TRAMTRAIN: THE 2ND GENERATION NEW CRITERIA FOR THE ‘IDEAL TRAMTRAIN CITY’ Rob van der Bijl - Axel Kühn Independent Consultants

Working for Interreg HiTrans … Medium sized cities

During a workshop at… Stavanger

Expert work for… London (TfL)

Studying feasibility in… Coventry (CENTRO)

Delivering a survey for… Leiden

Doing our job in… Maastricht

When we worked in… Aarhus

Spending some time in… Sunderland

Study touring in… Heilbronn

When we stayed in… Kassel

On tour in… Nordhausen

Tour guiding in… Zwickau

Talking in… Mulhouse

Authors: Rob van der Bijl, Amsterdam, Netherlands: Urban planner and founder of Involvement in TramTrain research and projects in Holland and other European countries. Documentation of TramTrain systems, projects and features on ‘Light Rail Atlas’. Axel Kühn, Karlsruhe, Germany: Civil engineer and independent consultant. Participation in the Karlsruhe developments from the early stage. Involvement in a considerable number of TramTrain projects all over Europe.

Contents Introduction Definitions State of the art Checklist‘s criteria Applied criteria – the 50 issues Conclusion

Introduction Tram-Train systems link urban tramway infrastructure with the regional heavy rail network around cities After first generation in Germany (Karlsruhe and Saarbruecken) new systems evolve now Mid-nineties boom period regarding TramTrain feasibility studies Most of projects have not proceeded or at least been heavily delayed and not given high priority Reasons? TramTrain characteristics Urban context and economic viability of projects

Definitions Classic light-rail/tramway operation Conversion Single-Mode Track-sharing TramTrain-operation Dual-Mode Electric-Electric Dual-Mode Diesel-Electric TrainTram-operation Existing tramway network No existing tramway network

State of the art Karlsruhe: Success, Failure and Weaknesses Saarbruecken: First Low-floor TramTrain Other ‘First Wave’ Cities ‘2nd Generation’ Cities Our Question

Karlsruhe: Success, failure and weaknesses First TramTrain 1991 Huge network (500 km) High-floor/Middle-floor Not fully accessible Capacity in city-centre Urban planning & design minor topics AC/DC

Saarbrücken: First Low-floor TramTrain Completely new scheme No compromises regarding accessibility Urban planning minor topic; high class urban design in city centre only Cross-border Triple-mode?

Braunschweig Bristol Cardiff Chemnitz Aachen Dresden Glasgow Ile-de-France Kassel Geneva Graz Hamm Heilbronn Kempten Kiel Ljubljana Luxembourg RijnGouweLijn Mulhouse Nottingham Oslo Osnabrück Paderborn Rostock Sunderland Salzburg Medway/Kent St.Pölten Randstad Maastricht-Heerlen-Kerkrade Portsmouth-Gosport-Fareham FIRST WAVE CITIES AFTER 1993 SKY FULL OF DREAMS

‘First wave’ Only few surviving cases First derivates of classic TT Many given up at early planning stages or are just “sleeping projects” Reasons:  un-supportive political and regulatory conditions  difficult technical conditions  negative economical results

Antwerp Bayonne Palermo Nantes AlicanteBremen Grenoble Liberec Orléans Nice Hanau Haarlem Munich Dunkerque Lille Nordhausen Bordeaux Marseille Manchester Coventry Liège Groningen Rostock Kaiserslautern Lyon/Villeurbane Helsinki/Espoo Cracow Besançon Frankfurt am Main Belfort (Mulhouse) Nancy SKY FULL OF NEW DREAMS? Sassari 2nd GENERATION Helsingborg ? ? ? ? ? Tampere? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? Strasbourg?

‘2nd generation’ Some cases ideas only More tangential schemes Regional projects for smaller corridors More derivates First “second try’s” Too early to know the future of all …

Our question(s)? Why are there only a few implemented “classic” TramTrain projects today? Original Karlsruhe approach too narrow to be successful everywhere? TramTrain – the 2nd generation? Features of projects which have been developed further from the Karlsruhe origins? Easy way to identify at the very beginning whether a city may be suited for TramTrain or its derivates? What could be criteria to evaluate this?

Checklist‘s criteria Generic Features Institutional Context Urban and Regional Characteristics Urban and Regional Figures Public Transport Characteristics Technical Issues Costs and Cost Comparisons

Generic features State of society and economy Existing public transport culture

Institutional context (1) Powerful regional and local government Existing regional and local support Approach to planning process Degree of integration of land use and urban planning Step by step implementation Complementary to existing/adapted public transport network

Institutional context (2) Quality and capability of public transport authority Distribution of responsibilities Methods to cover construction and operating costs Local/regional financial balance and sources Necessary legal powers Control/ownership of heavy rail infrastructure Local and regional possibilities Safety approach of regulatory bodies

Urban & regional characteristics (1) Distance main station to city centre (km.; walking min.) Other relevant distances (km.; walking min.)

Urban & regional characteristics (2) Availability, profile and aesthetics of centre corridor

Urban & regional characteristics (3) (New) uses of corridor

Urban & regional characteristics (4) Possible (positive and negative) impacts

Urban & regional characteristics (5) Conditions historic townscape

Urban & regional characteristics (6) Centre locations of economic activity nodes and their regional meaning Economic activity nodes inside or outside TramTrain’s catchment area

Urban & regional characteristics (7) Regional meaning of central city Degree of regional centre’s spread

Urban & regional figures Minimum and maximum sizes of city and region Size of corridor’s catchment area Identification of the share of city/city-centre oriented flows for all user groups

Public transport characteristics (1) Competing rail modes into the city-centre Other targets then the city- centre Share of the total rail- bound operation in a region for TramTrain Complete take over of operation versus remaining heavy rail passenger services Ratio of new-built infrastructure compared to accessible regional network

Public transport characteristics (2) Tangential transport demand Street-running extensions in sub-urban centres useful/feasible Additional catchment by using existing tangential infrastructure Existing/achievable interchange quality between railway and urban system Comparison of travel times

Technical issues Existing tramway’s technical parameters Metro operation (tunnel) Easy versus difficult (cheap versus expensive) linking of tramway and railway Electrified/non-electrified regional railway infrastructure Track-sharing versus conversion Existing (urban) freight railway infrastructure Platform heights of (regional) railway routes Full accessibility

Applied criteria – the 50 issues

Ratings

Ratings applied to existing TTs

Ratings applied to TT-examples

Conclusion (1) TramTrain: no miraculous solution? Number of implemented cases is limited Development often in other “directions” No “single” explanation, but:  TramTrain neither cheap nor easy “Master planning” is needed from the beginning Serious acting with the compromises TT can involve Increased dependence on supportive political/regulatory structures as more complicated in it’s project structure TramTrain’s regional radius? No dogmatic “avoid any interchange” policy Dimensions and design of TramTrain rolling stock

Conclusion (2) TramTrain is more then the „Karlsruhe model“ 2nd generation projects like Kassel, Nordhausen, Chemnitz or Zwickau have brought necessary innovation and adaptation The ideal TT-city? © “Gigantis-City”