Memorandum by Mike Smith, Esq (RT 39)
LIGHT RAIL
SYSTEM BENEFITS
AND COSTS
There is much evidence that well planned light
rail systems can be very successful in attracting people out of
their cars, in a way that an equivalent bus-operated system could
never do. This is due to a number of factors, including the improved
ride quality possible from a vehicle running on a totally smooth
(rail) surface, reduced noise due to electric propulsion and higher
running speeds where vehicles run on a reserved right of way,
avoiding delays due to traffic congestion. These, and other factors,
make light rail travel more appealing to the car user than buses
can ever be.
These benefits have traditionally come at a
high cost, the vehicles and infrastructure used in recent UK schemes
being very expensive. In its transport White Paper, the Government
was largely dismissive of Light Rail Schemes on the grounds that
their high first costs are not sufficiently justified by the benefits
they bring. Instead, the bus was put foward as the solution to
the increasing problems of traffic congestion and environmental
degradation in UK cities.
REASONS FOR
THE HIGH
COST OF
LIGHT RAIL
Light rail vehicle construction largely ceased
in the UK after the second world war, and so all recent UK schemes
have had to rely on products imported from continental Europe.
In these countries, cost has been less of an issue than in the
UK, resulting in products, which although of high quality, also
come at a high cost. Additionally, these vehicles tend to be built
by companies which also build main-line railway rolling stock.
Their light rail products are often therefore built along similar
lines, resulting in vehicles which are not particularly light.
For example, Siemens-built vehicles supplied to the Sheffield
Supertram project weigh in the region of 52 tonnes—a weight
comparable to that of a main-line multiple unit train of similar
capacity. This means that the route infrastructure (track, bridges
etc) has to be built accordingly, significantly raising construction
costs. Heavier vehicles also require more power to move them,
resulting in more expensive power supply equipment.
THE ROADLINER
LIGHT RAIL
VEHICLE PROJECT
The Roadliner was conceived as a low-cost UK-built
light rail vehicle. The vehicle was developed by the TRAM Consortium—a
consortium of small companies, each contributing a specialist
skill required in the design and construction process.
Instead of simply designing a new vehicle based
on traditional and costly, rail industry-based techniques, the
Consortium went back to first principles, looking at what essential
characteristics the vehicle had to posess. They then set about
producing a design which met these requirements.
Key characteristics identified were:
— High quality passenger environment;
— High levels of passenger safety.
A strong and lightweight monocoque bodyshell
was employed, as is common in the construction of modern buses.
Many components, such as axles and final drives, were sourced
from the automotive industry, since their high production volumes
make their components far cheaper and more reliable than those
of the relatively low-volume rail industry. Heavy-duty electric
motors and modern electronic motor controllers, as used commonly
in factory plant and equipment, were used for the vehicle's electric
propulsion system, again because the high production volumes of
such items make them extremely cheap and reliable when compared
to traditional rail industry sources.
The result was a vehicle costing far less than
currently available products—around £0.75 million,
compared to the more normal £1.5-2 million. Weight, at 22
tonnes for a two-car articulated vehicle, is comparable to that
of two large single-deck buses with similar capacity. Passengers
benefit from a well designed, accessible interior, whilst air
suspension provides a very smooth ride. The vehicle has been designed
for easy, low cost maintenance, competitive with that required
for buses—the wheels can even be unbolted and replaced in
a similar way to road vehicles. Being derived from mass-produced
sources, spare parts are cheap and easy to come by.
A prototype vehicle is currently undergoing
testing on the tramway system operated by Blackpool Transport
Services, Lancashire.
SUMMARY
The purpose of this submission is not to "sell"
the Roadliner—a number of other organisations, both in the
UK and abroad, are also actively developing similar low-cost,
high quality vehicles—but to show what can be done. The
Roadliner project has shown that the main stumbling block for
light rail schemes in the UK, namely cost, can be overcome, allowing
the benefits of light rail to be realised at a realistic price.
Light rail as a mode of transport should not be dismissed purely
because of the deficiencies of previously available products.
Indeed, the Government might find it beneficial to encourage the
development and adoption of such new technologies in the same
way that it encourages and funds research and development into
the improvement of road vehicles.
Mike Smith, Prototype
Vehicle Development and Testing Engineer, Pullman TPL
20 October 1999
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