Hiroshima Trams

Apparently my friends think of taking pictures of trains/transit for The Overhead Wire when they are abroad. That's pretty awesome. Here's one tiled tram from Hiroshima last week that my friend and newest international correspondent @spicer took. You can check out his blog for more on his trip to Japan and a pretty stunning photo of the city after the bomb was detonated.

Abu Dhabi Moving on Tram Plan

When I think of Abu Dhabi I think of Nermal. You know, the cat that Garfield always wanted to get rid of and send to the middle eastern region.

Jim Davis, Garfield via Photobucket

But soon you might be thinking about tramways as Abu Dhabi looks to potentially build 340km of tramways.

The project, known as the Abu Dhabi Light Rail Transit/Tram study involves 340 kilometers of tram lines and is one of several major transportation projects that make up the Surface Transport Master Plan. The department expects the LRT to start operating in 2014.

What I'm wondering about with these tram plans in middle eastern cities is are they connected to urban development plans that focus on walkability? It seems that a common complaint about the system in Dubai is that buildings aren't really in sync with how the transit operates. But that is likely a building design issue with urbanism in the area around the line. I say this mostly because it looks like there is a good grid pattern in the city.

Charlotte's Ringstrasse?

Mary Newsom has an interesting post about the wishful thinking that some local business leaders have about taking down the freeway noose that encircles Charlotte's downtown. At the same time, there is a long shot hope to turn part of Uptown into a thriving Rome copycat. Of course both of these things are both dreams at the moment, but what happens when instead of bringing Rome we start to think about Vienna, Austria and its Ringstrasse.

Vienna was once a medieval city surrounded by a wall that was later torn down by the Hapsburg King Fraz Joseph who built a ringed boulevard around the city. Today that boulevard is known as the Ringstrasse and carries people, cars, and trams around the medieval center city.

At the same time, Charlotte's freeway has cut off the city from its surroundings and could possibly learn from Vienna's teardown of the moat and walls as well as other cities who have decided to tear down thier freeways in search of a better life. Here is downtown Charlotte as it stands now:

and here is the center of Vienna:


The Vienna ring U shaped is 2.5 miles while the Charlotte U ring is 3 miles. This makes them strikingly similar in size and Charlotte very adaptable to the possibility of creating a ring road that actually ties Uptown together with the rest of the city versus the freeway which separates each area.

Here is what this might look like if Charlotte finishes its transit plan and adds the ring. The cool thing about this would be that it would open up a lot of the land that was taken by the freeway off the tax rolls and put it back on as well as increasing the value of land inside and just outside the loop tremendously over time.


In thinking about this through the network paper from the streetcar planning effort in Portand, it's likely that this could end up being an integrated circle line with radial streetcar lines pushing out from the center ring.

This would also be highly dependent on a rapid transit network that moves to the center. The Vienna system can be highly dependent on the U Bahn which connects to points in the center city with three minute headways. Charlotte already has one piece of this with another in the Silver Line rapid transit coming in from the east. It's an interesting excercise and something that could sit at the back of people's minds because it won't happen anytime soon. This might also be another good reason to go visit other cities and you know, learn from them.

Inaugural Trams

So the Super Furry Animals have come up with this catchy ditty. Here's part of the song:

Inaugural Trams. It’s the first day of the integrated transport hub. Let us celebrate this monumental progress. We have reduced emissions by 75%. It’s a magical day and it will be even better tomorrow. Let us make the best of a difficult situation.

Nice! We need more songs!

Via Treehugger

Build Near Tram Lines, Cut Sprawl

So says an article in the Age.

A Greater Melbourne Authority could take control of the city's public transport and help push through multi-storey buildings along tram and train corridors, in a bid to stop the suburbs sprawling further.

I wonder if the only thing that can really stop the suburbs is people getting fed up with paying too much for transportation. Anyone know how Toronto and Melbourne compare to American cities the same size? Seems like we can get at least a little glimpse of what we messed up when we ripped our trams out of the ground.

H/T NJH

Combino Cracks

Looks like the Combino is having more problems. In 2004, there were issues with car bodies slightly cracking.

On March 12, 2004, Siemens admitted to problems concerning the stability of the car bodies and, as a precautionary measure, instructed all public transportation services to take all Combinos with a service distance of more than 120,000 kilometres (74,565 mi) out of service. Torsion forces generated in S-curves were much higher than anticipated, leading to cracks around the articulations between the car modules. Subsequently, hairline cracks were found in the joints of the aluminium bodies, which could cause the roof to collapse in the case of an accident.

The Caterpillars of Budapest had issues and were delayed due to door issues in 06. While not as bad as the issues the European versions had, Melbourne is going to make fixes due to the fractures that have occurred on their trainsets. I've heard that subsequent redesigns have fixed the problem on the current model.

Grass Track on the T Willie?

This post got me thinking, what if they would have put in a grass track on the T-Willie? Could we do it on Geary?

Flickr Photo by SFCityscape

Vs.


Photo from Mellow Monk.

Some of my favorites from Tram photog Neitech in Nordbrand Germany.



Via CNU

Curious Cameras on Trams

I thought this was an interesting video from 1908. I think people knew the camera was on the streetcar, and just like today were trying to ham it up.

Photos of Interest: Chinese Trams

Leroy Demery who often posts with Mr. Setty at PublicTransit.us has loaded photos from 1983 when Chinese Trams still operated. Fascinating!

Ever Wonder

How you could fit more bikes on a tram network? Stuttgart shows us how.

H/T Spagblog

Sofia's New Trams

Inekon made these for the Bulgarian capitol. Here they are in testing.

Don't Leave Things Behind

I was encouraged the other day when I got out of a cab and the driver asked me to check the seat to make sure my cell phone and wallet were in my possession. It was a nice gesture that I hope takes off in other places, perhaps on public transit as well. A good example of where this would have helped is in Sweden, where an elderly woman lost her life savings on the train on her way to the bank.

A woman lost her life savings when she forgot 500,000 kronor ($86,206) on a Swedish tram as she was headed to the bank to deposit the money, a newspaper reported on Sunday.

That is crushing. It's really sad that no one realized it was someones savings and it's really upsetting that there wasn't some other way for her to securely move her money. Though if I had such a huge sum of money in my possession, it would be tied to me...even stapled to my clothes. Hopefully they can recover the money, but it seems as if it might be a lost cause.

Unlucky Tram 13

If you're ever in Zagreb, don't get on the 13 tram, its dangerous. So dangerous and unlucky, the locals are boycotting it.

Superstitious passengers are boycotting a number 13 tram after official figures showed the route suffers the most death crashes in Zagreb, Croatia. The route - where a passenger died in a crash this week - is running empty as passengers switch to other trams and buses.

Rising Values Near Transit in UK

There is an article in the Times of London on whether purchasing a home near transit is a worthwhile investment. In London people are willing to pay a premium to be near a tube stop and values around areas that will soon be stations are rising quickly.

The extension of the former East London Tube Line will run from West Croydon and Crystal Palace to Dalston Junction, and will connect with the Tube network at Whitechapel. A second phase, due to open in 2011, will continue the line through Canonbury to Highbury & Islington Tube station. The average house price has already risen from £187,800 in 2001 to £317,959 in 2007, according to Hometrack, and gentrification has arrived in the form of the Dalston Culture House and the relocation of the Vortex jazz club to new premises, as well as several new restaurants.
...
A 2005 report by the Passenger Transport Executive Group found that all UK tram schemes have led to increases in commercial and residential property values, in some cases by 15 per cent. Rental prices have risen by 7 percent.

What is most interesting though is something we never think of here in the United States. The warnings to some are that retailers won't be around until closer to the time that the new station opens.

But buyers must be prepared to wait. “The change will not be instantaneous. Some people who would never have considered living in an area without a Tube line will come immediately. Others will wait for the retail and restaurants.” Scotford urges buyers to be aware that retailers may not arrive immediately to the area because current leases will take a while to expire. But it should not take too long.

The fact that they expect retail that is within walking distance is a little bit different. Here there are a whole heap of issues surrounding the type of retail and whether there will be enough parking because around the station extensions, there is generally not enough density to support such retail without parking or other help from cities, but there it's expected. Kind of an upsetting commentary if you ask me.

33 Lines, $14 Billion Dollars

That's the green transport plan for Melbourne.

Greens transport spokesman, Greg Barber, says freeways and road tunnels are inefficient transport options. "They're hugely expensive and actually not very efficient at carrying people," he said. "Clifton Hill railway station actually shifts more people than the Eastern Freeway next door. Just goes to show how inefficient freeways are at moving people."

There's also a really cool blog folks should check out called Transport Textbook. They are covering the investment line by line.

Wenceslas Makeover

Trams cross the square where the Velvet revolution took place but they might soon run through it. Thought there are detractors, it would be interesting to see what happens.

Mr Pečený’s view is shared by the man currently redesigning Wenceslas Square, Jakub Cígler. The Prague-based architect says that reintroducing trams would transform the ‘dead-end space’ into a ‘living thoroughfare’. Indeed, streetcars did historically wend their way up and down the boulevard, until as recently as the 1980s.

I didn't get a picture when I was there, but here's one to set the scene.

Flickr by TJFLEX2

New Skoda T15 LRV

As you all know, I'm a fan of light rail vehicles. So much so that I went running down an ally in Prague leaving my family wondering what the heck I was doing. Well I was chasing a tram I never quite saw up close but my dad was lucky enough to snap a photo after I had left to go home of the T14.

Looks like a nice tram no? Maybe a bit like a caterpillar or worm. Well Skoda has come out with a T15. Not to be confused with Luke Skywalker's T16 which bullseyed womprats, I'm not a huge fan of this new offering. At first look, it reminds me of the Peugeot my parents had when I was a kid and looks kind of like a bus rather than a train. Obviously with all the "bus that looks like a train" comments on BRT going on out there I'd like for trams and LRVs to be destinctive. But decide for yourselves. What do you all think?

Another Short Film: What If the Trams Were Gone?

A very cool video that probably saved Melbourne's Tram system from the usual suspects back in the day. Visit Keep Melbourne Moving for More...

Budapest Trams

Get your hands on them while you can. $7,000 for the vehicle is a bargain. I bet it wouldn't take much to fix it up to code here either. So if you want a vehicle for the same cost as a bus or even less after being refurbished, take a look.

Cargo Trams 2

Back in April of 07 we covered Cargo Trams, specifically the City Cargo operation in Amsterdam. Well there's an article on how it all works in Material Handling Magazine. It's a fascinating read about how the city uses streetcars to take deliveries into the city during the day and distribute it using small electric delivery vehicles. This allows for more deliveries during the day since Amsterdam is closed to delivery trucks during the day.

"The ultimate goal is Green sustainability, reduction of pollution and truck traffic," says Bonkenburg. "We wanted an approach that was efficient and effective for moving goods into the system for an indefinite period without having a negative impact on the environment. By reducing traffic congestion, you immediately reduce pollution, noise levels and have less damage to roads."

Using trams to carry goods into the city also provides awider window for deliveries, according to Bonkenburg. Amsterdam restricts truck traffic during certain hours, but with a tram and e-car combination, the system allows smaller deliveries throughout the day.

You can find a video here that shows how it works.