between Tokyo – Karuizawa, and between Jōetsumyōkō – Itoigawa)
JR Hokkaido Hokkaido Shinkansen 25 kV AC 60 Hz in some areas (see below). Kazakhstan Laos Boten–Vientiane railway Latvia Latvian Railways Eastern lines only (planned) Lithuania Kena — Kaunas and Lentvaris — Trakai Lithuanian Railways (LG) Electrification of Naujoji Vilnia – Kena —
Gudogai (BCh) route for Vilnius – Minsk (Belarus) services is established on 2017. Further Kaunas – Klaipeda and Kaunas – Kybartai corridors electrification will follow projects.
Luxembourg Chemins de fer luxembourgeois (CFL) National standard Malaysia Padang Besar – KL Sentral – Gemas KTM ETS (run through West Coast railway line), Keretapi Tanah Melayu Berhad Under construction: Hat Yai (in Thailand) – Padang Besar (to be opened by 2020) and Gemas – Johor Bahru (to be opened by 2022) Bukit Mertajam – Padang Regas and Butterworth – Padang Besar KTM Komuter Northern Sector, Keretapi Tanah Melayu Berhad Batu Caves – Pulau Sebang/Tampin, Tanjung Malim – Port Klang and KL Sentral – Terminal Skypark KTM Komuter Central Sector (Seremban Line, Port Klang Line and Skypark Link), Keretapi Tanah Melayu Berhad KL Sentral – KLIA2 Express Rail Link (KLIA Ekspres and KLIA Transit) Montenegro Belgrade–Bar railway and Nikšić–Podgorica railway Railways of Montenegro Morocco Kenitra–Tangier high-speed rail line ONCF Casablanca–Kenitra section of high-speed rail remains at 3 kV DC[19] Namibia Proposed line to Botswana Netherlands HSL-Zuid high speed line and Betuweroute freight line Nederlandse Spoorwegen 1.5 kV DC used on the rest of the network (see above) New Zealand Auckland Auckland suburban 77 km between Swanson and Papakura; first service 28 April 2014 Central North Island North Island Main Trunk 411 km between Palmerston North and Hamilton North Macedonia Makedonski Železnici Poland Hrubieszów Broad Gauge Metallurgy Line (LHS) A section from the border to Hrubieszów will be electrified in conjunction with the electrification of the connecting border – Izov – Kovel line in Ukraine.[20] The reminder sections will follow. Portugal Portuguese Railways (CP) Except the Linha de Cascais (1500 V DC) Romania Caile Ferate Romane Russia Russian Railways National standard used for new electrification; some areas still use 3 kV DC (see above) Serbia Serbian Railways Slovakia Slovak Republic Railways (ŽSR) South-western lines only (around Bratislava, Kuty, Trencin, Trnava, Nove Zamky, Zvolen) and the rest of the network (except narrow gauge lines), currently 3 kV DC, to follow (see above) South Africa Transnet Freight Rail, Gautrain Also 3 kV DC (see above) and 50 kV 50 Hz used. Spain ADIF Alta Velocidad High-speed lines only, other lines use 3 kV DC (see above) Thailand Bangkok Suvarnabhumi Airport Link Tunisia [21] Turkey Turkish State Railways (TCDD) National standard United Kingdom Network Rail Except Southern region and Merseyrail and Northern Ireland Ukraine Ukrainian Railways National standard, in most of the west; also 3 kV DC in the east (see above) Uzbekistan Zimbabwe Gweru – Harare National Railways of Zimbabwe (NRZ) De-energised in 2008. May be renewed in the future.[22]
25 kV AC, 60 Hz
Country Location Name of system Notes Japan Kantō (west of Tokyo), Chūbu, Kansai, Chūgoku, and Kyushu regions Tōkaidō-Sanyō Shinkansen
Hokuriku Shinkansen (sections between Karuizawa – Jōetsumyōkō, and between Itoigawa – Kanazawa)
Kyushu Shinkansen 25 kV AC 50 Hz in eastern Japan (see above) Saudi Arabia Haramain high-speed railway Saudi Railways Organization Renfe and Adif will operate the trains and manage the line until 2030 South Korea Korail All Korail freight/passenger lines except Seoul subway Line 3 which is 1.5 kV DC (see above) Seoul Shinbundang line Incheon, Seoul A'REX Mexico Greater Mexico City Ferrocarril Suburbano de la Zona Metropolitana del Valle de México [23] State of Mexico Toluca–Mexico City commuter rail Under construction. Expected end of 2022 Yucatán Peninsula Tren Maya Under construction. About 40% of the route to be electrified [24] Republic of China (Taiwan) Taiwan Railways Administration National standard Western Taiwan Taiwan High Speed Rail United States New Jersey Morris & Essex Lines, New Jersey Transit Former 3,000 V DC system Aberdeen-Matawan to Long Branch, New Jersey North Jersey Coast Line, New Jersey Transit Converted in 1978 from Pennsylvania Railroad 11 kV 25 Hz system to the 12.5 kV 25 Hz on the Rahway-Matawan ROW and 12.5 kV 60 Hz electrification extended to Long Branch in 1988. The Matawan-Long Branch voltage converted from 12.5 kV 60 Hz system to the 25 kV 60 Hz in 2002. New York to Boston Northeast Corridor (NEC), Amtrak Electrified in 2000; see Amtrak's 60 Hz traction power system Denver Denver RTD Opened in 2016; separate 750 V DC system for light rail San Francisco Peninsula Caltrain Under construction, expected by 2024; see Electrification of Caltrain New Mexico Navajo Mine Railroad Texas Texas Utilities, Monticello & Martin Lake see E25B and Internet reference[25]
2.2. Conductor Rail Systems
600 V DC conductor
All systems are third rail unless stated otherwise. Used by some older metros.
Country Location Name of system Notes Argentina Buenos Aires Urquiza Line Federico Lacroze-General Lemos Canada Toronto Toronto subway Only on subway lines Greece Athens EIS/ISAP used between 1904 and 1985 Italy Turin Superga Rack Railway Japan Tokyo Tokyo Metro Ginza Line and Marunouchi Line Nagoya, Aichi Nagoya Municipal Subway Higashiyama Line and Meijō Line Sweden Stockholm Stockholm Metro 650 V, Green and Red Lines United Kingdom Glasgow Glasgow Subway United States Boston Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority Red and Orange Lines, the subway part of the Blue Line southwest of Airport station Chicago Chicago "L" elevated and subway lines Staten Island Staten Island Railway New York City metro area PATH Philadelphia Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority Broad Street Line Bay Lake, Florida Walt Disney World Monorail System
750 V DC conductor
Conductor rail systems have been separated into tables based on whether they are top, side or bottom contact. Used by most metros outside Asia and the former Eastern bloc.
Country Location Name of system Notes Algeria Algiers Algiers Metro Austria Vienna Vienna U-Bahn Brazil São Paulo São Paulo Metro Except Lines 4 and 5 China Beijing Beijing Subway Capital Airport Line only Kunming Kunming Metro Except Line 4 Tianjin Tianjin Metro Lines 2 and 3 only Wuhan Wuhan Metro Lines 1, 2, 3 and 4 only Czech Republic Prague Prague Metro Denmark Copenhagen Copenhagen Metro Egypt Cairo Cairo Metro Line 2 and Line 3 Finland Helsinki Helsinki Metro Germany Berlin Berlin U-Bahn Lines from U5 to U9 (large profile). Negative polarity. Hamburg Hamburg U-Bahn Munich Munich U-Bahn Nuremberg Nuremberg U-Bahn India Bangalore Namma Metro Kochi Kochi Metro Ahmedabad Ahmedabad Metro Kanpur Kanpur Metro Gurgaon Rapid Metro Gurgaon South Korea Busan Busan-Gimhae Light Rail Transit Malaysia Klang Valley Klang Valley Integrated Transit System LRT & MRT (Ampang, Sri Petaling, Kelana Jaya and Sungai Buloh–Kajang lines), and KL Monorail to be used on Bandar Utama–Klang and Sungai Buloh–Serdang–Putrajaya lines Netherlands Amsterdam Amsterdam Metro including line 51 north of Station Zuid Rotterdam Rotterdam Metro North of Capelsebrug station overhead wires Norway Oslo Oslo T-bane Poland Warsaw Warsaw Metro Romania Bucharest Bucharest Metro Singapore Singapore Mass Rapid Transit North South line, East West line, Circle line and Thomson-East Coast line operated by SMRT Trains
Downtown line operated by SBS Transit
Republic of China (Taiwan) Kaohsiung Kaohsiung Mass Rapid Transit Taipei Taipei Metro Taoyuan–Taipei Taoyuan Metro Turkey Ankara Ankara Metro Istanbul Istanbul Metro Lines M2 and M6 only Izmir Izmir Metro United Kingdom London Docklands Light Railway United States New York City Metro-North Railroad
Country Location Name of system Notes Canada Montreal Montreal Metro (guide bars, see DC, four-rail below) China Shanghai Shanghai Metro – Pujiang line Central guide rail for rubber-tyred Bombardier Innovia APM 300 Chile Santiago Santiago Metro France Paris Paris Métro (Rubber tired) Positive (and sometimes negative) polarity on guide bars.
See DC, four-rail below. Lyon Lyon Métro Marseille Marseille Métro Lille Lille Métro Rennes Rennes Métro Toulouse Toulouse Métro Hong Kong Hong Kong Hong Kong International Airport
Automated People Mover (APM) Mitsubishi "Crystal Mover" system using two power rails (positive and negative) with side collection. Indonesia Palembang Palembang Light Rail Transit Palembang Light Rail Transit and Greater Jakarta Light Rail Transit are operated by Kereta Api Indonesia. Jakarta Light Rail Transit is operated by Jakarta Propertindo (Jakpro). Jakarta Jakarta Light Rail Transit Greater Jakarta Light Rail Transit Japan Sapporo, Hokkaido Sapporo Municipal Subway Namboku Line Singapore Singapore Light Rail Transit Sengkang LRT Line and Punggol LRT Line operated by SBS Transit Singapore Sentosa Express Sentosa Express operated by SDC United States Las Vegas Las Vegas Monorail
Country Location Name of system Notes China Beijing Beijing Subway Capital Airport Line use bottom contact Tianjin Tianjin Metro Line 1 only France Paris Paris Métro (Conventional metro) Germany Berlin Berlin U-Bahn Lines from U1 to U4 (small profile) Greece Athens Athens Metro Line 1 was 600 V before 1985. Hungary Budapest Budapest Metro Except line M1, which is 600 V DC with overhead lines. India Kolkata Kolkata Metro Japan Osaka, Osaka Osaka Metro Except the Sakaisuji Line, Nagahori Tsurumi-ryokuchi Line, and the Imazatosuji Line, which are 1,500 V DC with overhead lines. Suita, Osaka
Toyonaka, Osaka Kita-Osaka Kyuko Railway Higashiosaka, Osaka
Ikoma, Nara
Nara, Nara Kintetsu Keihanna Line Yokohama, Kanagawa Yokohama Municipal Subway Blue Line (Line 1 and Line 3) only North Korea Pyongyang Pyongyang Metro based on fleet of cars from Beijing and Germany South Korea Yongin Everline Portugal Lisbon Lisbon Metro Puerto Rico San Juan Tren Urbano Sweden Stockholm Stockholm Metro Nominal voltage 650 V, subway 3 (blue line) 750 V. Subway 1 and 2 will change in the long term to 750 V. United Kingdom Liverpool Merseyrail London Northern City Line access to City (Moorgate) London Suburban electrification of the LNWR Suburban Network formerly four-rail out of Euston and Broad Street, curtailed, upgraded and standardised Southern England Southern Region of British Railways and successors 660 V system upgraded and expanded London, England Waterloo and City line Upgraded by Railtrack to 750V prior to sale to London Underground United States Atlanta, Georgia MARTA Los Angeles, California Los Angeles Metro Rail B and D Lines Miami, Florida Metrorail New York City and Long Island
East River Tunnels shared with Amtrak Long Island Rail Road Central, Greenport, and Oyster Bay branches not electrified; Montauk Branch not electrified east of Babylon; Port Jefferson Branch not electrified east of Huntington Philadelphia, PA PATCO Speedline Puerto Rico Tren Urbano Washington, D.C. Washington Metro within the Hudson and East River Tunnels as well as under Manhattan
Northeast Corridor Amtrak within the Hudson Tunnel into Manhattan New Jersey Transit
Mixed
Type Country Location Name of system Notes See note China Tianjin Tianjin Metro Top contact in Line 1, bottom contact in Lines 2 and 3
1200 V DC conductor
All systems are third rail and side contact unless stated otherwise.
Country Location Name of system Notes Germany Hamburg Hamburg S-Bahn Template:15 kV AC with overhead line in part of network. United Kingdom Manchester Bury Line Dismantled 1991, converted to Manchester Metrolink tramway (750 V DC overhead)
1500 V DC conductor
All systems are third rail unless stated otherwise.
Type Country Location Name of system Notes Bottom contact France Paris Paris Métro Line 18 Currently under construction Toulouse Toulouse Aerospace Express Currently under construction Side contact Chambéry – Modane Culoz–Modane railway used between 1925 and 1976, today overhead wire Bottom contact China Beijing Beijing Subway Line 7 only Guangzhou Guangzhou Metro Lines 4, 5, 6, 14 and 21 only. Overhead wires in depots; all trains are equipped with pantographs Kunming Kunming Metro Line 4 only Qingdao Qingdao Metro Shanghai Shanghai Metro Lines 16 and 17 only. Overhead wires in depot of Line 16, all trains on Line 16 have pantographs for depot use. Shenzhen Shenzhen Metro Lines 3 and 6 only. Overhead wires in depot of Line 6, all trains on Line 6 have pantographs for depot use. Wuhan Wuhan Metro Lines 7, 8, 11 and Yangluo Line only Wuxi Wuxi Metro
3. Systems Using Non-standard Voltages
3.1. Overhead Systems
DC voltage
Voltage Country Location Name of system Notes 120 United Kingdom Seaton, Devon Seaton Tramway Half scale trams. Operated 1969-now. Substations have battery banks for back up. 250 United States Chicago Chicago Tunnel Company operated 1906–1959 525 Switzerland Lauterbrunnen Bergbahn Lauterbrunnen-Mürren 550 Hong Kong Hong Kong Island Hong Kong Tramways Isle of Man Isle of Man Manx Electric Railway including Snaefell Mountain Railway India Kolkata Trams in Kolkata United States Bakersfield, California Bakersfield and Kern Electric Railway operated 1888–1942 Fresno, California Fresno Traction Company operated 1903–1939 Phoenix, Arizona Phoenix Street Railway operated 1888–1948[26] 650 United States Buffalo, New York Buffalo Metro Rail El Paso, Texas El Paso Streetcar Pittsburgh Pittsburgh Light Rail Switzerland Basel Basel Trams (BVB/BLT) 700 Switzerland Bex – Col de Bretaye, Vaud Chemin de fer Bex-Villars-Bretaye 730 United States Pennsylvania Philadelphia Suburban Transportation Company purchased by Philadelphia and Western Railroad in 1953 and converted to 600 VDC[27] 800 Poland Tricity Szybka Kolej Miejska (Tricity) Operated 1951–1976. Converted to 3,000 V DC in 1976. 825 United States Portland, Oregon MAX, TriMet Light rail sections west of NE 9th Avenue & Holladay Street utilize a 750 V system 850 Switzerland Capolago – Monte Generoso, Ticino Ferrovia Monte Generoso (MG) 900 Fribourg Gruyere – Fribourg – Morat Montreux Montreux-Oberland Bernois 1,000 Italy
Switzerland St Moritz, canton of Graubünden – Tirano, Lombardy Rhätische Bahn (RhB) Bernina line only; remainder of system electrified at 11 kV AC, 16 2⁄3 Hz. The Bernina line is an international line linking Switzerland (St. Moritz) with Italy (Tirano) Hungary Budapest Budapest Commuter Rail and Rapid Transit (BHÉV) [28] 1,100 Argentina Buenos Aires Buenos Aires Metro (Subterráneos de Buenos Aires) Only Line A (converted to 1,500 V DC with La Brugeoise trains replaced by new rolling stock in 2013) 1,250 Switzerland Canton of Bern Regionalverkehr Bern-Solothurn (RBS) All lines except tram line 6 between Bern and Worb, which is electrified at 600 V DC[29] 1,350 Italy
Switzerland Domodossola, Piedmont – Locarno, canton of Ticino Domodossola–Locarno railway line (FART / Società Subalpina Imprese Ferroviarie (de)) International railway between Italy (Domodossola) and Switzerland (Locarno) Switzerland Lugano – Ponte Tresa, canton of Ticino Ferrovia Lugano–Ponte Tresa (FLP) 1,650 Denmark Copenhagen Copenhagen S-train Suburban rail network in Copenhagen Italy Rome Rome–Giardinetti railway Isolated Italian metre gauge line. 2,400 Germany Lausitzer work line of the Lausitzer Braunkohle coal company Poland Konin Konin Coal Mine[30] Turek PAK KWB ADAMÓW[30] mine closed in February 2021, the railway will be dismantled[31] France Grenoble Chemin de fer de La Mure −1,200 V, +1,200 V two wire system from 1903 to 1950. 2,400 V since 1950.[32] United States Montana Butte, Anaconda and Pacific Railway electrified 1913–1967, dismantled in favor of diesel power 3,500 United Kingdom Manchester Bury – Holcombe Brook operated 1913–1918
AC voltage
Voltage Frequency Country Location Name of system Notes 3,300 15 Hz United States Tulare County, California Visalia Electric Railroad 1904–1992 25 Hz United States Napa and Solano Counties, California San Francisco, Napa and Calistoga Railway 1905–1937 5,500 162⁄3 Hz Germany Murnau Ammergau Railway 1905–1955, after 1955 15 kV, 16.7 Hz 6,250 50 Hz United Kingdom London, Essex, Herts Great Eastern suburban lines Great Eastern suburban lines from Liverpool Street London, 1950s–c1980 (converted to 25 kV) 6,500 25 Hz Austria Sankt Pölten Mariazellerbahn 6,600 Norway Orkdal Thamshavnbanen 6,700 25 Hz United Kingdom Morecambe branch line Lancaster to Heysham 1908–1951
Converted to 25 kV 50 Hz as a test bed for the future main line electrification system South London line London Victoria to London Bridge 1909–1928
Converted to 660 V (later 750 V) DC third-rail supply 8 kV 25 Hz Germany Karlsruhe Alb Valley Railway 1911–1966, today using 750 V DC 10 kV Netherlands The Hague – Rotterdam Hofpleinlijn from 1908, in 1926 converted to 1,500 DC, In 2006 replaced by 750 V DC light rail 10 kV 50 Hz Russia industrial railways at quarries Russian Railways operated from 1950s at coal and ore quarries Ukraine Ukrainian Railways Kazakhstan some private industrial railways in Kazakhstan 11 kV 162⁄3 Hz Switzerland Graubünden Rhätische Bahn (RhB) Except the Bernina line, which is electrified at 1,000 V DC Matterhorn-Gotthard-Bahn (MGB) formerly Furka Oberalp Bahn (FO) and BVZ Zermatt-Bahn 50 Hz France Saint-Gervais-les-Bains Mont Blanc Tramway 11 kV 25 Hz United States Pennsylvania Railroad
Etc., All lines now 12 kV 25 Hz or 12.5 kV 60 Hz
See Railroad electrification in the United States United States Washington (state) Cascade Tunnel Converted from three-phase 6600 V 25 Hz in 1927, dismantled 1956 United States Colorado Denver and Intermountain Railroad dismantled c. 1953[33] 12 kV 162⁄3 Hz France lines in Pyrenees Chemin de fer du Midi most converted to 1,500 V 1922–23; Villefranche-Perpignan diesel 1971, then 1,500 V 1984 12 kV 25 Hz United States Washington, DC – New York City Northeast Corridor (NEC), Amtrak 11 kV until 1978 Harrisburg, PA to Philadelphia, PA Keystone Corridor, Amtrak 11 kV until 1978 Philadelphia SEPTA Regional Rail system only; 11 kV until 1978 12 kV 25 Hz United States Rahway to Aberdeen-Matawan, New Jersey North Jersey Coast Line, New Jersey Transit 1978–2002 (11 kV until 1978). Converted to 25 kV 60 Hz 12.5 kV 60 Hz United States Pelham, NY-New Haven, CT New Haven Line, Metro-North Railroad, Amtrak 11 kV until 1985 16 kV 50 Hz Hungary Budapest–Hegyeshalom railway Budapest to Hegyeshalom Kandó system 1931–1972, converted to 25 kV 50 Hz 20 kV Germany Freiburg Höllentalbahn Operated 1933–1960. Converted to 15 kV 162⁄3 Hz. France Aix-les-Bains – La Roche-sur-Foron Société Nationale des Chemins de fer (SNCF) Operated 1950–1953. Converted to 25 kV 50 Hz. 20 kV 50 Hz Japan most electrified JR/the third sector lines in Hokkaidō and Tōhoku JR East, JR Hokkaidō, and others 60 Hz most electrified JR/the third sector lines in Kyūshū and Hokuriku region JR Kyūshū and others 50 kV 50 Hz South Africa Northern Cape, Western Cape Sishen–Saldanha railway line opened in 1976 and hauls iron ore 60 Hz Canada British Columbia Tumbler Ridge Subdivision of BC Rail (Now Canadian National Railway) Opened in 1983 to serve a coal mine in the northern Rocky Mountains. No longer in use. United States Arizona Black Mesa and Lake Powell Railroad First line to use 50 kV electrification when it opened in 1973. This was an isolated coal-hauling short line; no longer in use. 60 Hz United States Utah Deseret Power Railroad Formerly Deseret Western Railway. This is an isolated coal-hauling short line.
Three-phase AC voltage
Two wires
Voltage Current Country Location Name of system Notes 725 50 Hz, 3Ø Switzerland Zermatt – Gornergrat, canton of Valais Gornergratbahn 750 40 Hz, 3Ø Burgdorf – Thun Burgdorf-Thun Bahn Operated 1899–1933
converted to 15 kV 162⁄3 Hz in 1933 900 60 Hz, 3Ø Brazil Rio de Janeiro Corcovado Rack Railway 1125 50 Hz, 3Ø Switzerland Interlaken Jungfraubahn 3600 15 Hz, 3Ø Italy Northern Italy Valtellina Electrification 1902–1917 50 Hz, 3Ø France Saint-Jean-de-Luz to Larrun Chemin de Fer de la Rhune 3600 16 Hz, 3Ø Italy
Switzerland Simplon Tunnel 1906–1930 3600 162⁄3 Hz, 3Ø Italy operated 1912–1976 in Upper Italy (more info needed) Porrettana railway FS 1927–1935 3600 162⁄3 Hz, 3Ø Italy Trento/Trient to Brenner Brenner Railway 1929–1965 5200 25 Hz, 3Ø Spain Almeria – Gergal 1911–1966? 6600 25 Hz, 3Ø United States Cascade Tunnel Great Northern Railway (U.S.) 1909–1929 10 kV 45 Hz, 3Ø Italy Roma – Sulmona FS 1929–1944[34]
Three wires
Voltage Current Country Location Name of system Notes 3000 V 50 Hz Germany Kierberg Zahnradbahn Tagebau Gruhlwerk rack railway (0.7 km)
operated 1927–1949 10000 V Berlin-Lichterfelde (de) test track (1.8 km);
variable voltage and frequency;
trial runs 1898–1901 14 kV
(See notes) 38 Hz – 48 Hz
(See notes) Zossen – Marienfelde test track (23.4 km);
trial runs 1901–1904
variable voltage between 10 kV and 14 kV and frequency between 38 Hz and 48 Hz.
50 Hz Russia Ship elevator of Krasnoyarsk Reservoir length: 1.5 km, 9000 mm gauge
3.2. Conductor Rail Systems (DC Voltage)
Conductor rail systems have been separated into tables based on whether they are top, side or bottom contact.
Voltage Type Country Location Name of system Notes 50 See notes United Kingdom Brighton Volk's Electric Railway Volk's Railway prior to 1884
(current fed through running rails) 110 third rail Claims to be the world's oldest operational electric railway 160 Volk's Railway between 1884 and 1980s 100 fourth rail Beaulieu Beaulieu Monorail (National Motor Museum – Beaulieu Palace House) current fed by 2 contact wires 180 See notes Germany Berlin-Lichterfelde Siemens streetcar Current fed through the running rails
Operated 1881–1891 200 third rail United Kingdom Southend Southend Pier Railway Until 1902[35] 250 Hythe, Hampshire Hythe Pier Railway United States Chicago, Illinois Chicago Tunnel Company Morgan Rack
1904, revenue service 1906–1908
300 Georgia New Athos Cave Railway 400 Germany Berchtesgaden Berchtesgaden Salt Mine Railway 440 London Post Office Railway Disused by post office since 2003[36] Now small section near Mount Pleasant operated as tourist attraction with battery powered stock[37]
150 V was used in station areas to limit train speed
550 Argentina Buenos Aires Buenos Aires Metro (Subterráneos de Buenos Aires) Only Line B 625 United States New York City New York City Subway 630 Philadelphia SEPTA – Norristown High Speed Line fourth rail London London Underground Supplied at +420 V and −210 V (630 V total). 650 See notes Euston to Watford DC Line Third rail with fourth rail bonded to running rail
To enable London Underground trains to operate between Queens Park and Harrow & Wealdstone. Similar bonding arrangements are used on the North London Line between Richmond and Gunnersbury and one the District Line between Putney Bridge and Wimbledon.
660 third rail Southern Railway & London & South Western Railway some areas up to 1939, original standard, mostly upgraded to 750 V (except for sections that operate with LUL stock). 700 United States Baltimore, Maryland Baltimore Metro SubwayLink 800 Germany Berlin Berlin S-Bahn discontinued, today 750 V 825 North Korea Pyongyang Pyongyang Metro uses old 750 V Berlin U-Bahn rolling stock 1000 United States San Francisco Bay Area Rapid Transit [38]
All third rail unless otherwise stated.
Voltage Country Location Name of system Notes 850 France Martigny Ligne de Saint Gervais - Vallorcine 1200 Germany Hamburg Hamburg S-Bahn Since 1940. Used both third rail DC (1200 V) and overhead line AC (6.3 kV 25 Hz) until 1955. Also uses German standard 15 kV AC 16 2/3 Hz overhead electrification on the section between Neugraben and Stade on line S3, opened in December 2007.
All third rail unless otherwise stated.
Voltage Country Location Name of system Notes 650 Canada Vancouver SkyTrain Expo Line (1985) and Millennium Line (2006). Linear induction. 700 United States New York Metro-North Railroad Hudson and Harlem Lines, southern part of New Haven Line. Original New York Central Railroad electrification scheme to Grand Central Terminal. Philadelphia SEPTA – Market-Frankford Line Originally 600 V, raised to 700 V 825 Bulgaria Sofia Sofia Metro Lines 1 and 2 Moscow Moscow Metro Nominal voltage: 825 V; allowed range: 550 V – 975 V[39] Saint Petersburg Saint Petersburg Metro Kazan Kazan Metro Nizhny Novgorod Nizhny Novgorod Metro Novosibirsk Novosibirsk Metro Samara Samara Metro Yekaterinburg Yekaterinburg Metro Ukraine Kyiv Kyiv Metro FSU underground systems share the same standard[40] Dnipro Dnipro Metro Kharkiv Kharkiv Metro 830 Argentina Buenos Aires Mitre Line Retiro – José León Suárez
Retiro – Bartolomé Mitre
Retiro – Tigre Once – Moreno Sarmiento Line 850 France Villefranche Ligne de Cerdagne Often referred to as the "Yellow Train" Austria Vienna Wiener Lokalbahn 900 Belgium Brussels Brussels Metro
3.3. Conductor Rail Systems (AC Voltage)
Voltage Current Contact Country Location Name of system Notes 500 50 Hz, 1Ø bottom Australia Gold Coast, Queensland Sea World Monorail Operated 1986–2021 Oasis Shopping Centre Operated 1989–2017 Sydney, New South Wales Sydney Monorail Operated 1988–2013 600 50 Hz, 3Ø side China Guangzhou Guangzhou Metro – APM Line Singapore LRT – Bukit Panjang line [41] Japan Saitama New Shuttle Tokyo Nippori-Toneri Liner Yurikamome 60 Hz, 3Ø Kobe, Hyōgo Kobe New Transit Osaka Osaka Metro – Nankō Port Town Line Kansai International Airport – Wing Shuttle Taiwan Taoyuan Taoyuan International Airport – Skytrain
4. Special or Unusual Types
4.1. DC, Plough Collection from Conductors in Conduit Below Track
London County Council Tramways, later operated by London Transport
streetcars in New York City (Manhattan), New York
Washington, D.C. streetcars
Panama Canal locks' ship handlers (called mules)
4.2. DC, One Ground-Level Conductor
Wolverhampton Corporation Tramways, England (stud contact) (1902–1921)
Bordeaux Tramway, France (conductor rail)
Sydney Light Rail (tramway)
4.3. DC, Two-Wire
Greenwich, England. Previously used by trams when in the vicinity of Greenwich Observatory; separate from trolleybus supply.
Cincinnati, Ohio, US. Tram (streetcar) system used this arrangement throughout, probably due to legal constraints on ground return currents.
Havana and Guanabacoa, Cuba. Tram (streetcar) systems in both cities used this arrangement.
Lisbon, Portugal. Elevador da Bica, Elevador da Glória and Elevador da Lavra.
4.4. DC, Power from Running Rails
Gross-Lichterfelde Tramway (1881–1893), 180 V
Ungerer Tramway (1886–1895)
transportable railways as a ride for children
4.5. DC, Four-Rail
Voltage Type Contact system Name of system Location Country Notes 750 guide bars lateral to both guide bars (one guide connected to running rail) Paris Metro Paris France rubber-tyred lines only Lateral (positive) and top of running rails (negative) contact Montreal Metro Montreal Canada rubber-tyred lines Mexico City Metro Mexico City Mexico rubber-tyred lines Third and fourth rail lateral (positive) and top (negative) contact Milan Transportation System Milan Italy metro (only line 1) Top contact London Underground London United Kingdom Transport for London[42] 630 | |||||
5064 | dbpedia | 2 | 64 | https://www.sweco.fi/en/services/infrastructure-and-traffic/track-and-tramways/ | en | Track and tramways | [
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] | null | [] | null | The leading rail transport expert in Finland and Northern Europe | en | Sweco Finland | https://www.sweco.fi/en/services/infrastructure-and-traffic/track-and-tramways/ | The leading rail transport expert in Finland and Northern Europe
Our expertise covers the entire Finnish state rail network, and the design and expert services connected to railway and tram traffic plans for private tracks. Our rail technology services include professional work on railway lines’ surface structures, rail markings and technical systems, in particular.
Finland has the world’s most ambitious climate goals, and the role of transport – rail transport in particular – is pivotal. We are currently taking part in all of Finland’s existing tram projects and in many other important planning projects aiming to create a sustainable society.
Railway and tram designs
We provide our customers with rail design services, including route planning, rail structures, dewatering, station areas and the improvement of service levels, safety and capacity throughout the entire lifecycle of a rail project. We are intimately familiar with the entire railway network’s features and lead large-scale multi-technology planning projects. We have participated in alliance, ST, and public-private-partnership projects, and are familiar with their operating principles. We carry out close cooperation with other operators in the field, including customer organisations, authorities, education providers and professionals in the fields of construction, maintenance, and transport.
Electrical engineering
Our electrical engineering services cover everything related to the electrification of railways, from electric railway designs to feed stations. Our other services include lighting, earthing and other electrical engineering designs for rail transport environments.
Safety equipment technology
Our safety equipment technology services cover all design and expert services related to railway safety equipment, such as safety equipment designs for tracks and level crossings, commissioning and inspection of safety equipment, alteration plans for safety equipment systems, and planning and implementation of access control systems of trains.
Railway safety
With the help of continuous and pre-planned risk management, it is possible to facilitate the implementation of the project in accordance with the set goals. Our experts’ diverse experience in various rail transport projects guarantees the best possible work in the various phases of projects, from the general design stage to commissioning. In addition, we implement CSR risk management in accordance with the Commission Regulation (402/2013). We are also involved in the safety tasks of rail traffic design and construction switches. We effortlessly prepare safety documents for the design partner, main contractor or builder. In addition, we work in construction projects in the roles of safety manager or safety coordinator.
Our rail design experts are the only ones in Finland who are familiar with all the safety equipment systems used in the Finnish railway network. | |||||
5064 | dbpedia | 1 | 31 | https://www.wikiwand.com/en/History_of_trams_in_Helsinki | en | History of trams in Helsinki | [
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] | null | [] | null | Until 2021, Helsinki was Finland's only remaining city with tram traffic. Two other cities—Turku (see Turku tram) and Vyborg —have had tram systems. Vyborg abandoned its trams in 1957 after it was ceded to the Soviet Union after the end of World War II. Turku withdrew its trams in 1972. | en | Wikiwand | https://www.wikiwand.com/en/History_of_trams_in_Helsinki | Until 2021, Helsinki was Finland's only remaining city with tram traffic. Two other cities—Turku (see Turku tram) and Vyborg (Finnish: Viipuri, Swedish: Viborg, Russian: Вы́борг; now part of Russia)—have had tram systems. Vyborg abandoned its trams in 1957 after it was ceded to the Soviet Union after the end of World War II. Turku withdrew its trams in 1972.
In August 2021 Tampere became the fourth city in Finland with a tram system and the second one to still have trams in service through the opening of the Tampere light rail system. | |||||
5064 | dbpedia | 2 | 48 | https://www.comatec.fi/en/tram-designed-with-end-users/ | en | A tram designed based on end | [
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] | 2021-06-11T13:02:49+00:00 | Škoda Transtech will deliver 20 bidirectional trams to Tampere, Finland. The contract also includes maintenance of the trams for 10 years. | en | Comatec | https://www.comatec.fi/en/tram-designed-with-end-users/ | Transtech’s first rolling stock project with a full maintenance service contract
Tampere Tram starts to operate officially in August 2021, but trial traffic with passengers began already in May 2021. The project’s rolling stock supplier Škoda Transtech Ltd’s plant in Kajaani, Finland manufactures 20 trams for the Tampere light rail system, as well as is responsible for their maintenance and upkeep. The project began behind schedule, but it will finish on schedule. Moreover, Tampere has been delivered with trams full of new technology and comfort for both tram drivers and passengers.
A new type of project to the parent company
Mr Ville Marjamaa, who is responsible for the design part of the project at Transtech, states that the deliverable does not actually differ from the company’s core rolling stock business. For example, the delivery batch size is 20 trams. Typically, the batch size in similar projects varies from 15 to 40. Moreover, the contract includes maintenance of the vehicles for 10 years, or optionally for the vehicles’ entire life cycle.
Although the batch size is typical to Transtech, the final product is a completely new addition to the company’s product portfolio. Transtech had already begun designing a five-module, bidirectional tram for the Helsinki Jokeri Light Rail project when the Tampere Tram project began. However, the two trams had to meet different requirements, making the final products different from one another.
“For all intents and purposes, we can consider the Tampere tram to be a completely new product. It is ten metres longer and 25 centimetres wider than usual, which caused challenges to the strength and mechanical design of the body.”
“Moreover, the track gauge is almost 50 centimetres wider than usual, which required the design of a completely new bogie. The bogie is the key part of a tram around which the motion characteristics of the tram are built. The trams also had to be bidirectional with entrances on both sides of the car, which raised the difficulty level for their design even more”, highlights Marjamaa.
The Tampere project was a first of its kind also to the parent company, which had not yet designed a bidirectional tram, which can be controlled from driver cabins at both ends of the tram, and which has entrances on both sides of the car.
Many systems in a tight space
According to Mr Marjamaa, the three of the most difficult parts of a rolling stock project are space, weight and schedule. This is because the passenger compartments must be as spacious as possible, but the total size of the tram should be as small as possible. Typically, when the passenger compartments are spacious and comfortable to use, there is little space left for technology and electromechanical equipment behind the interior panels and under the floor.
“As the technical requirements became more precise as the project moved further, we had to figure out how to include all combinations and details, while making everything work properly. Moreover, everything had to be duplicated because each function has to be controllable from both driver cabins. As a result, each function has been built so that it can be controlled from the chosen driver cabin. However, there was no existing solution available that could have been used as a starting point.”
The Tampere Tram conceals inside a dozen systems requiring separate specifications, such as air conditioning, main and support operating systems as well as door, sanding, wheel flange lubrication and passenger information systems, which include screens and cameras, audio systems and the driver’s displays. In addition, the tram cars conceal inside 10,000 coupling points and over 20 kilometres of cable.
With these systems, the trams are connected to time. The information generating systems already share some information with the driver and maintenance about the current state of the cars, the users and the condition of the rolling stock, but in the future even more information can be generated.
“Operative diagnostics tells us how the tram is working. In the future, a video headcount system will be added, as well as other systems to tract maintenance requirements.”
“It is important to be able to track maintenance requirements in real time. It is also important to recognise when maintenance is not required.”
E3 software as the basis of electrical design
In this project, Comatec was responsible for the tram’s electrical and electromechanical design and placement, wire modelling and component mounting. At best, 10 people from Comatec’s electrical design team in Tampere and four from Comatec Poland took part in the project. | |||||
5064 | dbpedia | 0 | 51 | https://www.masstransitmag.com/rail/rail-vehicle-builders-components-accessories/company/10066211/caf-usa-inc | en | CAF USA Inc. | [
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] | null | [] | 2012-03-26T00:00:00 | Construcciones y Auxiliar de Ferrocarriles (CAF), S.A. is one of the international market leaders in the design, manufacture, maintenance and supply of equipment and components... | en | https://img.masstransitmag.com/files/base/cygnus/mass/image/uploads/1623769549390-favicon.ico | Mass Transit | https://www.masstransitmag.com/rail/rail-vehicle-builders-components-accessories/company/10066211/caf-usa-inc | By clicking above, I acknowledge and agree to Endeavor Business Media’s Terms of Service and to Endeavor Business Media's use of my contact information to communicate with me about offerings by Endeavor, its brands, affiliates and/or third-party partners, consistent with Endeavor's Privacy Policy. In addition, I understand that my personal information will be shared with any sponsor(s) of the resource, so they can contact me directly about their products or services. Please refer to the privacy policies of such sponsor(s) for more details on how your information will be used by them. You may unsubscribe at any time. | ||||
5064 | dbpedia | 0 | 10 | https://raidejokeri.info/en/light-rail-glossary/ | en | Light rail glossary | [
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] | null | [
"helsinginkaupunki"
] | 2021-09-16T10:34:54+00:00 | Mitä eroa on kiskolla ja raiteella? Entä mikä ihme on ajojohdin tai kammiokumi? Tässä artikkelissa selitämme pikaraitiotiehen liittyvien sanojen merkityksiä. | en | Raide-Jokeri | https://raidejokeri.info/en/light-rail-glossary/ | What is the difference between a rail and a railway? And what on Earth is a contact line or a chamber filling block? In this article, we explain the meanings of various light rail related terms.
Light rail: A tram system that is faster than a conventional tram and usually has its own designated lane.
Rail: A railway has two adjacent steel rails, while a double railway has four.
Railway: The structure along which the tram travels. A railway consists of two rails and sleepers that keep them at the right distance from each other, attachment and lengthening pieces, switches and rail crossings, as well as other special railway structures (e.g. movement devices, line wells). There are two types of railways: sleeperless railways and crushed stone railways.
Double railway: Two adjacent railways, i.e. four adjacent rails.
Track: A route whose structures include the railways and switches with their support layers, substructures and base structures, bridges, culvers, drying structures, safety equipment, and the devices required for electrification and their earthing.
Switch: A section of the track in which the tram is guided from one railway to another with moving switch rails. There will be 32 switches along the Jokeri Light Rail route and 24 at the depot.
Track metre and railway metre: Track metre means a one-metre section of the tram track. One track metre includes one or more railways. Railway metre, on the other hand, means a one-metre section of one railway.
Track width: The distance between the inner edges of the rails. The width of the Jokeri Light Rail track is 1,000 mm.
Railway geometry: Railway geometry indicates the horizontal and vertical position of the railways. The geometry is optimised in terms of travel speed, passenger comfort, traffic fluency, safety and maintenance.
Track structures
Superstructure: The support layer (track slab or crushed stone support layer) and the railways form the superstructure.
Grooved rail: Grooved rails are commonly used on closed railways and tramways. A grooved rail has the railhead, meaning the part on which the wheel is placed, on one side and a continuous guard on the other, forming a flange groove in the middle. The tramways of Helsinki feature grooved rails in all of the line traffic network.
Vignole: The Vignole rail is a rail type commonly used in railways. The Vignole rail is used all over the world on open tracks built with sleepers. The Vignole rail is used on tramways on crushed stone tracks, as well as both closed and open green tracks.
Sleeperless railway: A railway type in which the rails are cast into a concrete slab. A total of 17.2 kilometres of the Jokeri Light Rail track consists of sleeperless railways.
Crushed stone track: A common railway type in which the rail is held in place by sleepers, which in turn are kept in place with the support of a crushed stone layer. There will be a total of nearly 8 kilometres of crushed stone track along the Jokeri Light Rail route.
Rail trough: When a normal track structure cannot be used, on bridges or in tunnels, for example, the rail can be attached to a trough by casting. The rail trough can be, for example, a groove in a concrete rail slab or a steel trough.
Grass railway: The surface structure around the railways has grass growing on it. There is a total of 8.7 kilometres of grass track along the Jokeri Light Rail route.
Chamber filling block: An insulation element installed around the rail to prevent stray current from being carried into the ground, protect the rail fastenings and make it possible to build surface structures next to the rail neatly.
Track electricity
Track electricity: Trams run on electricity, which is supplied to them via contact lines in the track electricity system.
Contact line: Contact line means a cable installed above the tramway, from which the tram receives its electrical power. The contact lines consist of overhead cables, hangers and supports.
Electricity supply station: The electricity supply station supplies the contact line system with electricity for the trams to use. The station converts a 20 kV alternating current into a 750 V direct current. Read more about electricity supply stations.
Shared-use pylon: A shared-use pylon serves several utilities, such as traffic lights, the contact line system and street lights. For example, you can see shared-use pylons along the Jokeri Light Rail route that have beams supporting contact lines on one side and a street light on the other side.
Track electricity pylon: A pylon next to or between railways used to support the cables that supply the track with electricity. | |||||
5064 | dbpedia | 3 | 44 | https://googlemapsmania.blogspot.com/2015/02/the-live-helsinki-tram-map.html | en | Maps Mania: The Live Helsinki Tram Map | [
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] | null | [] | null | Maps Mania is a blog dedicated to tracking the very best digital interactive maps on the internet and the tools used to create them. | https://googlemapsmania.blogspot.com/favicon.ico | https://googlemapsmania.blogspot.com/2015/02/the-live-helsinki-tram-map.html | The Live Helsinki Tram Map
Sporat Kartella is a live animated map of Helsinki's HKL tram network. The map shows the live location of all Helsinki's trams in real-time.
The map allows you to view individual tram lines or to view your own combination of any or all of the tram lines. If you turn on a tram line using the numbered buttons on the map you can view the line overlaid on a Google Map and see the real-time location of all trams on the line.
Individual trams can be followed on the map in real time. Each numbered tram map marker includes a small trail to indicate the direction of travel.
If you like real-time transit maps then also check-out Real-time European Transit Maps and the transit & real-time tags on Maps Mania. | ||||||
5064 | dbpedia | 0 | 11 | https://yle.fi/a/3-9542539 | en | Replacing overhead power lines with underground cables, slowly but surely | https://images.cdn.yle.fi/image/upload/w_1200,ar_1.91,c_fill,g_faces/q_auto:eco,f_auto,fl_lossy/13-3-7486014 | https://images.cdn.yle.fi/image/upload/w_1200,ar_1.91,c_fill,g_faces/q_auto:eco,f_auto,fl_lossy/13-3-7486014 | [
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"https://images.cdn.yle.fi/image/u... | [] | [] | [
""
] | null | [] | 2017-04-01T17:49:06+03:00 | Work to replace overhead power lines with underground cables has been slow in Finland, but news agency STT reports that things are looking to pick up in this area, thanks to new legislation. | en | News | https://yle.fi/a/3-9542539 | Seasonal storms pummel Finland with increasing regularity, downing overhead power lines and causing large-scale blackouts that sometimes last for several days. Taking a cue from Sweden, Finland changed its legislation to ensure better supply security a few years ago, and Finland's Energy Authority forecasts investments in underground cables will soon begin in earnest.
The authority estimates that 19 percent of the country's medium-voltage network and 42 percent of the low-voltage network runs underground, leaving the rest to be carried by overhead power lines. Efforts to replace overhead lines with underground cables have only made about one percentage point of progress every year, even though putting the lines out of the reach of falling trees and wet snow improves supply security considerably.
According to the national power grid operator Finngrid, the use of underground cables is limited because they are prohibitively expensive due to the long transmission distances. The buried cables also restrict land use in the areas where they are installed.
New legal limits on power outages
The Energy Authority's objective is to eventually put 47 percent of the medium-voltage network and 65 percent of the low-voltage network below ground by the year 2029.
A 2013 reform of the electricity market act defines limits on maximum allowed interruptions in service. The new law states that snow and storms cannot knock out power for more than six hours in urban areas and 36 hours in rural locations. By 2019, 50 percent of customers must fall within the scope of the outage limits, rising to 75 percent in 2023, and 100 percent by 2028.
"The new law only came into effect in 2013, and the power companies are slowly setting their investment plans to comply with it in motion. Our developmental forecasts give us reason to believe that we will reach the objectives," says the Energy Authority's director Veli-Pekka Saajo.
Last year Finland's energy companies invested 850 million euros in distribution networks, a project that is expected to cost several billion euros before all is said and done.
Large regional differences
As Finland embarks on this significant infrastructure project, it is taking a lot of its cues from Sweden, where a similar supply security reform kicked off a large-scale underground cabling wave after destructive storms downed power lines throughout the country in 2005 and 2007.
The challenge is most acute for companies that operate in areas with difficult terrain and haven't started to lay underground cables at all, most of which are concentrated in eastern and northern Finland and Ostrobothnia.
At the end of 2015, differences between Finland's electricity companies in this area were pronounced. For example, only 14.6 percent of North Karelia's PKS Sähkönsiirto's and 22.7 percent of eastern Järvi-Suomen Energia's low-voltage grid was underground, compared with Caruna's 39 percent rate in southern and western Finland and Helen's 97.7 percent coverage in Helsinki.
Saajo says the Energy Authority has gone through the development plans for the coming years with all of Finland's power companies. He reports that negotiations have successfully overcome compliance problems to date, so the authority hasn't had to resort to tough tactics.
"We've received three applications for transition period extensions," he says. | |||
5064 | dbpedia | 3 | 13 | http://schwandl.blogspot.com/2013/06/helsinki-tram-metro-suburban-rail.html | en | Robert Schwandl's Urban Rail Blog: HELSINKI Tram | [
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] | null | [
"Robert Schwandl",
"View my complete profile"
] | null | [Edit May 2018: After another visit 5 years later I have made some updates you can find here ] Besides doing a bit of sight-seeing, of... | http://schwandl.blogspot.com/favicon.ico | http://schwandl.blogspot.com/2013/06/helsinki-tram-metro-suburban-rail.html | |||||||
5064 | dbpedia | 1 | 9 | https://www.hsl.fi/en/campaigns/light-rail/questions-and-answers | en | Questions and answers | [] | [] | [] | [
""
] | null | [] | null | en | HSL.fi | https://www.hsl.fi/en/campaigns/light-rail/questions-and-answers | The average speed of the light rail is higher than that of the central city trams. The average speed of central city trams is about 14.5 km/h, while the average speed of the light rail will be about 25 km/h.
The central city trams run on winding streets among other traffic. The light rail will mostly run on a dedicated lane, separated from other traffic. The long straight sections of track allow the light rail to run at a speed of up to 70 km/h.
The journey time will not be shorter. On the other hand, the reliability of services will improve because the light rail line mostly runs on a dedicated lane which means it won’t get stuck in traffic like buses.
The benefits of the light rail lie elsewhere. For example, the light rail carriages can carry more passengers than buses.
The light rail will run from Itäkeskus in Helsinki to Keilaniemi in Espoo.
The service will run from Itäkeskus via Viikki, Oulunkylä, Maunula and Haaga to Pitäjämäki, from where it will continue via Perkkaa, Leppävaara, Laajalahti and Otaniemi to Keilaniemi.
The length of the rail line is about 25km, of which 16 are in Helsinki and 9 in Espoo. There are 34 pairs of stops.
There will be changes to bus routes in Tapiola and Leppävaara from August 2023. The changes are partly due to the light rail line.
The terminus of bus route 550 will move from Westend to Keilaniemi on 14 August. A new bus route 523 will be introduced. The bus will run from Westendinasema via Tapiola to Leppävaara. The bus will run via Ring I, providing frequent service between Tapiola and Leppävaara.
Bus 550 will continue to run between Itäkeskus and Keilaniemi until it is possible to increase the service frequency of light rail line 15. Eventually, light rail line 15 will replace bus 550, i.e. the bus route will be withdrawn.
You can recognize the light rail stops by their information poles. The poles have large passenger information boards attached to them.
All stops have shelters. At the busiest stops, the stop shelters are longer and stop platforms are slightly wider than at other stops. The busiest stops also have larger information boards than other stops.
The light rail line stops are not substantially longer than the stops for central city trams. At the central city tram stops, there may be several trams at a time.
At light rail line stops, there will only be one tram at a time, but the vehicles consist of modules and they may be lengthened so that they will use the full length of the stops.
The route was designed to serve as many passengers as possible while at the same time keeping journey times as short as possible.
Both Otaniemi and Keilaniemi are developing rapidly. A service running between Otaniemi and Keilaniemi can serve more passengers than other route alternatives without increased journey times.
Moreover, there is a wealth of schools and jobs in both areas. For this reason the terminus is in Keilaniemi instead of Westend.
Passengers make a lot of regular, predictable journeys to Otaniemi and Keilaniemi, whereas journeys to Tapiola are more irregular.
In the preliminary master plan in 2009, the route went via Laajalahti to Tapiola but the route was later realigned.
When HSL started planning passenger information for the light rail line, the starting point was that the new public transport mode is closer to the metro and trains than the traditional central city trams.
The busiest stops (Itäkeskus, Viikki, Oulunkylä, Maunula, Hämeenlinnanväylä, Huopalahti, Leppävaara, Aalto University and Otaniemi) will be equipped with larger information displays than the other stops. At stops, announcements tell when the next tram is due and service disruption alerts are read out loud.
The stops have buttons to push to hear how many minutes until the next light rail vehicle will arrive. This is especially helpful for visually impaired passengers.
The carriages will have terminus announcements. The carriages also have door lights, and arrows on the onboard displays indicate the door opening direction.
Accessibility has been taken into account in the planning of the fleet, stops and access routes to the stops. The carriages are fully low floor and stop platforms are level with the carriage floors.
During the planning, visually impaired passengers and people with reduced mobility were able to test both the vehicle and stops so that accessibility could be taken into account in the solutions as comprehensively as possible.
Drivers do not sell tickets on trams. There are card readers on which you can pay your fare with value (i.e. money) loaded on your HSL card. You do not need to show your HSL card to a reader if you have a season ticket.
The most convenient thing is to buy your ticket in advance, for example, using the HSL app.
The service will be operated with 29 high-quality, bidirectional Artic X54 trams that can carry 2–3 times more passengers than bogie buses.
The carriages are 34.5 meters long. The carriages have a seating capacity of 78 passengers and a standing capacity of about 136. The carriages can accommodate about 20 percent more passengers than the Artic trams used on the central city tram services.
The Artic X54 trams are fully low floor. The carriages have air conditioning and doors on both sides.
The carriages are manufactured by Transtech Oy, which is part of the Czech Škoda Transportation Group. The carriages are manufactured in Otanmäki in Kainuu, Finland.
Can the light rail carriages also be used on the central city tram routes?
The track gauge and technical solutions of the light rail carriages would enable the carriages to be used on the central city rail network as well.
However, the central city rail network infrastructure still needs to be developed in order to make the regular operation of light rail vehicles there sensible.
If you use the light rail line regularly, you might want to add it to My routes section at HSL.fi (under My options) or on the HSL app. This will allow you to get email notifications of any major delays, exceptional operating hours and other service changes.
You can also find disruption alerts for the light rail line in the Journey Planner and on our Disruptions and service changes page.
Although the track has been carefully designed and the carriages are reliable and durable, services may sometimes be disrupted due to an accident or a technical fault to a carriage.
Preparations for disruptions have been made since the launch of the rail project. A wide range of expertise, such as the experience of Helsinki’s current tram traffic control center, has been used for incident management.
Simulation of disruptions has helped light rail line planners to understand how vulnerable the services are to various disruptions. In the simulation, the movement of the carriages was modelled as accurately as possible. Studies have been conducted, for example, on the effects of slippery tracks (simulating the autumn leaf-fall conditions).
The adequacy of power supply has been simulated to provide certainty about the adequacy of power supply even if one of the substations stopped working.
In addition to the termini and the depot, there are seven reversing points along the track where the direction of the vehicles can be reversed in case of a broken vehicle or technical faults.
The reversing points are located at even distances in order to make the removal of faulty carriages as smooth as possible. The reversing points are located close to public transport interchanges so that passengers can easily change to the metro or to commuter trains in case of a long-term service disruption.
The most important reversing points are close to Leppävaara, Huopalahti and Oulunkylä stations and in Otaniemi.
The final operating models for disruptions will be developed when the light rail line opens. A new operator in the incident management team is the Western Uusimaa Rescue Department in Espoo, which has no previous experience with light rail vehicle fleet.
The effectiveness of cooperation between all parties will be ensured through joint incident management exercises.
Pedestrians, cyclists and motorists should always use care and caution when walking, riding or driving near tracks. You should definitely avoid last-minute crossings because the braking distance of the heavy carriages is long.
How does a light rail crossing point differ from a regular pedestrian crossing?
Crossing points are places where you can cross the tracks and where pedestrians are always obliged to give way to the trams. At traffic light controlled crossing points, always obey traffic lights.
There are no pedestrian crossing signs or road markings at the crossing points. The crossing points can be identified by the brown toned paving. There is a white tram icon in the middle of the tracks. The concrete surface is made slip-resistant by brooming. There is a normal pedestrian crossing on both sides of the tracks.
The light rail line replaces the crosstown bus route 550 running between Itäkeskus and Westend. The bus route is the busiest bus route in the Helsinki region and it is overloaded from time to time. The capacity of the buses has not been able to meet the increased passenger numbers and the reliability of the services has deteriorated.
The light rail line can carry more passengers than the buses. It is estimated that in 2025, some 80,000 daily journeys will be made on the light rail line. At the moment, 40,000 journeys are made on bus route 550 per day.
Increasing rail services contributes to HSL’s goal of providing customers with cost-effective and environmentally friendly public transport services.
The cost per rail passenger is low. Moreover, rail transport is local emission free and energy efficient.
The light rail line is part of the Helsinki region trunk rail network. Together with other rail services and trunk bus routes, the light rail line creates a basis for an effective public transport system in the region.
There are several valuable natural sites along the rail line, ranging from wetland sites to nature reserves. The sites have been taken into account in the planning and construction of the tracks.
The Laajalahti and Vanhankaupunginlahti Natura areas with large bird habitats are close to the rail line. The impacts of the construction project on Natura areas were studied in separate impact assessments. The bird habitats were taken into account by limiting high noise construction to outside the nesting season.
There are flying squirrels in both Espoo and Helsinki. In the planning of the light rail line, the squirrels were taken into account by safeguarding and developing the connectivity of flying squirrel habitats.
There are eight water areas around the rail line, most of which are trout streams. Spawning beds have been built to protect trout populations and to improve their living conditions. In some areas, passageways have been built for animals.
Two new bridges were constructed over River Vantaa, one for the light rail line and one for pedestrians. An endangered species of mussels, thick-shelled river mussel, is living in the river and the mussels were moved upstream to protect the species.
During the construction, the diversity of the street environment was improved. Grass tracks increase green space. Green surfaces bind dust and improve the city’s microclimate.
Trams are an environmentally friendly means of transport. Tram services do not produce any local emissions. The light rail runs on renewable energy, i.e. on wind and water power.
The braking energy of the carriages is recovered and used for air conditioning and for heating in winter.
A high-speed rail connection that provides access to a range of services reduces the need for car use, thus reducing CO2 emissions and air pollution caused by car travel.
Developing and increasing rail transport is one of the most effective ways to reduce transport emissions.
The light rail line contributes to achieving the carbon neutrality goal of the city of Helsinki, which means reducing green house gas emissions by 80 percent from 1990 to 2035. In order to achieve the goal, greenhouse gas emissions from traffic must be decreased by 69 percent by 2035 compared to 2005 levels.
The City of Espoo aims to be carbon neutral by 2030.
The light rail also saves urban space. One light rail carriage is 34.5 meters long and can carry about 200 passengers. If these 200 passengers travelled in normal size cars, with one passenger per car, the cars would create a queue of about 900 meters.
The light rail vehicles consume about 57 kWh per 100 kilometers. The energy consumption is slightly higher than that of the central city trams because the light rail carriages are longer and have one drive bogie less than the central city trams.
The average consumption of an electric car is about 20 kWh per 100 kilometers and the average consumption of a gas car is 50–70 kWh per 100 kilometers.
However, there is often only one passenger in a car while the light rail vehicles can carry up to 200 passengers. When calculated in this way, the per passenger energy consumption of the light rail vehicle is significantly lower that that of a car. | ||||||
5064 | dbpedia | 2 | 49 | https://lumikko.fi/en/the-energy-efficient-ventilation-of-finlands-new-express-tram-raidejokeri-is-provided-by-lumikko/ | en | Lumikko's HVAC solutions cool Finland's first light rail line | [
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] | null | [
"Iida Honkaniemi"
] | 2024-01-02T10:56:07+00:00 | Lumikko's HVAC solutions are present in each light rail line 15 trams. The regenerative braking system enables energy-efficient heating. | en | Lumikko | https://lumikko.fi/en/the-energy-efficient-ventilation-of-finlands-new-express-tram-raidejokeri-is-provided-by-lumikko/ | Finland’s first light rail line, Raide-Jokeri, starts its operations on October 21st, and Lumikko’s thermal management solutions appear in every tram. Our HVAC (heating, ventilation and air conditioning) solutions will cool the journey between Helsinki’s Itäkeskus and Espoo’s Keilaniemi starting this Saturday.
The new 25-kilometer track enables tram travel in entirely new areas. This facilitates the transportation of many and provides connections to the metro and commuter trains.
“It is an honor to be part of this significant project that further facilitates sustainable transportation in Finland’s metropolitan area,” says Lumikko’s CEO Kimmo Pyykönen.
Raide-Jokeri, or light rail 15, is a significant project not only because it extends tram traffic outside the city center but also because it started its operations significantly ahead of schedule.
Utilizing braking energy
Lumikko is known for its expertise in HVAC solutions for moving equipment, and one of our proud achievements is the braking energy recovery system developed for trams. The system allows capturing and utilizing the energy generated during braking to heat the passenger cabin as needed.
“In a year, one tram uses about 120,000 kWh of energy for heating. Thanks to our solution, we can capture up to 74,000 kWh of braking energy per year,” says Ville Saikkonen, Lumikko’s Head of Product Development.
Energy efficiency and sustainable solutions guide Lumikko’s design and are evident in all choices, such as selecting electrical components that consume as little energy as possible.
Over 50 years in the field of moving equipment, 30 years with rolling stock
Lumikko has a long 50-year history of pioneering HVAC (Heating, Ventilation, and Air Conditioning) and thermal management solutions for moving equipment. The opportunity to function the field of railway opened somewhat by chance, providing an excellent learning experience towards becoming pioneers in the field.
“We designed and implemented the first air conditioning solutions for diesel train cars in 1992. Today, Lumikko’s thermal management solutions are in almost every tram and double-decker train operating in Finland,” summarizes Saikkonen.
Light rail line 15 in a nutshell
Raide-Jokeri is Finland’s first light rail line, running between Helsinki and Espoo. It provides a fast and comfortable alternative to buses and cars.
Initially, Raide-Jokeri operates every 12 minutes, and in the future, possibly as often as every 6 minutes.
Raide-Jokeri is part of the development of public transportation in the Helsinki region, aiming to increase the share of public transportation and reduce traffic emissions. Raide-Jokeri is the first phase, followed by projects like the Kruunusillat initiative.
Learn more about Lumikko’s expertise in railway thermal management and HVAC solutions
Rolling stock
Local production and expertise add value | Skoda Transtech Ltd and Tampere Tramway Ltd
Developing the future tram | Lyyli Living Lab
Read more: | |||||
5064 | dbpedia | 3 | 52 | https://www.wikiwand.com/en/Trams_in_Helsinki | en | Trams in Helsinki | [
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] | null | [] | null | Trams in Helsinki form part of the public transport system organised by Helsinki Regional Transport Authority and operated by Metropolitan Area Transport Ltd in Finland's capital city of Helsinki. The trams are the main means of transport in the city center, and 56.8 million trips were made on the system in 2019. In addition to the older tram network, there is a single light rail line that was opened in October 2023. Although technically compatible with the tram network, the light rail line is separate from the city center tram network. | en | Wikiwand | https://www.wikiwand.com/en/Trams_in_Helsinki | Trams in Helsinki form part of the public transport system organised by Helsinki Regional Transport Authority and operated by Metropolitan Area Transport Ltd (Finnish: Pääkaupunkiseudun Kaupunkiliikenne Oy, Swedish: Huvudstadsregionens Stadstrafik Ab) in Finland's capital city of Helsinki. The trams are the main means of transport in the city center, and 56.8 million trips were made on the system in 2019.[1][3] In addition to the older tram network, there is a single light rail line that was opened in October 2023. Although technically compatible with the tram network, the light rail line is separate from the city center tram network.[4] | |||||
5064 | dbpedia | 1 | 30 | https://www.satel.com/references/traffic-system-public-transport-helsinki/ | en | time data in passenger information system | [
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] | null | [] | 2017-01-12T12:59:59+00:00 | Real-time passenger information improves public transport. Helsinki has used it since 1999 and expanded the system continuously. Read more about the case! | en | /wp-content/themes/theme/dist/images/favicon/apple-touch-icon.png | SATEL | https://www.satel.com/references/traffic-system-public-transport-helsinki/ | Real-time data gives control and accuracy
Real-time passenger information improves public transport. Lower ticket prices, shorter journey times and punctuality start to appeal more to people than private driving. There are at least 150 public transport information systems based on traffic telematics in Europe and the number is growing.
HELMI, the Public Transport Telematics System of Helsinki, has used real-time passenger information system since 1999. They started with 4 tram and 3 bus routes and have expanded the system continuously. The goal is to add all tramlines and central bus routes to the system. The completed system will have over 1800 vehicles and over 250 000 passengers using it on daily basis.
The passenger information relies on the Automatic Vehicle Location (AVL) system using GPS-satellite navigation and odometer of the vehicle. A three-step procedure specifies the location. All the vehicles are polled by the central computer every tenth second. The continuous data of the exact position of each vehicle on the route is updated into a real-time database. This enables displaying the arriving vehicles to the info screens at the stops.
Info screens offboard and onboard
The info screens provide real-time information about the next vehicle approaching the stop: route number, destination and waiting time in minutes. The number on the screen counts down the remaining minutes until it reaches zero. Then it starts to flash, which makes it easier to notice when the vehicle is arriving. Screens can also be used to deliver service disruption messages from fleet control room.
The info screen is a couple of meters from the stop in the direction of the arriving vehicles. Strong metal cases, polycarbonate fronts and anti-graffiti coatings protect screens against vandalism.
First-time passengers and tourists can easily follow the route and prepare to leave at the right stop, when they see the name of the next stop, route number and destination on the info screen. The LCD (Liquid Crystal Display) screen has yellow text on a dark background. It is installed behind the driver’s seat so it can be seen clearly from most seats.
Preprogrammed routes
The positioning algorithm is based on the information from GPS-navigation, door openings at the stops and odometer pulses. All events from the route are preprogrammed to the computer onboard. The driver tells the system his duty number in the beginning of the shift and the system will automatically control the next stop information, request traffic light priority and send fleet control messages to the central computer.
Green light to communication
The data transfer between vehicles, traffic signal controllers, stop info screens and the central computer is based on radio messages. Six different radio frequencies handle all the communications in the system. Three base stations with different frequencies are handling all the polling of the vehicles. Fourth base station is controlling the info screens at the stops. The fifth frequency is reserved for data support and it is used to modify and upgrade system parameters during the night at bus and tram depots. The traffic light priority requests are sent over the sixth frequency direct from the vehicle to the signal controller cabinet in each junction. The requests are sent with low power to minimize the delay.
All data transfer is based on open protocols and any bus sending the right message on the right frequency can get the traffic light priority from the signal controller. The communications system is easy to expand in the future. | ||||
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] | 2005-01-01T16:09:18+00:00 | en | /static/apple-touch/wikipedia.png | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_railway_electrification_systems | A list of the different systems used on electric railways
This is a list of the power supply systems that are, or have been, used for railway electrification.
Note that the voltages are nominal and vary depending on load and distance from the substation.
As of 2023 many trams and trains use on-board solid-state electronics to convert these supplies to run three-phase AC traction motors.
Tram electrification systems are listed here.
Volts: voltage or volt
Current:
DC = direct current
# Hz = frequency in hertz (alternating current (AC))
AC supplies are usually single-phase (1φ) except where marked three-phase (3φ).
Conductors:
overhead line or
conductor rail, usually a third rail to one side of the running rails. Conductor rail can be:
top contact: oldest, least safe, most affected by ice, snow, rain and leaves. Protection boards are installed on most top contact systems, which increases safety and reduces these affections.
side contact: newer, safer, less affected by ice, snow, rain and leaves
bottom contact: newest, safest, least affected by ice, snow, rain and leaves
Red background indicates voltages no longer in use on the indicated location
See also: Railway electrification system § Voltage
Voltages are defined by two standards: BS EN 50163 and IEC 60850.
Country Location Name of system Notes
Worldwide
Many tram systems This voltage is mostly used by older tram systems worldwide but by a few modern ones as well. See List of tram systems by gauge and electrification. Germany Trossingen Trossingen Railway Hungary Budapest Budapest Metro Line M1 Japan Chōshi, Chiba Chōshi Electric Railway Kyoto, Kyoto Eizan Electric Railway Kanagawa Enoshima Electric Railway Matsuyama, Ehime Iyotetsu Takahama Line Shizuoka, Shizuoka Shizuoka Railway Romania Sibiu county Sibiu-Răşinari Narrow Gauge Railway Part of the former Sibiu tram line Spain Madrid Madrid Metro Lines 1, 4, 5, 6 and 9. In process to be converted to 1500 V United Kingdom Crich, England National Tramway Museum United States Boston MBTA subway Green and Mattapan Lines, the at-grade section of Blue Line northeast of Airport station Cleveland RTA Rapid Transit Red Line San Diego San Diego Trolley Iowa Iowa Traction Railway
Country Location Name of system Notes
Worldwide
Many tram systems This voltage is used for most modern tram and light rail systems. See List of tram systems by gauge and electrification Austria Upper Austria Local lines of Stern & Hafferl Also listed as having 1500 V and 600 V lines Austria
Switzerland Rhine / Lake Constance Internationale Rheinregulierungsbahn Construction railway for the regulation works of the river Rhine near its outfall into Lake Constance, now preserved. The river forms the border between Austria and Switzerland, and the railway operated in both countries. Germany Karlsruhe to Bad Herrenalb with a branch to Ittersbach Albtalbahn Railway of the Upper Rhine Hong Kong Hong Kong MTR MTR Light Rail Italy Genoa Genoa Metro Japan Hamamatsu, Shizuoka Enshū Railway Hakone, Kanagawa Hakone Tozan Railway Line Between Hakone-Yumoto and Gōra Ehime Iyotetsu Yokogawara Line and Gunchū Line Yokkaichi, Mie Yokkaichi Asunarou Railway Utsube Line, Hachiōji Line Mie Sangi Railway Hokusei Line Mexico Mexico City STC Line A Netherlands The Hague, Zoetermeer, Rotterdam and adjacent cities Randstadrail Rotterdam Rotterdam Metro North of Capelsebrug station overhead wires Philippines Metro Manila Manila LRT Line 1 (Manila Light Rail Transit System) Between Baclaran and Fernando Poe Jr. Manila MRT Line 3 (Manila Metro Rail Transit System) Between North Avenue and Taft Avenue Switzerland Canton of Aargau Menziken–Aarau–Schöftland railway line Republic of China (Taiwan) New Taipei New Taipei Metro: all Light Rail lines Turkey Adana Adana Metro Eskişehir EsTram Istanbul Istanbul Metro Line M1 and M5
Country Location Name of system Notes Cuba Havana – Matanzas and branches Ferrocarriles Nacionales de Cuba Originally (and still known as) the Hershey Electric Railway Germany Lusatia 900 mm (2 ft 11+7⁄16 in) gauge mining railways in the lignite district Spain Barcelona, Catalonia Barcelona Metro Uses an overhead conductor rail/beam system Palma – Sóller, Majorca Sóller Railway [3] Switzerland Canton of Bern / canton of Solothurn Aare Seeland mobil (ASm) Dietikon, canton of Zürich – Wohlen, canton of Aargau Bremgarten-Dietikon-Bahn Zürich – Esslingen, canton of Zürich Forchbahn Forchbahn proper only; Forchbahn trains access their Zürich terminus via the Zürich tram network, which is electrified at 600 V DC. The rolling stock is equipped to run off both voltages. Frauenfeld, canton of Thurgau – Wil, canton of St. Gallen Frauenfeld-Wil-Bahn Meiringen – Innertkirchen, canton of Bern Meiringen–Innertkirchen Bahn United States Baltimore–Annapolis, Maryland Baltimore and Annapolis Railroad 1914–1950 Los Angeles – Inland Empire, California Pacific Electric Upland–San Bernardino Operated 1914–1950. 600 V in city limits California Sacramento Northern Railway Operated 1910–1936. Converted to 1,500 V. The southern division was built by the Oakland, Antioch and Eastern Railway. East Bay, California East Bay Electric Lines 1911–1941 Oregon Oregon Electric Railway 1912–1945
Country Location Name of system Notes Argentina Buenos Aires Buenos Aires Metro Lines A, C, D, E and H Tren de la Costa Suburban line Australia Melbourne Melbourne Suburban Railways Regional New South Wales NSW TrainLink Intercity Newcastle and Central Coast, Blue Mountains to Lithgow and South Coast to Kiama Sydney Sydney Trains Sydney Metro Lines partially converted from Sydney Trains only, completely new lines will use 25 kV 50 Hz AC[6] Bangladesh Dhaka Dhaka Metro Rail MRT Line 6 (Dhaka Metro) Brazil São Paulo São Paulo Metro Lines 4 and 5 Bulgaria Sofia Sofia Metro Line 3 Gorna Banya – Hadzhi Dimitar Canada Montreal Réseau express métropolitain Incl. Deux-Montagnes line that was built by CNoR in 1918 as 2400 V DC, converted to 3000 V DC in the 1980s, converted to 25 kV 60 Hz in 1995 by ARTM, being converted to light-metro standard and 1500 V DC Ottawa O-Train Confederation Line only; the Trillium Line is diesel LRT. China Beijing Beijing Subway Lines 6, 14 and 16 Changchun Changchun Rail Transit Lines 1 and 2 Changsha Changsha Metro Changzhou Changzhou Metro Chengdu Chengdu Metro Except lines 17, 18 and 19 Chongqing Chongqing Rail Transit Lines 1, 4, 5, 6, 10 and Loop Line Dalian Dalian Metro Dongguan Dongguan Rail Transit Fushun Fushun Electric Railway Fuzhou Fuzhou Metro Guangzhou Guangzhou Metro Except Lines 4, 5, 6, 14 and 21, but overhead wires installed in depots. Guiyang Guiyang Metro Haining Hangzhou-Haining Intercity Rail Hangzhou Hangzhou Metro Harbin Harbin Metro Hefei Hefei Metro Hohhot Hohhot Metro Jinan Jinan Metro Lanzhou Lanzhou Metro Nanchang Nanchang Metro Nanjing Nanjing Metro Nanning Nanning Metro Ningbo Ningbo Rail Transit Line 4 uses third rail for returning current Shanghai Shanghai Metro Except Lines 16 and 17, but overhead wires installed in the depot for line 16. Shaoxing Shaoxing Metro Shenyang Shenyang Metro Shenzhen Shenzhen Metro Except Lines 3 and 6, but overhead wires installed in the depot for line 6. Shijiazhuang Shijiazhuang Metro Suzhou Suzhou Metro Tianjin Tianjin Metro Lines 5, 6 and 9 only Ürümqi Ürümqi Metro Wuhan Wuhan Metro Line 6 only Xi’an Xi'an Metro Xiamen Xiamen Metro Xuzhou Xuzhou Metro Zhengzhou Zhengzhou Metro Colombia Medellín Medellín Metro Lines A and B Peru Lima Lima Metro Czech Republic Tábor – Bechyně Správa železnic Tábor – Bechyně line only (24 km, built in 1903) Dominican Republic Santo Domingo Santo Domingo Metro Egypt Cairo Cairo Metro Line 1[7][8] France Société Nationale des Chemins de fer (SNCF) 25 kV AC used on new high speed lines (TGV) and in the north (see below) Hong Kong Hong Kong Mass Transit Railway Except East Rail line and Tuen Ma line which use 25 kV 50 Hz AC (see below) and the light rail which uses 750 V DC Hungary Budapest Budapest Cog-wheel Railway Converted from 550 V DC (city trams nominal voltage at that time) during the 1973 reconstruction. Indonesia Jakarta KRL Jabodetabek
Jakarta MRT Yogyakarta-Solo KRL Commuterline Yogyakarta–Solo Ireland Dublin Dublin Area Rapid Transit Israel Tel Aviv Tel Aviv Light Rail Red Line runs partially as a premetro Italy Rome Rome Metro Line A, Line B, Line Roma-Ostia Lido Japan Japan Railways (JR) lines Most electrified lines in Kantō, Chūbu, Kansai, Chūgoku, and Shikoku (except Shinkansen and Hokuriku region) Most private railway lines See Railway electrification in Japan for more details including exceptions Most subway lines South Korea Seoul National Capital Area Seoul Subway Except Korail Subway Line (except Line 3)
(see below) Busan Busan Subway Daegu Daegu Subway Daejeon Daejeon Subway Gwangju Gwangju Subway Incheon Incheon Subway Line 1 Mexico Mexico City STC Line 12 Monterrey Sistema de Transporte Colectivo Metrorrey Netherlands Nederlandse Spoorwegen – Dutch Railways (NS) 25 kV AC used on high speed lines and freight line Betuweroute (see below); The existing 1500V DC lines might be converted to 3kV DC. New Zealand Wellington Wellington suburban Except Wairarapa Line beyond Upper Hutt. Since 2011, the nominal voltage was 1600 V but with the same tolerances as 1500 V (i.e. 1300–1800 V), making it backwards-compatible with 1500 V rolling stock. Since May 2016 the operating voltage was increased to 1700 V DC following the full introduction of the Matangi EMUs. Philippines Metro Manila Manila MRT Makati Intra-city Subway (Line 5) and Metro Manila Subway (Line 9) only. Line 7 uses 750 V DC third rail. Metro Manila
Rizal Manila LRT Line 2 only. Line 1 uses 750 V DC. Metro Manila
Central Luzon
Laguna Philippine National Railways North–South Commuter Railway Portugal Lisbon, Oeiras and Cascais Linha de Cascais To be converted to 25kV AC.[9] Singapore Singapore Mass Rapid Transit North East Line, operated by SBS Transit Slovakia Tatra Mountains in the area of Poprad Tatra Electric Railway Spain Catalonia Ferrocarrils de la Generalitat de Catalunya Madrid ADIF Only Cercedilla-Cotos line Mallorca Serveis Ferroviaris de Mallorca North coast (Asturias-Leon-Cantabria-Basque Country) FEVE Basque Country Euskotren Trena Valencian Community Ferrocarrils de la Generalitat Valenciana Sweden Stockholm Roslagsbanan Switzerland Aigle – Leysin, canton of Vaud Chemin de fer Aigle–Leysin (AL) Aigle, Vaud – Champéry, canton of Valais Chemin de fer Aigle–Ollon–Monthey–Champéry (AOMC) Aigle – Les Diablerets, canton of Vaud Chemin de fer Aigle–Sépey–Diablerets (ASD) Interlaken – Lauterbrunnen / Grindelwald, canton of Bern Berner Oberland Bahn (BOB) Canton of Jura Chemins de fer du Jura (CJ) Metre gauge lines only Lausanne – Bercher, canton of Vaud Chemin de fer Lausanne–Échallens–Bercher (LEB) Nyon – La Cure, canton of Vaud Chemin de fer Nyon-St-Cergue-Morez (NStCNM) Converted in the 1980s from 2200 V DC Vitznau / Goldau – Rigi Rigi Bahnen (VRB/ARB) Wilderswil – Schynige Platte, canton of Bern Schynige Platte Bahn (SPB) Liestal – Waldenburg, canton of Basel-Country Waldenburgerbahn (WB) Lauterbrunnen – Grindelwald, canton of Bern Wengernalpbahn (WAB) Turkey Bursa Bursaray Istanbul Istanbul Metro Line M3, M4, M7, M8, M9 and M11 United Kingdom Newcastle, Sunderland, Gateshead and Tyneside Tyne & Wear Metro Light rail United States Chicago Metra Electric District California Sacramento Northern Railway operated 1936–c. 1960s Maryland Purple Line Light rail under construction Northern Indiana & Chicago South Shore Line Oregon Southern Pacific Red Electric Lines 1914–1929 Seattle Central Link Light rail
Country Location Name of system Note Belgium Belgium National Railways (SNCB) National standard. 25 kV AC used on high speed lines and some lines in the south (see below). Brazil Rio de Janeiro SuperVia Trens Urbanos São Paulo São Paulo Metropolitan Trains Chile Empresa de los Ferrocarriles del Estado Czech Republic Správa železnic Northern part of network only (approx. the Děčín – Praha – Ostrava route). The system change stations are Kadaň-Prunéřov, Beroun, Benešov u Prahy, Kutná Hora hl.n., Svitavy, Nezamyslice, Nedakonice. The southern part uses 25 kV 50 Hz (see below).
The 3 kV system is to be phased out in favour of 25 kV AC.[10] Estonia Tallinn Elron Commuter rail only Georgia Georgian Railways In fact 3,300 V Italy Rete Ferroviaria Italiana 25 kV AC used on new high speed lines (see below) North Korea Korean State Railway National standard Latvia Latvian Railways Commuter rail only. Morocco ONCF National standard Netherlands ProRail Planned Poland Polish State Railways National standard. Planned high speed lines in Poland will use 25 kV AC[11] Warsaw and suburbs Warszawska Kolej Dojazdowa 600 V DC until 27 May 2016 Russia Russian Railways New electrification use only 25 kV AC (see below), except Moscow Central Circle and other interconnection lines in Moscow, and 2 interconnection lines (Veymarn line and Kamennogorsk line) in St. Petersburg. Sverdlovsk railway and West Siberian railway to be converted to 25 kV AC. Slovakia Slovak Republic Railways (ŽSR) Northern main line (connected to Czech Republic and Poland) and eastern lines (around Košice and Prešov), conversion to 25 kV AC planned,[10] and the broad gauge line between Košice and the Ukraine border (it will remain 3 kV until new broad gauge line construction, then convert to 25 kV AC), planned new broad gauge line is supposed to use 25 kV AC. Currently, the part north and east of the station Púchov uses 3 kV DC, the rest uses 25 kV 50 Hz (see below). Slovenia Slovenian Railways National standard South Africa Transnet Freight Rail; Metrorail National standard; also 25 kV AC (see below) and 50 kV AC used Spain Administrador de Infraestructuras Ferroviarias 25 kV AC used on high speed lines (AVE) (see below) Ukraine Ukrainian Railways In east (Donetsk industrial zone), in west (west from L'viv – connecting to Slovakia and Poland), to be converted to 25 kV AC[12] (see below)
Country Location Name of system Notes Austria ÖBB National standard. Planned new high speed lines will near the border use 25 kV AC: Innsbruck-Italy and broad gauge to Ukraine. Austrian national railways also operating small country Liechtenstein where is alson used 15 kV AC. Czech Republic Znojmo - Retz Správa železnic Isolated section near border with Austria Germany Deutsche Bahn - German National Railways (DB) National standard Norway Norwegian National Rail Administration Sweden Swedish Transport Administration Switzerland Canton of Bern BLS Central Switzerland and Bernese Highlands Zentralbahn Canton of Vaud Chemin de fer Bière-Apples-Morges (BAM) Canton of Zürich Sihltal Zürich Uetliberg Bahn Swiss Federal Railways (SBB CFF FFS)
Country Location Name of system Notes Argentina Buenos Aires Roca Line Constitución – Ezeiza
Constitución – Alejandro Korn
Constitución – Bosques
Constitución – La Plata Australia Brisbane, North Coast line, Blackwater and Goonyella coal railways Queensland Rail Perth Transperth Adelaide Adelaide Metro Seaford/Flinders and Gawler lines electrified Sydney Sydney Metro Completely new lines (Western Sydney Airport and Sydney Metro West) converted lines use 1500V DC[6] Belarus National standard Belgium Belgium National Railways (NMBS/SNCB) High-speed lines and some other lines. The rest of the network is 3 kV DC (see above) Bosnia and Herzegovina Botswana Proposed line to Namibia Bulgaria Bulgarian State Railways China China Railway National standard Beijing Beijing Subway Daxing Airport Line only Chengdu Chengdu Metro Lines 17, 18 and 19 only Wenzhou Wenzhou Rail Transit Croatia Croatian Railways Lines Zagreb-Rijeka and Rijeka-Šapjane formerly used 3kv DC traction Czech Republic Správa železnic Southern lines only (linking Karlovy Vary – Cheb – Plzeň – České Budějovice – Tábor – Jihlava – Brno – Břeclav – Slovakia), northern lines use 3 kV DC (see above) Denmark Banedanmark National standard, excluding Copenhagen S-train Djibouti Addis Ababa–Djibouti Railway Ethiopian Railway Corporation Ethiopia Addis Ababa–Djibouti Railway Ethiopian Railway Corporation Finland National standard France North and new lines SNCF A number of lines also electrified with 1.5 kV (see above) Germany Harz Rübelandbahn Greece Hellenic Railways Organisation National standard Hong Kong Kowloon, New Territories MTR East Rail and Tuen Ma lines Hungary Hungarian State Railways and Raaberbahn India Indian Railways Entire IR network uses the current system since 2016. Mumbai Mumbai Suburban Railway Conversion from 1.5 kV DC to the current system was completed in 2012 (for Western line[13]) and 2016 (for Central line[14][15][16]) respectively Mumbai Mumbai Metro (Line 1) Chennai (Madras) Chennai Metro Delhi Delhi Metro Hyderabad Hyderabad Metro Pune Pune Metro Nagpur Nagpur Metro Jaipur Jaipur Metro Lucknow Lucknow Metro Iran Planned Israel Israel Railways Construction contract awarded in December 2015.[17] Initial test runs began December 2017. Italy Rete Ferroviaria Italiana (Italian Railways Network) New high-speed lines only, other lines use 3 kV DC (see above) Japan Kantō (northeast of Tokyo), Tōhoku, and Hokkaido regions JR East Tohoku Shinkansen, Joetsu Shinkansen, and Hokuriku Shinkansen (sections between Tokyo – Karuizawa, and between Jōetsumyōkō – Itoigawa)
JR Hokkaido Hokkaido Shinkansen 25 kV AC 60 Hz in some areas (see below). Kazakhstan Laos Boten–Vientiane railway Latvia Latvian Railways Eastern lines only (planned) Lithuania Kena — Kaunas and Lentvaris — Trakai Lithuanian Railways (LG) Electrification of Naujoji Vilnia – Kena —
Gudogai (BCh) route for Vilnius – Minsk (Belarus) services is established on 2017. Further Kaunas – Klaipeda and Kaunas – Kybartai corridors electrification will follow projects.
Luxembourg Chemins de fer luxembourgeois (CFL) National standard Malaysia Padang Besar – KL Sentral – Gemas KTM ETS (run through West Coast railway line), Keretapi Tanah Melayu Berhad Under construction: Hat Yai (in Thailand) – Padang Besar (to be opened by 2020) and Gemas – Johor Bahru (to be opened by 2022) Bukit Mertajam – Padang Regas and Butterworth – Padang Besar KTM Komuter Northern Sector, Keretapi Tanah Melayu Berhad Batu Caves – Pulau Sebang/Tampin, Tanjung Malim – Port Klang and KL Sentral – Terminal Skypark KTM Komuter Central Sector (Seremban Line, Port Klang Line and Skypark Link), Keretapi Tanah Melayu Berhad KL Sentral – KLIA2 Express Rail Link (KLIA Ekspres and KLIA Transit) Montenegro Belgrade–Bar railway and Nikšić–Podgorica railway Railways of Montenegro Morocco Kenitra–Tangier high-speed rail line ONCF Casablanca–Kenitra section of high-speed rail remains at 3 kV DC[18] Namibia Proposed line to Botswana Netherlands HSL-Zuid high speed line and Betuweroute freight line Nederlandse Spoorwegen 1.5 kV DC used on the rest of the network (see above) New Zealand Auckland Auckland suburban 77 km between Swanson and Papakura; first service 28 April 2014 Central North Island North Island Main Trunk 411 km between Palmerston North and Hamilton North Macedonia Makedonski Železnici Poland Hrubieszów Broad Gauge Metallurgy Line (LHS) A section from the border to Hrubieszów will be electrified in conjunction with the electrification of the connecting border – Izov – Kovel line in Ukraine.[19] The reminder sections will follow. Portugal Portuguese Railways (CP) Except the Linha de Cascais (1500 V DC) Romania Caile Ferate Romane Russia Russian Railways National standard used for new electrification; some areas still use 3 kV DC (see above) Saudi Arabia Haramain High-Speed Railway Saudi Railways Organization Renfe and Adif will operate the trains and manage the line until 2030 Serbia Serbian Railways Slovakia Slovak Republic Railways (ŽSR) South-western lines only (around Bratislava, Kuty, Trencin, Trnava, Nove Zamky, Zvolen) and the rest of the network (except narrow gauge lines), currently 3 kV DC, to follow (see above) South Africa Transnet Freight Rail, Gautrain Also 3 kV DC (see above) and 50 kV 50 Hz used. Spain ADIF Alta Velocidad High-speed lines only, other lines use 3 kV DC (see above) Sweden Malmö Öresund Line On the Öresund Bridge and short part of land. Haparanda Haparanda Line Only at the station near the border to Finland Turkey Turkish State Railways (TCDD) National standard Thailand Bangkok Suvarnabhumi Airport Link Tunisia [20] Turkey Turkish State Railways (TCDD) National standard United Kingdom Network Rail Except Southern region and Merseyrail and Northern Ireland Ukraine Ukrainian Railways National standard, in most of the west; also 3 kV DC in the east (see above) Uzbekistan Zimbabwe Gweru – Harare National Railways of Zimbabwe (NRZ) De-energised in 2008. May be renewed in the future.[21]
Country Location Name of system Notes Japan Kantō (west of Tokyo), Chūbu, Kansai, Chūgoku, and Kyushu regions Tōkaidō-Sanyō Shinkansen
Hokuriku Shinkansen (sections between Karuizawa – Jōetsumyōkō, and between Itoigawa – Kanazawa)
Kyushu Shinkansen
Nishi Kyushu Shinkansen 25 kV AC 50 Hz in eastern Japan (see above) South Korea Korail All Korail freight/passenger lines except Seoul subway Line 3 which is 1.5 kV DC (see above) Seoul Shinbundang line Incheon, Seoul A'REX Mexico Greater Mexico City Ferrocarril Suburbano de la Zona Metropolitana del Valle de México [22] Mexico Valley, Toluca Valley El Insurgente First section operating on 2023. Rest expected mid of 2024 Yucatán Peninsula Tren Maya Under construction. About 40% of the route to be electrified [23] Republic of China (Taiwan) Taiwan Railways Administration National standard Western Taiwan Taiwan High Speed Rail United States New Jersey Morris & Essex Lines, New Jersey Transit Converted from 3,000 V DC to 25 kV 60 Hz in 1984. Aberdeen-Matawan to Long Branch, New Jersey North Jersey Coast Line, New Jersey Transit Converted in 1978 from Pennsylvania Railroad 11 kV 25 Hz system to the 12.5 kV 25 Hz on the Rahway-Matawan ROW and 12.5 kV 60 Hz electrification extended to Long Branch in 1988. The Matawan-Long Branch voltage converted from 12.5 kV 60 Hz system to the 25 kV 60 Hz in 2002. New Haven to Boston Northeast Corridor (NEC), Amtrak Electrified in 2000; see Amtrak's 60 Hz traction power system Denver Denver RTD Opened in 2016; separate 750 V DC system for light rail Los Angeles to Las Vegas Brightline West Began construction in 2024, expected to be operational by 2027-28. First train to connect Las Vegas and Southern California since the Desert Wind ceased operations back in 1997. Will be the first dedicated high-speed rail route in the United States, though connection from Rancho Cucamonga to Los Angeles is not yet finalized for planning. Either would run on a new dedicated track or an electrified and upgraded portion of the route of the Metrolink San Bernardino Line. If connects to the Palmdale Transportation Center in Palmdale, it would also connect to the Metrolink Antelope Valley Line along with the California High-Speed Rail. Would connect most other rail services at Union Station in Los Angeles. San Francisco to Anaheim California High-Speed Rail Began construction in 2015, set to begin operation between Merced and Bakersfield in 2029-30, with the remainder of the route set to begin operation in 2033. Mostly running on dedicated tracks for most of its route, except for portions of its route in the San Francisco Bay Area and the Greater Los Angeles Area. Will also run alongside other commuter rails, including the electrified Caltrain. However, no plans for another connecting commuter rail, Metrolink to be electrified, so will still use diesel locomotives, all the lines would connect at Union Station in Los Angeles, and some routes at other high-speed rail stations that share Metrolink service. Same would go for the connecting Amtrak routes such as the Pacific Surfliner, Coast Starlight, San Joaquins, Capitol Corridor, and the Southwest Chief. Will eventually construct Phase 2 to connect Sacramento and San Diego. San Francisco Peninsula Caltrain Completed in 2024; see Caltrain Modernization Program New Mexico Navajo Mine Railroad Texas Texas Utilities, Monticello & Martin Lake see E25B and Internet reference[24] Nationwide Union Pacific Railroad, CSX Transportation Los Angeles - San Luis Obispo - Salinas - San Jose - Oakland - Sacramento - Reno - Ogden - Cheyenne - Omaha - Clinton - Chicago - Barr - Toledo - Youngstown - Cumberland - Washington DC - Florence - Jacksonville - Orlando - Tampa
All systems are third rail unless stated otherwise. Used by some older metros.
Country Location Name of system Notes Argentina Buenos Aires Urquiza Line Federico Lacroze-General Lemos Canada Toronto Toronto subway Only on subway lines Greece Athens EIS/ISAP used between 1904 and 1985 Italy Turin Superga Rack Railway Japan Tokyo Tokyo Metro Ginza Line and Marunouchi Line Nagoya, Aichi Nagoya Municipal Subway Higashiyama Line and Meijō Line Sweden Stockholm Stockholm Metro 650 V, Green and Red Lines United Kingdom Glasgow Glasgow Subway United States Anaheim, California Disneyland Monorail Boston Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority Red and Orange Lines, the subway part of the Blue Line southwest of Airport station Chicago Chicago "L" elevated and subway lines Staten Island Staten Island Railway New York City metro area PATH Philadelphia Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority Broad Street Line Bay Lake, Florida Walt Disney World Monorail System California Sacramento Northern Railway Used 1906–c. 1960s. The Northern subdivision was built by the Northern Electric Railway and operated with overhead wires in towns.
Conductor rail systems have been separated into tables based on whether they are top, side or bottom contact. Used by most metros outside Asia and the former Eastern bloc.
Country Location Name of system Notes Algeria Algiers Algiers Metro Austria Vienna Vienna U-Bahn Brazil São Paulo São Paulo Metro Except Lines 4 and 5 China Beijing Beijing Subway Capital Airport Line only Kunming Kunming Metro Except Line 4 Tianjin Tianjin Metro Lines 2 and 3 only Wuhan Wuhan Metro Lines 1, 2, 3 and 4 only Czech Republic Prague Prague Metro Denmark Copenhagen Copenhagen Metro Egypt Cairo Cairo Metro Line 2 and Line 3 Finland Helsinki Helsinki Metro Germany Berlin Berlin U-Bahn and Berlin S-Bahn Lines from U5 to U9 (large profile). Negative polarity. Hamburg Hamburg U-Bahn Munich Munich U-Bahn Nuremberg Nuremberg U-Bahn India Bangalore Namma Metro Kochi Kochi Metro Ahmedabad Ahmedabad Metro Kanpur Kanpur Metro Gurgaon Rapid Metro Gurgaon Kolkata Kolkata Metro South Korea Busan Busan-Gimhae Light Rail Transit Malaysia Klang Valley Klang Valley Integrated Transit System LRT Ampang and Sri Petaling lines, MRT Kajang and Putrajaya lines, and KL Monorail to be used on LRT Shah Alam Line Netherlands Amsterdam Amsterdam Metro including line 51 north of Station Zuid Rotterdam Rotterdam Metro North of Capelsebrug station overhead wires Norway Oslo Oslo T-bane Poland Warsaw Warsaw Metro Romania Bucharest Bucharest Metro Singapore Singapore Mass Rapid Transit North–South, East–West, Circle and Thomson-East Coast lines operated by SMRT Trains
Downtown line operated by SBS Transit Republic of China (Taiwan) Kaohsiung Kaohsiung Metro Taipei Taipei Metro Taoyuan–Taipei Taoyuan Metro Turkey Ankara Ankara Metro Istanbul Istanbul Metro Lines M2 and M6 only İzmir İzmir Metro United Kingdom London Docklands Light Railway United States New York City Metro-North Railroad
Country Location Name of system Notes Canada Montreal Montreal Metro (guide bars, see DC, four-rail below) China Shanghai Shanghai Metro – Pujiang line Central guide rail for rubber-tyred Bombardier Innovia APM 300 Chile Santiago Santiago Metro France Paris Paris Métro (Rubber tired) Positive (and sometimes negative) polarity on guide bars. See DC, four-rail below. Lyon Lyon Métro Marseille Marseille Métro Lille Lille Métro Rennes Rennes Métro Toulouse Toulouse Métro Hong Kong Hong Kong Hong Kong International Airport
Automated People Mover (APM) Mitsubishi "Crystal Mover" system using two power rails (positive and negative) with side collection. Indonesia Palembang Palembang Light Rail Transit Palembang Light Rail Transit and Greater Jakarta Light Rail Transit are operated by Kereta Api Indonesia. Jakarta Light Rail Transit is operated by Jakarta Propertindo (Jakpro). Jakarta Jakarta Light Rail Transit Greater Jakarta Light Rail Transit Japan Sapporo, Hokkaido Sapporo Municipal Subway Namboku Line Singapore Singapore Light Rail Transit Sengkang and Punggol lines operated by SBS Transit Singapore Sentosa Express Sentosa Express operated by SDC Malaysia Klang Valley Klang Valley Integrated Transit System LRT Kelana Jaya line Innovia Metro system using two power rails (positive and negative) with side collection. United States Las Vegas Las Vegas Monorail
Country Location Name of system Notes Canada Vancouver Vancouver SkyTrain Canada Line only China Beijing Beijing Subway Capital Airport Line use bottom contact Tianjin Tianjin Metro Line 1 only France Paris Paris Métro (Conventional metro) Germany Berlin Berlin U-Bahn Lines from U1 to U4 (small profile) Greece Athens Athens Metro Line 1 was 600 V before 1985. Hungary Budapest Budapest Metro Except line M1, which is 600 V DC with overhead lines. India Kolkata Kolkata Metro Japan Osaka, Osaka Osaka Metro Except the Sakaisuji Line, Nagahori Tsurumi-ryokuchi Line, and the Imazatosuji Line, which are 1,500 V DC with overhead lines. Suita, Osaka
Toyonaka, Osaka Kita-Osaka Kyuko Railway Higashiosaka, Osaka
Ikoma, Nara
Nara, Nara Kintetsu Keihanna Line Yokohama, Kanagawa Yokohama Municipal Subway Blue Line (Line 1 and Line 3) only North Korea Pyongyang Pyongyang Metro based on fleet of cars from Beijing and Germany South Korea Yongin Everline Portugal Lisbon Lisbon Metro Sweden Stockholm Stockholm Metro Nominal voltage 650 V, subway 3 (blue line) 750 V. Subway 1 and 2 will change in the long term to 750 V. United Kingdom Liverpool Merseyrail London Northern City Line access to City (Moorgate) London Suburban electrification of the LNWR Suburban Network formerly four-rail out of Euston and Broad Street, curtailed, upgraded and standardised Southern England Southern Region of British Railways and successors 660 V system upgraded and expanded London Waterloo and City line Upgraded by Railtrack to 750V prior to sale to London Underground United States Atlanta MARTA Los Angeles Los Angeles Metro Rail B and D Lines Miami Metrorail New York City and Long Island
East River Tunnels shared with Amtrak Long Island Rail Road Central, Greenport, and Oyster Bay branches not electrified; Montauk Branch not electrified east of Babylon; Port Jefferson Branch not electrified east of Huntington Philadelphia PATCO Speedline Puerto Rico Tren Urbano Washington, D.C. Washington Metro within the Hudson and East River Tunnels as well as under Manhattan
Northeast Corridor Amtrak within the Hudson Tunnel into Manhattan New Jersey Transit
Type Country Location Name of system Notes See note China Tianjin Tianjin Metro Top contact in Line 1, bottom contact in Lines 2 and 3
All systems are third rail and side contact unless stated otherwise.
Country Location Name of system Notes Germany Hamburg Hamburg S-Bahn 15 kV 16.7 Hz AC with overhead line in part of network. United Kingdom Manchester Bury Line Dismantled 1991, converted to Manchester Metrolink tramway (750 V DC overhead) United States California Central California Traction Company 1908–1946, bottom contact[25]
All systems are third rail unless stated otherwise.
Type Country Location Name of system Notes Bottom contact France Paris Paris Métro Line 18 Currently under construction Toulouse Line C (Toulouse Metro) [fr] Currently under construction Side contact Chambéry – Modane Culoz–Modane railway used between 1925 and 1976, today overhead wire Bottom contact China Beijing Beijing Subway Line 7 only Guangzhou Guangzhou Metro Lines 4, 5, 6, 14 and 21 only. Overhead wires in depots; all trains are equipped with pantographs Kunming Kunming Metro Line 4 only Qingdao Qingdao Metro Shanghai Shanghai Metro Lines 16 and 17 only. Overhead wires in depot of Line 16, all trains on Line 16 have pantographs for depot use. Shenzhen Shenzhen Metro Lines 3 and 6 only. Overhead wires in depot of Line 6, all trains on Line 6 have pantographs for depot use. Wuhan Wuhan Metro Lines 7, 8, 11 and Yangluo Line only Wuxi Wuxi Metro
Voltage Country Location Name of system Notes 120 United Kingdom Seaton, Devon Seaton Tramway Half scale trams. Operated 1969-now. Substations have battery banks for back up. 250 United States Chicago Chicago Tunnel Company operated 1906–1959 370 United States Connecticut Norwich and Westerly Railway operated 1906–1922[26] 525 Switzerland Lauterbrunnen Bergbahn Lauterbrunnen-Mürren 550 Hong Kong Hong Kong Island Hong Kong Tramways Isle of Man Isle of Man Manx Electric Railway including Snaefell Mountain Railway India Kolkata Trams in Kolkata United States Bakersfield, California Bakersfield and Kern Electric Railway operated 1888–1942 Fresno, California Fresno Traction Company operated 1903–1939 Monterey, California Monterey and Pacific Grove Railway operated 1905–1923 Phoenix, Arizona Phoenix Street Railway operated 1888–1948[27] Reno, Nevada Reno Traction Company operated 1904–1927, see Streetcars in Reno 575 United States Birmingham, Alabama Birmingham Railway, Light and Power Company 650 United States Buffalo, New York Buffalo Metro Rail El Paso, Texas El Paso Streetcar Pittsburgh Pittsburgh Light Rail Switzerland Basel Basel Trams (BVB/BLT) 660 Poland Metropolis GZM Silesian Interurbans 700 Switzerland Bex – Col de Bretaye, Vaud Chemin de fer Bex-Villars-Bretaye 730 United States Pennsylvania Philadelphia Suburban Transportation Company purchased by Philadelphia and Western Railroad in 1953 and converted to 600 VDC[29] 800 Poland Tricity Szybka Kolej Miejska (Tricity) Operated 1951–1976. Converted to 3,000 V DC in 1976. 825 United States Portland, Oregon MAX, TriMet Light rail sections west of NE 9th Avenue & Holladay Street utilize a 750 V system 850 Switzerland Capolago – Monte Generoso, Ticino Ferrovia Monte Generoso (MG) 900 Fribourg Gruyere – Fribourg – Morat Vaud Montreux–Lenk im Simmental line Vevey–Les Pléiades 1,000 Italy
Switzerland St Moritz, canton of Graubünden – Tirano, Lombardy Rhätische Bahn (RhB) Bernina line only; remainder of system electrified at 11 kV AC, 16 2⁄3 Hz. The Bernina line is an international line linking Switzerland (St. Moritz) with Italy (Tirano) Hungary Budapest Budapest Commuter Rail and Rapid Transit (BHÉV) [30] 1,100 Argentina Buenos Aires Buenos Aires Metro (Subterráneos de Buenos Aires) Only Line A (converted to 1,500 V DC with La Brugeoise trains replaced by new rolling stock in 2013) 1,250 Switzerland Canton of Bern Regionalverkehr Bern-Solothurn (RBS) All lines except tram line 6 between Bern and Worb, which is electrified at 600 V DC 1,350 Italy
Switzerland Domodossola, Piedmont – Locarno, canton of Ticino Domodossola–Locarno railway line (FART / SSIF [de]) International railway between Italy (Domodossola) and Switzerland (Locarno) Switzerland Lugano – Ponte Tresa, canton of Ticino Ferrovia Lugano–Ponte Tresa (FLP) 1,650 Denmark Copenhagen Copenhagen S-train Suburban rail network in Copenhagen Italy Rome Rome–Giardinetti railway Isolated Italian metre gauge line. 2,400 Germany Lausitzer work line of the Lausitzer Braunkohle coal company Poland Konin Konin Coal Mine[32] Turek PAK KWB ADAMÓW[32] mine closed in February 2021, the railway will be dismantled[33] France Grenoble Chemin de fer de La Mure −1,200 V, +1,200 V two wire system from 1903 to 1950. 2,400 V since 1950.[34] United States Montana Butte, Anaconda and Pacific Railway electrified 1913–1967, dismantled in favor of diesel power 3,500 United Kingdom Manchester Bury – Holcombe Brook operated 1913–1918 6,000 Russia experiments in the late 1970s (3,000 V DC lines)
Voltage Frequency Country Location Name of system Notes 3,300 15 Hz United States Tulare County, California Visalia Electric Railroad 1904–1992 25 Hz United States Napa and Solano Counties, California San Francisco, Napa and Calistoga Railway 1905–1937 5,500 16+2⁄3 Hz Germany Murnau Ammergau Railway 1905–1955, after 1955 15 kV, 16.7 Hz 6,250 50 Hz United Kingdom London, Essex, Herts Great Eastern suburban lines Great Eastern suburban lines from Liverpool Street London, 1950s–c1980 (converted to 25 kV) United Kingdom Glasgow Glasgow suburban lines Sections of the North Clyde Line and Cathcart Circle Line from 1960-1970s 6,300 25 Hz Germany Hamburg Hamburg S-Bahn Operated with AC 1907–1955. Used both AC and DC (1,200 V 3rd rail) 1940–1955. 6,500 25 Hz Austria Sankt Pölten Mariazellerbahn 6,600 Norway Orkdal Thamshavnbanen South London line London Victoria to London Bridge 1909–1928
Converted to 660 V (later 750 V) DC third-rail supply 8 kV 25 Hz Germany Karlsruhe Alb Valley Railway 1911–1966, today using 750 V DC Ukraine Ukrainian Railways Kazakhstan some private industrial railways in Kazakhstan 11 kV 16+2⁄3 Hz Switzerland Graubünden Rhätische Bahn (RhB) Except the Bernina line, which is electrified at 1,000 V DC Matterhorn-Gotthard-Bahn (MGB) formerly Furka Oberalp Bahn (FO) and BVZ Zermatt-Bahn 50 Hz France Saint-Gervais-les-Bains Mont Blanc Tramway 11 kV 25 Hz United States Pennsylvania Railroad
Etc., All lines now 12 kV 25 Hz or 12.5 kV 60 Hz
See Railroad electrification in the United States United States Washington Cascade Tunnel Converted from three-phase 6600 V 25 Hz in 1927, dismantled 1956 United States Colorado Denver and Intermountain Railroad dismantled c. 1953[35] 12 kV 16+2⁄3 Hz France lines in Pyrenees Chemin de fer du Midi most converted to 1,500 V 1922–23; Villefranche-Perpignan diesel 1971, then 1,500 V 1984 12 kV 25 Hz United States Washington, DC – New York City Northeast Corridor (NEC), Amtrak 11 kV until 1978 Harrisburg, Pennsylvania to Philadelphia Keystone Corridor, Amtrak 11 kV until 1978 Philadelphia SEPTA Regional Rail system only; 11 kV until 1978 12 kV 25 Hz United States Rahway to Aberdeen-Matawan, New Jersey North Jersey Coast Line, New Jersey Transit 1978–2002 (11 kV until 1978). Converted to 25 kV 60 Hz 12.5 kV 60 Hz United States Pelham, NY-New Haven, CT New Haven Line, Metro-North Railroad, Amtrak 11 kV until 1985 16 kV 50 Hz Hungary Budapest–Hegyeshalom railway Budapest to Hegyeshalom Kandó system 1931–1972, converted to 25 kV 50 Hz 20 kV Germany Freiburg Höllentalbahn Operated 1933–1960. Converted to 15 kV 16+2⁄3 Hz. France Aix-les-Bains – La Roche-sur-Foron Société Nationale des Chemins de fer (SNCF) Operated 1950–1953. Converted to 25 kV 50 Hz. 20 kV 50 Hz Japan most electrified JR/the third sector lines in Hokkaidō and Tōhoku JR East, JR Hokkaidō, and others 60 Hz most electrified JR/the third sector lines in Kyūshū and Hokuriku region JR Kyūshū and others 50 kV 50 Hz South Africa Northern Cape, Western Cape Sishen–Saldanha railway line opened in 1976 and hauls iron ore 60 Hz Canada British Columbia Tumbler Ridge Subdivision of BC Rail (Now Canadian National Railway) Opened in 1983 to serve a coal mine in the northern Rocky Mountains. No longer in use. United States Arizona Black Mesa and Lake Powell Railroad First line to use 50 kV electrification when it opened in 1973. This was an isolated coal-hauling short line; no longer in use. 60 Hz United States Utah Deseret Power Railroad Formerly Deseret Western Railway. This is an isolated coal-hauling short line.
Main article: Three-phase AC railway electrification
Voltage Current Country Location Name of system Notes 725 50 Hz, 3φ Switzerland Zermatt – Gornergrat, canton of Valais Gornergratbahn 750 40 Hz, 3φ Burgdorf – Thun Burgdorf-Thun Bahn Operated 1899–1933
converted to 15 kV 16+2⁄3 Hz in 1933 900 60 Hz, 3φ Brazil Rio de Janeiro Corcovado Rack Railway 1125 50 Hz, 3φ Switzerland Interlaken Jungfraubahn 3600 15 Hz, 3φ Italy Northern Italy Valtellina Electrification 1902–1917 50 Hz, 3φ France Saint-Jean-de-Luz to Larrun Chemin de Fer de la Rhune 3600 16 Hz, 3φ Italy
Switzerland Simplon Tunnel 1906–1930 3600 16+2⁄3 Hz, 3φ Italy operated 1912–1976 in Upper Italy (more info needed) Porrettana railway FS 1927–1935 3600 16+2⁄3 Hz, 3φ Italy Trento/Trient to Brenner Brenner Railway 1929–1965 5200 25 Hz, 3φ Spain Gérgal – Santa Fe C.de H. Sur de España 1911–1966? 6600 25 Hz, 3φ United States Cascade Tunnel Great Northern Railway (U.S.) 1909–1929 10 kV 45 Hz, 3φ Italy Roma – Sulmona FS 1929–1944[36]
Voltage Current Country Location Name of system Notes 3000 V 50 Hz Germany Kierberg Zahnradbahn Tagebau Gruhlwerk rack railway (0.7 km)
operated 1927–1949 10000 V Berlin-Lichterfelde (de) test track (1.8 km);
variable voltage and frequency;
trial runs 1898–1901 14 kV
(See notes) 38 Hz – 48 Hz
(See notes) Zossen – Marienfelde test track (23.4 km);
trial runs 1901–1904
variable voltage between 10 kV and 14 kV and frequency between 38 Hz and 48 Hz. 50 Hz Russia Ship elevator of Krasnoyarsk Reservoir length: 1.5 km, 9000 mm gauge
Conductor rail systems have been separated into tables based on whether they are top, side or bottom contact.
Voltage Type Country Location Name of system Notes 50 See notes United Kingdom Brighton Volk's Electric Railway Volk's Railway prior to 1884
(current fed through running rails) 110 third rail Claims to be the world's oldest operational electric railway 160 Volk's Railway between 1884 and 1980s 100 fourth rail Beaulieu Beaulieu Monorail (National Motor Museum – Beaulieu Palace House) current fed by 2 contact wires 180 See notes Germany Berlin-Lichterfelde Siemens streetcar Current fed through the running rails
Operated 1881–1891 200 third rail United Kingdom Southend Southend Pier Railway Until 1902[37] 250 Hythe, Hampshire Hythe Pier Railway United States Chicago, Illinois Chicago Tunnel Company Morgan Rack
1904, revenue service 1906–1908 300 Georgia New Athos Cave Railway 400 Germany Berchtesgaden Berchtesgaden Salt Mine Railway 440 United Kingdom London Post Office Railway Disused by post office since 2003[38] Now small section near Mount Pleasant operated as tourist attraction with battery powered stock[39]
150 V was used in station areas to limit train speed 550 Argentina Buenos Aires Buenos Aires Metro (Subterráneos de Buenos Aires) Only Line B 625 United States New York City New York City Subway 630 Philadelphia SEPTA – Norristown High Speed Line fourth rail United Kingdom London London Underground Supplied at +420 V and −210 V (630 V total). 650 See notes Euston to Watford DC Line Third rail with fourth rail bonded to running rail
To enable London Underground trains to operate between Queen's Park and Harrow & Wealdstone. Similar bonding arrangements are used on the North London Line between Richmond and Gunnersbury and on the District Line between Putney Bridge and Wimbledon. 660 third rail Southern Railway & London & South Western Railway some areas up to 1939, original standard, mostly upgraded to 750 V (except for sections that operate with LUL stock). 700 United States Baltimore, Maryland Baltimore Metro SubwayLink 800 Germany Berlin Berlin S-Bahn discontinued, today 750 V 825 North Korea Pyongyang Pyongyang Metro uses old 750 V Berlin U-Bahn rolling stock 1000 United States San Francisco Bay Area Rapid Transit [40]
All third rail unless otherwise stated.
Voltage Country Location Name of system Notes 650 Canada Vancouver SkyTrain Expo Line (1985) and Millennium Line (2006). Linear induction. 850 France Martigny Saint-Gervais–Vallorcine railway 1200 Germany Hamburg Hamburg S-Bahn Since 1940. Used both third rail DC (1200 V) and overhead line AC (6.3 kV 25 Hz) until 1955. Also uses German standard 15 kV AC 16 2/3 Hz overhead electrification on the section between Neugraben and Stade on line S3, opened in December 2007.
All third rail unless otherwise stated.
Voltage Country Location Name of system Notes 550 United States California Central California Traction Company 1907–1908, raised to 1,200 V[25] 700 United States New York Metro-North Railroad Hudson and Harlem Lines, southern part of New Haven Line. Original New York Central Railroad electrification scheme to Grand Central Terminal. Philadelphia SEPTA – Market–Frankford Line Originally 600 V, raised to 700 V 825 Belarus Minsk Minsk Metro FSU underground system standard,[41] 825V substation output, 750V in rail on average Bulgaria Sofia Sofia Metro Lines 1 and 2 Russia Moscow Moscow Metro Nominal voltage: 825 V; allowed range: 550 V – 975 V[42] Saint Petersburg Saint Petersburg Metro Kazan Kazan Metro Nizhny Novgorod Nizhny Novgorod Metro Novosibirsk Novosibirsk Metro Samara Samara Metro Yekaterinburg Yekaterinburg Metro Ukraine Kyiv Kyiv Metro FSU underground systems share the same standard[41] Dnipro Dnipro Metro Kharkiv Kharkiv Metro 830 Argentina Buenos Aires Mitre Line Retiro – José León Suárez
Retiro – Bartolomé Mitre
Retiro – Tigre Once – Moreno Sarmiento Line 850 France Villefranche Ligne de Cerdagne Often referred to as the "Yellow Train" Austria Vienna Wiener Lokalbahn 900 Belgium Brussels Brussels Metro
All systems are 3-phase unless otherwise noted.
Voltage Current Contact Country Location Name of system Notes 500 50 Hz top/bottom[43] Australia Gold Coast, Queensland Sea World Monorail Operated 1986–2021 Oasis Shopping Centre Operated 1989–2017 Sydney, New South Wales Sydney Monorail Operated 1988–2013[44] 600 50 Hz side China Guangzhou Guangzhou Metro – APM Line Singapore LRT – Bukit Panjang line [45] Japan Saitama New Shuttle Tokyo Nippori-Toneri Liner Yurikamome 60 Hz Kobe, Hyōgo Kobe New Transit Osaka Osaka Metro – Nankō Port Town Line Kansai International Airport – Wing Shuttle Taiwan Taoyuan Taoyuan International Airport – Skytrain
Main article: Conduit current collection
London County Council Tramways, later operated by London Transport
streetcars in New York City (Manhattan), New York
Washington, D.C. streetcars
Panama Canal locks' ship handlers (called mules)
Wolverhampton Corporation Tramways, England (stud contact) (1902–1921)
Bordeaux Tramway, France (conductor rail)
Sydney Light Rail (tramway)
Greenwich, England. Previously used by trams when in the vicinity of Greenwich Observatory;[citation needed] separate from trolleybus supply.
Cincinnati,[citation needed] Ohio, US. Tram (streetcar) system used this arrangement throughout, probably due to legal constraints on ground return currents.[citation needed]
Havana and Guanabacoa,[citation needed] Cuba. Tram (streetcar) systems in both cities used this arrangement.
Lisbon, Portugal. Elevador da Bica, Elevador da Glória and Elevador da Lavra.[citation needed]
Gross-Lichterfelde Tramway (1881–1893), 180 V
Ungerer Tramway (1886–1895)
transportable railways as a ride for children
Voltage Type Contact system Name of system Location Country Notes 750 Guide bars Lateral to both guide bars (one guide connected to running rail) Paris Metro Paris France Rubber-tyred lines only Lateral (positive) and top of running rails (negative) contact Montreal Metro Montreal Canada Rubber-tyred lines Mexico City Metro Mexico City Mexico Rubber-tyred lines Third and fourth rail Lateral (positive) and top (negative) contact Milan Transportation System Milan Italy Metro (only line 1) 630 Third and fourth rail Top contact London Underground London United Kingdom Transport for London[46] | ||||
5064 | dbpedia | 0 | 93 | https://garystockbridge617.getarchive.net/media/kaipio-tram-helsinki-998c4f | en | Kaipio tram Helsinki - Helsinki, Finland | [
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] | 1950-05-03T00:00:00 | Download Image of Kaipio tram Helsinki - Helsinki, Finland. Free for commercial use, no attribution required. Kaipio/Strömberg tram no 219 in Vallila depot, Helsinki
Suomi: Kaipio/Strömberg-raitiovaunu nro 219 Vallilan hallissa, Helsingissä. Dated: 03.05.1950. Topics: finland, 1950 in helsinki, 1950 in tram transport, 1950 in transport in finland, black and white photographs of trams in finland, rail transport in finland in the 1950 s, trams in helsinki unknown model type, vallila tram depot, tramway, tram, trams, tram car, car | en | /favicon.ico | PICRYL - Public Domain Media Search Engine | https://picryl.com/media/kaipio-tram-helsinki-998c4f | Trams
The history of trams, streetcars or trolleys began in the early nineteenth century. The world's first horse-drawn passenger tramway started operating in 1807, it was the Swansea and Mumbles Railway, in Wales, UK. It was switching to steam in 1877, and then, in 1929, by very large (106-seats) electric tramcars, until closure in 1961. Horse Cars The first streetcar in America, developed by John Stephenson, began service in the year 1832 in New York. Harlem Railroad's Fourth Avenue Line ran along the Bowery and Fourth Avenue in New York City. These trams were a horse- or mule-powered, usually two as a team. It was followed in 1835 by New Orleans, Louisiana, which is the oldest continuously operating street railway system in the world, according to the American Society of Mechanical Engineers. Horsecars were largely replaced by electric-powered trams following the improvement of an overhead trolley system on trams for collecting electricity from overhead wires by Frank J. Sprague. Sprague spring-loaded trolley pole used a wheel to travel along the wire. In late 1887 and early 1888, using his trolley system, Sprague installed the first successful large electric street railway system in Richmond, Virginia. By 1889, 110 electric railways incorporating Sprague's equipment had been begun or planned on several continents. Steam Cars Trams were also powered by steam. The most common type had a small steam locomotive (called a tram engine in the UK) at the head of a line of one or more carriages, similar to a small train. Systems with such steam trams included Christchurch, New Zealand; Adelaide, South Australia; Sydney, Australia and other city systems in New South Wales; Munich, Germany (from August 1883 on), British India (Pakistan) (from 1885) and the Dublin & Blessington Steam Tramway (from 1888) in Ireland. Steam tramways also were used on the suburban tramway lines around Milan and Padua; the last Gamba de Legn ("Peg-Leg") tramway ran on the Milan-Magenta-Castano Primo route in late 1958. The other style of steam tram had the steam engine in the body of the tram, referred to as a tram engine (UK) or steam dummy (US). The most notable system to adopt such trams was in Paris. French-designed steam trams also operated in Rockhampton, in the Australian state of Queensland between 1909 and 1939. Stockholm, Sweden, had a steam tram line at the island of Södermalm between 1887 and 1901. Steam tram engines faded out around 1890s to 1900s, being replaced by electric trams. Cable Cars Another system for trams was the cable car, which was pulled along a fixed track by a moving steel cable. The power to move the cable was normally provided at a "powerhouse" site a distance away from the actual vehicle. The London and Blackwall Railway, which opened for passengers in east London, England, in 1840 used such a system. The first practical cable car line was tested in San Francisco, in 1873. Part of its success is attributed to the development of an effective and reliable cable grip mechanism, to grab and release the moving cable without damage. The second city to operate cable trams was Dunedin in New Zealand, from 1881 to 1957. The San Francisco cable cars, though significantly reduced in number, continue to perform a regular transportation function, in addition to being a well-known tourist attraction. A single cable line also survives in Wellington, New Zealand (rebuilt in 1979 as a funicular but still called the "Wellington Cable Car"). Another system, actually two separate cable lines with a shared power station in the middle, operates from the Welsh town of Llandudno up to the top of the Great Orme hill in North Wales, UK. As with all large collections on Picryl, this collection is made in two steps - first, we make a manual dataset, and then, ran 25+ Million public domain images through our neural network image recognition process. | ||||
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] | null | [] | null | null | A tram (also known as a tramcar; a streetcar or street car; and a trolley, trolleycar, or trolley car) is a rail vehicle which runs on tracks along public urban streets (called street running), and also sometimes on separate rights of way. Trams powered by electricity, which were the most common type historically, were once called electric street railways. Trams also included horsecar railways which were widely used in urban areas before electrification.
Trams may also run between cities and/or towns (for example, interurbans, tram-train), and/or partially grade separated even in the cities (light rail). Trams very occasionally also carry freight.
Rail transport Operations Track Maintenance High-speed railways Gauge Stations Trains Locomotives Rolling stock Companies History Attractions Terminology By country Accidents
Modelling
Tram vehicles are usually lighter and shorter than conventional trains and rapid transit trains. However, the differences between these modes of public transportation are often indistinct. Some trams (for instance tram-trains) may also run on ordinary railway tracks, a tramway may be upgraded to a light rail or a rapid transit line, two urban tramways may be united to an interurban, etc.
Most trams today use electrical power, usually fed by an overhead pantograph; in some cases by a sliding shoe on a third rail or trolley pole. If necessary, they may have several pow
er systems. Another power source is diesel oil; a few trams use electricity in urban streets, and diesel in more rural environments. Steam, petrol (gasoline), gas and draft animals have historically been used as power sources. Horse and mule driven trams do still occur, mostly for the tourist trade. Certain types of cable car are also known as trams.
Tramways are now included in the wider term "light rail",[1] which also includes segregated systems. Some systems have both segregated and street running sections, but are usually then referred to as trams, because it is the equipment for street running which tends to be the decisive factor. Vehicles on wholly segregated light rail systems are generally called "trains", although cases have been known of train equipment built for a segregated system being sold to new owners and becoming "trams".[citation needed]
Contents
1 Etymology and terminology
2 History
2.1 Horse-drawn
2.2 Steam
2.3 Cable-hauled
2.4 Hybrid funicular electric
2.5 Electric (trolley cars)
2.6 Gas trams
2.7 Other power sources
3 Design
3.1 Low floor
3.1.1 Ultra low floor
3.2 Articulated
3.3 Double decker
3.4 Tram-train
3.5 Non-commuter
3.5.1 Cargo trams
3.5.2 Hearse-tram
3.5.3 Dog car
3.5.4 Contractors' mobile offices
3.5.5 Restaurant trams
3.5.6 Mobile Libary Service
3.5.7 Nursery tramways
3.5.8 Work Trains and others
3.5.9 Advertising
4 Tramway operation
5 Tram and light-rail transit systems around the world
5.1 Popularity
5.2 Largest tram systems
5.3 Asia
5.4 Europe
5.5 North America
5.6 Oceania
5.7 South America
6 Pros and cons of tram systems
6.1 Advantages
6.2 Disadvantages
7 In media
7.1 In literature
8 In popular culture
8.1 In the news
8.2 In scale modelling
9 Types
10 Regional
11 See also
12 References
13 Further reading
14 External links
Etymology and terminology
Main article: Passenger rail terminology
The terms tram and tramway are derived from the Scots word tram,[2] referring respectively to a type of truck used in coal mines, and the tracks on which they ran. The word tram probably derived from Middle Flemish tram ("beam, handle of a barrow, bar, rung"), a North Sea Germanic word of unknown origin meaning the beam or shaft of a barrow or sledge, also the barrow itself. Tram-car is attested from 1873.[3]
Although the terms tram and tramway have been adopted by many languages, they are not used universally in English; North Americans prefer streetcar, trolley, or trolleycar. The term streetcar is first recorded in 1840, and originally referred to horsecars drawn by draft horses. When electrification came, Americans began to speak of trolleycars or later, trolleys. These terms are believed to derive from the troller (possibly from the words traveler and roller), a four-wheeled device that was dragged along dual overhead wires by a cable that connected the troller to the top of the car and collected electrical power from the overhead wires.[4]
The troller design frequently fell off the wires, and was soon replaced by the more reliable trolley pole. This newer device was fitted to the top of the car, and was spring-loaded in order to keep a small trolley wheel or alternately, a grooved lubricated "skate" mounted at the top of the pole, firmly in contact with the underside of the overhead wire. The terms trolley pole and trolley wheel both derive from the troller.[5] Trams using trolley-pole current collection are normally powered through a single pole, with return current earthed through the steel wheels and rails. Modern trams often have an overhead pantograph mechanical linkage to connect to power, abandoning the trolley pole altogether.
In North America, trams are sometimes called trolleys, even though strictly this may be incorrect, and the term may even be applied to cable cars, or conduit cars that instead draw power from an underground supply. Conventional diesel tourist buses decorated to look like streetcars are sometimes called trolleys in the US (tourist trolley). Furthering confusion, the term tram has instead been applied to open-sided, low-speed segmented vehicles on rubber tires generally used to ferry tourists short distances, for example on the Universal Studios backlot tour.
Over time, the term trolley has fallen into informal use, and may be applied loosely to a wide variety of different vehicle types. The word has taken on a historic or picturesque connotation, and is often associated with tourist or leisure travel. In North America, professional or formal documents generally use more precise alternative terms, such as streetcar or light rail vehicle (LRV).
Although the use of the term trolley for tram was not adopted in Europe, the term was later associated with the trolleybus, a rubber-tyred vehicle running on hard pavement, which draws its power from pairs of overhead wires. These electric buses, which use twin trolley poles (one for live current, one for return), are also called trackless trolleys (particularly in the northeastern US), or sometimes simply trolleys (in the UK, as well as in Seattle and Vancouver).
History
Main article: History of trams
Horse-drawn
Main article: Horsecar
The very first tram was on the Swansea and Mumbles Railway in south Wales, UK; it was horse-drawn at first, and later moved by steam and electric power. The Mumbles Railway Act was passed by the British Parliament in 1804, and the first passenger railway (similar to streetcars in the US some 30 years later) started operating in 1807.[6]
External video Clip from a Belfast horse tram in 1901
The first streetcars, also known as horsecars in North America, were built in the United States and developed from city stagecoach lines and omnibus lines that picked up and dropped off passengers on a regular route without the need to be pre-hired. These trams were an animal railway, usually using teams of horses and sometimes mules to haul the cars, usually two as a team. Occasionally other animals were put to use, or humans in emergencies. The first streetcar line, developed by Irish born John Stephenson, was the New York and Harlem Railroad's Fourth Avenue Line which ran along the Bowery and Fourth Avenue in New York City. Service began in 1832. It was followed in 1835 by New Orleans, Louisiana, which has the oldest continuously operating street railway system in the world, according to the American Society of Mechanical Engineers.[7]
These early forms of public transport developed out of industrial haulage routes or from the omnibus that first ran on public streets, using the newly invented iron or steel rail or 'tramway'. These were local versions of the stagecoach lines and picked up and dropped off passengers on a regular route, without the need to be pre-hired. Horsecars on tramlines were an improvement over the omnibus as the low rolling resistance of metal wheels on iron or steel rails (usually grooved from 1852 on), allowed the animals to haul a greater load for a given effort than the omnibus and gave a smoother ride. The horse-drawn streetcar combined the low cost, flexibility, and safety of animal power with the efficiency, smoothness, and all-weather capability of a rail right-of-way.
Steam
Main article: Tram engine
The first mechanical trams were powered by steam. Generally, there were two types of steam tram. The first and most common had a small steam locomotive (called a tram engine in the UK) at the head of a line of one or more carriages, similar to a small train. Systems with such steam trams included Christchurch, New Zealand; Sydney, Australia; other city systems in New South Wales; Munich, Germany (from August 1883 on)[8] and the Dublin & Blessington Steam Tramway in Ireland. Steam tramways also were used on the suburban tramway lines around Milan; the last Gamba de Legn ("Peg-Leg") tramway ran on the Milan-Magenta-Castano Primo route in late 1958.[citation needed]
Tram engines usually had modifications to make them suitable for street running in residential areas. The wheels, and other moving parts of the machinery, were usually enclosed for safety reasons and to make the engines quieter. Measures were often taken to prevent the engines from emitting visible smoke or steam. Usually the engines used coke rather than coal as fuel to avoid emitting smoke; condensers or superheating were used to avoid emitting visible steam.
The other style of steam tram had the steam engine in the body of the tram, referred to as a tram engine or steam dummy. The most notable system to adopt such trams was in Paris. French-designed steam trams also operated in Rockhampton, in the Australian state of Queensland between 1909 and 1939. Stockholm, Sweden, had a steam tram line at the island of Södermalm between 1887 and 1901. A major drawback of this style of tram was the limited space for the engine, so that these trams were usually underpowered.
Cable-hauled
Main article: Cable car (railway)
The next motive system for trams was the cable car, which was pulled along a fixed track by a moving steel cable. The power to move the cable was normally provided at a "powerhouse" site a distance away from the actual vehicle.
The first practical cable car line was tested in San Francisco, in 1873. Part of its success is attributed to the development of an effective and reliable cable grip mechanism, to grab and release the moving cable without damage. The second city to operate cable trams was Dunedin in New Zealand, from 1881 to 1957. From 1885 to 1940, the city of Melbourne, Victoria, Australia operated one of the largest cable systems in the world, at its peak running 592 trams on 75 kilometres (47 mi) of track. There were also two isolated cable lines in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia.[when?]
New York City developed at least seven cable car lines.[when?] A line in Washington DC ran to Georgetown (where some of the underground cable vaults can still be seen today).[citation needed] Los Angeles also had several cable car lines, including the Second Street Cable Railroad, which operated from 1885 to 1889, and the Temple Street Cable Railway, which operated from 1886 to 1898. The most extensive cable system in the US was in Chicago.[when?][citation needed]
In Dresden, Germany, in 1901 an elevated suspended cable car following the Eugen Langen one-railed floating tram system started operating. Cable cars operated on Highgate Hill in North London and Kennington to Brixton Hill In South London.[when?] They also worked around "Upper Douglas" in the Isle of Man[when?] (cable car 72/73 is the sole survivor of the fleet).
Cable cars suffered from high infrastructure costs, since an expensive system of cables, pulleys, stationary engines and lengthy underground vault structures beneath the rails had to be provided. They also required physical strength and skill to operate, and alert operators to avoid obstructions and other cable cars. The cable had to be disconnected ("dropped") at designated locations to allow the cars to coast by momentum, for example when crossing another cable line. The cable would then have to be "picked up" to resume progress, the whole operation requiring precise timing to avoid damage to the cable and the grip mechanism.
Breaks and frays in the cable, which occurred frequently, required the complete cessation of services over a cable route while the cable was repaired. Due to overall wear, the entire length of cable (typically several kilometres) would have to be replaced on a regular schedule. After the development of reliable electrically powered trams, the costly high-maintenance cable car systems were rapidly replaced in most locations.
Cable cars remained especially effective in hilly cities, since their nondriven wheels would not lose traction as they climbed or descended a steep hill. The moving cable would physically pull the car up the hill at a steady pace, unlike a low-powered steam or horse-drawn car. Cable cars do have wheel brakes and track brakes, but the cable also helps restrain the car to going downhill at a constant speed. Performance in steep terrain partially explains the survival of cable cars in San Francisco. However, the extensive cable car system of Chicago operated over a large relatively flat area.
The San Francisco cable cars, though significantly reduced in number, continue to perform a regular transportation function, in addition to being a well-known tourist attraction. A single cable line also survives in Wellington, New Zealand (rebuilt in 1979 as a funicular but still called the "Wellington Cable Car").
Hybrid funicular electric
Main article: Opicina Tramway
The Opicina Tramway in Trieste operates a hybrid funicular electric system. Conventional electric trams are operated in street running and on reserved track for most of their route. However, on one steep segment of track, they are assisted by cable tractors, which push the trams uphill and act as brakes for the downhill run. For safety, the cable tractors are always deployed on the downhill side of the tram vehicle.
Electric (trolley cars)
Main article: History of electric trams
Electric trams (known as streetcars or trolleys in North America) were first experimentally installed in Saint Petersburg, Russia, invented and tested by Fyodor Pirotsky as early as 1880. These trams, like virtually all others mentioned in this section, used either a trolley pole or a pantograph, to feed power from electric wires strung above the tram route. Nevertheless, there were early experiments with battery-powered trams but these appear to have all been unsuccessful. The first trams in Bendigo, Australia, in 1892, were battery-powered but within as little as three months they were replaced with horse-drawn trams. In New York City some minor lines also used storage batteries. Then, comparatively recently, during the 1950s, a longer battery-operated tramway line ran from Milan to Bergamo.
The first regular electric tram service using pantographs or trolley poles, the Gross-Lichterfelde Tramway, went into service in Lichterfelde, a suburb of Berlin, Germany, by Siemens & Halske AG, in May 1881.[9] The company Siemens still exists.
Another was by John Joseph Wright, brother of the famous mining entrepreneur Whitaker Wright, in Toronto in 1883. Earlier installations proved difficult or unreliable. Siemens' line, for example, provided power through a live rail and a return rail, like a model train, limiting the voltage that could be used, and providing electric shocks to people and animals crossing the tracks.[10] Siemens later designed his own method of current collection, from an overhead wire, called the bow collector.
In 1883, Magnus Volk constructed his 2 feet (610 mm) gauge Volk's Electric Railway along the eastern seafront at Brighton, England. This two kilometer line, re-gauged to 2 feet 9 inches (840 mm) in 1884, remains in service to this day, and is the oldest operating electric tramway in the world. The first tram for permanent service with overhead lines was the Mödling and Hinterbrühl Tram in Austria. It began operating in October 1883, but was closed in 1932.
Multiple functioning experimental electric trams were exhibited at the 1884 World Cotton Centennial World's Fair in New Orleans, Louisiana, but they were not deemed good enough to replace the Lamm fireless engines that then propelled the St. Charles Avenue Streetcar in that city.
Electric trams were first tested in service in the United States in Richmond, Virginia, in 1888, in the Richmond Union Passenger Railway built by Frank J. Sprague, though the first commercial installation of an electric streetcar in the United States was built in 1884 in Cleveland, Ohio and operated for a period of one year by the East Cleveland Street Railway Company.[11]
The first electric street tramway in Britain, the Blackpool Tramway, was opened on 29 September 1885 using conduit collection along Blackpool Promenade. Since the closure of the Glasgow Corporation Tramways in 1962, this has been the only first-generation operational tramway in the UK.
Sarajevo had the first electric trams on the continent of Europe, with a city-wide system in 1885.[12] Budapest established its tramway system in 1887, and this line has grown to be the busiest tram line in Europe, with a tram running every 60 seconds at rush hour (however Istanbul's line T1, with a minimum headway of two minutes, probably carries more passengers 265,000 per day). Bucharest and Belgrade[13] ran a regular service from 1894.[14][15] Ljubljana introduced its tram system in 1901 it closed in 1958.[16]
In Australia there were electric systems in Sydney, Newcastle, Broken Hill, Geelong, Ballarat, Bendigo, Brisbane, Adelaide, Perth, Kalgoorlie, Laverton, Hobart and Launceston. By the 1970s, the only tramway system remaining in Australia was the extensive Melbourne system other than a few single lines remaining elsewhere: the Glenelg Tram, connecting Adelaide to the beachside suburb of Glenelg, and tourist trams in the Victorian Goldfields cities of Bendigo and Ballarat. An unusual line that operated from 1889 to 1896 connected Box Hill, then an outer suburb of Melbourne, to Doncaster, then a favoured picnic spot but now a dormitory suburb. In recent years the Melbourne system, generally recognised as one of the largest in the world, has been considerably moderrnised and expanded. The Adelaide line has also been extended to the Entertainment Centre, and there are plans to expand further.
In 1904 trams were put into operation in Hong Kong. The Hong Kong Tramway is still in operation today and uses double-decker trams exclusively.
Gas trams
In the late 19th and early 20th centuries a number of systems in various parts of the world employed trams powered by gas, naphtha gas or coal gas in particular. Gas trams are known to have operated between Alphington and Clifton Hill in the northern suburbs of Melbourne, Australia (18861888); in Berlin and Dresden, Germany; in Estonia (1920s1930); between Jelenia Góra, Cieplice, and Sobieszów in Poland (from 1897); and in the UK at Lytham St Annes, Neath (18961920), and Trafford Park, Manchester (18971908).
On 29 December 1886 the Melbourne newspaper The Argus reprinted a report from the San Francisco Bulletin that Mr Noble had demonstrated a new motor car for tramways 'with success'. The tramcar exactly similar in size, shape, and capacity to a cable grip car had the motive power of gas with which the reservoir is to be charged once a day at power stations by means of a rubber hose. The car also carried an electricity generator for lighting up the tram and also for driving the engine on steep grades and effecting a start.[17]
Comparatively little has been published about gas trams. However, research on the subject was carried out for an article in the October 2011 edition of "The Times", the historical journal of the Australian Association of Timetable Collectors.[18][19]
A tram system powered by compressed gas was due to open in Malaysia in 2012,[20] but as at January 2013 there was no evidence of anything having happpened, in fact news about the project appeared to have dried up.
Other power sources
In some places, other forms of power were used to power the tram. Hastings and some other tramways, for example Stockholms Spårvägar in Sweden and some lines in Karachi, used petrol trams. Paris operated trams that were powered by compressed air using the Mekarski system.
Galveston Island Trolley in Texas operates diesel trams due to the city's hurricane-prone location, which would result in frequent damage to an electrical supply system.
Although Portland, Victoria promotes its tourist tram[21] as being a cable car it actually operates using a hidden diesel motor. The tram, which runs on a circular route around the town of Portland, uses dummies and salons formerly used on the extensive Melbourne cable tramway system and now beautifully restored.
Design
Low floor
For more details on this topic, see Low-floor tram.
The latest generation of light rail vehicles is of partial or fully low-floor design, with the floor 300 to 360 mm (11.8 to 14.2 in) above top of rail, a capability not found in older vehicles. This allows them to load passengers, including those in wheelchairs, directly from low-rise platforms that are not much more than raised footpaths/sidewalks. This satisfies requirements to provide access to disabled passengers without using expensive wheelchair lifts, while at the same time making boarding faster and easier for other passengers.
Various companies have developed particular low-floor designs, varying from part-low-floor (with internal steps between the low-floor section and the high-floor sections over the bogies), e.g. Citytram[22] and Siemens S70, to 100% low-floor, where the floor passes through a corridor between the drive wheels, thus maintaining a relatively constant (stepless) level from end to end of the tram.
Prior to the introduction of the koda ForCity,[citation needed] this carried the mechanical penalty of requiring bogies to be fixed and unable to pivot (except for less than 5 degrees in some trams) and thus reducing curve negotiation. This creates undue wear on the tracks and wheels.
Passengers appreciate the ease of boarding and alighting from low-floor trams and moving about inside 100% low-floor trams. Passenger satisfaction with low-floor trams is high.[23]
Low-floor trams are now running in many cities around the world, including Amsterdam, Dublin, Hiroshima, Houston, Istanbul, Melbourne, Milan, Prague, Riga, Strasbourg, Vienna, Zagreb, Helsinki and Zürich.
Ultra low floor
Main article: Ultra Low Floor
The Ultra Low Floor or (ULF) tram is a type of low-floor tram operating in Vienna, Austria and Oradea, Romania, with the lowest floor-height of any such vehicle. In contrast to other low-floor trams, the floor in the interior of ULF is at sidewalk height (about 18 cm or 7 inches above the road surface), which makes access to trams easy for passengers in wheelchairs or with baby carriages. This configuration required a new undercarriage. The axles had to be replaced by a complicated electronic steering of the traction motors. Auxiliary devices are installed largely under the cars roof.
Articulated
Articulated trams, invented and first used by the Boston Elevated Railway in 191213[24] at a total length of about twelve meters long (40 ft) for each pioneering example of twin-section articulated tram car, have two or more body sections, connected by flexible joints and a round platform at their pivoting midsection(s). Like articulated buses, they have increased passenger capacity. In practice, these trams can be up to 53 metres (174 ft) long[25] (such as in Budapest, Hungary), while a regular tram has to be much shorter. With this type, the articulation is normally suspended between carbody sections.
In the koda ForCity, which is the world's first 100% low floor tram with pivoting bogies, a Jacobs bogie supports the articulation between the two or more carbody sections. An articulated tram may be low-floor variety or high (regular) floor variety. Newer model trams may be up to 72 metres (236 ft) long and carry 510 passengers at a comfortable 4 passengers/m2. At crush loadings this would be even higher.[26]
Double decker
Main article: Double-decker tram
Double decker trams were commonplace in Great Britain and Dublin Ireland before most tramways were torn up in the 1950s and 1960s.
Hobart, Tasmania, Australia made extensive use of double decker trams. Arguably the most unusual double decker tram used to run between the isolated Western Australian outback village of Laverton and its small suburb of Gwalia.
Double decker trams still operate in Alexandria, Blackpool and Hong Kong.
Tram-train
Main article: Tram-train
Tram-train operation uses vehicles such as the Flexity Link and Regio-Citadis, which are suited for use on urban tram lines and also meet the necessary indication, power, and strength requirements for operation on main-line railways. This allows passengers to travel from suburban areas into city-centre destinations without having to change from a train to a tram.
It has been primarily developed in Germanic countries, in particular Germany and Switzerland. Karlsruhe is a notable pioneer of the tram-train.
Non-commuter
Cargo trams
Since the 19th century goods have been carried on rail vehicles through the streets, often near docks and steelworks, for example the Weymouth Harbour Tramway in Weymouth, Dorset.[27] Belgian vicinal tramway routes were used to haul timber and coal from Blégny colliery while in the USA several of the US interurbans carried freight. In Australia, three different "Freight Cars" operated in Melbourne between 1927 and 1977[28] and the city of Kislovodsk in Russia had a freight-only tram system consisting of one line which was used exclusively to deliver bottled Narzan mineral water to the railway station.[29]
Today, the German city of Dresden has a regular CarGoTram service, run by the world's longest tram trainsets (59.4 metres (195 ft)), carrying car parts across the city centre to its Volkswagen factory.[30] In addition to Dresden, the cities of Vienna and Zürich currently use trams as mobile recycling depots.
At the turn of the 21st century, a new interest has arisen in using urban tramway systems to transport goods. The motivation now is to reduce air pollution, traffic congestion and damage to road surfaces in city centres.
One recent proposal to bring cargo tramways back into wider use was the plan by City Cargo Amsterdam to reintroduce them into the city of Amsterdam. In the spring of 2007 the city piloted this cargo tram operation, which among its aims aimed to reduce particulate pollution in the city by 20% by halving the number of lorries (5,000) unloading in the inner city during the permitted timeframe from 07:00 till 10:30. The pilot involved two cargo trams, operating from a distribution centre and delivering to a "hub" where special electric trucks delivered the trams' small containers to their final destination. The trial was successful, releasing an intended investment of 100 million in a fleet of 52 cargo trams distributing from four peripheral "cross docks" to 15 inner-city hubs by 2012. These specially built vehicles would be 30 feet (9.14 m) long with 12 axles and a payload of 30 tonnes (33.1 short tons; 29.5 long tons). On weekdays, trams are planned to make 4 deliveries per hour between 7 a.m. and 11 a.m. and two per hour between 11 a.m. and 11 p.m. With each unloading operation taking on average 10 minutes, this means that each site would be active for 40 minutes out of each hour during the morning rush hour. In early 2009 the scheme was suspended owing to the financial crisis impeding fund-raising.[31]
Hearse-tram
Specially appointed hearse trams were used for funerals in Milan, Italy, from the 1880s (initially horse-drawn) to the 1920s. The main cemeteries, Cimitero Monumentale and Cimitero Maggiore, included funeral tram stations. Additional funeral stations were located at Piazza Firenze and at Porta Romana.[32]
In the mid-1940s at least one special hearse tram was used in Turin, Italy. It was introduced due to the wartime shortage of automotive fuel.[33]
Newcastle, NSW, Australia also operated two hearse trams[34] between 1896 and 1948.
Dog car
In Melbourne a "dog car" was used between 1937 and 1955 for transporting dogs and their owners to the Royal Melbourne Showgrounds.[28]
Contractors' mobile offices
Two former passenger cars from the Melbourne system were converted and used as mobile offices within the Preston Workshops between 1969 and 1974, by personnel from Commonwealth Engineering and ASEA who were connected with the construction of Melbourne's Z Class cars.[28]
Restaurant trams
A number of systems have introduced restaurant trams, particularly as a tourist attraction. This is specifically a modern trend. Inter alia, tram systems which have or have had restaurant trams include: Adelaide, Australia; Bendigo, Australia; Brussels, Belgium, Christchurch, New Zealand, (currently suspended pending post earthquake infrastructure assessment); Melbourne, Australia; Milan, Italy; Moscow, Russia; Turin, Italy; Zürich, Switzerland.
These type of vehicles are particularly popular in Melbourne where three of the iconic "W" class trams have been converted to restaurant trams. All three often run in tandem and there are usually multiple meal sittings. Bookings often close months in advance.
Bistro trams with buffets operate between Krefeld and Düsseldorf in Germany,[35] while Helsinki in Finland has a pub tram. Frankfurt, Germany has a tourist circle line called "Ebbelwei-Express", in which the traditional local drink "Apfelwein" is served.[36]
Mobile Libary Service
Munich tram No.24, delivered in 1912, was refurbished as a mobile library in 1928. Known as "Städtischen Wanderbücherei München", it was in public service until 1970. It was preserved and is now on public display in a railway museum in Hannover.[37]
Nursery tramways
After World War Two, in both Warsaw and Wrocław, Poland, so-called tramways-nurseries[38] were in operation, collecting children from the workplaces of their parents (often tram employees). These mobile nursuries either carried the children around the system or delivered them to the nursery school run by transport company.[39]
Work Trains and others
Most systems had cars that were converted to specific uses on the system, other than simply the carriage of passengers. As just one example, the Melbourne system used or uses the following "technical" cars : a Ballast Motor, Ballast Trailers, a Blow Car, Breakdown Cars, Conductors and/or Drivers' Instruction Cars, a Laboratory Testing Car, a Line Marking Car, a Pantograph Testing Car, Per Way Locomotives, Rail Grinders, a Rail Hardner Loco., a Scrapper Car, Scrubbers, Sleeper Carriers, Track Cleaners, a Welding Car, a Wheel Transport Car and a Workshops Locomotive.[28]
Advertising
Many systems have passenger carrying vehicles with all-over advertising on the exterior and/or the interior.
Tramway operation
There are two main types of Tramways, the classic tramway build in the early 20th century with the tram system operating in mixed traffic and the later type which is most often associated with the tram system having its own right of way. Tram systems that have their own right of way are often called Light Rail but this does not always hold true. Though these two systems differ in their operation their equipment is much the same.
Infrastructure and equipment
Tram stop
Main article: Tram stop
Controls
Main article: Tram controls
Track
Main article: Tramway track
Power supply
Ground-level power supply
Conduit current collection
Tram and light-rail transit systems around the world
Throughout the world there are many tram systems; some dating from the late 19th or early 20th centuries. However a large number of the old systems were closed during the mid-20th century because of such perceived drawbacks as route inflexibility and maintenance expense. This was especially the case in North American, British, French and other West European cities. Some traditional tram systems did however survive and remain operating much as when first built over a century ago. In the past twenty years their numbers have been augmented by modern tramway or light rail systems in cities that had discarded this form of transport.
Popularity
Tramways with tramcars (British English) or street railways with streetcars (American English) were common throughout the industrialised world in the late 19th and early 20th centuries but they had disappeared from most British, Canadian, French and US cities by the mid-20th century.[40]
By contrast, trams in parts of continental Europe continued to be used by many cities, although there were contractions in some countries, including the Netherlands.[41]
Since 1980 trams have returned to favour in many places, partly because their tendency to dominate the roadway, formerly seen as a disadvantage, is now considered to be a merit. New systems have been built in the United States, Great Britain, Ireland, France and many other countries.
In Milan, Italy, the old "Ventotto" trams are considered by its inhabitants a "symbol" of the city.
Largest tram systems
The five largest tram networks in the world by track length are; Melbourne, Australia (250 km (160 mi)),[42] St. Petersburg (240 km (150 mi)), Berlin (190 km (120 mi)), Moscow (181 km (112 mi)) and Vienna (172 km (107 mi)).[43] The longest single tram line in the world is the Belgian Coast Tram, which runs almost the entire length of the Belgian coast. Other large systems include (but not limited to), Amsterdam, Brussels, Bucharest, Budapest, Kiev, Leipzig, Milan, Prague, the Silesian Interurbans, Toronto, Turin, Warsaw, Zagreb and Zurich.
Before its decline the BVG in Berlin operated a very large network with 634 km of route. The largest tram system ever with 857 km existed in Buenos Aires before the 1960s. During a period in the 1980s the world's largest tram system was in Leningrad, USSR, being included in Guinness World Records.
Until the system started to be converted to trolleybus (and later bus) in the 1930s, the first-generation London network was also one of the world's largest, with 526 km (327 mi) of route in 1934.[44] While the largest streetcar network in the world used to be located in Chicago, with over 850 kilometres (530 mi) of track,[45] all of it was converted to bus service by the late 1950s.
Asia
Main article: Trams in Asia
Tramway systems were well established in the Asian region at the start of the 20th century, but started a steady decline during the mid to late 1930s. The 1960s marked the end of its dominance in public transportation with most major systems closed and the equipment and rails sold for scrap; however, some extensive original lines still remain in service in Hong Kong and Japan. In recent years there has been renewed interest in the tram with modern systems being built in Japan, the Philippines, and South Korea.
Trams still operate in Calcutta, India. Trams were discontinued in Bombay, India in 1960. There were Trolley Buses also in Bombay (now called Mumbai), the last of which operated between Mazagon and Grant Road, which was discontinued in the late 1970s.
The Northern and Central areas of the City of Colombo in SriLanka had an electric Tram Car system (42" Gauge). This system commenced operations about 1900 and was discontinued by 1960. The original operator was the Colombo Electric Tram Car and Lighting Company Ltd. (represented by Boustead Brothers), and after an infamous Tram Car Strike, the Colombo Municipal Council took over operations. Subsequently, the tram car system was phased out.
Other countries with discontinued tram systems include Malaysia, Thailand, Pakistan and Vietnam. However, a tram system is planned for construction in Gwadar, Pakistan where construction started in late 2011. In China the cities of Beijing, Zhuhai, Nanjing and Shenzhen are planning tram networks for the future.
The first Japanese tram line was inaugurated in 1895 as the Kyoto Electric Railroad. The tram reached its zenith in 1932 when 82 rail companies operated 1,479 kilometers of track in 65 cities. The tram declined in popularity through the remaining years of the 1930s, a trend that was accelerated by the damage of the War and continued through the Occupation and rebuilding years. During the 1960s many of the remaining operational tramways were shut down and dismantled in favor of auto, bus, and rapid rail service; however, when one compares the number of operational lines that survived this era to their American counterparts, they can be defined as quite extensive.
Europe
Main article: Trams in Europe
In many European cities much tramway infrastructure was lost in the mid-20th century, though not always on the same scale as in other parts of the world such as North America. Most of Eastern Europe retained tramway systems until recent years but some cities are now reconsidering their transport priorities. In contrast, some Western European cities are rehabilitating, upgrading, expanding and reconstructing their old tramway lines. Many Western European towns and cities are also building new tramway lines.
North America
Main article: Streetcars in North America
See also: Great American Streetcar Scandal
In North America, trams are generally known as "streetcars" (or sometimes as "trolleys"); the term tram is more likely to be understood as a tourist trolley, an aerial tramway, or a people-mover.
In most North American cities, streetcar lines were largely torn up in the mid-20th century for a variety of financial, technological and social reasons, mainly as a result of the Great American Streetcar Scandal. Exceptions included Boston, New Orleans, Newark, Philadelphia (with a much shrunken network), Pittsburgh, San Francisco, Cleveland, and Toronto. Pittsburgh had kept most of its streetcar system serving the city and many suburbs until severe cutbacks on 27 January 1967, making it the longest-lasting large-network US streetcar system.[citation needed]
Toronto currently has the largest streetcar system in the Americas in terms of track length and ridership, operated by the Toronto Transit Commission. This is the only large-scale streetcar system existing in Canada, not including the light rail systems that some Canadian cities currently operate, or heritage streetcar lines operating only seasonally. Toronto's system uses Canadian Light Rail Vehicles and Articulated Light Rail Vehicles, after a history of using PCCs, Peter Witt cars, and horse-drawn carriages. The TTC has ordered a fleet of Bombardier's Flexity Outlook (also used in some European tram systems) as a replacement, and is in acceptance testing as of Fall 2012.[46]
Streetcars once existed in Edmonton and Calgary, but both Canadian cities have since converted their systems to support light rail vehicles instead. Streetcars also once existed in Ottawa, Montreal, Kitchener, Hamilton, Kingston and Peterborough. Some of these cities have restored their old streetcars and run them as a heritage feature for tourists, such as the Vancouver Downtown Historic Railway.
In a trend started in the 1980s, some American cities have brought back streetcars, examples of these being Memphis, Portland, Tampa, Little Rock, Seattle and San Diego. In the late 20th century, several cities installed light rail systems, in part along the same corridors as the old streetcars. Several additional cities, such as Washington DC, Tucson, Detroit and Sacramento are planning or proposing new streetcar systems.
Portland revived its streetcar system in 1986. More recently, Portland received over $23 million in federal funding to enhance transportation connections throughout this Oregon city. Overall, the streetcar project costs were over $148 million, and a new 3.3-mile route was the most expensive streetcar expansion in US history. Oregon Iron Works, the only US company currently producing a modern streetcar, holds a contract valued at over $19 million with the city of Portland. The project is behind schedule, as only one of the five streetcars has been delivered.[citation needed]
Oceania
In Australia, trams are used extensively only in Melbourne, and to a lesser extent, Adelaide, all other major cities having largely dismantled their networks by the 1970s. Sydney reintroduced its tram in 1997 as a modern system (Metro Light Rail), while Ballarat reintroduced their trams as a heritage system. Bendigo had a heritage system for a while which has recently been upgraded to a simple public transport system through an increase in frequency.
A distinctive feature of many Australian trams was the early use of a lowered central section between bogies (wheel-sets). This was intended to make passenger access easier, by reducing the number of steps required to reach the inside of the vehicle. It is believed that the design first originated in Christchurch, New Zealand, in the first decade of the 20th century. Cars with this design feature were frequently referred to as "drop-centres". Trams for Christchurch and Wellington built in the 1920s with an enclosed section at each end and an open-sided middle section were also known as boon cars, but did not have the drop-centre. Trams built since the 1970s have had conventional high or low floors.
New Zealand's last public transport tramway system, that of Wellington, closed in 1966. Christchurch however subsequently reintroduced heritage trams over a new CBD route, but the overhead wiring plus some track was damaged by the earthquake of 2011 and reintroduction of the system is currently tied into the debates about what form the city should take in the future. Auckland has recently introduced heritage trams into the Wynyard area, near the CBD using former Melbourne trams as no operable former Auckland cars are believed to exist. A heritage line exists in Queen Elizabeth Park on the Kapiti Coast, running through open countryside.
South America
Buenos Aires in Argentina had once one of the most extensive tramway networks in the world with over 857 km (535 mi) of track, most of it dismantled during the 1960s in favor of bus transportation. Now slowly coming back, the 2 km Puerto Madero Tramway running in the Puerto Madero district is spearheading the move with extensions to Retiro station and La Boca in the planning stages. Another line, the PreMetro line E2 system feeding the Line E of the Buenos Aires Subway has been operating for the past few years on the outskirts of Buenos Aires, and a unique leisure "Tren de la Costa", an artery that stretches for 15 kilometres by the River Plate, from Olivos to the village of Tigre has also been running in Buenos Aires.
Also in the city Mendoza, in Argentina, a new tramway system is in construction, the Metrotranvía of Mendoza, which will have a route of 12.5 km and will link five districts of the Greater Mendoza conurbation. The opening of the system is scheduled for August 2011.
In Medellín, Colombia, there is a tram line under construction and the opening schedule is for December 2011.[47] Bogota, Colombia used to have a very extensive tram system until the violent events of the Bogotazo in 1948.[48]
Pros and cons of tram systems
All transit services, except personal rapid transit, involve a trade-off between speed and frequency of stops. Services that stop frequently have a lower overall speed, and are therefore less attractive for longer trips. Metros, light rail, monorail, and bus rapid transit are all forms of rapid transit, which generally signifies high speed and widely spaced stops. Trams are often used as a form of local transit, making frequent stops. Thus, the most meaningful comparison of advantages and disadvantages is with other forms of local transit, primarily the local bus.
Advantages
Steel wheels on steel track create about one-seventh as much friction as rubber tyres on bitumen, thus creating dramatically less pollution when carrying the same load.[49]
Unlike omnibuses, but like trolleybuses, (electric) trams give off no exhaust emissions at point of use.
Most trams can be driven from either end (the major exception being the PCC car used in North America). This means that the infrastructure needed at termini can be quite simple. In comparison, trolleybuses usually require loops that take up much space, and omnibuses often travel over a circular route at termini thus doing damage to more roads, as well as being confusing to potential passengers.
Compared to motorbuses the noise of trams is generally perceived to be less disturbing.[citation needed] However, the use of solid axles with wheels fixed to them causes slippage between wheels and tracks when negotiating curves. This produces a characteristic squeal.
They can use overhead wire set to be shared with trolleybuses (a three wire system).
The existence of a fixed route gives people confidence in the robustness and long-term future of the system, allowing them to rely on it and build their lifestyles around it. A bus route could be cancelled at any time, but a tram line is far less likely to close down.
Some trams can adapt to the number of passengers by adding more cars during rush hour (and removing them during off-peak hours). No additional driver is then required for the trip in comparison to buses.
In general, trams provide a higher capacity service than buses.
Multiple entrances allow trams to load faster than suburban coaches, which tend to have a single entrance. This, combined with swifter acceleration and braking, lets trams maintain higher overall speeds than buses, if congestion allows.[50]
The trams' stops in the street are easily accessible, unlike stations of subways and commuter railways placed underground (with several escalators, stairways etc.) or in the outskirts of the city center.
Rights-of-way for trams are narrower than for buses. This saves valuable space in cities with high population densities and/or narrow streets.
Trams can trackshare with mainline railways, servicing smaller towns without requiring special track as in Stadtbahn Karlsruhe and at greater speed than buses.
Passenger comfort is normally superior to buses because of controlled acceleration and braking and curve easement. Rail transport such as used by trams provides a smoother ride than road use by buses.
Because the tracks are visible, it is easy for potential riders to know where the routes are.
Because trams run on rails, the ride is far more comfortable than that of a rubber-tyred bus. Blemishes in the road surface are far less noticeable.
Vehicles run more efficiently and overall operating costs are lower.[51]
Trams can run on renewable electricity without the need for very expensive and short life batteries.[52]
Consistent market research and experience over the last 50 years in Europe and North America shows that car commuters are willing to transfer some trips to rail-based public transport but not to buses. Typically light rail systems attract between 30 and 40% of their patronage from former car trips. Rapid transit bus systems attract less than 5% of trips from cars, less than the variability of traffic.[52]
Disadvantages
Tram infrastructure (such as island platforms) occupies urban space at ground-level, sometimes to the exclusion of other users.
The capital cost is higher than for buses, even though a tramcar usually has a much longer lifetime than a bus.
One study concluded that it would cost less to buy new fuel efficient cars for the low income riders of light rail who do not have cars than it does to subsidize light rail.[53] However, others assert the study was "poorly researched and analytically deficient"[54] or otherwise deficient.[55]
Trams can cause speed reduction for other transport modes (buses, cars) when stops in the middle of the road do not have pedestrian refuges, as in such configurations other traffic cannot pass whilst passengers alight or board the tram.
When operated in mixed traffic (street running), trams are more likely to be delayed by disruptions in their lane. Buses, by contrast, can sometimes manoeuver around obstacles. Opinions differ on whether the deference that drivers show to tramsa cultural issue that varies by countryis sufficient to counteract this disadvantage.
Tram tracks can be hazardous for cyclists, as bikes, particularly those with narrow tyres, may get their wheels caught in the track grooves.[56] It is possible to close the grooves of the tracks on critical sections by rubber profiles that are pressed down by the wheelflanges of the passing tram but that cannot be lowered by the weight of a cyclist. If not well-maintained, however, these lose their effectiveness over time.
When wet, tram tracks tend to become slippery and thus dangerous for bicycles and motorcycles, especially in traffic.[56][57][58] In some cases, even cars can be affected.[59]
Steel wheel trams are noisier than rubber-wheeled buses or trolleybuses when cornering if there are no additional measures taken (e.g. greasing wheel flanges, which is standard in new-built systems). In older trams, the wheels are fixed onto axles so they have to rotate together, but going around curves, one wheel or the other has to slip, and that causes loud unpleasant squeals. A related improvement is rubber isolation between the wheel disc and the rim, as used on Boston (Massachusetts, US) Green Line 3400 and 3600 series cars. These cars are much quieter than those with solid metal wheels. (This construction requires a flexible cable to electrically connect the tire to the wheel body.)[citation needed]
Trams usually have less effective suspension systems than buses, which tends to negate the ride quality benefits of steel rails.[citation needed]
The opening of new tram and light rail systems has sometimes been accompanied by a marked increase in car accidents, as a result of drivers' unfamiliarity with the physics and geometry of trams.[60] Though such increases may be temporary, long-term conflicts between motorists and light rail operations can be alleviated by segregating their respective rights-of-way and installing appropriate signage and warning systems.[61]
Rail transport can expose neighbouring populations to moderate levels of low-frequency noise. However, transportation planners use noise mitigation strategies to minimize these effects.[62] Most of all, the potential for decreased private motor vehicle operations along the trolley's service line because of the service provision could result in lower ambient noise levels than without.
In the event of a breakdown or accident, or even roadworks and maintenance, a whole section of the tram network can be blocked. Buses and trolleybuses can often get past minor blockages, although trolleybuses are restricted by how far they can go from the wires. Conventional buses can divert around major blockages as well, as can most modern trolleybuses that are fitted with auxiliary engines or traction batteries. The tram blockage problem can be mitigated by providing regular crossovers so a tram can run on the opposite line to pass a blockage, although this can be more difficult when running on road sections shared with other road users or when both tracks happen to be blocked. On extensive networks diversionary routes may be available depending on the location of the blockage. Breakdown related problems can be reduced by minimising the situations where a tram would be stuck on route, as well as making it as simple as possible for another tram to rescue a failed one.
Exclusive right of way (by law, or by physical exclusion) today can also be achieved by other modes of transport, which may claim to have a lower cost for a new system (like ULTra personal rapid transit). Dedicated busways with diesel or electric buses can support commuter services (such as Bus à Haut Niveau de Service in Paris, and BHNS High Level Service Bus in UK) with features (such as Solaris Urbino 18 Hybrid MetroStyle) similar to new trams. New technologies have blurred the previously rigid lines among traditional rail services, traditional bus services, and private automobiles, with new hybrid mode systems under development. Experimental vehicles, such as China's straddle bus promise new capabilities and flexibility not seen in traditional systems.
In media
In literature
One of the earliest literary references to trams occurs on the second page of Henry James's novel The Europeans:
From time to time a strange vehicle drew near to the place where they stoodsuch a vehicle as the lady at the window, in spite of a considerable acquaintance with human inventions, had never seen before: a huge, low, omnibus, painted in brilliant colours, and decorated apparently with jingling bells, attached to a species of groove in the pavement, through which it was dragged, with a great deal of rumbling, bouncing, and scratching, by a couple of remarkably small horses.
Published in 1878, the novel is set in the 1840s, though horse trams were not introduced in Boston till the 1850s. Note how the tram's efficiency surprises the European visitor; how two "remarkably small" horses sufficed to draw the "huge" tramcar.
James also makes comical reference to the novelty and excitement of trams in Portrait of a Lady (1881):
Henrietta Stackpole was struck with the fact that ancient Rome had been paved a good deal like New York, and even found an analogy between the deep chariot-ruts traceable in the antique street and the overjangled iron grooves which express the intensity of American life.[63]
A quarter of a century later, Joseph Conrad described Amsterdam's trams in chapter 14 of The Mirror of the Sea (1906): From afar at the end of Tsar Peter Straat, issued in the frosty air the tinkle of bells of the horse tramcars, appearing and disappearing in the opening between the buildings, like little toy carriages harnessed with toy horses and played with by people that appeared no bigger than children.
In episode 6 (Hades) of James Joyce's Ulysses (1918), the party on the way to Paddy Dignam's funeral in a horse-drawn carriage idly debates the merits of various tramway improvements:
- I can't make out why the corporation doesn't run a tramline from the parkgate to the quays, Mr Bloom said. All those animals could be taken in trucks down to the boats.
- Instead of blocking up the thoroughfare, Martin Cunningham said. Quite so. They ought to.
- Yes, Mr Bloom said, and another thing I often thought is to have municipal funeral trams like they have in Milan, you know. Run the line out to the cemetery gates and have special trams, hearse and carriage and all. Don't you see what I mean?
O that be damned for a story, Mr Dedalus said. Pullman car and saloon diningroom.
A poor lookout for Corny [the undertaker], Mr Power added.
Why? Mr Bloom asked, turning to Mr Dedalus. Wouldn't it be more decent than galloping two abreast?[64]
In his fictionalised but autobiographical Memoirs of an Infantry Officer, published in 1930, Siegfried Sassoon's narrator ruminates from his hospital bed in Denmark Hill, London, in 1917 that "Even the screech and rumble of electric trams was a friendly sound; trams meant safety; the troops in the trenches thought about trams with affection."[65]
Danzig trams figure extensively in the early stages of Günter Grass's Die Blechtrommel (The Tin Drum). In the last chapter the novel's hero Oskar Matzerath and his friend Gottfried von Vittlar steal a tram late at night from outside Unterrath depot on the northern edge of Düsseldorf.
It is a surreal journey. Von Vittlar drives the tram through the night, south to Flingern and Haniel and then east to the suburb of Gerresheim. Meanwhile, inside, Matzerath tries to rescue the half-blind Victor Weluhn (who had escaped from the siege of the Polish post office in Danzig at the beginning of the book and of the war) from his two green-hatted would-be executioners. Mazerath deposits his briefcase, which contains Sister Dorotea's severed ring finger in a preserving jar, on the dashboard "where professional motorman put their lunchboxes". They leave the tram at the terminus and the executioners tie Weluhn to a tree in von Vittlar's mother's garden and prepare to machine-gun him. But Matzerath drums, Weluhn sings, and together they conjure up the Polish cavalry, who spirit both victim and executioners away. Matzerath asks von Vittlar to take his briefcase in the tram to the police HQ in the Fürstenwall, which he does.
The latter part of this route is today served by tram route 703 terminating at Gerresheim Stadtbahn station ("by the glassworks" as Grass notes, referring to the famous glass factory).[66]
In his 1967 spy thriller An Expensive Place to Die, Len Deighton misidentifies the Flemish coast tram: "The red glow of Ostend is nearer now and yellow trains rattle alongside the motor road and over the bridge by the Royal Yacht Club[67]..."[68]
In popular culture
Dziga Vertov's experimental 1929 film Man with a Movie Camera includes shots of trams (at 10 and 42 minutes).
The Rev W. Awdry wrote about GER Class C53 called Toby the Tram Engine, which starred his The Railway Series with his faithful coach, Henrietta.
A Streetcar Named Desire (play)
A Streetcar Named Desire (1951 film)
Black Orpheus (1959), of which the main male character Orfeu is a tram driver in Rio de Janeiro's tram system.
Toonerville Folks comic strip (190855) by Fontaine Fox featuring the "Toonerville Trolley that met all the trains."
The children's TV show Mister Rogers' Neighborhood featured a trolley.
The central plot of the film Who Framed Roger Rabbit involves Judge Doom, the villain, dismantling the streetcars of Los Angeles.
"The Trolley Song" in the film Meet Me in St. Louis received an Academy Award nomination.
The 1944 World Series was also known as the "Streetcar Series".
Malcolm (film), an Australian film about a tram enthusiast who uses his inventions to pull off a bank heist.
Luis Buñuel filmed La Ilusión viaja en tranvía[69] (English: Illusion Travels by Streetcar) in Mexico in 1953.
In Akira Kurosawa's film Dodesukaden a mentally ill boy pretends to be a tram conductor.
The Stompin' Tom Connors song "To It And At It" mentions a man who "can't afford the train, he's sittin' on a streetcar, but he's eastbound just the same."
The predominance of trams (trolleys) gave rise to the disparaging term trolley dodger for residents of the borough of Brooklyn in New York City. That term, shortened to "Dodger" became the nickname for the Brooklyn Dodgers (now the Los Angeles Dodgers).
Jens Lekman has a song titled "Tram No. 7 to Heaven", a reference to line 7 of the Gothenburg tram which passes through his native borough of Kortedala.
The band Beirut has a song titled "Fountains and Tramways" on the EP Pompeii.
The Elephant Will Never Forget, an 11-minute film made in 1953 by British Transport Films to celebrate the London tram network at the time of the last few days of its operation.
A W-class tram was used at the opening ceremony of the 2006 Commonwealth Games in Melbourne.
The Full Monty, set in Sheffield, managed to squeeze a tram passing in the background into three scenes.
2009 Thomas Haggerty composed and produced 'Tram' generations 1, 2 and 3 for the popular group TRAM.
A collaboration between John Ward and Elizabeth Harrod: "a great tram."
In Chrome Shelled Regios, trams are being used in the Academy City Zuelni.
Trams feature in the opening credits of the world's longest running TV soap opera Coronation Street, set in a fictional suburb of Greater Manchester. A Blackpool tram killed one of the main characters in 1989 and the most recent faked accident involved a tram (modelled on the Manchester Metrolink) careering off a viaduct into the set in 2009.
In the news
In the Tottenham Outrage in 1909, two armed robbers hijacked a tram and were chased by the police in another tram.
On 7 June 1926 Catalan architect Antoni Gaudí was knocked down by a Barcelona tram and subsequently died.
In scale modelling
Model trams are popular in HO scale (1:87) and O scale (1:48 in the US and generally 1:43,5 and 1:45 in Europe and Asia). They are typically powered and will accept plastic figures inside. Common manufacturers are Roco and Lima, with many custom models being made as well. The German firm Hödl[70] and the Austrian Halling[71] specialize in 1:87 scale.[72]
In the US, Bachmann Industries is a mass supplier of HO trams and kits. Bowser Manufacturing has produced white metal models for over 50 years.[73] There are many boutique vendors offering limited run epoxy and wood models. At the high end are highly detailed brass models which are usually imported from Japan or Korea and can cost in excess of $500. Many of these run on 16.5 mm (0.650 in) gauge track, which is correct for the representation of 4 ft 8 1⁄2 in (1,435 mm) (standard gauge) in HO scale as in US and Japan, but incorrect in 4 mm (1:76.2) scale, as it represents 4 ft 8 1⁄2 in (1,435 mm). This scale/gauge hybrid is called OO scale. O scale trams are also very popular among tram modellers because the increased size allows for more detail and easier crafting of overhead wiring. In the US these models are usually purchased in epoxy or wood kits and some as brass models. The Saint Petersburg Tram Company[74] produces highly detailed polyurethane non-powered O Scale models from around the world which can easily be powered by trucks from vendors like Q-Car.[75]
In the US, one of the best resources for model tram enthusiasts is the East Penn Traction Club of Philadelphia.[76]
It is thought that the first example of a working model tramcar in the UK built by an amateur for fun was in 1929, when Frank E. Wilson created a replica of London County Council Tramways E class car 444 in 1:16 scale, which he demonstrated at an early Model Engineer Exhibition. Another of his models was London E/1 1800, which was the only tramway exhibit in the Faraday Memorial Exhibition of 1931. Together with likeminded friends, Frank Wilson went on to found the Tramway & Light Railway Society[77] in 1938, establishing tramway modelling as a hobby.
Types
Regional
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] | null | [] | 2021-02-11T07:27:08+00:00 | The classification of tram drives and their control methods and the theoretical approach to energy analysis are presented. | et | ET-EX Machina | https://www.etexm.eu/references-for-electric-public-transport/ | 1. Project for conversion of NRV trams to 750 V supply voltage – 2020 and implementation – 2021. The voltages, currents and temperatures of the tram drive components were modeled on a computer at 25% increased supply voltage. The operation of the auxiliary power converters and the battery charger was tested up to 1100 V DC. Tram driving tests at increased supply voltage – will continue in 2021.
2. Update of the automated tester software for tram NRV electronics assemblies and 3-day training of HCT’s new electronics specialists: MLNRV control system, control electronics, tester and its use – continues in 2021.
3. Production of upgraded RCDs for trams MLNRV I, MLNRV II of HCT – 2021. The RCD measures the leakage current of the insulation of the tram’s DC power circuits. If the limit value is exceeded, the main switch of the tram is switched off.
4. Production of modernized control cards B6ML for HKL trams MLNRV I, MLNRV II – 2019, 2021. The control card B6ML forms the control signals of the tram traction drive during acceleration and braking.
5. Study of HKL Artic battery charger-inverters on the possibility of alternative units – 2019. The customer was interested in whether it is possible to use alternative converter units.
6. Production of MLNRV II RCD circuits (snubbers) for trams – 2018, 2016. The RCD circuit of the traction converter limits the overvoltages of the power semiconductors during the electric braking process.
7. Examination of wheel axle magnetization and faults of forced stop devices of HKL metro trains type M200 – 2017. It had to be checked, whether the magnetization of the wheel axles could have caused false applications of the forced stop device.
8. Preparation of an expert opinion on the market price for the repair of HKL metro trains M100 PWM power modules – 2017. The client needed an expert assessment.
9. Production of modernized control cards B10 for trams MLNRV I, MLNRV II – 2017. B10 controls the magnetic flux strength of traction motors during acceleration and braking depending on the tram speed and traction power reference.
10. Design and production of modernized control cards B14, C2, C6 / C10, A38 / B2, B22, A2, A26, A14, A18, A30, A34 and B6ML for trams MLNRV I, MLNRV II – 2016. During the modernization, the control electronics were transferred to a modern element base. More complex analog circuits were replaced by microprocessor circuits.
11. Design and installation of an energy meter for the CAF Urbos tram of Tallinna Linnatranspordi AS – 2016. The customer requested the addition of an energy meter in order to keep accurate records of the energy consumption of a specific type of tram in relation to carbon dioxide quotas.
12. Design and production of modernized control cards A22, A18, A30, B18, B26, A10 for trams MLNRV I, MLNRV II – 2015. During the modernization, the control electronics were transferred to a modern elementary base. More complex analog circuits were replaced by microprocessor circuits.
13. Leakage current problem consultation on HKL MLNRV trams no. 104 and 105 and 77 and 79 – 2015. It was necessary to find out the reason why the fault current protection was applied between these trams, although everything seemed to be in order. The increased leakage current was partly caused by broken wheel ground connections.
14. Update of the test program of the card tester of control cards A18 and A22 – 2015. The test programs were updated according to the customer’s wishes.
15. Design and production of modernized control cards B18, A10, B26 for trams MLNRV I and MLNRV II – 2014. During the modernization, the control electronics were transferred to a modern elementary base. More complex analog circuits were replaced by microprocessor circuits.
16. Design and manufacture of electronic assembly automatic test equipment (ATE) for testing the electronics of HKL NRV trams in 2014. Manual testing of complex electronic control cards requires a qualified electronic engineer and the work can be time consuming and expensive. ATE can test 24 different electronic assemblies. Testing is performed either automatically, manually, or by step-by-step troubleshooting. ATE enables very fast, accurate and complete tuning and testing of complex electronic equipment without the need for a highly qualified employee. Test reports are automatically saved to a USB memory stick or sent to the server.
17. Design and production of modernized control cards C14, C24, C30 / C34, C38, B30ML, B34M / B38M, B6M for trams MLNRV I and MLNRV II – 2013. During the modernization, the control electronics were transferred to a modern elementary base. More complex analog circuits were replaced by microprocessor circuits.
18. Production of HKL MLNRV I safety thermostats PTH200, PTH100C, door sill overtemperature protection 40°C and heating cables – 2013. Safety tram thermostats with a special tram design, which must prevent overheating of equipment in the event of a thermostat failure, are located near heaters and in the hot air duct. The floor and door sill of the fiber-based composite material of the low-bottom intermediate part of the tram are electrically heated with heating cables. Overtemperature protection prevents the floor from overheating in the event of a thermostat fault.
19. Production of HKL MLNRV I rail brake diode blocks SLDB40B1 and RCD assemblies (snubbers) – 2012, 2013. The added low-bottom intermediate part has 2 rail brakes to achieve the required braking distance. In an NRV, the series connected rail brakes are normally supplied with 600 V. When the line voltage is lost, the rail brakes are switched to the 24 V supply in parallel. The changeover of the rail brake is performed with contactors and diode blocks with a special solution. The RCD circuit of the drive inverter limits the overvoltages of the power semiconductors during the electric braking process.
20. Development and production of new solutions for various electrical equipment for HKL NRV trams – 24 different control cards, including microprocessor – controlled ABS system, power electronics assemblies and equipment, heating controllers, etc.
21. Production of tram MLNRV I temperature sensors ETS50 / 150, CTS50 / 150, ITS50 / 150, PTH100C, underfloor heating overtemperature protection – 2012. A controller and a series of temperature sensors are used to control the air conditioners in the low-floor intermediate part of the tram. Overtemperature protection prevents the floor from overheating in the event of a thermostat fault.
22. Production of tram MLNRV I temperature controllers HC24, diode blocks SLDB40B1 and heating cables – 2012, 2009 and 2008. A specially designed controller and a series of temperature sensors are used to control the air conditioners of the low-floor intermediate part connected to the tram. Heating cables are used for underfloor heating. Diode blocks are used in 600/24 V supply circuits for rail brakes.
23. Advising on the addition of low-floor intermediate sections for HKL trams NRV I and electrical project – 2012. HKL selected ET-Ex Machina (Energiatehnika OÜ), which had previous experience in NRV II and KT4SU intermediate projects, to carry out and advise on the electrical project for adding NRV I low-floor intermediate sections. The electrical equipment of the NRV Type I tram is largely similar to the NRV II, but the layout and cabling are significantly different. As the NRV I is an older type, some of the devices are also of an older type and the extent of the required upgrade was higher. The drawings and diagrams of the electrical part no longer corresponded to reality and had to be completely updated. Detailed change instructions were prepared to facilitate the conversion and to implement the same.
24. Design and production of modernized control cards B6M, B30ML, B34M / B38M for trams MLNRV I, MLNRV II – 2012. During the modernization, the control electronics were transferred to a modern elementary base. More complex analog circuits were replaced by microprocessor circuits. The B6ML control card generates the tram traction control signals during acceleration and braking. The B30ML controls the traction and braking force of tram traction motors based on speed sensor signals from cards B34M / B38M. During acceleration and braking, the slip of the drive wheels is controlled to stay within a predetermined range, preventing locking (ABS). New features include 1) automatic wheel wear compensation based on first idle speeds; 2) increased slip in winter conditions; 3) possibility to save the logbook on the memory card.
25. Electrical design of Stadin Radikat OY historical tram V 50 (1909 ASEA) electrical system restoration, electrical installation, traction engine repair, tram testing and handover in 2012. Connection to open trailer No. 233 (2013) and advice on transition to 750 V supply voltage were also planned. Stadin Radikat AB collects and restores historical trams and transports tourists with them in Helsinki. Prior to the restoration, practically all electrical equipment was missing from the tram, all that was left was the main switch, the traction controller in very poor condition and some cables over 100 years old that could not be used. In essence, we designed a new electrical installation, which was made externally as similar as possible to the original. The Strömberg traction motors and control controller were taken from donor tram no. 135 (1948). The traction engines were repaired and the tram was equipped with additional sensors to control the brake lights, rail brakes and the trailer wagon brakes. As the tram was to be used to transport tourists with an open trailer, it had to pass the same acceptance tests as for regular trams. The tram did not originally have rail brakes, but these had to be added to ensure the required braking distance and safety. This required a rebuild of the undercarriage, 24 V power and batteries that were not in the original. For the forthcoming changeover to 750 V, the battery charger must be replaced, the capacities of the accelerator and braking resistors and the voltage resistance of the components must be checked.
26. Consultations on the installation and adjustment of the MLNRV II refrigeration unit – 2011. NRV type II trams did not initially have an air conditioner and the need to add a refrigeration unit to the low-bottom intermediate sections became clear later and required significant changes. In order to ensure reliability, it proved necessary to ensure uninterrupted supply of refrigeration compressors when passing through line separators. Special ultra-capacitor energy storages were used for this purpose. The air conditioner also had to be paired with a low-floor wagon heating controller and redesigned with this software.
27. Production of HKL MLNRV underfloor heating cables and diode blocks SLDB40B1 – 2011. The low-bottom intermediate part attached to the tram was equipped with underfloor heating using heating cables. Due to the special supply voltage and small length, heating cables with a special solution had to be made. Diode blocks are used in the 600/24 V supply circuits of the added middle section rail brakes.
28. Update of MLNRV I and MLNRV II documentation, taking into account the added low-floor intermediate part – 2011. Initially, only the low floor intermediate part was designed. Due to the large number of changes that had to be made to the original wagon systems to add the intermediate part, which had not been accurately documented before, the documentation for the entire electrical and automation equipment had to be updated for both types of trams.
29. Preliminary study on the addition of the NRV I intermediate section to HKL trams – 2011. First, low-floor intermediate sections were added to 42 NRV type II trams. As this project was a good success and there was no certainty about the fate of the Variotrams, it was decided to equip 10 NRV I series trams with a low-floor intermediate section. As they are significantly older and technically different, the feasibility of a solution for adding an intermediate part needed a separate study.
30. Modernization of HKL tram GT6 and GT8 control equipment and production of servo drives – 2011, 2009 and 2008. As there were difficulties in operating Variotram type trams, in 2005 HKL bought. 11 GT6 and GT8 trams (Düvag) from Mannheim, Germany, for the World Championships in Athletics. 10 of them were equipped with HKL equipment and new dashboards produced by us, one GT8 was left in its original form. Helsinki’s tram drivers were accustomed to the light control levers of modern trams, so there was a grumble about using GT tram’s manual (crank) control controllers, which tired the tram driver’s hand. To solve the problem, joystick-operated servo drives were proposed and ordered from us. As the control of the controller was guaranteed to work even in the event of a power failure, an ultra-capacitor energy storage device was added to the servo drive.
31. Production of temperature sensors ETS50 / 150, ITS50 / 150 and temperature controllers HC24 for HCT MLNRV trams – 2011. Controllers HC24 were used to control the air conditioning of the low-floor intermediate part of the tram with indoor and outdoor temperature sensors.
32. Design and production of modernized control cards B30ML, B34M / B38M for trams MLNRV I, MLNRV II – 2011 and 2010. B30ML controls the traction and braking force of tram traction motors according to the speed sensor signals coming from cards B34M / B38M. During acceleration and braking, the slip of the drive wheels is controlled to stay within a predetermined range, preventing locking (ABS). New features include 1) automatic wheel wear compensation based on first idle speeds; 2) increased slip in winter conditions; 3) possibility to save the logbook on the memory card.
33. Electrical project for the modernization of the control system of the HCT historic tram 157, carried out for connection to Stadin Radikat AB’s restored open trailer 233 and tests – 2009 and 2011. Tram 157 did not have a 24 V system and a battery that had to be added. The interior lighting was changed to 24 V for safety. Equipment for controlling the trailer wagon brake was added. Trailer 233 was restored in Estonia. It originally had a 600 V active electromagnetic brake that could not be restored. The trailer was fitted with 2 NRV electro-hydraulic spring brakes, which are applied with half force when the controller of the tram 157 is turned more than 50% on the brake side or the compressed air brake pressure exceeds 1.8 bar. The rear wagon brakes apply with full force when the controller is fully turned on the brake side or the pressure in the pneumatic brake system exceeds 4 bar. Since 2013, the restored historic tram V50 (ASEA 1909) has been used to transport the open rear wagon 233.
34. Investigation of the wear problems of M200 gears of Helsinki metro trains 2010. Modeling and measurements of common signal disturbances on traction motors. The last traction motor and gearbox of the M200 metro train wagon all too often had failures in the bearing and gear surfaces, which may have been caused by high-frequency leakage currents of the traction converter and motor through the wheelsets. The measurements were used to find out the reasons for the increased leakage current and the current paths, and to make changes to the earthing system on the test wagon and to limit the leakage current.
35. Update of HKL MLNRV II maintenance and repair instructions – 2010. Low-floor intermediate sections were added to NRV II trams, which contain a number of equipment that needs maintenance and repair over time. A number of new devices were also added to the original wagons and the existing ones were modified. In this context, the tram maintenance and repair instructions needed to be updated and significantly improved.
36. Production of HKL MLNRV II rail brake diode blocks SLDB40B1 and RCD assemblies (snubbers) – 2010. Diode blocks are used in the 600/24 V supply circuits of the attached low-floor intermediate section rail brakes. The RCD circuit of the drive inverter limits the overvoltages of the power semiconductors during the electric braking process. In almost half of the trams, the RCDs had been removed, but at increased power they were unavoidable, and new assemblies of RCDs had to be produced.
37. Design and installation of energy meters on HCT trams NRV I, MLNRV II and Variotram – 2010. In order to find out the energy consumption of different tram types, as well as the effect of different driving style, it was necessary to install energy meters on trams. The choice and installation of the meter was complicated by the need to measure the relatively high DC voltage and current of the tram, as well as finding suitable places for sensors, meters and additional equipment, cables, etc., ensuring the required safety.
38. Consultation on the preparation of the specification for the electrical part of HKL’s procurement of new trams in 2009. At that time, HCT used Variotram type trams, which were difficult to operate in Helsinki. Preparations were started for the procurement of new trams, which were to eliminate the known shortcomings of the existing trams and significantly simplify the operation. The knowledge and experience of our and other participating companies and HCT employees in modernizing and operating trams were of great help. It was established that the new fully low-floor tram must have through-going wheel axles and freely rotating bogies that had proven their durability and suitability in Helsinki for decades. In order to keep the floor of the tram above the bogies low, the traction motors and brakes had to be placed on the sides of the bogie and the joints connecting the wagons had to be moved aside. The diameter of the wheels was also reduced. In order for even short tram wagons with only one bogie to have a reversible bogie, an original solution was devised in the HCT (patent FI124938B Rail Vehicle). The technical requirements for the electrical part of the new tram were partly based on the specification of the intermediate part of the MLNRV II tram, taking into account the possibilities of modern technology. Based on the same specification, Transtech OY manufactured for HCT Artic type trams, which have proved to be a very successful tram model. Škoda bought Transtech in 2015 and produces similar trams under different names.
39. Modernization of the lathe management of the NRV wheel profiles of HCT trams – 2009. The wheel profiles of NRV type I and II trams had to be turned twice a year. The lathe used at that time did not turn the tram wheels around during turning. Tram traction motors were used for this purpose, which were connected to an external power supply by means of a separate plug. There were many problems with the sockets under the tram, so it was recommended to use the tram’s own drive to control the motors while turning. This required changes to the tram traction drives and the addition of an additional control panel to the lathe so that the operator could properly adjust the speed of the undercarriage wheels at his workplace.
40. Design and manufacture of tram MLNRV II heating controllers – 2008 – 2009. In order to control the heating equipment of the low-floor intermediate part attached to the tram, a specially designed heating controller HC24 and a series of sensors had to be developed. Later, air conditioners were added to the intermediate parts and the heating controllers were also modernized.
41. HCT Passenger Counting System Dilax Implementation Project for MLNRV I and MLNRV II Trams – 2008. In order to optimize the schedules of tram lines, HCT requested information over data communication on how different trams are used by passengers. To do this, sensors and a central counting device had to be added to each door of the tram. The design and commissioning of the passenger counting system was our task in cooperation with Dilax.
42. Development of the automatic sound level adjustment device for the sound amplifier Vehtec of tram NR II. The automatic reporting of stop names did not take into account the noise level on the tram. As a result, the acoustic announcements of the tram full of passengers in the middle of the city noise were too quiet and startlingly loud for people at quiet terminals. HSL commissioned us to develop a volume control that takes into account the noise level of the cabin. The device worked very well, but was not widely used, because the acoustic messages of the stop names were given up due to the information boards.
43. Compilation of the spring braking device manual for HCT trams GT6 and GT8 – 2008. The low-floor intermediate sections of GT 8 trams used RACO’s electromechanical release spring brake GBM V-08 MA with control unit 6GQ9 101 (Siemens) with microprocessor control. The reference value was calculated from the signals of the brake current sensor and the wagon weight sensor. The device was quite complicated, included an ABS system, etc. There was partial information from several different sources in German. We have compiled a complete user guide in Finnish.
44. Design and manufacture of new HCT-style dashboards for HCT trams GT6 and GT8 – 2007. In 2005, HCT purchased 11 GT6 and GT8 trams (Düvag) from Mannheim, Germany, to cope with the increased capacity of the World Athletics Championships. 10 of them were equipped with HKL equipment and the new HCT-style dashboards we produced, one GT8 was left in its original form.
45. Production of MLNRV 18 uH commutation chokes for HKL trams – 2007. NRV I and NRV II used forced commutation thyristor converters in DC traction drives. Over time, the switching chokes had experienced insulation surges and other failures, so they were no longer sufficient. Spare parts could no longer be ordered as production was discontinued and the company that produced them was sold. We produced new chokes, which are still in use.
46. Maintenance contract for static auxiliary power converters and traction drives for Tallinn Tram Park trams – 2007. TTTK AS, in cooperation with Tallinn University of Technology, had produced traction converters and battery chargers for KT4SU type trams. These converters required periodic maintenance, such as air filter replacement, cleaning, and so on.
47. Modernization of tram speed sensors – on all MLNRV I and MLNRV II type trams from 2006 to 2015. NRV type tram speed sensors used obsolete type single channel inductive sensors, which occasionally gave speed errors. The sensors were replaced with modern permanent magnet Hall encoders. To do this, the encoder wheel also had to be replaced. The speed measurement errors caused by the sensors no longer occur and the trams then work very reliably.
48. Advising VIS (Verkehrs Industrie Systeme GmbH) in Germany on the production of electrical components for intermediate parts of MLNRV I and MLNRV II for HCT trams – 2009. HCT procured the production of 52 low-floor tram intermediate parts from Verkehrs Industrie Systeme GmbH in Germany. Since the electrical part of the intermediate parts was designed by us, we built the electrical equipment of the prototype of the intermediate part and compiled their test instructions, then consulting was also ordered from us.
49. Compilation of testing instructions for the electrical part of the MLNRV I and MLNRV II intermediate parts for HKL trams – 2009. The electrical part for adding intermediate parts was designed by us and we also built the electrical equipment for the prototype of the intermediate part. However, as an international procurement was carried out for the production of intermediate parts, a testing manual was also required to identify possible defects, which was ordered from us.
50. Electrical design, prototype construction, testing and handover of HCT tram NR II low – floor intermediate sections in accordance with Bostrab standards in 2006.
51. Compilation of MLNRV I and MLNRV II electrical overhaul instructions for HCT trams in 2005. Previously, HCT had made significant updates to the overhaul of the mechanical part of these trams and the corresponding instructions, but the electrical part was not covered by the instructions.
52. Advising HKL on feasibility study, calculations, modeling to add low-floor intermediate sections for NR II (Valmet) trams and NRV II traction modernization project to increase capacity when adding an intermediate section – 2005. To ensure free movement of people with reduced mobility, HKL had procured new low-floor trams with frequent technical problems. Therefore, the possibility of adding low-floor intermediate sections to existing high-floor NRV (Valmet) trams was considered. The additional wagon would increase the weight of the tram, which could cause problems in keeping to the timetable and be dangerous to traffic due to the extension of the braking distance. In order to solve these problems at the outset, the reserve for increasing the power of the tram traction unit had to be studied and the need for additional braking systems for the additional wagon had to be modeled on a computer.
53. HCT equipment installation project for GT 6 and GT 8 trams and study of heating equipment and thermal insulation – 2005. In 2005, HKL purchased 11 GT6 and GT8 trams (Düvag) from Mannheim, Germany, to cope with the largest passenger capacity of the World Athletics Championships. Before being allowed to carry passengers, they had to reorganize their equipment and install HCT equipment. It was our job to design the changes. The control of lights and interior lighting, the control of the dashboard, the mirrors and the windscreen washer, as well as the turn control system had to be changed. A new dashboard was designed according to HCT’s wishes. The project solved the integration of sound amplifier, stop information system, information boards, radio transceiver, ticketing device, validators, etc. into tram systems. A separate study was conducted on the GT6 and GT8 heating system and thermal insulation to determine their properties and suitability for use in Helsinki winter conditions.
54. Investigation of the causes of power thyristor failures of TTTK AS trolleybuses Škoda 14Tr – 2005. Based on statistical data, the causes of power thyristor block insulation flash-overs and short circuits, control electronics and cooling system failures were found in these trolleybuses. The operating modes of the thyristors were checked by calculations and measurements. Solutions were proposed to eliminate the causes of the problems found in trolleybuses and the workshop, and suggestions were made to supplement the repair instructions for the traction converter.
55. Development of static IGBT battery charger inverters for TTTK AS Tallinn tram park in 2002. At that time, the main KT4SU type trams in Tallinn used a motor generator as a 24 V auxiliary power source. There were many problems with the motor generator, in addition to which it no longer had enough power to power the electrical equipment in the low-floor intermediate sections. As we had successfully designed and manufactured IGBT traction converters for the same trams, we also received an order for the development and production of static voltage converters. The converters had 24 V 200 A DC and 3 x 400 V 50 Hz 2.5 kVA AC output.
56. Advising TTTK AS on the tram fleet and MGB (Mittenwalden Gerätebau GmbH) (with Stadler winding technology) for the addition of low-floor intermediate sections to KT4SU trams with innovative IGBT traction – 2000; testing, delivery in 2002 As we spoke German and had full knowledge of the innovative IGBT traction we designed and how it could handle the extra weight of an additional low-floor wagon and integrate it with tram systems, we were commissioned to advise on the addition of the intermediate section and to receive the low-bottom section in Germany. We translated the technical texts of a number of intermediate sections into Estonian and compiled the instructions for the low-floor intermediate section of the extended tram.
57. In cooperation with Tallinn University of Technology, development, testing and production of IGBT traction converters for trams KT 4 in Tallinn Tram Park (based on Jüri Joller’s doctoral thesis). There were 30 of them in use during 15 years, 12 of them with low-floor intermediate parts – in 2000 – 2004. In 2021, the last such tram No. 104 will still be operational.
58. Series of patents based on Jüri Joller’s doctoral thesis:
EE04909B1 · Power exchange control system for vehicles connected to the supply line EE00332U1 · Electric vehicle traction converter
EE05445B1 Electric vehicle traction unit
EE00331U1 High frequency auxiliary power supply for electric vehicles
59. Jüri Joller’s doctoral thesis “Research and development of energy-efficient traction drives for trams” Tallinn University of Technology, 2001. The doctoral thesis dealt with the problems of tram traction drives. The classification of tram drives and their control methods and the theoretical approach to energy analysis are presented. The tram energy balance equations and the energy flow diagram have been compiled on the basis of the energy analysis of the drive system structure, theoretical research and real measurement results. The possibilities of energy saving of Tallinn trams have been identified in the work. To this end, computer models of the traction unit have been developed and compared with actual measurements. The most important practical part of the doctoral thesis is the development of a 160 kW energy-efficient tram drive for the Tallinn Tram and Trolley Bus Co with an original circuit solution. The drive converter based on the latest power transistor modules can be used for both DC and AC drives with few modifications. The use of super-capacitor energy storages in tram drives was also proposed, which was practically not implemented due to lack of money, but was protected by patents. | |||||
5064 | dbpedia | 1 | 26 | https://yle.fi/a/74-20085060 | en | Helsinki tram service resumes after late April snowstorm | https://images.cdn.yle.fi/image/upload/c_crop,x_0,y_196,w_3771,h_2121/w_1200,ar_1.91,c_fill/q_auto:eco,f_auto,fl_lossy/v1713849182/39-1274460662743131a296 | https://images.cdn.yle.fi/image/upload/c_crop,x_0,y_196,w_3771,h_2121/w_1200,ar_1.91,c_fill/q_auto:eco,f_auto,fl_lossy/v1713849182/39-1274460662743131a296 | [
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"Yle News"
] | 2024-04-23T09:08:24+03:00 | The exceptional late spring snow meant many services were disrupted in Helsinki, Turku and other cities. | en | News | https://yle.fi/a/74-20085060 | Helsinki's tram network shut down completely on Tuesday, after freezing rain and snowfall iced up overhead power lines and jammed the points at various points around the network.
More than 20cm of new snow fell across most of southern Finland, with 28cm measured in Espoo and more arriving during the afternoon.
The freak April weather left several trams stuck along the number 15 line, and with winter maintenance machines already in storage for the summer, operators made the decision to cancel all tram services for the whole day.
However, the tram service restarted around 1:45 pm, HSL said. Service on light rail route 15 gradually resumed from 2:30 pm.
Many HSL bus services were also delayed or cancelled, with driving conditions described as 'very bad' by the Meteorological Institute.
Metro services and commuter trains were running normally, although K and I trains were on a reduced timetable.
"This is a very unusual situation, but this weather is also unusual," said Helsinki Region Transport (Finnish acronym HSL) press officer Johannes Laitila, who urged travellers to allow more time for their journeys.
Maintenance trams in storage
Metropolitan Area Transport Ltd, which runs trams across the capital region, said it was working to get services up and running again.
Maintenance workers were clearing snow from the tracks and clearing ice from points, the firm was struggling to de-ice overhead power lines.
Normally glycol is used for that purpose, but the company said equipment used to apply it had already been taken into storage for the summer.
"Unfortunately the severity of the weather surprised us," said Antti Vigelius, who heads up Metropolitan Area Transport Ltd' maintenance unit, in a press statement.
"Problems with tram services could continue for as long as the freezing rain continues."
The unusually late snowfall hit towns nationwide, with Turku also cancelling a large proportion of its bus services on Tuesday morning.
Local police in south-west Finland reported around a dozen road traffic accidents, with no serious injuries reported.
16.37: Updated with tram service, snowfall, other details. | |||
5064 | dbpedia | 2 | 73 | https://www.wikiwand.com/en/Third_rail | en | Third rail | [
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] | null | [] | null | A third rail, also known as a live rail, electric rail or conductor rail, is a method of providing electric power to a railway locomotive or train, through a semi-continuous rigid conductor placed alongside or between the rails of a railway track. It is used typically in a mass transit or rapid transit system, which has alignments in its own corridors, fully or almost fully segregated from the outside environment. Third-rail systems are usually supplied from direct current electricity. | en | Wikiwand | https://www.wikiwand.com/en/Third_rail | This article is about the power system for railways. For other uses, see Third rail (disambiguation).
"Power rail" redirects here. For the use in power supplies, see Power rail (power supplies).
A third rail, also known as a live rail, electric rail or conductor rail, is a method of providing electric power to a railway locomotive or train, through a semi-continuous rigid conductor placed alongside or between the rails of a railway track. It is used typically in a mass transit or rapid transit system, which has alignments in its own corridors, fully or almost fully segregated from the outside environment. Third-rail systems are usually supplied from direct current electricity.
Modern tram systems with street-running avoid the risk of electrocution by the exposed electric rail by implementing a segmented ground-level power supply, where each segment is electrified only while covered by a vehicle which is using its power.[1] | |||||
5064 | dbpedia | 0 | 85 | https://m.facebook.com/groups/124907828187769/posts/1234606957217845/ | en | Facebook | [] | [] | [] | [
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5064 | dbpedia | 3 | 48 | https://trammuseum.fi/181/ | en | Browse the picture collection | [
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] | null | [
"mirella.lampela"
] | 2015-12-02T15:01:04+00:00 | Browse our extensive picture collections to learn more about trams in Helsinki. | en | Tram museum | https://trammuseum.fi/181/ | Trams have been clattering around the streets of Helsinki for more than one hundred years. The museum’s extensive picture collections tell a story of tram history from horse-powered trams to the 3T line. Get to know the history of trams through the nostalgic photos. | |||||
5064 | dbpedia | 1 | 5 | https://trammuseum.fi/trams-in-helsinki/ | en | Trams in Helsinki | http://ratikkamuseo.fi/wp-content/uploads/sites/4/2015/11/thumbnail.jpg | http://ratikkamuseo.fi/wp-content/uploads/sites/4/2015/11/thumbnail.jpg | [
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] | null | [] | 2015-11-05T14:06:18+00:00 | The construction of tram lines in Helsinki began in 1890 and regular tram traffic in 1891. The total length of […] | en | Tram museum | https://trammuseum.fi/trams-in-helsinki/ | The construction of tram lines in Helsinki began in 1890 and regular tram traffic in 1891. The total length of the route network was 8.5 kilometres. The gauge was one metre. To begin with, the route network only ran in one direction. There were no stops—you could get into the tram anywhere along the route.
The tram was pulled by a single horse in three-hour shifts. Another horse was harnessed to help pull the tram uphill. The horses learned to know the route so well that they knew it even in the dark and in bad weather.
There were originally two horse tram lines: Töölö–Kauppatori–Kaivopuisto and Sörnäinen–Kauppatori–Lapinlahti. The stables were located in the Ruusula district of Töölö. The Tram Museum is now located in the same area, in the tram hall built in 1900.
“Don’t stay and block the door, move away to make more room!”
The lines were marked with different colours as even many adults lacked proper reading skills. Remembering the different colours of routes was enough to be able to cope in traffic. The number and letter identifiers of routes were introduced in the 1920s. Routes to the suburbs were allocated letters, while numbers were used for other lines.
The first tickets were tokens. In the 1900’s, paper and cardboard tickets were introduced, which were punched or stamped by conductors. Conductors took care of order in the trams until 1987.
The tram network expanded as the city grew. The population needed a fast and cheap means of transport. Expanding the horse-powered network was not worthwhile, and electricity became the source of power in 1900.
“Step in and out in pairs of two—a faster trip for me and you!”
The 1930s were the golden age of tram traffic. At the beginning of the decade, 168 motorised trams and 147 trailers were in traffic. By 1939, there were already 61 million tram trips annually.
Helsinki’s public transport relied on trams at the beginning of World War II. Buses had been put into military use. There was a shortage of electricity and drivers, and the fleet was deteriorating because of the lack of spare parts and repair. It took years to recover from the war.
“No talking to the driver.”
In the 1960s, more and more citizens of Helsinki got their own car, which caused the traffic to get jammed. People started to think that trams were clumsy, and even giving them up completely was considered.
In the 1970s, public opinion started to favour trams again. Helsinki City Transport started acquiring new articulated trams. Separate lanes were allocated to trams and the traffic started running more and more smoothly. New routes were created as the city expanded. Trams are currently an inseparable part of Helsinki’s cityscape and urban culture. | |||
5064 | dbpedia | 2 | 45 | https://www.iea.org/energy-system/transport/rail | en | Rail | [
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] | null | [] | null | Urban and high-speed rail infrastructures have scaled up rapidly over the past decade, laying the foundation for convenient, low-emissions transport within and between cities. | en | /assets/front/images/favicon.ico | IEA | https://www.iea.org/energy-system/transport/rail | Electric rail, which accounts for over 85% of passenger rail activity and 55% of freight movements, does not emit any direct CO2 emissions. Urban rail networks such as metro and light rail tend to have significantly lower emissions than other motorised urban transport modes, especially private cars, as they are powered by electricity, have lower friction losses, and exploit high occupancy rates. On a well-to-wheels basis, rail emissions per passenger kilometre average around one-fifth of those of air travel. Emissions from electrified passenger rail are even lower when powered by renewables or nuclear power. In general, rail transports around 7% of global passenger-km and 6% of tonne-km but accounts for only around 1% of transport emissions.
Expanding rail networks and their use will be important for achieving emission reductions to get on track with the NZE Scenario. European players are planning important investments in rail transport to make it more appealing to travellers, especially as an alternative to short-haul flights.
The overall final energy mix of rail is currently split between diesel and electricity, with diesel consumption being 53% of total final energy demand compared to 45% of electricity share in 2022 (and biodiesel accounting for the remaining 1%). By 2030 in the NZE Scenario, electricity makes up 60% of total energy demand, with diesel still accounting for over a third, and biodiesel for most of the remaining share, with very minimal penetration of hydrogen.
Diesel, in particular, plays a much more prominent role in freight rail, accounting for 75% of its total energy consumption worldwide in 2022. Continuous progress on freight electrification sees this share dropping to around 55% by 2030 in the NZE Scenario.
Rail is also being more frequently explored as a solution that can provide synergies across the transport and energy sectors, which can bring numerous benefits, especially in developing economies:
energy access – bringing clean energy access to wider geographies through rail network projects
energy security - using rail infrastructure to regulate electricity demand and manage energy storage
sustainability – using electric rail as a baseload demand guarantee to support the business case for renewable energy investments. Additionally, if the area is particularly suitable for clean energy generation, this can make the case for electrification of the rail infrastructure bringing green financing to the transport sector.
The world’s operating metro systems cover more than 21 000 km. Over one-third of these were put into operation between 2017 and 2021, and 80% of these new metro lines were built in Chinese cities. The picture for light rail, which has lower capacities and speeds, is similar, if less stark: over 10% of operating lines were put in place in the same five years, with just under half of them in China. The resulting efficiency of urban mobility in China results in far lower per-capita transport emissions than in cities of the developed world that are not served by metro, and can help China realise its net zero CO2 emission commitments.
More than 20 countries have developed high-speed rail networks, totalling almost 60 000 km of line. China already has about 70% of the world’s line length and has long-term plans to operate nearly 65 000 km. Morocco has had great success with high-speed rail, opening the first high-speed rail system in Africa in 2018, and – in 2022 – starting to power its high-speed trains with renewable energy. Under the NZE Scenario, activity levels in high-speed rail need to increase by 75% in 2030.
Night rail services offer additional traffic at a lower marginal cost, making infrastructure investments more profitable. Renewed interest has led to an expansion of night rail connections, demonstrating that this form of travel is gaining appeal and becoming a valid competitor with aviation for short- and medium-distance trips. Europe has seen the opening of several new night lines over the past couple of years, including overnight trains between Paris and Vienna, Amsterdam and Zurich, and Brussels and Prague, each with a number of intermediate stops. Night trains have continued to be an established practice after the Covid-19 pandemic in Eastern Europe, Asia and to a lesser degree in North America.
Demonstration projects in the Netherlands, Canada and Japan aim to test the viability of hydrogen as an alternative to diesel rail lines with low utilisation and as a low-carbon fuel for rail in certain operations, including for conventional (intercity) passenger rail and for freight rail.
Proponents of fuel cell trains point to their potential to run over long ranges (up to 1 000 km at a maximum speed of 140 km/h) without refuelling, noting that fuel cell trains do not require spending on catenary lines, making them more competitive with the electrification option when it comes to long-distance low-utilisation routes. They also highlight the potential for quick refuelling times.
In 2022, Germany started operating 14 hydrogen trains to serve passenger transit over a 100 km track in the state of Lower Saxony, part of a larger order from train manufacturer Alstom totalling 41 trains. In 2023, France ordered 12 hydrogen trains that will soon start test-runs, while the Italian Ministry of Infrastructure and Transport assigned EUR 300 million for the purchase of hydrogen-powered rolling stock and the production, storage and supply of renewable hydrogen.
Hydrogen projects have often been clustered in advanced economies, which have more financial resources at their disposal to invest in innovative technologies. This past year has seen some emerging and developing economies also investing in hydrogen rail projects, notably India’s 89 km long Sonipat-Jind route, where test-runs are expected to start in December 2023.
In March 2022, the Japanese JR East has started test runs of the hydrogen-hybrid train HYBARI, which is powered by hydrogen fuel cells and batteries. It is the first heavy train to use high-pressure hydrogen (70 MPa) which increases maximum distance capacity. Spain's CAF, on the other hand, has started dynamic track testing of its own hydrogen fuel cell and battery-powered hybrid train. In Chile, the mining railway Ferrocarril de Antofagasta a Bolivia will introduce hydrogen trains in 2024.
Clean Tech Guide: Transport, Rail, Biofuels, Refining, Hydrogen. Cross-cutting themes: Direct electrification.
Following the EU announcement of financial support for the commercialisation of the hyperloop technology, pioneering companies launched the "Hyperloop Association" in December 2022, and a hyperloop testing facility is being set up in Groningen.
The EU is also funding the development of Railway to Grid management systems via the E-LOBSTER project. The platform could provide a real-time energy flow management between rail, the electricity grid, energy storage and electric vehicle charging station systems, utilising the train's regenerative braking and reducing the grid's distribution losses. A testing tool has been successfully implemented in Madrid, and the innovation was demonstrated and validated at the University of Newcastle.
Stadler, Utah State University and ASPIRE Engineering Research Center are developing a fully battery electric train, the FLIRT Akku, and have already sold over 110 units and replaced diesel fleets in some places in Germany. The co-operation aims to redesign this train to meet market requirements in the United States.
China's first domestic magnetic levitation (maglev) line began testing in March 2023. The line will be 38 km long with a first phase of 8 km to open in late 2023. | ||||
5064 | dbpedia | 1 | 10 | https://www.hanning-kahl.com/press/tramnews/tramnews-archive/tramnews-108/crown-bridges-light-rail-helsinki.html | en | Crown Bridges Light Rail – Helsinki | [
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] | null | [] | null | en | www.hanning-kahl.de | https://www.hanning-kahl.com/press/tramnews/tramnews-archive/tramnews-108/crown-bridges-light-rail-helsinki.html | In the Finnish capital city, the Crown Bridges Light Rail is a new, attractive public transport connection. by Bernhard Votsmeier
Not far from Helsinki city centre, the Hakaniemi area is located in the Kallio district. Hakaniemi is an up-coming and developing area with jobs, culture and housing. There, the route begins with a junction from the existing tram route of lines 3, 6, 7 and 9 immediately before the Hakaniemi tram stop.
The rest of the route leads south-east over a total of three bridges. The architectural highlight is the 1.2 km long Kruunuvuorensilta bridge, which leads from the island of Korkeasaari to the district of Laajasalo, which is located on an island. This makes it the longest bridge in Finland. In addition to the LRT, only cyclists and pedestrians will be allowed on the bridge. Two double track changes on both sides will make it possible to route tram traffic over the bridge on a single track to the left or right in emergencies.
The total length of the route is approx. 8 km and will be mostly 2-lane. For the most part, the trains will run on a special track independently of road traffic.
Two new lines will be introduced. One line from Hakaniemi to the Haakoninlahti turning loop in the residential area of Kruunuvuorenranta and the second line to the terminus at Laajasalontie.
The journey time from Hakaniemi to the final stop Laajasalontie should be 17 minutes.
HANNING & KAHL has been awarded the contract for the signalling system for this project. A total of 8 control areas will be equipped with point controls, signalling systems, point drives and accessories. Reliable vehicle detection is carried out via blocking circuits or wheel sensors. For control commands and route requirements, the bidirectional message transmission system HCS-V is used.
All point controllers and signalling systems are connected to a central server via fibre optic cables. ConnAct Operation with the software modules Map, Operation & Observation as well as the Event Viewer is used for the visualization of the site areas and for diagnostic purposes. Existing systems will be integrated into this process.
The first test phase is planned for the 3rd quarter of 2025, with the complete test over the entire route scheduled to start in November 2025. The line is scheduled to open for regular service at the beginning of 2027.
The Crown Bridges link will ensure smooth and effective traffic both in and out of Laajasalo and into and out of the city. It is an attractive connection at a time when the population of the district will more than double due to the completion of a completely new residential district Kruunuvuorenranta. The project will also provide significantly improved transport links to and from Korkeasaari, where Helsinki Zoo is located. With more than 500,000 visitors per year, Korkeasaari is one of Helsinki‘s most popular attractions. | ||||||
5064 | dbpedia | 2 | 12 | https://www.railforums.co.uk/threads/3rd-rail-systems-outside-of-the-uk.232705/ | en | 3rd rail systems outside of the uk? | [
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] | 2022-06-06T01:12:04+00:00 | Are there any railways outside of the UK (Merseyrail and the ex Southern Region), that are electrified by 3rd rail?
I am not including Metros/Trams in... | en | RailUK Forums | https://www.railforums.co.uk/threads/3rd-rail-systems-outside-of-the-uk.232705/ | Are there any railways outside of the UK (Merseyrail and the ex Southern Region), that are electrified by 3rd rail?
I am not including Metros/Trams in this, just heavy rail. I cannot think of any off the top of my head, but I am sure there must be some.
I don’t know if there’s much now. Most electrified conventional lines in France use a 1500V DC overhead system. An AC system was being considered, but the French army insisted on DC so it could quickly relay the 3rd rail in the event of world war 3. It has never been done and all existing 3rd rail was ripped up and converted to overhead years ago. We just never spent the money doing it, which is the legacy of the Southern, as well as the L&Y, Mersey and Wirral Railways don’t forget.
I don’t know if there’s much now. Most electrified conventional lines in France use a 1500V DC overhead system. An AC system was being considered, but the French army insisted on DC so it could quickly relay the 3rd rail in the event of world war 3. It has never been done and all existing 3rd rail was ripped up and converted to overhead years ago. We just never spent the money doing it, which is the legacy of the Southern, as well as the L&Y, Mersey and Wirral Railways don’t forget.
Most? There’s a large proportion of French railways electrified at 25kV AC.
What the list in post #6 shows is that virtually nowhere has used 3rd rail as extensively on mainline electrification as the UK - you do have to wonder why, if it's such a great solution (as its supporters claim), it hasn't been more widely used........
I would argue that we're paying the price (and will be for many years) of Herbert Walker's decision to ditch the LBSC 6.6kv Overhead system in favour of widespread 3rd rail electrification - a system which really isn't suitable for mainline use.
What the list in post #6 shows is that virtually nowhere has used 3rd rail as extensively on mainline electrification as the UK - you do have to wonder why, if it's such a great solution (as its supporters claim), it hasn't been more widely used........
It seems mostly complicated to combine with level crossings to me, which are a common occurrence at many continental European main lines.
Even the third rail metro systems we've got in the Netherlands switch to overhead lines as soon as their elevated (or tunnel) tracks end.
It seems mostly complicated to combine with level crossings to me, which are a common occurrence at many continental European main lines.
Even the third rail metro systems we've got in the Netherlands switch to overhead lines as soon as their elevated (or tunnel) tracks end.
Arguably it's easier to combine 3rd rail with level crossings than OHLE is, because OHLE needs its level raised to allow tall vehicles to pass underneath. Take a look at Foxton (Cambs) where the railway crosses the A10 as an example - if you look at this video, you'll see the pantographs are at full stretch.
Whereas 3rd rail is just terminated a few feet short of the crossing.
Many Metro systems are 3rd rail (I suspect it might be the most common electrification system in the world for those)
Indeed, were the original Southern Region suburban routes not just a glorified metro system ? At least until the Brighton and Portsmouth lines were electrified, and the system subsequently extended, eg to the Kent Coast and Bournemouth, then Weymouth, by BR. There must come a point where a 3rd rail system has become so extensive that converting it to OLE becomes impossible, because the benefits are outweighed by the cost and disruption during changeover. Having said that, IMHO it is a pity that the Bournemouth line did not receive 25kV OLE instead of 3rd rail, from Woking outwards, but no doubt there were good reasons.
What the list in post #6 shows is that virtually nowhere has used 3rd rail as extensively on mainline electrification as the UK - you do have to wonder why, if it's such a great solution (as its supporters claim), it hasn't been more widely used........
A lot of that might be the first mover advantage that low frequency AC systems had.
Many of the railways keen on electrification went for 25/16.7Hz systems because practical rectifiers hadn't been invented yet.
(LFAC doesn't need rectifiers at all).
There is only a relatively narrow window when third rail systems would be favoured in an environment with small safety and labour costs for higher voltage DC electrification.
After all this was an environment when you could have workers sitting on the wiring as service trains ran underneath them. Just hold your breath when the steam and smoke hits you
Arguably it's easier to combine 3rd rail with level crossings than OHLE is, because OHLE needs its level raised to allow tall vehicles to pass underneath. Take a look at Foxton (Cambs) where the railway crosses the A10 as an example - if you look at this video, you'll see the pantographs are at full stretch.
Whereas 3rd rail is just terminated a few feet short of the crossing.
The height that the pantographs are required to extend to is perfectly within the range of their design. They can actually go higher but to give the earliest triggering of the overheight sensing when there is no OLE (damaged or wrong routing), they are set to the highest level needed. The sensors on the two class 319s that went through the Channel Tunnel before it opened for service were set above their normal UK level, so there is adequate leeway to raise the contact wire high enough to accommodate the double deck Euroshuttle wagons.
I don’t know if there’s much now. Most electrified conventional lines in France use a 1500V DC overhead system. An AC system was being considered, but the French army insisted on DC so it could quickly relay the 3rd rail in the event of world war 3. It has never been done and all existing 3rd rail was ripped up and converted to overhead years ago. We just never spent the money doing it, which is the legacy of the Southern, as well as the L&Y, Mersey and Wirral Railways don’t forget.
Most? There’s a large proportion of French railways electrified at 25kV AC.
Yes, but a large proportion of the 25kV AC network is comprised by new build high speed lines, the LGV Sud-Est was the first AC line in France. Before 1981, the SNCF was entirely DC and conventional lines remain mostly DC, but I believe there have been a few conversions.
Surely, virtually all 3rd rail on French mainlines has been removed now. For 1500VDC vs 25Kv ac, I would say that although actual 1500VDC track miles might exceed that on ac, the volume of traffic is far higher under ac OLE.
Isn’t this by the nature of DC that it can’t carry as much traffic as AC, hence conversions and much passenger traffic being moved onto LGVs?
If 3rd rail is so unsatisfactory, why do most Metros, including new ones, use it?
Such comparison discussions never seem to feature any sensible cost anaylsis of the two approaches. At installation, the 3rd rail goes down notably quickly, without the extended time, cost, and heavy civils work that overhead does. I actually watched in the mid-1980s the laying of 3rd rail on the Stratford to North Woolwich line. It virtually seemed to go in over one weekend - works train propelled by an 08 shunter, rails offloaded directly to location, bolted down, team ahead screwing in insulators, move forward one rail length to the next one. No civils, no bridge lifting, done. Cost maybe 5% per mile of what it took on the Goblin with overhead.
All the stuff about more lineside substations, but on a conventional 12-car 25kV emu there are 3 substations, transformer and everything, under each train, one per motor coach. This one is sometimes rebutted by stating that things have got more efficient with power electronics. Well, so have lineside structures benefited equally.
We may contrast two similar "intermediate" systems in Britain, developed at broadly similar times, the Tyne & Wear and the DLR. One went for overhead, the other for 3rd rail. Which in retrospect was the better solution?
If 3rd rail is so unsatisfactory, why do most Metros, including new ones, use it?
Such comparison discussions never seem to feature any sensible cost anaylsis of the two approaches. At installation, the 3rd rail goes down notably quickly, without the extended time, cost, and heavy civils work that overhead does. I actually watched in the mid-1980s the laying of 3rd rail on the Stratford to North Woolwich line. It virtually seemed to go in over one weekend - works train propelled by an 08 shunter, rails offloaded directly to location, bolted down, team ahead screwing in insulators, move forward one rail length to the next one. No civils, no bridge lifting, done. Cost maybe 5% per mile of what it took on the Goblin with overhead.
All the stuff about more lineside substations, but on a conventional 12-car 25kV emu there are 3 substations, transformer and everything, under each train, one per motor coach. This one is sometimes rebutted by stating that things have got more efficient with power electronics. Well, so have lineside structures benefited equally.
We may contrast two similar "intermediate" systems in Britain, developed at broadly similar times, the Tyne & Wear and the DLR. One went for overhead, the other for 3rd rail. Which in retrospect was the better solution?
Metros tend to use it because they usually include tunnelled sections and costs increase exponentially if you attempt to increase the tunnel diameter to accommodate overhead wires. A new overhead AC powered railway has just opened in a tunnel and how late was it?
The suburban lines out of Paris Saint-Lazare and Invalides were electrified with 750 V DC (*) third rail in the early 1900s, but were gradually converted to 25 kV (Saint-Lazare) and 1.5 kV (Invalides) in the 1960s-1970s for the most part (**). At its peak in the 1930s, this network was probably the 2nd largest third rail system in the world behind the Southern railway. Trivia: the first ever electric mainline train ran in France a few weeks before the first train of the Paris Metro.
The (Paris-Quai d’Orsay -) Paris Austerlitz - Juvisy line was also electrified with third rail in the early 1900s but was converted to 1.5 kV DC OHL in the 1920s when the whole Paris-Bordeaux mainline was electrified.
(*) Different tensions may have been used at the beginning of operations
(**) The last 3rd rail train ran in 1993 on the Issy-Puteaux line which by then had became a derelict relic of the past, a 3rd rail antique island. The line has been converted into a very successful tram in 1997.
the LGV Sud-Est was the first AC line in France. Before 1981, the SNCF was entirely DC and conventional lines remain mostly DC, but I believe there have been a few conversions.
Sorry but that's just not true. The French were pioneers of using 25kV 50Hz, the Valenciennes – Thionville line was electrified in the mid-1950's to prove the viability of 25kV 50Hz electrification. The success of that resulted in the adoption of 25kV AC as a standard for new projects, other than where they were extensions of existing 1500V electrification.
If 3rd rail is so unsatisfactory, why do most Metros, including new ones, use it?
Such comparison discussions never seem to feature any sensible cost anaylsis of the two approaches. At installation, the 3rd rail goes down notably quickly, without the extended time, cost, and heavy civils work that overhead does. I actually watched in the mid-1980s the laying of 3rd rail on the Stratford to North Woolwich line. It virtually seemed to go in over one weekend - works train propelled by an 08 shunter, rails offloaded directly to location, bolted down, team ahead screwing in insulators, move forward one rail length to the next one. No civils, no bridge lifting, done. Cost maybe 5% per mile of what it took on the Goblin with overhead.
All the stuff about more lineside substations, but on a conventional 12-car 25kV emu there are 3 substations, transformer and everything, under each train, one per motor coach. This one is sometimes rebutted by stating that things have got more efficient with power electronics. Well, so have lineside structures benefited equally.
We may contrast two similar "intermediate" systems in Britain, developed at broadly similar times, the Tyne & Wear and the DLR. One went for overhead, the other for 3rd rail. Which in retrospect was the better solution?
On a main line, the 3rd rail would result in a 15-20% power loss (forever), the need to isolate the track from earth, enhanced health and safety risks for staff and the public, poorer performance in icy conditions and significant performance hits on train peerformance resulting in extended journey times.
Most of those issues can be weighed against the once-off benefits that you have mentioned on a metro style operation, but their impact on safety and a serious main line service is distinctly unacceptable in the 21st century. | |||||
5064 | dbpedia | 2 | 86 | https://kids.kiddle.co/Rail_transport | en | Rail transport facts for kids | [
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] | null | [] | null | Learn Rail transport facts for kids | en | /images/wk/favicon-16x16.png | https://kids.kiddle.co/Rail_transport | Rail transport is the movement of passengers and goods using wheeled vehicles, made to run on railway tracks. In most countries, this transportation method helps trade and economic growth. Railways provide an energy-efficient way to transport material over land.
Tracks usually consist of steel rails, installed on ties (sleepers) set in ballast, on which the rolling stock, usually fitted with metal wheels, moves. Other variations are also possible, such as slab track. This is where the rails are fastened to a concrete foundation resting on a prepared subsurface.
Rolling stock in a rail transport system generally encounters lower frictional resistance than rubber-tired road vehicles, so passenger and freight cars (carriages and wagons) can be coupled into longer trains. The operation is carried out by a railway company, providing transport between train stations or freight customer facilities. Power is provided by locomotives which either draw electric power from a railway electrification system or produce their own power, usually by diesel engines. Most tracks are accompanied by a signalling system. Railways are a safe land transport system when compared to other forms of transport. Railway transport is capable of high levels of passenger and cargo utilization and energy efficiency, but is often less flexible and more capital-intensive than road transport, when lower traffic levels are considered.
Rail transport started to be important in the Industrial Revolution.
The oldest known, man/animal-hauled railways date back to the 6th century BC in Corinth, Greece. Rail transport then commenced in mid 16th century in Germany in the form of horse-powered funiculars and wagonways. Modern rail transport commenced with the British development of the steam locomotives in the early 19th century. Thus the railway system in Great Britain is the oldest in the world. Built by George Stephenson and his son Robert's company Robert Stephenson and Company, the Locomotion No. 1 is the first steam locomotive to carry passengers on a public rail line, the Stockton and Darlington Railway in 1825. George Stephenson also built the first public inter-city railway line in the world to use only the steam locomotives all the time, the Liverpool and Manchester Railway which opened in 1830. With steam engines, one could construct mainline railways, which were a key component of the Industrial Revolution. Also, railways reduced the costs of shipping, and allowed for fewer lost goods, compared with water transport, which faced occasional sinking of ships. The change from canals to railways allowed for "national markets" in which prices varied very little from city to city. The spread of the railway network and the use of railway timetables, led to the standardisation of time (railway time) in Britain based on Greenwich Mean Time. Prior to this, major towns and cities varied their local time relative to GMT. The invention and development of the railway in the United Kingdom was one of the most important technological inventions of the 19th century. The world's first underground railway, the Metropolitan Railway (part of the London Underground), opened in 1863.
In the 1880s, electrified trains were introduced, leading to electrification of tramways and rapid transit systems. Starting during the 1940s, the non-electrified railways in most countries had their steam locomotives replaced by diesel-electric locomotives, with the process being almost complete by the 2000s. During the 1960s, electrified high-speed railway systems were introduced in Japan and later in some other countries. Many countries are in the process of replacing diesel locomotives with electric locomotives, mainly due to environmental concerns, a notable example being Switzerland, which has completely electrified its network. Other forms of guided ground transport outside the traditional railway definitions, such as monorail or maglev, have been tried but have seen limited use.
Following a decline after World War II due to competition from cars and airplanes, rail transport has had a revival in recent decades due to road congestion and rising fuel prices, as well as governments investing in rail as a means of reducing CO2 emissions in the context of concerns about global warming.
Related pages
Railway station
Train
Level crossing
Images for kids
KTT set operating the Guangdong Through Train service on the Guangshen railway, used by the MTR Corporation, an example of modern rail transport
A DR2800 series passing Sijiaoting railway station in Ruifang District, New Taipei, Taiwan
The SL Hitoyoshi steam-hauled excursion train operating between Kumamoto and Hitoyoshi in Kyushu, Japan
Reisszug in 2011
Minecart shown in De Re Metallica (1556). The guide pin fits in a groove between two wooden planks.
A replica of a "Little Eaton Tramway" wagon, the tracks are plateways
Cast iron fishbelly edge rail manufactured by Outram at the Butterley Company ironworks for the Cromford and High Peak Railway (1831). These are smooth edgerails for wheels with flanges.
Railroad at Central of Georgia roundhouse, circa 1875.
A replica of Trevithick's engine at the National Waterfront Museum, Swansea
The Salamanca locomotive
The Locomotion at Darlington Railway Centre and Museum
Lichterfelde tram, 1882
Railway in the 1890s in Helsinki, Finland
Baltimore & Ohio electric engine
Passengers waiting to board a tube train on the London Underground in the early 1900s (sketch by unknown artist)
Maschinenfabrik Oerlikon's first commercially AC-driven locomotive, the tramway in Lugano, Switzerland, 1896
A prototype of a Ganz AC electric locomotive in Valtellina, Italy, 1901
Diagram of Priestman Oil Engine from The Steam engine and gas and oil engines (1900) by John Perry
Swiss & German co-production: world's first functional diesel–electric railcar 1914
0-Series Shinkansen, introduced in 1964, triggered the intercity train travel boom.
Russian 2TE10U Diesel-electric locomotive
A RegioSwinger multiple unit of the Croatian Railways
Interior view of a high-speed bullet train, manufactured in China
The VR Class Sm3 Pendolino high-speed train at the Central Railway Station of Tampere, Finland
SEPTA regional passenger train
Bulk cargo of minerals
Long, double-stack container train in Arizona, USA
Map of railways in Europe with main operational lines shown in black, heritage railway lines in green and former routes in light blue
Long freight train crossing the Stoney Creek viaduct on the Canadian Pacific Railway in southern British Columbia
Railroad in Macon, Georgia circa 1876
Map of the world's railways showing the different gauges in use. Breaks of gauge generally occur where lines of different track gauge meet.
Bardon Hill box in England (seen here in 2009) is a Midland Railway box dating from 1899, although the original mechanical lever frame has been replaced by electrical switches.
Goods station in Lucerne, Switzerland
In the United States, railroads such as the Union Pacific traditionally own and operate both their rolling stock and infrastructure, with the company itself typically being privately owned.
According to Eurostat and the European Railway Agency, the fatality risk for passengers and occupants on European railways is 28 times lower when compared with car usage (based on data by EU-27 member nations, 2008–2010).
BNSF Railway freight service in the United States
German Intercity Express (ICE)
Japanese E5 Series Shinkansen
German soldiers in a railway car on the way to the front in August 1914. The message on the car reads Von München über Metz nach Paris. (From Munich via Metz to Paris).
European rail subsidies in euros per passenger-km for 2008
See also | |||||
5064 | dbpedia | 0 | 70 | https://www.railforums.co.uk/threads/3rd-rail-systems-outside-of-the-uk.232705/ | en | 3rd rail systems outside of the uk? | [
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] | 2022-06-06T01:12:04+00:00 | Are there any railways outside of the UK (Merseyrail and the ex Southern Region), that are electrified by 3rd rail?
I am not including Metros/Trams in... | en | RailUK Forums | https://www.railforums.co.uk/threads/3rd-rail-systems-outside-of-the-uk.232705/ | Are there any railways outside of the UK (Merseyrail and the ex Southern Region), that are electrified by 3rd rail?
I am not including Metros/Trams in this, just heavy rail. I cannot think of any off the top of my head, but I am sure there must be some.
I don’t know if there’s much now. Most electrified conventional lines in France use a 1500V DC overhead system. An AC system was being considered, but the French army insisted on DC so it could quickly relay the 3rd rail in the event of world war 3. It has never been done and all existing 3rd rail was ripped up and converted to overhead years ago. We just never spent the money doing it, which is the legacy of the Southern, as well as the L&Y, Mersey and Wirral Railways don’t forget.
I don’t know if there’s much now. Most electrified conventional lines in France use a 1500V DC overhead system. An AC system was being considered, but the French army insisted on DC so it could quickly relay the 3rd rail in the event of world war 3. It has never been done and all existing 3rd rail was ripped up and converted to overhead years ago. We just never spent the money doing it, which is the legacy of the Southern, as well as the L&Y, Mersey and Wirral Railways don’t forget.
Most? There’s a large proportion of French railways electrified at 25kV AC.
What the list in post #6 shows is that virtually nowhere has used 3rd rail as extensively on mainline electrification as the UK - you do have to wonder why, if it's such a great solution (as its supporters claim), it hasn't been more widely used........
I would argue that we're paying the price (and will be for many years) of Herbert Walker's decision to ditch the LBSC 6.6kv Overhead system in favour of widespread 3rd rail electrification - a system which really isn't suitable for mainline use.
What the list in post #6 shows is that virtually nowhere has used 3rd rail as extensively on mainline electrification as the UK - you do have to wonder why, if it's such a great solution (as its supporters claim), it hasn't been more widely used........
It seems mostly complicated to combine with level crossings to me, which are a common occurrence at many continental European main lines.
Even the third rail metro systems we've got in the Netherlands switch to overhead lines as soon as their elevated (or tunnel) tracks end.
It seems mostly complicated to combine with level crossings to me, which are a common occurrence at many continental European main lines.
Even the third rail metro systems we've got in the Netherlands switch to overhead lines as soon as their elevated (or tunnel) tracks end.
Arguably it's easier to combine 3rd rail with level crossings than OHLE is, because OHLE needs its level raised to allow tall vehicles to pass underneath. Take a look at Foxton (Cambs) where the railway crosses the A10 as an example - if you look at this video, you'll see the pantographs are at full stretch.
Whereas 3rd rail is just terminated a few feet short of the crossing.
Many Metro systems are 3rd rail (I suspect it might be the most common electrification system in the world for those)
Indeed, were the original Southern Region suburban routes not just a glorified metro system ? At least until the Brighton and Portsmouth lines were electrified, and the system subsequently extended, eg to the Kent Coast and Bournemouth, then Weymouth, by BR. There must come a point where a 3rd rail system has become so extensive that converting it to OLE becomes impossible, because the benefits are outweighed by the cost and disruption during changeover. Having said that, IMHO it is a pity that the Bournemouth line did not receive 25kV OLE instead of 3rd rail, from Woking outwards, but no doubt there were good reasons.
What the list in post #6 shows is that virtually nowhere has used 3rd rail as extensively on mainline electrification as the UK - you do have to wonder why, if it's such a great solution (as its supporters claim), it hasn't been more widely used........
A lot of that might be the first mover advantage that low frequency AC systems had.
Many of the railways keen on electrification went for 25/16.7Hz systems because practical rectifiers hadn't been invented yet.
(LFAC doesn't need rectifiers at all).
There is only a relatively narrow window when third rail systems would be favoured in an environment with small safety and labour costs for higher voltage DC electrification.
After all this was an environment when you could have workers sitting on the wiring as service trains ran underneath them. Just hold your breath when the steam and smoke hits you
Arguably it's easier to combine 3rd rail with level crossings than OHLE is, because OHLE needs its level raised to allow tall vehicles to pass underneath. Take a look at Foxton (Cambs) where the railway crosses the A10 as an example - if you look at this video, you'll see the pantographs are at full stretch.
Whereas 3rd rail is just terminated a few feet short of the crossing.
The height that the pantographs are required to extend to is perfectly within the range of their design. They can actually go higher but to give the earliest triggering of the overheight sensing when there is no OLE (damaged or wrong routing), they are set to the highest level needed. The sensors on the two class 319s that went through the Channel Tunnel before it opened for service were set above their normal UK level, so there is adequate leeway to raise the contact wire high enough to accommodate the double deck Euroshuttle wagons.
I don’t know if there’s much now. Most electrified conventional lines in France use a 1500V DC overhead system. An AC system was being considered, but the French army insisted on DC so it could quickly relay the 3rd rail in the event of world war 3. It has never been done and all existing 3rd rail was ripped up and converted to overhead years ago. We just never spent the money doing it, which is the legacy of the Southern, as well as the L&Y, Mersey and Wirral Railways don’t forget.
Most? There’s a large proportion of French railways electrified at 25kV AC.
Yes, but a large proportion of the 25kV AC network is comprised by new build high speed lines, the LGV Sud-Est was the first AC line in France. Before 1981, the SNCF was entirely DC and conventional lines remain mostly DC, but I believe there have been a few conversions.
Surely, virtually all 3rd rail on French mainlines has been removed now. For 1500VDC vs 25Kv ac, I would say that although actual 1500VDC track miles might exceed that on ac, the volume of traffic is far higher under ac OLE.
Isn’t this by the nature of DC that it can’t carry as much traffic as AC, hence conversions and much passenger traffic being moved onto LGVs?
If 3rd rail is so unsatisfactory, why do most Metros, including new ones, use it?
Such comparison discussions never seem to feature any sensible cost anaylsis of the two approaches. At installation, the 3rd rail goes down notably quickly, without the extended time, cost, and heavy civils work that overhead does. I actually watched in the mid-1980s the laying of 3rd rail on the Stratford to North Woolwich line. It virtually seemed to go in over one weekend - works train propelled by an 08 shunter, rails offloaded directly to location, bolted down, team ahead screwing in insulators, move forward one rail length to the next one. No civils, no bridge lifting, done. Cost maybe 5% per mile of what it took on the Goblin with overhead.
All the stuff about more lineside substations, but on a conventional 12-car 25kV emu there are 3 substations, transformer and everything, under each train, one per motor coach. This one is sometimes rebutted by stating that things have got more efficient with power electronics. Well, so have lineside structures benefited equally.
We may contrast two similar "intermediate" systems in Britain, developed at broadly similar times, the Tyne & Wear and the DLR. One went for overhead, the other for 3rd rail. Which in retrospect was the better solution?
If 3rd rail is so unsatisfactory, why do most Metros, including new ones, use it?
Such comparison discussions never seem to feature any sensible cost anaylsis of the two approaches. At installation, the 3rd rail goes down notably quickly, without the extended time, cost, and heavy civils work that overhead does. I actually watched in the mid-1980s the laying of 3rd rail on the Stratford to North Woolwich line. It virtually seemed to go in over one weekend - works train propelled by an 08 shunter, rails offloaded directly to location, bolted down, team ahead screwing in insulators, move forward one rail length to the next one. No civils, no bridge lifting, done. Cost maybe 5% per mile of what it took on the Goblin with overhead.
All the stuff about more lineside substations, but on a conventional 12-car 25kV emu there are 3 substations, transformer and everything, under each train, one per motor coach. This one is sometimes rebutted by stating that things have got more efficient with power electronics. Well, so have lineside structures benefited equally.
We may contrast two similar "intermediate" systems in Britain, developed at broadly similar times, the Tyne & Wear and the DLR. One went for overhead, the other for 3rd rail. Which in retrospect was the better solution?
Metros tend to use it because they usually include tunnelled sections and costs increase exponentially if you attempt to increase the tunnel diameter to accommodate overhead wires. A new overhead AC powered railway has just opened in a tunnel and how late was it?
The suburban lines out of Paris Saint-Lazare and Invalides were electrified with 750 V DC (*) third rail in the early 1900s, but were gradually converted to 25 kV (Saint-Lazare) and 1.5 kV (Invalides) in the 1960s-1970s for the most part (**). At its peak in the 1930s, this network was probably the 2nd largest third rail system in the world behind the Southern railway. Trivia: the first ever electric mainline train ran in France a few weeks before the first train of the Paris Metro.
The (Paris-Quai d’Orsay -) Paris Austerlitz - Juvisy line was also electrified with third rail in the early 1900s but was converted to 1.5 kV DC OHL in the 1920s when the whole Paris-Bordeaux mainline was electrified.
(*) Different tensions may have been used at the beginning of operations
(**) The last 3rd rail train ran in 1993 on the Issy-Puteaux line which by then had became a derelict relic of the past, a 3rd rail antique island. The line has been converted into a very successful tram in 1997.
the LGV Sud-Est was the first AC line in France. Before 1981, the SNCF was entirely DC and conventional lines remain mostly DC, but I believe there have been a few conversions.
Sorry but that's just not true. The French were pioneers of using 25kV 50Hz, the Valenciennes – Thionville line was electrified in the mid-1950's to prove the viability of 25kV 50Hz electrification. The success of that resulted in the adoption of 25kV AC as a standard for new projects, other than where they were extensions of existing 1500V electrification.
If 3rd rail is so unsatisfactory, why do most Metros, including new ones, use it?
Such comparison discussions never seem to feature any sensible cost anaylsis of the two approaches. At installation, the 3rd rail goes down notably quickly, without the extended time, cost, and heavy civils work that overhead does. I actually watched in the mid-1980s the laying of 3rd rail on the Stratford to North Woolwich line. It virtually seemed to go in over one weekend - works train propelled by an 08 shunter, rails offloaded directly to location, bolted down, team ahead screwing in insulators, move forward one rail length to the next one. No civils, no bridge lifting, done. Cost maybe 5% per mile of what it took on the Goblin with overhead.
All the stuff about more lineside substations, but on a conventional 12-car 25kV emu there are 3 substations, transformer and everything, under each train, one per motor coach. This one is sometimes rebutted by stating that things have got more efficient with power electronics. Well, so have lineside structures benefited equally.
We may contrast two similar "intermediate" systems in Britain, developed at broadly similar times, the Tyne & Wear and the DLR. One went for overhead, the other for 3rd rail. Which in retrospect was the better solution?
On a main line, the 3rd rail would result in a 15-20% power loss (forever), the need to isolate the track from earth, enhanced health and safety risks for staff and the public, poorer performance in icy conditions and significant performance hits on train peerformance resulting in extended journey times.
Most of those issues can be weighed against the once-off benefits that you have mentioned on a metro style operation, but their impact on safety and a serious main line service is distinctly unacceptable in the 21st century. |