Train-tram

The train-tram is a railway system of public transport derived from the Tram-train particularly adapted to the cities small and average and making it possible to offer direct relationships and without breaking bulk between a downtown area and its periphery or its area. In this direction, the system is particularly advantageous for the cities whose central station is offset compared to the downtown area.

Definition

The concept of train-tram is new and indicates, contrary to the Tram-train which is a Tramway able to circulate on railway infrastructures, a vehicle with the railway characteristics which “enters” the city and circulates on urban platforms. The urban infrastructures can be existing infrastructures (network of tram in Exclusive right of way or multivendor site) or then of the new infrastructures (section of new TCSP, generally in bottom of bag and approaching the downtown area). The railway infrastructures, as for them, are generally infrastructures already used (railway lines) or given up (old industrial lines), which represents an advantage of the system in term of capital costs. The train-tram indicates as a such vehicle able to circulate on the two networks. The streets or railway can be dedicated, i.e. limited to the circulation of the train-trams or then circulation can be mixed: with the traditional Train S or freight on the railway line; with trams or buses (in the case of an infrastructure in exclusive right of way) or then with cars, Bus and/or tram (in the case of mixed urban sites).

Features

Infrastructure

The system train-tram requires a section of new way making it possible to physically inter-connect the railway network and the urban network. The circulation of a single vehicle on regional and urban infrastructures, on the often different characteristics, can impose adaptations of the characteristics of the urban infrastructures (distance between centres of the ways, height of the quays, spacing of the rails,…). The absence of urban network, represents a particularly advantageous situation from a technical point of view, since it makes it possible to conceive, upon the departure, of the sections of streets conceived for the circulation of light railway vehicles.

Convey

The vehicles train-tram are light railway vehicles with diesel traction or power supply, provided with additional installations, such as more powerful brakes or indicators guaranteeing the homologation to them to be authorized to circulate on urban roadway systems. Their performances are thus identical to those of the vehicles trams, while remaining railway vehicles. They fulfill fully the security standards and the requirements of indication suitable for circulation on the urban networks. These vehicles circulate with a maximum speed of 40km/h on the sections in mixed farm. Their speed on the railway line is in general of 120 km/h to the maximum. The vehicles Regiosprinter, built by Siemens between 1996 and 1997 are light vehicles within the meaning of the German railway standards. They have a resistance of case with respect to a longitudinal force of 600 kN, whereas the traditional trains have a resistance of 1500 kN. Initially envisaged for the town of Zwickau (Germany), the pressure exerted by the regional railway companies which required railway characteristics “fully”, obliged Siemens to stop the construction of these vehicles. The new vehicles comparable diesels are thus railway vehicles with whole share (Lint, Desiro, Regioshuttle, Talent, GTW2/6-2/8).

Examples

The network of the town of Zwickau can be regarded as the first example of train-tram in Europe, the single project comparable existing with Camden-Trenton in the New Jersey (the USA) with the Riverline . Its first startup goes back to 1999. The town of Zwickau has an urban network with metric track gauge, which returns the interconnection with the railway infrastructures difficult. However thanks to the construction of a third rail on the urban portion it was possible to make circulate the vehicles diesel of the Regiosprinter type in the center town and to thus propose a direct connection between the area, the periphery and the center town. The urban infrastructure is used as well by the train-tram as by the tram.

In 2001, the Canadian capital of Ottawa brought into service a line of 8 km between the southern suburbs and the central city with oars Bombardier Talent on an existing line of the the Canadian Pacific. The future projects envisage a way with the downtown area on street or in a tunnel. The town of Aachen (Germany) also envisages the implementation of the system of train-tram on an urban portion with circulation of vehicles of the type Talent ( Euregiobahn ). As well in Aachen as in the North-American cities where the system already exists, the component “tram” is now lacking since only railway vehicles circulate in the city via an infrastructure which is clean for them.

The community of Valence FGV (Spain) brought into service in 2006 a Tren-Tram circulating between Alicante and Denia. It is a tram which can go until 100km/h in business service (even if currently it did not still receive approval and rolls only until 60km/h).

See too

External bonds

the shipping company of the railroad of Vogtland with Zwickau
the site of Euregiobahn, transport system train-tram of the urban area of Aachen
the site of Riverline
the www.lightrail.nl site on the tram-train of second generation with a short history of the tram-train
the site of the network of Ottawa: " trains légers" : to note confusion between urban tram, tram-train, and train-tram

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