Link between trams and trains
The link between tram and train , since about 2000 as a tram-train called, the creation is of disembarking passengers direct services between urban road or rail systems and regional railway lines . The aim is to link the city center and the surrounding area . Multi-system vehicles are often used here ; in other cases, routes are adapted so that the existing vehicles can be transferred to the other system. Other alternative terms are regional light rail , regional tram , Regiotram , Stadtregiotram , Stadtregionalbahn , Stadt-Umland-Bahn , two-system (city) railway or multi-system (city) railway .
Links between trams and railways have existed since the end of the 19th century. Apart from local rail passenger transport (SPNV), they were used in many cities to transport freight wagons over the tram network, which could then be delivered directly to industrial companies in the urban area.
In addition to aspects of licensing law and the dual training of staff - as train drivers and tram drivers - numerous technical parameters must be taken into account when vehicles are transferred from one mode of transport. This includes, above all, the dimensions of the wheel tires in conjunction with the heart of the points and the width of the grooved rails . In addition, there is the power system, the clearance profile , the platform height , the distance between the platform and the track, the train length, the minimum radius, the safety technology , the braking distance and different crash standards. There are further differences with regard to lighting and warning signals , that is, while three- light peak signals and horns are required in rail traffic, direction indicators and bells or bells must be present in city traffic . In addition, the track width must match, otherwise three-rail tracks must be used.
term
The name Tram-Train is mainly used in the French , partly also in the English-speaking area, but is already penetrating the German-speaking area. In the latter, there are also different names and designations for such transport systems, for example regional light rail (in the professional world in general and as a name for the Braunschweig project in particular), Regiotram (Kassel, also in Biel in the planning stage) or Saarbahn (Saarbrücken).
The term light rail used in English is more comprehensive and describes any type of rail-bound passenger transport that is either carried out by vehicles that are not fully suitable for railways or on rail routes that do not have the absolute priority over road traffic, which is usually inherent in rail traffic. In German it is most likely translated as Stadtbahn .
The often used term multi-system or two-system tram means that the vehicles of such a traffic system in the sense of the respective operating regulations (e.g. tram construction and operating regulations (BOStrab) and railway construction and operating regulations (EBO)) including the train control systems simultaneously tram - and are railway vehicles and use different power supplies or drive systems or wheel sets and have solutions for different clearance profiles. Ensure that the vessels are usually the Light transport railcars (LNT).
Karlsruhe model
The use of the term “Karlsruhe model” for tram-train systems refers to the Karlsruhe region , where a two-system light rail system in the narrower sense was introduced for the first time in 1992 in order to create attractive connections between the city and the surrounding area. The Albtalbahn had already been re- gauged and electrified and thus integrated into the inner-city tram network. This line has been extended by a DB line that has been closed for passenger traffic. Today's two-system operation takes place on its own connections and routes leased by the DB with only a small amount of other rail traffic, as well as on DB routes in mixed traffic with other rail traffic. Line S2 was later built on the old route of the Karlsruhe local railway as a modern intercity tram , but it is the only Karlsruhe light rail line to be continuously licensed as a tram. The Karlsruhe model is thus characterized by flexibility in the choice of suitable concepts. Only diesel-electric drive or hybrid drive from the possible components of a tram-train concept are not used in Karlsruhe; the Karlsruhe model is therefore a purely electric tram-train variant.
The system is called Stadtbahn Karlsruhe and is provided with the logo of the S-Bahn , which is an otherwise unusual reference to the S-Bahn , which in Germany is otherwise designed as a pure railway, where the abbreviation stands for Stadtschnellbahn . This reference to an element that is technically very different is based on the similarity of the operating tasks of both systems of connecting city and suburbs or surrounding areas, since this aspect plays a superficial role in the relationship with the passenger. This abbreviation there is therefore to be understood as a brand .
Dieter Ludwig on the part of AVG , VBK and KVV as well as Horst Emmerich from DB are considered the founder of the Karlsruhe model .
Significance in traffic planning
In public passenger transport in metropolitan areas, regional transport on railway lines can in many cases have relatively high travel speeds , but its stops are often far from the sources and destinations of the traffic. The construction of new railway lines with train stations close to the destination is associated with considerable costs, especially in metropolitan areas. City bus routes and trams, on the other hand, are quite slow due to their many stops and obstacles caused by car traffic .
The dual-system light rail system solves this problem by overcoming the system boundaries between railroad and tram and thus enabling the use of regional railway lines by light rail lines. At suitable points, it switches from the railroad to the tram network and can thus travel as a tram right into the heart of the big cities - passengers are no longer obliged to change trains.
It should be noted that due to the higher demands on the vehicles (see below), routes and organizational forms, the investments are higher than pure road or rail solutions. The cost per seat for tram-train vehicles can be up to twice as high. An advantage arises when smaller units enable a more attractive, dense cycle and better access without changing trains with more stops close to the customer, provided that train path fees etc. do not consume the advantage.
The gauges of the railroad and tram system should be identical. Otherwise, three-rail tracks must be laid or certain sections of the infrastructure must be completely re- gauged .
Historical development
Already at the end of the 19th century there were efforts to organize rail-bound city-surrounding traffic by combining inner-city tram systems with suburban and local trains (e.g. in Vienna , Mannheim and Basel ). However, the railway lines used were small or local railways , which often had a tram-like mode of operation, so that only minor technical and organizational adjustments were required. Later this was also transferred to municipal branch lines (Albtalbahn) and main lines ( Cologne-Bonn Railway ), which were adapted to the tram's power system. A mixed operation with local, steam or diesel locomotive hauled freight traffic took place on all of these routes . Due to the spatial limitation, it was possible to equip the few turnouts used in mixed operation with movable frogs so that continuous running edges can be created and the rear surface guidance can be dispensed with. However, the vehicles could not be used freely across network borders. Wheelsets, which on the one hand can drive on grooved tram rails with narrow groove widths and on the other hand can also be safely guided in the focal areas of long-distance railway switches and crossings, have been worked for decades in many cities. Ultimately, the solution was a wheel tire with a wheel flange below the top edge of the rail that largely had the dimensions of a tram, but with a radius of curvature between the flange flank and the tread according to long-distance railway specifications and a collar on the rear surface that, from around ten millimeters above the upper edge of the rail, had a distance to the rear surface in accordance with the long-distance railway standard (in the European standard gauge network 1360 Millimeters). One consequence of operating these compromise tires was the fact that flat grooves were largely avoided in the affected tram networks in order not to put additional strain on the tight tolerances (flange minimum height in the long-distance network 30 mm, maximum height in many tram networks 32 mm).
However, in order to be able to offer attractive local public transport on routes where no municipal railway lines could be used, the idea arose in Karlsruhe at the beginning of the 1980s to link regional lines of the German Federal Railway with the urban tram network (Karlsruhe model). However, some of these lines were already electrified with the mainline electricity system or should still be able to be used by (also electric) trains, so that electrification with the tram's electricity system was excluded. In addition, questions about the lane guidance of the light rail vehicles on the railway lines, organizational and legal issues in connection with the operation of municipal light rail vehicles on federal railway tracks, and questions about financial compensation for the use of the route infrastructure had to be clarified. With the help of test drives with a Karlsruhe light rail car temporarily converted into a two-system car on DB routes, the technical issues were largely clarified in 1986, so that the development of standard two-system light rail cars could be initiated. The solution to these questions still required some time, as the rules for non-discriminatory network access introduced in the course of the railway reform did not yet exist and the operation of another railway company in passenger transport on DB tracks was uncharted territory.
After the construction of a connecting route between the road and rail network and the modernization of the Kraichgaubahn , the first dual-system light rail traffic between Karlsruhe and Bretten -Gölshausen was started in 1992. The great success of this offer - the number of passengers increased fivefold within a few weeks - led to the rapid expansion of the two-system light rail network in the Karlsruhe area and the establishment of similar transport systems in Saarbrücken , Chemnitz , Mulhouse , Nordhausen and Kassel . The construction of dual system light rail vehicles is planned in several cities. In some cases, the idea was rejected in the planning phase (e.g. in Braunschweig ).
Technical and organizational implementation
In order to be able to link railway and tram systems, the vehicle technology, the traffic structures and the operational organization have to be adapted compared to a simple tram / light rail operation. This force the technical differences between the two modes of transport as well as the different operating rules, namely the regulation on the construction and operation of trams tramways and railway construction and operating regulations as well as the railway signal order (ESO) in the railway sector.
Vehicle technology
power supply
For mixing systems rail / railroad the issue of energy supply is central: Trams largely with DC voltage from 500 to 750 volts operated railways run against it either in diesel mode without catenary or electrically with traction power : in Germany, Austria and Switzerland is the AC with a voltage of 15 kV and a frequency of 16.7 Hz . Vehicles are therefore required that are either designed for both power systems or that can travel independently of the contact wire. Three concepts have been developed for this:
- Two- system light rail cars are not only equipped with the electrical equipment for direct current operation, but also with a transformer , rectifier and automatic system selection system and are therefore suitable for both power systems. Test drives with a provisionally converted vehicle took place in 1986 in the Karlsruhe area. Such vehicles are now used in Karlsruhe, Saarbrücken and Kassel as well as in the Île-de-France region (with 50 Hz).
- Two-motor railcars , usually as direct current railcars with additional diesel generator systems, which run electrically in urban areas and are supplied by these diesel generators on the routes outside of the company's own catenary network. A first such vehicle was experimentally created in Nordhausen by installing a passenger car diesel engine in an older tram car. Today standard dual-powered railcars operate in Nordhausen, Chemnitz and Kassel. Such vehicles usually only run on routes that are not electrified .
- Vehicles with direct current drive and battery storage. Experiments with such a drive system took place in Karlsruhe in 1989, but were not developed further to series production readiness.
Lane guidance
For historical reasons, grooved rails with narrow groove widths are usually common in tram networks. So that the pavement could be laid to the outer edges of the rail heads, the wheel treads were not allowed to protrude significantly to the outside. A classic tram wheel therefore only has a tire width of 75 millimeters, in contrast to European railway wheel tires with a width of 135 millimeters. This meant that it was no longer possible to install conventional frogs, in which a wheel runs from the wing rail to the frog tip with little impact. They made do with frogs with flat grooves in which the wheels run on the wheel flange tips. The flange tops had to be sufficiently wide for the required load-bearing capacity. Because of the limited groove width, this was only possible with steeper flank angles on both sides of the flange. Together with a narrower radius of curvature between the tread and the flange flank and the resulting two-point contact on conventional Vignole rails, a tram wheel set is therefore not sufficiently reliable even on a straight railroad track. Because the groove widths are as narrow as possible, the distance between the rear surfaces of a tram wheel set is greater than that of a railway wheel set. The distance between the rear surfaces of a European railway wheelset is 1360 millimeters; in regular-gauge tram networks, 1380 millimeters is a frequently used value. This difference excludes the rear surface guidance by the wheel guide in the focal area of switches and crossings. These significant differences in the construction of the wheel tires require adjustments in mixed tram / rail systems.
Compromise wheel set in the wheel guide of a long-distance railway switch (red) with an elevation of 30 mm compared to SOK
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The wheel tire profile of a vehicle that both systems should drive safely on must combine a load-bearing, narrow flange with a wide wheel tread. In addition, the rounding radius of the fillet between the running surface and the flange flank must be enlarged to such an extent that one-point contact is guaranteed even on Vignole rails. On the Cologne-Bonn Railway and the Wiener Lokalbahn, the switches, which were used in mixed operation, were equipped with movable wing rails or frogs. This means that continuous running edges are available there, the different distance between the rear surfaces does not matter. However, the vehicles cannot be freely used in the railway network. In order to achieve this, the wheel tires were given a collar on the rear surface, by means of which the distance between the rear surface of the long-distance railway is established from about ten millimeters above the top of the rail. As a rule, tram handlebars do not protrude above the upper edge of the rails when they are new, so this solution was possible with little conflict. A problem remains, however, that this federal government only brushes the long-distance bike handlebars at a low height. If they are only used by vehicles with compromise tires, this leads to increased wear. Replacing these control arms more frequently cannot be avoided. For the wear behavior it is beneficial to completely avoid flat grooved frogs on tram routes used by mixed-service vehicles and wide grouting joints on the outside of covered grooved rail tracks. The compromise tire profile offers lower tolerances than pure road and rail profiles, so more frequent contour machining is required.
The rigidity of tram and rail vehicles also differs: a longitudinal rigidity of 1500 kN is prescribed for rail cars , while that of trams and light rail vehicles usually only reaches 200–600 kN. Therefore, the use of the two-system light rail cars was only allowed on certain routes until the beginning of the 1990s, until 1993 with the so-called " LNT Directive " a generally applicable regulation for mixed operation of light rail / railroad was created. It essentially requires that vehicles with a rigidity of 1500 kN or less have to compensate for the non-compliant frame rigidity through active safety measures. This can be achieved by light rail vehicles etc. a. due to the significantly higher braking deceleration compared to railway vehicles. In addition, the LNT directive limits the maximum speed for light local railcars and prohibits their use on routes with maximum speeds of over 160 km / h .
Railway cars are wider than light rail vehicles and tram vehicles, so when light rail vehicles are used on railway lines, there is a gap of around 20 to 30 centimeters between the vehicle and the platform that is bridged by technical adjustments. Extendable steps are common: the Karlsruhe light rail vehicles can be equipped with either 34 or 55 cm extendable steps on old, low tram platforms with a distance of 1.35 m from the center of the track, on low-floor platforms with a height of 34 cm and a distance of 1.58 m and on medium-floor platforms with EBO -compliant height of 55 cm at a distance of 1.65 m. In Kassel, on the other hand, on the mixed-operation sections of the Kassel – Waldkappel railway line, looping tracks were created in the platform area, so that the narrower tram vehicles can get closer to the platform edge without any changes to the wagon design, while the wider railway vehicles do not sweep over the platform.
Two-system light rail vehicles must also be equipped with train control devices both in the road network and in the railroad network, so in Germany they usually have, in addition to the inductive switch control of the tram, the inductive train protection common in the railway sector . The radio system must also be designed for the tram radio and the train radio .
Traffic structures
The tram and rail network must be connected with one another at the beginning using transition routes. The power system separation point may also be set up on this link . Isolation points are 50 to 200 m long currentless contact line sections, which are electrically isolated from the two adjacent power systems on the contact line side by means of section separators. They have to be driven through with momentum. If a vehicle unintentionally stops in the currentless section, direct current is temporarily fed in, with which the vehicle can leave the area again. They are also often laid out with a slight incline so that a broken-down vehicle can start moving in this way. In order to prevent in particular the reverse current on the DC side from straying into the AC voltage network and premagnetizing the transformers there, the rails in the system change area are also electrically separated by locking joints in the form of two insulating joints . The system separation point does not necessarily have to be identical to the legal or infrastructure boundary between the railway and tram systems.
organization
The driving and operating personnel must be trained both as train drivers according to BOStrab and EBO. The transport company operating the tram must have approval according to BOStrab and EBO.
In the past, special legal, organizational and financial regulations had to be created for the operation of a light rail on railway tracks in order to enable the operation of a third-party transport company on federal railway tracks. These were generalized in Germany with the rail reform , so that individual regulations are no longer necessary today.
Areas of application
Germany
Today's
Karlsruhe
In Karlsruhe, the two-system tram was gradually developed:
- Since 1959, trams have been running on the Albtalbahn, a municipal railway line that was converted from 8800 to 750 volts direct current when it was changed and linked to the tram network. In 1966, the Busenbach – Ittersbach railway followed the same model .
- Since 1979 trams have been running on the Hardtbahn , which was standard-gauge from the beginning, but originally not electrified , also using direct current. At that time, the line was still part of the Deutsche Bundesbahn network, but was only served by a few goods delivery trips.
- Since 1991 two-system light rail vehicles have been running as local trains of the Deutsche Bundesbahn between Karlsruhe Hbf and Pforzheim , initially exclusively under AC overhead lines and according to EBO.
- In 1992, after trial operation in the 1980s, the first two-system light rail connection was opened in mixed traffic with direct and alternating current overhead lines to Bretten -Gölshausen.
The Karlsruhe network now covers over 400 kilometers of route. In addition to the Karlsruhe tram network and regional railway lines, Wörth am Rhein , Bad Wildbad and Heilbronn have created their own inner-city routes , which are also operated with 750 volts direct current and therefore have their own system switching points.
Saarbrücken
In Saarbrücken , a new urban rail system opened in 1997, in addition to a newly built tram line in Saarbrücken city center, a cross-border, electrified guidance on the existing Saarbrücken-Sarreguemines railway covers. This light rail has now been extended via Riegelsberg and Walpershofen in order to run on a former railway line to the terminus in Lebach- Jabach. The construction of a second line between Saarlouis and Sankt Ingbert has been postponed for financial reasons. Since no existing tram operation had to be taken into account in Saarbrücken, the Saarbahn was able to do without compromise wheel tires and also uses wheel tires as well as guide and groove widths according to EBO on the city routes .
kassel
In Kassel , trams have been running under direct current overhead lines on the former route of the Kassel-Naumburg railway to Baunatal -Großenritte, which is also used by freight traffic and the " Hessencourrier " museum railway , since May 28, 1995 . The former Kassel – Waldkappel railway to Helsa has also been used since June 8, 2001 ; the extension to Hessisch Lichtenau was opened on January 28, 2006. Since June 10, 2001, a RegioTram preliminary operation has been taking place on the Warburg – Kassel Hbf route.
The RegioTram railcars have been running on the Kassel – Hofgeismar – Warburg route since May 8, 2005, and since January 2006 also to Hessisch Lichtenau. The Kassel – Melsungen line was officially inaugurated on June 23, 2006 and the Kassel – Wolfhagen line on January 27, 2007. The RegioTram is also connected to the Kassel tram network through the tunneling under the Kassel main station . The construction work for this began in the main train station (Kulturbahnhof) on August 12, 2005; the underground continuation was opened on August 19, 2007. Since September 16, three RegioTram lines have been running through this tunnel to downtown Kassel.
Chemnitz
Since 2002, slightly modified Variobahn city rail cars have been running on the railway line to Stollberg (Erzgebirge) in Chemnitz . For this purpose it was electrified with direct voltage. Since October 10, 2016 are connected to the railway lines to Burgstädt , to Mittweida and after Hainichen further relations been included in the urban rail system on which two power railcars of type Vossloh Citylink are used and a newly created attachment site at Chemnitz Main run further into the inner-city tram network can. A special feature of the Chemnitz Citylink railcars are different entry heights, which means that step-free entry is possible at two doors on both the adapted road and rail routes. Further line network expansions are planned, the associated infrastructure measures are being planned and in some cases already being implemented.
Zwickau
With the Zwickau solution, diesel multiple units of the Vogtlandbahn are transferred to the Zwickau tram network . Beyond the main station , they run on a siding and a three-track tram route to the city center. In contrast to the other tram-train models, only slightly adapted classic mainline vehicles are running in Zwickau ; they have been retrofitted with indicators, for example, on a comparatively elaborate tram infrastructure.
Nordhausen
In the Thuringian city of Nordhausen , the meter-gauge urban tram service was connected to the meter-gauge Harzquerbahn of the Harzer Schmalspurbahnen (HSB). Two-motor vehicles of the Combino Duo type run to Ilfeld Neanderklinik. In addition, regular HSB diesel multiple units also reach the Nordhausen station forecourt, for which they have been specially equipped with rear-view mirrors and brake lights in accordance with BOStrab .
The so-called "Nordhäuser Model" has now been proposed by Heidelberg traffic consultant Robert Wittek-Brix for use in the new Regensburg urban railway as a kind of "regional railway with inner-city development function" in order to lower the entry hurdle for entering a local rail transport in Regensburg.
Heidelberg and Mannheim
Ring line 5, which operates today on the Mannheim – Weinheim , Weinheim – Heidelberg and Heidelberg – Edingen – Mannheim lines, changes four times between BOStrab and ESBO in one round . In addition, the branch line from Mannheim-Käfertal to Heddesheim , which is served by the Mannheim tram lines 5A and 15, is also licensed as a railway.
Ludwigshafen
The route in the Vorderpfalz , also known as the Rhein-Haardtbahn , was opened in 1913. It begins in Bad Dürkheim and goes over to the tram network of Mannheim and Ludwigshafen in Oggersheim . In the past, the local train to Meckenheim and the local train to Frankenthal also used the urban tram tracks in the downtown area of Ludwigshafen.
Cologne / Bonn
The lines of the Cologne-Bonn Railway, which have been converted into a regional light rail system without multi-system technology, connect the two networks of the Cologne light rail and the Bonn light rail , with the latter also being linked to the SSB in the Bonn / Siegburg area. In addition, the Cologne – Frechen railway line operated by the EBO of the former Cologne-Frechen-Benzelrath Railway (KFBE) is integrated into the Cologne light rail network. In addition, a new dual-system tram line from Bonn Central Station to Cologne / Bonn airport on the Kennedy Bridge and system change in Bonn Vilich in the discussion.
Former
Berlin
Line 120 of the Berlin tram , which ran from January 8, 1923 to 1945 between Spandau West station (today Berlin-Spandau) and Hennigsdorf , used some of the Bötzowbahn's tracks . The tram initially ran on benzene , later the line was electrified. The line was not put back into service after the end of the war; Both the railway tracks and the trams are now shut down and partially dismantled.
Dusseldorf
The Düsseldorf tram network is connected to the neighboring networks in Duisburg and Krefeld by overland routes . Originally these routes, the D-Bahn to Duisburg and the K-Bahn to Krefeld, were licensed as railways. For the overland trains, there were (in some cases: apply) some special features, such as higher speeds, dining compartments, the omission of intermediate stops in the city area and red line numbers .
Flensburg
Line 4 of the former Flensburg tram ran from 1925 to 1935 beyond the city network on the route of the Flensburg district railway parallel to the Baltic coast to Glücksburg .
Frankfurt am Main
The northern branches of the Frankfurt underground , i.e. the U1 to Ginnheim , the U2 to Bad Homburg vor der Höhe - Gonzenheim and the U3 to Oberursel - Hohemark , were initially - the underground went into operation in 1968 - from Heddernheim as a railway Licensed according to EBO, as freight traffic continued in this area until 1983. This so-called underground line A is a relic of the former Frankfurt local line , from which today's underground operator Stadtwerke Verkehrsgesellschaft Frankfurt am Main took over part of the lines in 1955.
Hagen
The Haspe – Voerde – Breckerfeld railway, which opened in 1903 and expanded in 1906 , ran into economic difficulties in the 1920s and had to temporarily cease operations. In 1927 it was taken over by Hagener Straßenbahn AG and electrified. Due to the length of the route, a voltage of 1200 volts direct current was used, which was different from the Hagen city network, where 550 volts were used. The trains from Breckerfeld ran from now on as line 11 beyond their previous end point, Haspe , to Hagen Markt, for which 16 two-system cars were available from Killing . It was not until April 8, 1951, that the tram company switched its overland route to the lower city voltage, after which it could be flexibly operated by all trams until it was closed in 1963.
Karlsruhe
Between 1921 and 1932, the meter-gauge Karlsruhe local railway and the standard-gauge Karlsruhe tram shared a common route in the southern Karlsruhe city center . This had two tracks and three tracks and led in an east-west direction from the main cemetery to Weinbrennerplatz.
Pforzheim
In Pforzheim from 1911 to 1964 the Pforzheimer Kleinbahn trains coming from Ittersbach ran from the Brötzingen district on the tracks of the Pforzheim tram to the city center. Both railways were meter gauge, but had different voltages. Until the harmonization of the electricity system in 1931, the trains of the small railway were therefore pulled in the urban area by electric locomotives of the tram company.
Strausberg
The Strausberg Railway went into operation in 1893 as a non-electrified small railway with passenger and goods traffic. In order to better develop the city of Strausberg, the company opened a pure tram route for passenger traffic in 1921 and also electrified the existing connection. From then on, only conventional tram cars ran on the new route, while mixed traffic with freight trains took place on the existing route. The former therefore had a mixed profile with 115 millimeter wide wheel tires. After the abandonment of freight transport, the railway was rededicated in early 2006 to a pure tram operation according to BOStrab.
Stuttgart
Up until the 1980s, meter-gauge trams and regular-gauge freight trains ran on the Stuttgart Filder plateau on shared three-rail tracks. This was the case on the Stuttgart-Degerloch-Stuttgart-Möhringen , Stuttgart-Möhringen-Stuttgart-Hohenheim and Stuttgart-Möhringen-Stuttgart-Vaihingen routes . The Stuttgarter Straßenbahnen AG (SSB) had once taken over these from the private Filderbahn-Gesellschaft (FBG). On the Degerloch route, only one of the two directional tracks was designed with three tracks. If a freight train was on the move, the tram trains had to avoid it on the wrong track in left-hand traffic.
Vineyard
The meter-gauge tram Ravensburg-Weingarten-Baienfurt and the standard-gauge railway line Niederbiegen-Weingarten shared a three - rail track just under one kilometer long north of Weingarten between 1911 and 1959. The trams were electric, while the railway line, which was used almost exclusively for goods traffic, was operated by steam locomotives. In order to enable mixed operation, the tram vehicles had classic railway wheel tires. Independently of this, the tram was originally also licensed as a local train, so that the mixed operation de jure only existed from 1938. At that time, the Deutsche Reichsbahn took over the operation of both lines from the Lokalbahn Aktien-Gesellschaft and rededicated the narrow-gauge railway into a tram.
Austria
Today's
Vienna
Coming from Baden the trains of the local railway Vienna – Baden operated by the Wiener Lokalbahnen (WLB) have been transferred to the Vienna tram network since its opening in the 19th century . On the local railway section there is a slightly higher voltage on the overhead line than in the city network. On the mixed-operation section, there are switches with movable wing rails in the continuous main tracks to ensure an uninterrupted running edge .
innsbruck
In Tyrol, the Stubai Valley Railway , which opened in 1904 and licensed as a local railway , was linked in 1983 with the meter-gauge network of the Innsbruck tram . Since then, trains have been running from the Stubai Valley - beyond their former terminus on the outskirts - continuously to Innsbruck city center and the main station . In the course of the conversion, the Stubaitalbahn, which was originally operated with 3000 volts alternating current, had to take over the voltage of 900 volts direct current used in the city network.
In addition, there is a second former local railway line, the Innsbrucker Mittelgebirgsbahn , which is integrated into the urban tram network. In addition, the local railway Innsbruck – Hall in Tirol , which was discontinued in 1974, was traditionally closely linked to the tram network.
Linz
In Linz , the Pöstlingbergbahn trains have been running since 2009 via their previous terminus in Urfahr to the central Linz main square. Previously, the route of the mountain railway was adapted to the normal sections of the Linz tram , that is, re-gauged from 1000 to 900 millimeters and switched from pole to single-arm pantograph operation.
In addition, the local railway Ebelsberg – St. Florian was connected to the Linz tram in Ebelsberg from 1929 . The Florianerbahn railcars, however, could not merge into the tram network because they were too wide. In return, the local railway company found it too expensive to rent tram cars for use to and from St. Florian. Still, there was the summer of 1929 and the summer of 1930 at the Bruckner Festival concerts at St. Florian's Priory continuous sidecar between Linz and St. Florian. In 1938 the local line was finally rededicated as a tram, before it lost its connection to the tram network in 1973 due to a shortening of line E and finally ceased operations in 1974.
Gmunden
Since 2014 the trains of the local railway Gmunden – Vorchdorf have been leaving their main line at the Gmundener Seebahnhof and continue as a tram through Traunsteinstraße to the monastery square. This extension was the preliminary stage for the connection with the Gmunden tram that took place in 2018 ; for this purpose, the gap between the Klosterplatz and its terminus on Franz-Josef-Platz had to be completed.
Former
Bolzano
In the former Austrian Bolzano , the Rittner Bahn , which was opened in 1907 and licensed as a local railway, used a common infrastructure in the urban area with the Bolzano tram, which opened in 1909 . The tram was discontinued in 1949 and the Rittner Bahn withdrew from the city in 1966.
Pressburger Bahn
The former Pressburger Bahn connected the city centers of Vienna and Bratislava . The more than 60 kilometers long route was designed as a tram in the urban areas of Vienna and Bratislava. In Bratislava there were also three-rail tracks used jointly with the Bratislava tram , whereas in Vienna there were only level crossings with the city tram . As a special feature of this early two-system operation, the long-distance route was electrified with alternating voltage (16⅔ Hz, 16,500 volts), while the urban routes were electrified with 600 volts and 550 volts DC. The locomotives were changed at the transition stations from tram to rail in Schwechat and Petržalka.
Salzburg
In the Salzburg city center, the Salzburg tram used to share its tracks with the Salzburg – Hangender Stein local train . On the shared line, the local railway trains only ran with 800 volts DC instead of the 1000 volts that is common on the overland sections.
Sarajevo
In Sarajevo , Austria at the time , local trains on the Narenta Railway from Bad Ilidža continued on the tram network from the Bosna railway station to the local station at the tobacco factory. In addition, since the opening of the Sarajevo tram in 1885, there was continuous freight traffic between the rail and tram networks. For this purpose, the Bosnian gauge of 760 millimeters was selected for the tram .
Vienna light rail
In Vienna, the 18G line, which operated between 1925 and 1945 and ran from Heiligenstadt to Ostbahnhof, changed from the Viennese electric light rail network to the tram network at the Gumpendorfer Straße station. There she also had to switch between left-hand and right- hand operation from 1938 , because the belt line of the light rail was only switched to right-hand drive in 1989. In addition, the tram lines 17, 18, 117, 231, 57, 60 and 62 were operated with light rail vehicles at times.
The operation of the Viennese city railway and later also the subway is an exception insofar as the vehicles run on wheelsets with wheel flange dimensions that are not compatible with long-distance railways . Transfer trips on your own wheels via the long-distance rail network were and are not possible. The light rail cars, which were only used in the tram network, were equipped with real tram wheel sets for reasons of wear and tear. This precluded operation in the light rail network without further changes.
Another consequence of the mixed operation was the different train lengths. While comparatively long trains were used on the pure light rail lines, which consisted of up to nine two-axle vehicles, line 18G could only be operated with a maximum of three cars due to the customs in the tram network. In addition, only trains with the combination of railcar, sidecar and sidecar were used on line 18G. The multiple control in the sequence of railcars, sidecars and railcars, which is common in pure light rail operations, even for short three -car trains, was not used here.
Switzerland
Basel
The Basel tram network operated by Basler Verkehrs-Betriebe (BVB) is closely linked to the four railway lines Basel – Aesch , Basel – Dornach , Basel – Pratteln and Basel – Rodersdorf , which are operated by Baselland Transport AG (BLT) . While the first three are connected to the urban network from the start, the Rodersdorf route was only adapted for operation with trams and connected to the urban network between 1982 and 1984.
St. Gallen
The Trogenerbahn (TB) - since 2018 with the St. Gallen – Gais – Appenzell (SGA) line connected to the Appenzell – St. Gallen – Trogen - runs in the urban area of St. Gallen as a double-track tram on grooved rails in the street space, here it also uses the tracks of the St. Gallen tram, which was discontinued in 1957 . The trains have indicators and a bell for this purpose. Outside the city center, the trains to Trogen and, since 2018, to Appenzell have been running on their own route and with a higher level of tension, at the turnouts they cross - as is usual in Swiss rail traffic - in left-hand traffic.
Zurich
The trains of the Forchbahn , operated with 1200 volts DC voltage, run from Esslingen from the outskirts of Zurich with a voltage of only 600 volts on the Zurich tram network . You use the infrastructure of the Zurich Transport Authority (VBZ) in the city. The line is - as the only Zurich tram line - integrated as the S18 into the network of the Zurich S-Bahn .
Bern
The trains on the Bern – Worb Dorf railway line , which opened in 1898 and which is now operated by Regionalverkehr Bern – Solothurn (RBS), have been running on tram tracks since 1901. First they ended on Helvetiaplatz in the Kirchenfeld district, since 1997 they have continued to the Zytglogge in the center of the Swiss federal city. In the course of a third stage of integration, the trains from Worb village since 2010 as a diameter line 6 to Fischermätteli. In return, specially adapted classic furnishing trams from the municipal company Bernmobil have since been sent to Worb Dorf, where a special turning loop had to be built. However, the connection to Fischermätteli initially caused problems because the deviating wheel tire profiles of the overland vehicles caused massive noise problems in the narrow curves of the city network. This problem could only be solved by installing new, rubber-sprung wheels and setting up five stationary track lubrication devices.
From 1913 onwards, the Worb Dorf – Worblaufen railway line at the forester's house in the Wankdorf district - then operated by the Worblentalbahn (WT) and now also operated by the RBS - was linked to the urban tram network. From the city limits, the trains coming from Worb then ran on the tram network, initially to today's Guisanplatz on Papiermühlestrasse. After the track spacing was increased in the curves in the city center, from 1915 onwards the slightly wider WT wagons were finally able to drive all the way to Kornhausplatz in the city center without having to issue a ban on meeting people. The connecting line between Ittigen and the forester's house was closed in 1974 because the trains from the Worblental in the urban area have been going directly to Bern station via Worblaufen since then .
A third connection existed from 1924 at the Tierspital or at Henkerbrünnli, where the trains on the Zollikofen – Bern line - which was operated by the Solothurn – Zollikofen – Bern Railway (SZB) at the time - were transferred to the tram network to run continuously to the station forecourt can. With the commissioning of the predominantly underground new construction route from 1965, this link no longer existed.
Biel
In the Bern city of Biel there were plans for a regiotram consisting of the Biel-Täuffelen-Ins-Bahn and a new tram line to be built to cross the city of Biel (regiotram agglomeration biel / bienne) . On March 26, 2015, the government delegation announced that planning had been discontinued.
France
Île-de-France
In November 2006, the French state railway started light rail operations in the greater Paris area with light rail vehicles on the electrified railway line between Aulnay-sous-Bois and Bondy . Although designated as tram line T4, the tracks used are the property of the RFF . The route was equipped with tram signals, it can no longer be freely traveled with railway vehicles because of the restricted clearance profile in several places.
The Tangentielle Nord between Sartrouville and Noisy-le-Sec and Tangentielle Ouest between Saint-Germain-en-Laye and Saint-Cyr will also be operated on the tram-train principle.
Mulhouse
In Mulhouse in Alsace, a tram-train system with two-system multiple units has been in operation since December 2010. This connects the Mülhauser Bahnhofsvorplatz with Thann Saint-Jacques. The traffic is operated jointly by the SNCF and Soléa, the Mülhausen public transport company. The route is operated by Siemens Avanto railcars . The vehicles use the Mülhausen tram network to Lutterbach, then the tracks of the Lutterbach – Kruth railway line .
Nantes
A tram-train system is being set up in the Nantes region . Used vehicles are the type Citadis Dualis of Alstom .
Since June 15, 2011 the tram-train has been running from Nantes to Clisson, via St Sébastien Pas Enchantés , St Sébastien Frêne Rond , Vertou , La Haie Fouassière and Le Pallet . In September 2011 all connections were taken over by the Tram-Train. The journey time is 29 minutes. 97 percent of the investment of 6.55 million euros was taken over by the region, with SNCF contributing three percent . There is currently no connection with the Nantes tram network , this will follow at a later date.
The Nantes – Châteaubriant railway with a length of 62 kilometers was commissioned in 1877 by the Compagnie du chemin de fer de Paris à Orléans (PO) and closed in 1980 by the successor company Société nationale des chemins de fer français (SNCF). Since 2001 there have been plans to reactivate the route, and in 2008 it was decided to resume rail operations on the basis of a tram-train. The extensive renovation measures were completed in 2013; The electrification of the route lasted until June 2013. After extensive test drives, the route with a total of 11 stops was put back into operation on February 28, 2014. This means that the north-eastern area is better connected to the metropolis. A drive from Nantes to Châteaubriant takes around an hour.
The total investment for this route is estimated at around 207 million euros. 53 million euros will be spent on the rolling stock. Of the costs, the region participate Pays de la Loire , the Loire-Atlantique department , the State France, the EU funding, SNCF and the metropolitan region of Nantes.
In the urban area of Nantes, trams run between the train station and Babinière (i.e. with 1.5 kV DC voltage), the speed limit there is 70 km / h; the Babinière - Châteaubriant line is operated with alternating voltage (25 kV; 50 Hz) at speeds of up to 100 km / h.
24 Citadis Dualis multiple units from Alstom will be used. Each set offers space for 250 travelers and has almost 100 seats. The trains delivered are part of an order placed by SNCF for 200 Dualis units in 2007.
Lyon
The Tram-train de l'Ouest Lyonnais opens up the west of the greater Lyon area . Since December 8, 2012, tram-trains of the Citadis Dualis series have been connecting Lyon Saint-Paul station with Brignais , Sain-Bel , Lozanne . The expansion of the routes (electrification, renewal of the superstructure) and the purchase of the vehicles cost a total of 294.7 million euros. The operation is provided by the SNCF. There is still no connection to the tram network .
Spain
FGV have been using Vossloh Citylink multiple units on the route from Alicante to Benidorm since 2006 . Part of the tunnel in the city center has also been in operation since May 10, 2007. In the Alicante network, tire and track dimensions according to railway standards are used throughout, so that all vehicles with the exception of the diesel multiple units for the Benidorm – Dénia section can be used freely due to the different entry heights.
Italy
In 2009, an extension of the Sassari light rail, which has been in operation since 2006 , was opened; since the run articulated vehicles of the type Ansaldobreda Sirio also adjacent to the narrow-gauge railway to Sorso between the stations Sassari and Santa Maria di Pisa .
Netherlands
- Randstadrail (The Hague-Rotterdam, The Hague - Zoetermeer / Bleiswijk).
Czech Republic
Opened in the years 1925-1927 railway line Ostrava-Svinov-Kyjovice-Budišovice , a private local railway was electrified 1947/48 and in the network of trams Ostrava integrated. Since the connection to the state railway was cut in 1970, it has been a pure tram route. The same fate befell the neighboring Ostrava-Svinov-Klimkovice railway line . This went into operation in 1912, was part of the tram network from 1926 and was finally converted to bus in 1977.
Furthermore, the Brno-Černovice-Lišeň railway line , which opened in 1905 and has been part of the Brno tramway since 1943 .
Hungary
Of Nyíregyháza outgoing, opened in 1905 and non-electrified narrow-gauge railway to Dombrád and balsa was operated in the urbanization of Nyíregyháza in 1911 as electrified tram. Most trams ran to Bessenyei tér, a few further to the suburb of Sóstó. The tram service ended in 1969, before the narrow-gauge railway itself was finally shut down in 2009.
Planned systems
In Gijón , Spain , a 3.5-kilometer-long city tunnel ( MetroTren project) is being built to guide the S-Bahn of the state railway RENFE and the meter-gauge suburban railways of the operator FEVE to the other end of the city. By laying three-rail tracks, the tunnel is suitable for both meter-gauge and national wide-gauge railcars. The line will function as a subway , but technically it will be served by trains of different gauges, of which only the FEVE railcars have the character of a tram.
The project of the Tram-Train Strasbourg - Bruche - Piémont des Vosges , which was supposed to connect the Strasbourg city center with the cities of Molsheim , Gresswiller and Barr , was postponed due to financial difficulties. The construction of a 40-kilometer line on the island of Réunion was abandoned because additional costs of 80 million euros were expected.
In Braunschweig the construction of the RegioStadtBahn Braunschweig with hybrid vehicles with the endpoints Salzgitter , Goslar , Bad Harzburg , Schöppenstedt , Gifhorn and Uelzen was planned. The first sections of the Braunschweig tram network have already been equipped with a three-rail track for this purpose. After new calculations showed that the project was unprofitable, they moved away from the concept of a Regiostadtbahn system and are now pursuing a more cost-effective variant in which hybrid vehicles are dispensed with. The guided tour through the Braunschweig city center is also no longer sought.
In Bremen , an extension of line 8 from Huchting to Weyhe in Lower Saxony (without changing the electricity system) is being planned. The plans for a new line 11 from Oberneuland to Delmenhorst were given up in favor of the regional S-Bahn Bremen / Lower Saxony .
The city of Rostock also planned to link tram and railway lines. In Frankfurt am Main , the construction of a tangential line from Bad Homburg vor der Höhe to Neu-Isenburg via Höchst and the airport in the form of a two-system city tram under the name of Regionaltangente West is being considered.
Other cities in which dual-system trams are to be introduced are the Neckar-Alb regional tram in Tübingen , Liberec / Reichenberg (routes to Zittau , Tanvald / Tannwald and Jelenia Góra / Hirschberg in the Giant Mountains), Most / Brüx (route to Žatec / Saaz) and Ostrava / Ostrau. Concrete plans, which are still controversial about the financing, are also in Kiel , where the tram was not abolished until 1985 , and in Munich ( Stadt-Umland-Bahn Munich ). The planning of the Erlangen city-suburban railway, which began in 1992 as a tram-train, is now only an extension of the Nuremberg tram , without the use of railway lines.
In 2010 an association called for an expansion of the Salzburg S-Bahn to become the Salzburg-Bavaria-Upper Austria regional light rail .
Delivery of state rail freight cars via the tram network
A special form of linking railways and trams is the delivery of state rail freight cars via the tram network in order to be able to serve company connections far away from railway lines. This type of operation was particularly widespread in Austria-Hungary and its successor states, for example in all Hungarian standard-gauge operations.
For this purpose, the relevant sections of the tram network had to be adapted accordingly. On the St. Pölten tram, for example, the grooved rails on the mixed-service routes were 60 millimeters wide, while those on the pure passenger traffic sections were only 32 millimeters wide. In the Timișoara tram , more stable rails had to be installed for freight transport. These weighed 59.2 kilograms per meter of rail, while the previous ones weighed only 20 kilograms. For the inner-city transport of the freight wagons, special tram locomotives were usually available, which were equipped with buffers and screw couplings in addition to the central buffer couplings common in the tram sector . The Forster city railway and the Spremberger Stadtbahn were also primarily used for freight transport .
See also
literature
- Georg Drechsler: Feasibility study to link the passenger rail transport of a tram company and the Deutsche Bundesbahn using the example of the Karlsruhe area. Albtal-Verkehrs-Ges., Karlsruhe 1985, DNB 870227394 .
- Martin Karr: Multi-system concepts for railways in Europe. In-depth work. University of Karlsruhe, Karlsruhe 1998.
- Stefan Göbel: Is the regional light rail coming? In: city traffic . Freiburg 7-8 / 05, ISSN 0038-9013 , pp. 27-34.
- Klaus Bindewald: The Albtal Transport Company. Exemplary local transport system worldwide. Regional culture publishing house, Ubstadt-Weiher 2007, ISBN 978-3-89735-475-3 .
Web links
Individual evidence
- ↑ Based on A Difficult Future for the Tram-Train? , Article in stadtverkehr 4/2013 by Günter Koch, DB International, Karlsruhe. Costs per seat mentioned there: VT650 Regio-Shuttle 11,000 euros / seat, New Citylink low-floor tram Karlsruhe 13,300, New Flexity two-systemer 17,800, CityLink Chemnitz with diesel 21,900 and others
- ↑ a b Niclas Wiesent: TST symposium on May 4th, 2018. Information on new vehicles AB. Association of technical managers of Swiss transport companies. (Powerpoint; 4.1 MB)
- ↑ selketalbahn.de
- ↑ New variant: train travels through the city. In: Mittelbayerische.de. Retrieved August 30, 2016 . , see also: Regensburg model .
- ↑ www.tram-info.de
- ↑ erlebnisbahn.at ( Memento from December 9, 2011 in the Internet Archive )
- ↑ The types N / n / n1 and N1 / n2 on Die Wiener U-Bahn by Horst Prillinger
- ↑ The Fischermätteli quarter is quiet again
- ↑ a b c d The “Tram-Train” in Nantes - light rail or main line? . In: Eisenbahn-Revue International , issue 12, year 2012, ISSN 1421-2811 , p. 625.
- ↑ http://www.ter-sncf.com/regions/pays_de_la_loire/fr/a_propos_de_ter/default.aspx
- ↑ http://www.nantes-chateaubriant.paysdelaloire.fr/
- ↑ http://www.nantes-chateaubriant.paysdelaloire.fr/le-plan-de-la-ligne-les-stations-de-tram-train/ accessed June 30, 2013
- ↑ Publication from rail-technology.com (English) accessed on March 22, 2014
- ↑ Rhône. Lyon-Brignais: mise en service du tram-train samedi 8 December on leprogres.fr
- ↑ The tram Nyíregyháza on 760net.heimat.eu
- ↑ Le tram train strasbourgeois n'est pas pour demain dna.fr, accessed on January 30, 2014
- ↑ La Région confirme l'abandon du tram-train ( Memento from June 2, 2010 in the Internet Archive ) The region decides to end the tram-train in Le Quotidien de La Réunion
- ↑ http://www.bgland24.de/berchtesgaden/man-muss-bahn-menschen-haben-bgl24-1015035.html
- ↑ http://www.rsb-salzburg.at/
- ↑ http://www.vcd-bayern.de/projekte/tourismus/Alpen/Praesentation5-MBehringer.pdf
- ↑ Chronicle of the St. Pölten tram at www.public-transport.at
- ↑ 60 de ani de la înființarea tramvaiului în Timișoara . Timișoara 1929.