I knew this one! Dresden! (And man, it looks so interesting!) So does nearby Leipzig, and Line 11 (an "interurbanish" line and the longest tram line in the city) similar to this one.
Notice the "single track" between about 2:30 and 3:00 -- it's really gauntlet track, overlapping double track with only a little bit more width than single track. It's a way of getting single-track width without installing switches.
Oh yeah. I've seen places where they use the gauntlet track for a station because the road isn't wide enough. Good catch, I didn't notice that.
Apparently a huge part of the cost of the Portland streetcar were where it crossed the light rail tracks. Switches etc are pretty expensive apparently.
A few interesting things to note here: first of all the gauntlet track, which avoids the maintenance costs of switches, though of course it does require more rails. Another thing is the very close track centers on the double track sections, which leave basically no clearance between the trains but make for a narrower track structure. Also of note is that the pedestrian crossings at stations have at best a simple walk/don't walk signal, and often just nothing at all. And there's even a completely unsignalled road crossing toward the end. This is what actual light rail looks like, and US systems are all amazingly overbuilt compared to this.
Fantastic! It's awe inspiring what you can do when you stop trying to babysit your passengers and other road users. And the time between trains was impressive too.
Hopefully we will get a line like this in Portland with the Lake Oswego Streetcar extension. In- street operation in the downtown Portland area (existing) and single track private right of way along a scenic route next to the Willamette River passing just feet from multi-million dollar mansions.
The most surprising layout to me was the section at the end - a bi-deirectional single track on a "queuing street". Maybe 28 feet of width, they have auto parking on both sides and a single traffic lane which carries bi-directional traffic AND a bi-directional tram! Pretty resourceful!
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I knew this one! Dresden! (And man, it looks so interesting!) So does nearby Leipzig, and Line 11 (an "interurbanish" line and the longest tram line in the city) similar to this one.
Notice the "single track" between about 2:30 and 3:00 -- it's really gauntlet track, overlapping double track with only a little bit more width than single track. It's a way of getting single-track width without installing switches.
Oh yeah. I've seen places where they use the gauntlet track for a station because the road isn't wide enough. Good catch, I didn't notice that.
Apparently a huge part of the cost of the Portland streetcar were where it crossed the light rail tracks. Switches etc are pretty expensive apparently.
I thought this was a sweet video too! ASD
A few interesting things to note here: first of all the gauntlet track, which avoids the maintenance costs of switches, though of course it does require more rails. Another thing is the very close track centers on the double track sections, which leave basically no clearance between the trains but make for a narrower track structure. Also of note is that the pedestrian crossings at stations have at best a simple walk/don't walk signal, and often just nothing at all. And there's even a completely unsignalled road crossing toward the end. This is what actual light rail looks like, and US systems are all amazingly overbuilt compared to this.
Fantastic! It's awe inspiring what you can do when you stop trying to babysit your passengers and other road users. And the time between trains was impressive too.
Hopefully we will get a line like this in Portland with the Lake Oswego Streetcar extension. In- street operation in the downtown Portland area (existing) and single track private right of way along a scenic route next to the Willamette River passing just feet from multi-million dollar mansions.
The most surprising layout to me was the section at the end - a bi-deirectional single track on a "queuing street". Maybe 28 feet of width, they have auto parking on both sides and a single traffic lane which carries bi-directional traffic AND a bi-directional tram! Pretty resourceful!
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