Seems as if the international streetcar article has garnered some interest. Let's see where folks stand on Tram and Light Rail design from around the world. At the right under the pantograph photo the there is a poll. I was going to put pictures up but it was hard to control sizes, so you'll have to click through. Here are your contestants with their country of origin:
Ansaldo Breda Italy: MUNI, MBTA, LACMTA, Sirio Series
Kinky Sharyo Japan: Seattle, Phoenix, Hudson Bergen
Siemens Germany: San Diego, Charlotte, Houston, Combino Series
CAF Spain: Pittsburgh, Sacramento
Bombardier Canada: Minneapolis, Flexity Series
Skoda Czech Republic: T14, T10, Portland, Seattle
Alstom France: Paris, Bordeaux, Citadis Series
21 comments:
Do you have any examples from Kawasaki? They've made a lot of heavy rail vehicles, including the R62, the R142A, the 700 series, and the 500 series.
Are they making LRVs still? I know Philly uses Kawasaki vehicles, but haven't seen any recent offerings.
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/1/1f/SEPTA9001.jpg/250px-SEPTA9001.jpg
man! siemens in the lead? blah.
i went french.
it seems like it makes a big difference which type of car you pick. the visual/aesthetic difference is really compelling. zowie.
One thing I don't like about quite a few current trams is the magnetostrictive inverter noise. That's my main complaint with the San Jose trams - they whine.
FYI ... Sound Transit's LINK LRVs are manufactured by Kinkisharyo/Mitsui
and Tacoma Link and Seattle Streetcar (and Portland's Streetcars) are manufactured by INEKON ... not Skoda (although it is the same design)
Ansaldobreda products, whatever the merits of their appearance, have a tendency to be unrelibale and require lots of work, if they can be made to work at all. Muni's LRVs took a lot of work to get right, and what MBTA's Type-8s were so badly made that they took something like 4 years to get them to stop derailing and to get the brakes working, and even so ended up cancelling half the order before the cars were delivered. I hear LACMTA also has been having problems with their new Breda LRVs, and I think NS in the Netherlands has had problems with Breda HSR trains. Overall, it strikes me that buying from Breda is often more trouble than it's worth.
Can I vote for the PCC?
I forgot that Kinkysharyo had another partner. Also, the first Portland vehicles were made by Inekon-Skoda but the most recent Czech versions are from Inekon-Ostrava Transit Authority. All future vehicles will be United Streetcar(Oregon Iron Works) using the design from the previous vehicles. Lots of confusing stuff!
Sorry 295, I was thinking future construction, but I guess you could check other. :)
Don't forget Washington, DC's streetcars, manufactured by Skoda. Sure, the cars are not even in the United States yet, but someday...
http://media.bonnint.net/wtop/11/1166/116683.jpg
http://www.bombardier.com/en/transportation/sustainability/technology/primove-catenary-free-operation?docID=0901260d800486ab
From the Bombardier web site: “Bombardier’s new PRIMOVE system enables FLEXITY trams to operate catenary-free over varying distances” While they are at present testing, it may be possible to operate the LRV’s without the overhead wires we have all grown accustomed to.
A pity the poll is a tad general. Each Manufacturer build models that stand out in each market.
My personal favorite is the Brussels Flexity Swift model, but I like the boxy look of the North American SD-100/160s.
My choice is the Citadis. So many (interesting) variations on its exterior appearance.
Choosing by manufacturer alone doesn't account for the variety of vehicles each produces.
I love the Sirio Series cars (especially the oval window) but don't like the rest of the Ansaldo Breda offerings.
The Bombardier Flexity trams are really nice, but their other LRVs are kind of boring.
Overall, I gotta give it to the Czechs. The Skoda T10 and Seattle models are great, in part because they appear to be smiling (unlike the T14) which has a serious frown. Plus they all appear to be ultra low-floor.
Just a clarification;
The Portland and Tacoma vehicles are Skoda. Tacoma was tacked onto the Portland order.
Seattle is Inekon, along with Washington DC and Toronto's
Future US Streetcar/trams will probably be from United Streetcar/Skoda in Portland, Oregon.
1 up for alstom!
@ no, uh, overhead wire:
alstom has this working in bordeux or marseilles I think, so they didn't have to string wires over the historic parts of the city...
I think they're also trying out a citadis with batteries so it can go without wires across a public square, prolly a more reliable solution...
Brian: Toronto has not ordered any new streetcars yet. The current fleet was built by UTDC, which was a provincial company, until it was sold to Bombardier. The tendering process has hit a couple of snags, and it's still up in the air, as to who will be supplying Toronto's new streetcars.
Stadler GTW?
Also, UTA TRAX uses Siemens SD-160s, according to Wikipedia.
Still, I vote for the PCC. Can't we get the presidents together for another conference and make a 21st Century PCC?
A couple more examples not listed: Boston's Type 7 LRVs were made by Kinki Sharyo in the 80s, and LA's original Blue Line LRVs were made by Nippon Sharyo, and they also made the electric commuter cars for NICTD. Kawasaki also made the LRVs and subway cars for Philadelphia, as well as the R143 and R160B for NYCT, and the PA-5 for PATH. I think European manufacturers tend to dominate the light rail market because there are many more light rail systems in Europe, whereas in Japan, light rail is relatively rare and subways and mainline rail are the main forms of rail transportation.
Everytime I watch an old crowded worn-out 38 Geary articulated diesel bus roll slowly by on Geary st. in S.F., I start daydreaming about seeing a beautiful new long Alstom articulated tram gliding on by.
You also didn't note the Stadler Variobahn ("Variotram"). It's used in Sydney, Helsinki, Chemnitz, and the Rhine-Neckar (Ludwigshafen/Mannheim/Heidelberg) area. The last two are in Germany.
Oh yeah. I myself forgot that the Variobahn is also used in Munich and Nuremberg (it's been recently coming into use there), and is gonna come to Bergen, Graz, and Potsdam in the future.
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