Translohr
Encyclopedia
Guided bus
Guided buses are buses steered for part or all of their route by external means, usually on a dedicated track. This track, which often parallels existing roads, excludes other traffic, permitting the maintenance of reliable schedules on heavily used corridors even during rush hours.Guidance systems...
system manufactured by Lohr Industrie
Lohr Industrie
Lohr Industrie is a French manufacturer. With a track record in the manufacture of high-tech car transporter systems , this innovative manufacturer has developed the Translohr tram cars and Modalohr road/rail transfer system, and, in cooperation with GIAT Industries, the Caesar 155 mm...
of France
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
. It is used in Clermont-Ferrand
Clermont-Ferrand
Clermont-Ferrand is a city and commune of France, in the Auvergne region, with a population of 140,700 . Its metropolitan area had 409,558 inhabitants at the 1999 census. It is the prefecture of the Puy-de-Dôme department...
, Tianjin
Tianjin
' is a metropolis in northern China and one of the five national central cities of the People's Republic of China. It is governed as a direct-controlled municipality, one of four such designations, and is, thus, under direct administration of the central government...
, Padua and in the mainland Mestre
Mestre
Mestre is a city part of the comune of Venice, in Veneto, northern Italy.The city is connected to Venice by a large rail and road bridge, called Ponte della Libertà ....
district of Venice
Venice
Venice is a city in northern Italy which is renowned for the beauty of its setting, its architecture and its artworks. It is the capital of the Veneto region...
in Italy
Italy
Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...
. Translohr runs on rubber tires and is guided by a single central rail.
The Translohr system is intended to provide a much more light rail
Light rail
Light rail or light rail transit is a form of urban rail public transportation that generally has a lower capacity and lower speed than heavy rail and metro systems, but higher capacity and higher speed than traditional street-running tram systems...
-like experience than that provided by buses. Unlike other guided bus systems (including the similar but incompatible Guided Light Transit
Bombardier Guided Light Transit
Guided Light Transit is a public transport system manufactured by Bombardier Transportation and used in the French cities of Nancy and Caen....
system developed by Bombardier Transportation
Bombardier Transportation
Bombardier Transportation is the rail equipment division of the Canadian firm, Bombardier Inc. Bombardier Transportation is one of the world's largest companies in the rail-equipment manufacturing and servicing industry. Its headquarters are in Berlin, Germany....
), Translohr can run only where there is a guide rail in place as there are no steering controls. Like a conventional tram, power is provided by overhead wires
Overhead lines
Overhead lines or overhead wires are used to transmit electrical energy to trams, trolleybuses or trains at a distance from the energy supply point...
and collected with a pantograph
Pantograph (rail)
A pantograph for rail lines is a hinged electric-rod device that collects electric current from overhead lines for electric trains or trams. The pantograph typically connects to a one-wire line, with the track acting as the ground wire...
, although the vehicle can also run on internal batteries
Rechargeable battery
A rechargeable battery or storage battery is a group of one or more electrochemical cells. They are known as secondary cells because their electrochemical reactions are electrically reversible. Rechargeable batteries come in many different shapes and sizes, ranging anything from a button cell to...
(arranged in packs
Battery pack
A battery pack is a set of any number of identical batteries or individual battery cells. They may be configured in a series, parallel or a mixture of both to deliver the desired voltage, capacity, or power density...
) on sections of the route where overhead wires are deemed to be undesirable.
Because Translohr LRVs cannot run without a guide rail they are not classified as a street-running bus
Bus
A bus is a road vehicle designed to carry passengers. Buses can have a capacity as high as 300 passengers. The most common type of bus is the single-decker bus, with larger loads carried by double-decker buses and articulated buses, and smaller loads carried by midibuses and minibuses; coaches are...
. Hence the vehicles that are used on the Clermont-Ferrand network are not equipped with licence plate
Vehicle registration plate
A vehicle registration plate is a metal or plastic plate attached to a motor vehicle or trailer for official identification purposes. The registration identifier is a numeric or alphanumeric code that uniquely identifies the vehicle within the issuing region's database...
s.
Advantages
Compared to buses, the use of a guidance rail allows Translohr LRVs running in parallel lanes to pass closer together than drivers could safely steer. Much like trams, Translohr vehicles can dock with low station platforms for level boarding, and give access to passengers dependent on wheelchair
Wheelchair
A wheelchair is a chair with wheels, designed to be a replacement for walking. The device comes in variations where it is propelled by motors or by the seated occupant turning the rear wheels by hand. Often there are handles behind the seat for someone else to do the pushing...
s without requiring the time-consuming deployment of ramps or ‘kneeling’ systems.
Disadvantages
In addition due to the tires running over the same spot in the road there is a significant rutting of the roadway; this has already happened on Bombardiers's GLT, resulting in extensive repairs at significant cost to the operator. This could be considered to add to the already high running costs. Ride quality is also said to be poor, not much of an improvement on a bus, due to the four-wheeled design, whereas trams have trucks with shock absorbers.The system also had some issues with derailments: after 3 months of the inauguration, in 20 August 2007 evening, the first Translohr train derailment
Derailment
A derailment is an accident on a railway or tramway in which a rail vehicle, or part or all of a train, leaves the tracks on which it is travelling, with consequent damage and in many cases injury and/or death....
occurred in Tianjin
Tianjin
' is a metropolis in northern China and one of the five national central cities of the People's Republic of China. It is governed as a direct-controlled municipality, one of four such designations, and is, thus, under direct administration of the central government...
. There were also 5 derailments on Padua
Padua
Padua is a city and comune in the Veneto, northern Italy. It is the capital of the province of Padua and the economic and communications hub of the area. Padua's population is 212,500 . The city is sometimes included, with Venice and Treviso, in the Padua-Treviso-Venice Metropolitan Area, having...
s new installation in 2007 (before inauguration) and one derailment in 2010.
Critics of the system can also point out that unlike a conventional tramway, Translohr is a proprietary system, meaning that once having installed it, a city would face difficulties
Vendor lock-in
In economics, vendor lock-in, also known as proprietary lock-in or customer lock-in, makes a customer dependent on a vendor for products and services, unable to use another vendor without substantial switching costs...
in purchasing vehicles from any manufacturer other than Lohr Industrie. A standard tramway, on the other hand, can easily accommodate vehicles from multiple suppliers; Strasbourg
Strasbourg
Strasbourg is the capital and principal city of the Alsace region in eastern France and is the official seat of the European Parliament. Located close to the border with Germany, it is the capital of the Bas-Rhin département. The city and the region of Alsace are historically German-speaking,...
, for example, recently chose the Citadis
Citadis
The Citadis is a low-floor tram built by Alstom in La Rochelle, France, and Barcelona, Spain. 1,140 Citadis are currently in use in 28 cities, among others: Bordeaux, Grenoble, Lyon, Montpellier, Orléans, the Paris area, and Barcelona, Dublin, Gdańsk, Katowice, Adelaide, Melbourne, Jerusalem and...
tram from Alstom
Alstom
Alstom is a large multinational conglomerate which holds interests in the power generation and transport markets. According to the company website, in the years 2010-2011 Alstom had annual sales of over €20.9 billion, and employed more than 85,000 people in 70 countries. Alstom's headquarters are...
to supplement its existing Bombardier Eurotram
Flexity Outlook
The Flexity Outlook is a family of 100% low-floor articulated light-rail trams manufactured by Bombardier Transportation. Part of the larger Flexity product line , Flexity Outlook cars fall into two distinct sub-categories with dramatically different appearances...
fleet.
See also
- Bombardier Guided Light TransitBombardier Guided Light TransitGuided Light Transit is a public transport system manufactured by Bombardier Transportation and used in the French cities of Nancy and Caen....
- Rubber-tyred trams
- TEDA Modern Guided Rail TramTEDA Modern Guided Rail TramTEDA Modern Guided Rail Tram is a Translohr Light Rail system in Tianjin Economic-Technological Development Area. It is a modern, high speed rubber tired tram system, both first in China & Asia....
- TramTramA tram is a passenger rail vehicle which runs on tracks along public urban streets and also sometimes on separate rights of way. It may also run between cities and/or towns , and/or partially grade separated even in the cities...
- Zhangjiang TramZhangjiang TramZhangJiang Tram is Shanghai's streetcar system, utilizing the French Raul company's Translohr tram system. It is a rubber-tired tram system, second both in China and Asia....