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One of the major concerns in the development of railway systems is to choose an optimized wheel and rail profile from a wide range of material and geometries. Although various investigations are conducted to improve the vehicle and rail behavior, there is less research on the wheel–rail interaction when a heavy vehicle passes through a light rail track. A numerical model of the train, track, and turnout is developed. The model is validated using the data obtained from field measurements conducted in the Iranian Metro network. The wheel–rail interaction is investigated by sensitivity analyses of the heavy vehicle and light track parameters including train speed, wheel profile, axle load, track gage, and curve radius. Results indicated that the derailment risk, wear rate, and wheel–rail stresses increased by up to 35%, 600%, and 120%, respectively, when a heavy vehicle passes through a light track. It was shown that consideration of specific arrangements allow better interaction between wheel and rail.

In the present century, there has been increasing global pressure on governments to implement policies to incentivize reductions in CO2 emissions based on the devastating effects of global climate change. Researchers generally have established the fact that the automobile sector generates more than 50% of the atmospheric carbon concentration. It has also become obvious that FCC-Abuja Nigeria is merely a replica of Lagos transport-wise in all ramifications. The Abuja master plan as of 1979 specifically recommended the development of mass transport by light-rail when the city’s inhabitants are about 1.6 and 3.1 million for airport. The non-implementation of the light rail in the city has aggravated the flood of vehicular traffic that generates a lot of Green House Gas that in turn swells up the city’s ambient temperature. This research therefore used the handheld outdoor thermometer to measure the traffic corridors in Abuja in relation to the WHO and FEPA tolerance threshold standard. This is compared with the modern electric rail that is environmentally friendly, and the result reveals that the present transport system in the city negates the global crusade for Green Mobility. It is therefore recommended that the Federal Government of Nigeria should as a matter of urgency cease from her lip-service to the global SDGs and fully implements the overdue Abuja light rail that will positively woo the other cities of the federation. Key words: Atmospheric temperature, climate change, mass-transit, light-rail, transportation.

This paper focuses on the rapid elastoplastic analyses of light rail vehicle (LRV)- benchmark viaduct system to different seismic scenarios considering the dynamic substructuring method (DSM). Comb...

As urban traffic congestion is on the increase worldwide, many cities are increasingly looking to inexpensive public transit options such as light rail that operate at street-level and require coordination with conventional traffic networks and signal control. A major concern in light rail installation is whether enough commuters will switch to it to offset the additional constraints it places on traffic signal control and the resulting decrease in conventional vehicle traffic capacity. In this study, the authors study this problem and ways to mitigate it through a novel model of optimised traffic signal control subject to light rail schedule constraints solved in a mixed-integer linear programming (MILP) framework. The authors’ key results show that while this MILP approach provides a novel way to optimise fixed-time control schedules subject to light rail constraints, it also enables a novel optimised adaptive signal control method that virtually nullifies the impact of the light rail presence, reducing average delay times in microsimulations by up to 58.7% versus optimal fixed-time control.

The present study investigates the determinants of vehicle dwell time at stations in urban light rail networks. Using data collected from an on-board automatic passenger counting system of the tramway network of the French city of Nantes over a long period, the study performs graphical and statistical analyses enabling the identification of cause-and-effect relationships of a number of attributes on the dwell time and its reliability. The results confirm the significance of the boarding and alighting passenger volumes, as well as of the on-board passenger loading, on the dwell time. Additional effects on dwell time are found from the vehicle type (low- or high-floor), the time of day (peak, off-peak, inter-peak) and the location of the station (city centre, proximity to points of interest). Also, it is found that operations are not symmetrical, and dwell times tend to be higher in one direction than the other of the same line. Finally, the results suggest that dwell time reliability is lower for stations located further from the starting terminal, or for stations located in the city centre.

This paper investigates the shaping of urban public transport by comparing ‘alternative leading objects’ to the car in the Norwegian cities Trondheim and Bergen. These have chosen different transport technologies, bus and light rail respectively. I draw on the concept of technological frames and illustrate how interpretations and expectations of sustainable urban mobility guide transport planning. The paper contributes to discussions in STS by exploring technological frames as ongoing practices instead of as outcomes, and as performed by what I identify as two framing coalitions. Both coalitions emphasised that Trondheim and Bergen represented different city identities and topographies. The paper demonstrates the importance of making such identities and representations of public transport systems in particular urban contexts in order to replace a car-dominated transport system. The paper draws on an observational study in two transport offices, interviews with transport planners and politicians and document studies.

The article discloses the concept and essence of light rail transport as exemplified by the Chinese town Chungking. It is a large modern megapolis, centre of economic, financial, scientific and technological innovations, navigation, commerce and logistics of China. The analysis of transport system and economy development peculiarities of Chungking and its surroundings is given. The international experience of light rail transport is examined.

Tram or light rail systems are heavily relied upon for passenger transit; however, low-carbon steel grades commonly used in special trackwork, such as in switches, are prone to wear, rolling contact fatigue (RCF), and deformation under cyclic wheel–rail contact. To address this, laser cladding can be used to apply a metal coating to protect the underlying substrate and rebuild the worn rail profiles. Laser cladding may also be applied to remove cracking by rebuilding the rail head. The tribological characteristics of light rail components after laser cladding with Stellite 6 and a newly developed martensitic stainless steel were investigated, using roller-on-disc wear testing. Analysis of the microstructure, mechanical properties, and wear performance was undertaken to develop a comprehensive understanding of the influence of the laser cladding type on the wear and surface fatigue performance. Both cladding alloys significantly improved the tribological performance. These findings were compared to those for a laser cladded hypereutectoid rail type (reported in our previous study). It was found that laser cladding with a suitable alloy was an effective technique for improving the tribological properties, increasing the wear resistance, and increasing the retardation of cracking on both substrates. These findings suggest laser cladding may be used to repair light rail components, and this technique can be optimized to suit different rail grades. This makes laser cladding a flexible and versatile maintenance strategy, in both coating and repair applications, to prolong the operational lifetime of critical components for the railway industry.

There is a pressing need for energy management with regard to modern rail vehicles, particularly in the case of electric vehicles (EVs), where various forms of energy and loads have to be considered for vehicle running. Air conditioning is an essential factor that ought to be profoundly analysed, as it can account for a significant proportion of electricity demand. This paper considers a lumped-parameter type thermal model of the passenger compartment of a tram in the presence of parametric uncertainties and external disturbances with an optimized heating, ventilating and air conditioning (HVAC) system configuration. To overcome the aforementioned problem, a decoupled sliding mode control (SMC) is designed with the purpose of enabling a lower energy usage and providing the thermal comfort conditions in a tram as an efficient and durable control strategy. The temperature and concentration of carbon dioxide (CO2) are regulated in a desirable way. A proportional, integral and derivative (PID) controller is employed for comparison purposes and for validating the proposed control scheme. According to the findings of this paper, the SMC outperforms the PID controller in terms of fast tracking and steady state for the desired tracking targets.

Gentrification is an increasingly common phenomenon in many urban neighbourhoods. While cities invest in more sustainable travel options for their residents, there is limited literature on its connection to gentrification of the surrounding areas. Understanding whether these investments induce gentrification is essential to ensure the positive impacts of public transport are not undermined by the displacement it may create. This paper presents a multi-analysis approach to studying gentrification, defined by a bi-axial definition of neighbourhood change which considers the negative components (displacement) and positive components (neighbourhood upgrading) of gentrification. We focus specifically on the extent to which exposure to public transport induces gentrification-like changes in neighbouring communities, the influence of time on the kind and magnitude of changes, and whether disinvested communities are most vulnerable. We analyse neighbourhood changes in Manchester, UK, in response to the introduction of the Metrolink tram network, and conclude that there is evidence of gentrification in areas with access to new light rail. We conclude that the length of exposure has a significant impact on the magnitude and direction of change for certain indicators of gentrification. We find mixed results regarding the susceptibility of disinvested communities to gentrification.

Investments in light rail transit (LRT) have become increasingly popular solutions to promote sustainable urban transportation. However, their impacts on cities are still subject to discussion in the academic community. There is a clear need to better understand the potential impacts of LRT projects, particularly in contexts other than major cities. In this study, we focus on the Olsztyn tram project, which has been implemented in a city of 173,000 residents situated in northeastern Poland. The paper combines different perspectives and data sources, including a study of residents’ stated preferences concerning travel behavior and modelling of housing price effects using the difference-in-differences approach. Our results suggest that the Olsztyn tram project led to a moderate change in travel behavior by increasing the frequency of public transport use but did not result in a substantial shift away from car commuting. Concerning the property market, a decline in prices was observed during the construction phase, but no statistically significant effects were found after completion.

The travelling salesman problem in transit planning is an extremely complex and non-deterministic polynomial problem. Many optimisation algorithms have been tested but failed to facilitate passengers getting to multiple stations by way of a complex rail transit network. Although various algorithms based on social insect species have successfully solved complex problems, bee behaviour in nature has inspired more significant solutions. The study reported in this paper aimed to identify the most efficient algorithm and develop a mathematical model based on artificial bee colony optimisation to solve this problem in light rail transit systems. For validation, the developed model was contrasted with empirical routes generated by human experience. The model was able to generate the optimal route in all cases without any error or miscalculation and could thus be used in any rail transit network in the world to determine the optimal route for multiple stations.

Drawing on the technical characteristics of the monorail system design in article describes the advantages and disadvantages of this transport. Was noted important design features which assure should be considered when designing monorail system. It was shown what due to the simplicity of its structure monorail system requires much less time for construction and has a more aesthetic appearance as opposed to elevated design of railway or light rail vehicles. Most monorail wagon equipped with pneumatic tire, unlike the rail bogie with the metal wheels, that to a great extent reflected during operation. Provided the comparative analysis of monorail system with more popular types of ground and underground transport. Based on the statistics data collected indicated the relevance of using the monorail system and positive aspects of the implementation this transport. A detailed analysis of the ecological situation points to the urgent need to reduce emissions in the transport sector, which will be facilitated by the transition to systems operated on electrical feeding. The research of road traffic accidents from 2018 on the example of Ukraine indicates a large number of accidents caused by the collisions and hit-and-run, which can be avoided by introduction the monorail transport, because the system is arranged in such a way trains do not intersect with other road traffic accidents. The full automation of movement provides a high level of security on this type of transport. Several important shortcomings of this transport were identified, the analysis of which the enabling reduce of negative influence and coordinate the working towards their removal in the future. The practical importance of article lies in the fact that the information obtained can be used in the implementation of monorail transport. The research on this subject has prospects in the direction of improving domestic infrastructure and enhance the quality of passenger traffic.

The Library , by David Schulz. Light Rail Works, 2019. 112 pp./$50 (sb). > He acknowledges that his book collection is a disorder to which his viewing habits have accommodated themselves to such an extent that it now appears orderly. Subsequently, there is a material connection between his awareness of his books and his memory, such that losing a particular book can result in the feeling of a phantom limb, a sensation that something exists as it once did, where it is now gone. > > —David Schulz, The Library This is one of the texts in The Library , a multilayered book by David Schulz exploring memory and creating a remembrance of his father through the lens of annotated books from his father’s collection. The book is a softcover quarto published in 2019 by Light Rail Works—Schulz’s own imprint—in an edition of one hundred. Within the book, there are three categories of texts: images of pages from Schulz’s father’s library along with ephemera found tucked into books (e.g., receipts); Schulz’s own responses to those items and content; and more free-form reflections by Schulz. The above quote is from the second category—a response to …

One often sees large park-and-ride (P&R) facilities surrounding major transit stations. These parking facilities provide a practical way to increase ridership, but it is less clear how well they serve broader sustainability goals. For example, using scarce station area land for transit-oriented development (TOD) rather than parking may provide a better approach to reducing vehicle kilometers travelled (VKT). This research represents an effort to explore the relative VKT reduction associated with P&R as compared to TOD. A survey of transit users in Charlotte, NC is used to estimate the VKT generated by users of P&R facilities at light rail stations. The estimated VKT is then compared to the VKT that is predicted to occur under hypothetical scenarios in which these parking facilities are replaced with TOD. At four of the seven stations examined in this study, replacing a P&R facility with a moderately dense housing (100 units per hectare) is predicted to result in a net VKT reduction. On the other hand, there is no feasible scenario in which a net VKT reduction can be achieved by replacing the suburban terminal parking structure with TOD. To the degree that VKT reduction is an important outcome of transit provision, the results of this research indicate that conversion of P&R to TOD (or forgoing P&R in the first place) should receive strong consideration at some stations, even in highly auto-oriented contexts such as Charlotte.

An extensive study of the flexural performance of monoblock prestressed concrete sleepers in a light rail system was conducted as part of a research program funded by the Federal Transit Administration. Five consecutive sleepers deployed on the track were instrumented with strain gauges at their critical design cross-sections (center and rail seats) to obtain relevant flexural information during an uninterrupted period of 14 months. Results were compared with the projected design capacities obtained from the application of current design standards, resulting in glaring differences. The current design methodologies were deemed insufficient for the development of optimal design solutions for light rail applications. Furthermore, structural reliability analysis is employed to study the flexural capacity of the sleeper design. A capacity model based on the material and geometric properties of the sleeper design was developed. The demand model was derived from the field flexural data of over 27,000 train passes, fitting this information to predefined probability distributions. Four limit-state functions were defined to represent the typical flexural failure modes. The probability of failure was calculated using first-order reliability method, second-order reliability method, and Monte Carlo simulation. Ultimately, the analysis yielded consistent results for the three methods, showing largely low probability of failure at both design cross-sections under the studied demand level. In conclusion, the sleeper's capacity was higher than the existing field demands, indicating an overly conservative design approach.

Appraisal of a regional public transport project : A document and interview analysis on a light rail case in Sweden

Supercapacitor energy storage systems (ESS) play a significant role in light rail vehicles LRV with no need for overhead lines and the pantograph. As the ESS of LRV demand short charging time and high-power supply, it is crucial to achieve the rapid energy balancing for series-connected supercapacitor modules of the ESS. To address this issue, this paper proposes a distributed control scheme for state-of-energy (SoE) balancing of supercapacitor modules. In order to provide the sufficient balancing current, the push–pull converter is introduced to transfer the energy among supercapacitor modules in the low working voltage. Then, the distributed SoE balancing strategy is proposed by regulating the balancing circuit according to the SoE deviation of neighboring supercapacitor modules. The ESS prototype is built to validate that the proposed strategy can reduce the balancing time and improve the energy balancing efficiency.

Purpose Attracting commuters from driving to light rail systems has a good potential for reducing carbon emissions. However, the light rail system is interrupted by disruptions frequently, which reduces its attraction to passengers. Therefore, how to provide a quick replacement service during disruptions is of vital importance to avoid passengers change to other higher emission vehicles. The purpose of this paper is to focus on the decision analysis of the replacement tool for disruption recovery service in urban public light rail systems from the perspective of environmental effect. Design/methodology/approach The traditional approach – bus replacement service – and the new approach – taxi replacement service – which has been recently adopted by several cities, are examined individually and compared. The benefit of the light rail company is formulated by balancing between carbon emission and financial cost. The involving parties’ decision functions taking the passengers’ behaviors as well as numerous other important factors into account are formulated. Findings Both theoretical and numerical sensitivity analyses are conducted to shed light for light rail systems to better coping with disruptions, increasing service level, and attracting more passengers to the environmental transit system to reduce carbon emission. Originality/value It is worth mentioning that this research is a successful application for disruption recovery in a public transit system considering the environmental effect. To the authors’ knowledge, this research is one of the first of such applications in this area and can be used not only in the public light rail systems, but also in other urban public transport network components such as the subway and rail systems.

Abu Dhabi aims to provide world-class facilities and service in the region, including a good network of public transportation. In addition to the current bus service, it plans to add light rail tra...

Increases in land value, known as value uplift, follow from improvements in accessibility arising from new transport infrastructure. This paper investigates how different approaches in evaluating property value uplift could lead to different results. The case study of the light rail transit system in the Gold Coast, Queensland, Australia, is the context for this study. This paper addresses two of the critical aspects of the value uplift literature—how many of the results are determined by the method adopted and, perhaps more importantly, if there is a method which provides the best results. Historical data on private property sales are used to evaluate the timing, shape, and conditions for increases in land value or value uplift employing two of the most widely used modeling approaches: difference-in-differences and multilevel regression models. The more recent literature has also identified that the choice of control area is pertinent and so this study uses two different approaches for the selection of catchment areas: conventional distance-based methods and propensity score matching. The model results do confirm the increases in property prices because of better accessibility to Gold Coast light rail transit, but the amount of uplift does appear to depend both on the model approach and the method to select catchment and control areas. The paper discusses the implications of this for literature which has a variety of different methods established for research.

Light rail transit (LRT) has a reputation for being cleaner and healthier than automobiles. However, few studies have examined the effects of mode shift from automobile to LRT. This paper investigates to what extent mode shift from car to LRT can reduce personal exposure to PM2.5, BC, and UFP. Simultaneous measurements on LRT and automobile were conducted under four plausible commuting scenarios in Los Angeles, California from October to November in 2014. As a robustness check, Monte Carlo simulations were performed to test the effects of confounding factors. Under the closed ventilation and low traffic condition, personal exposure measurements inside LRT were significantly higher than in automobile for BC (+40%, p < 0.01) and UFP (+27%, p

Recent innovations in transport technology are now providing mobility that is cheaper, autonomous, electric, and with improved ride quality. While much of the world’s attention has been on how this can be applied to cars, there have been rapid adoption of these and other technologies in High Speed Rail and Metro Rail systems that run between and across cities. This paper shows how such innovations have now been applied to create the next generation of urban transit system called a Trackless Tram. Trackless Trams are effectively the same as traditional light rail except they run on rubber tyres avoiding disruption from construction for Light Rail, but they retain the electric propulsion (with batteries) and have high ride quality due to rail-type bogies, stabilization technologies and precision tracking from the autonomous optical guidance systems—with infrastructure costs reduced to as low as one tenth of a Light Rail system. As with Light Rail, a Trackless Tram System provides a rapid transit option that can harness the fixed route assurance necessary to unlock new land value appreciation that can be leveraged to contribute to construction and running costs whilst creating urban regeneration. The paper considers the niche for Trackless Trams in cities along with its potential for city shaping through the creation of urban re-development along corridors. The paper suggests that the adoption of Trackless Tram Systems is likely to grow rapidly as a genuine alternative to car and bus systems, supplementing and extending the niche occupied by Light Rail Transit (LRT). This appears to be feasible in any medium-sized or larger city, especially in emerging and developing economies, and case studies are outlined for Perth and Thimpu to illustrate its potential.