Translohr- Rubber Tyred Tram

[#Metro]

TransLohr - Rubber Tyred Tram

I am convinced this is what Lord Mayor Graham Quirk had in mind with his metro.  However, that aside, it is an interesting way to build on bus capacity. The vehicles run on rubber tyres which means that hills are not an issue. Can also run without overhead catenary. Capacity is directly comparable with a classical tram. It's perfect for hilly areas where steel wheel trams would have traction issues.

"Translohr trams can contain 3 to 6 cars (up to 358 passengers – Translohr STE6, 6p/m²)."

"Translohr tramways on tyres combine the performance of a guided system running on a central rail and the benefits of a vehicle with tyres: Improved braking performance due to the grip of the tyres, silent running, and a unique capacity to overcome grades up to 13%."

http://www.newtl.com/en/translohr/

The 8 cities have already started operating their tramway networks with Translohr tramways on tyres in France (Clermont-Ferrand, Paris with line T5 and T6), in Italy (Padua, Venice), in China (Tianjin-Teda, Shanghai) and more recently in Colombia (Medellín).

[#Metro]

Example videos

[SurfRail]

There are a few reasons why Translohr has such poor take up.  The most important is that it is a proprietary system that locks you into the manufacturer.  Bad deal commercially when you want to have an open tender for replacement vehicles or maintenance.

[verbatim9]

The Shanghai one looks slow with a rough ride and compact with only 2 carriages

[verbatim9]

At least there is heaps of clearance with the Catenary. Will the Brisbane one be electrified from beneath as non of the example videos for Brisbane from BCC showed Catenary!?

[OzGamer]

From the marketing blurb it suggest the main benefit is easily fitting into a current street scape. In that case, why not put it in on the busway and have it run alongside existing buses? You could just turn the 66 and the 111 into these and not change anything else, freeing up capacity by having a fifteen rather than a five minute service.

If it was successful you could progressively roll it out on other corridors, such as the Eastern Busway and Old Cleveland Road, Northern Busway and Gympie Road, Mains Road, etc

Why spend billions and have all other buses cut out of the city? I can't see what there is about this infrastructure that would stop a regular diesel bus driving on the same road. I presume the power system only turns on when the vehicle is running over it or else you would be frying pedestrians every five minutes.

[Scott]

Hello from a first time poster.  I had the opportunity to see the Translohr vehicles on Paris tramway lines T5 and T6 recently.  They are now working quite reliably, but it is worth noting their differences to conventional Light Rail vehicles.

Translohr vehicles are narrow (2.2m) compared to conventional LRVs like Gold Coast (2.65m wide).  This means they have less capacity.  They are used in narrow or steep alignments where conventional LRVs will not fit.

They have good performance - top speed only 70 km/hr due to guide rail stability limits, but high acceleration and able to climb gradients up to 13%.

They are not cheap - 5 to 6 million Euros for a 40metre unit!  So being both more expensive and lower capacity than conventional LRVs, Translohrs are a niche product that is only used where LRT will not go.