Light Rail Atlas

LATEST NEWS 1998-2006
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November 2006
RandstadRail first phase opens Light rail services of RandstadRail between Rotterdam and The Hague (RET, Metro Erasmus), as well as Zoetermeer and The Hague (HTM, Tram line 4) are in service. HTM line 3 will open in due time. To be continued....

October 2006
Portland's streetcar extended After the RiverPlace 0.6 mile extension (March 2005) the trams of Portland (Oregon) are now extended along the Willamette Riverfront to SW Gibbs Street in the new South Waterfront neighborhood. Opening of the new 0.6 mile section took place at the 20th of October.
Meanwhile, after 10 years of planning, the 14.7-mile Washington County Commuter Rail Project is under construction. The line will connect the cities of Beaverton, Tigard, Tualatin and Wilsonville and will use existing freight railway infrastructure.

September 2006
RandstadRail first passenger service Sunday September 10th marked the opening of the very first light rail service of RandstadRail between Rotterdam and Nootdorp (near The Hague). Opening of the 'real' first phase has been delayed due to various technical reasons. To be continued....

May 2006
Tramway Mulhouse opened The city tramway of Mulhouse has been inaugurated by president Jacques Chirac (May 20th). After a journey with one of the new yellow trams the city officially got its tram.

Map: MAX light rail in green

April 2006
MAX will serve new IKEA in Portland Early this year the Port of Portland Commissioners approved a long-term ground lease that will help bring IKEA, the world’s leading home furnishing retailer, closer to the city of Portland. IKEA is the first development in Cascade Station, located just east of Portland International Airport (PDX). The developing 120-acre project will offer shopping, hotels, restaurants and office space in a pedestrian- and transit-friendly environment.
In addition to jobs created during the construction phase, approximately 350 full- and part-time coworkers - including many in specialized management positions - will join the company when the store opens. Pending permits and Federal Aviation Administration approvals, construction of the future IKEA Portland store can begin next spring, with an anticipated opening in spring 2007.
Cascade Station is a public/private partnership formed in 1998 between Port of Portland, TriMet, Portland Development Commission, City of Portland, and Bechtel Corporation. The partnership formed with the goal of extending the region’s award-winning MAX light rail line to PDX. The Airport MAX line opened on September 10, 2001, and has exceeded all expectations.

Photo: (C) Light Rail Atlas/Harry Hondius, Wildenrath, April 29, 2005

February 2006 (3)
Avanto for Mulhouse Mulhouse (Region Alsace) will buy the Siemens Avanto for 4.4 Mio.€ per vehicle. This decision implies the rescue of this tram-train scheme in France, the second after Paris. Though the Mulhouse project represents the first true tram-train in France as the Paris scheme is in fact a conversion style project. Meanwhile the success of Siemens is evident. Despite the very high price (too high actually) Mulhouse didn't select the regiotram of the French firm Alstom. Remarkable: French region LRVs will be used in Germany (and Netherlands), while German cars will operate in France.

Montage: (C) Kolibri, February 2006

February 2006 (2)
Tram for Groningen Groningen (Netherlands) decided to introduce a tram. The first line will connect the main station via a city centre alignment to Zernike, a university compound 9 kilometer north east of the station. Trams should be running in 2014. Still a long way to go, as the scheme's financial backing is not secured yet.

February 2006
Most, a serious TramTrain case Most is a city of 68000 population in Northern Bohemia/Czech Republic, which is neighbouring to Litvinov with 30000 population. Both towns are linked by a regional, standard gauge tramway network. The tramway uses modern Skoda rolling stock. Discussions for a TramTrain scheme have started recently which would link the city of Žatec with the Most-Litvinov tramway by both sharing heavy rail infrastructure and extending the urban tramway infrastructure South of Most.

December 2005
No Merry Christmas for Light Rail in England The new Light Rail projects in England are dead. When minister Darling (what's in a name?) recently pulled the plug on the schemes of Portsmouth and Leeds it became evident that institutional, financial, political and ideological conditions rule out the birth of new systems in England, despite their evident necessity. Some extensions in other cities (e.g. Manchester, Nottingham) seem in a deadlock. The proposed scheme of Bristol was killed earlier, but still some hope for Liverpool, though no money yet. Perhaps Edinburgh in Scotland will be a positive example for England. Or London? However for the time being England's Light Rail chapter is almost closed.

Photos: (C) Light Rail Atlas/Axel Kuehn, Kassel, Germany, November, 2005

November 2005
Kassel RegioTram in progress A Dutch delegation of professionals visited the RegioTram system of Kassel in Germany. Jan Baartman (Prorail, Netherlands) inspected a recently delivered LRV. These TramTrain-cars use a hybrid propulsion, electric (600 V & 15 kV) and some cars diesel-electric as well. Work is still in progress, but the regional TramTrain-lines are due to open in 2006. Particularly the diesel LRV's represent a technical innovation that could be very useful for renewal of many regional and local railways in Europe, as well as in America. More news and information on Kassel and similar systems, see: www.lightrail.nl/TramTrain

Photo: (C) Light Rail Atlas/Axel Kuehn, Camden (NJ) USA, June 10, 2005

August 2005
River Line success! After more than one year of operation the new light rail transit service from Trenton to Camden turns out to be a success. The original doubts about the project’s success have disappeared. The patronage is much higher then expected. Moreover, the technical solution used - 'train-tram', could be of interest for other places in the US, and Europe as well. Meanwhile the European-built Stadler GTW type of cars are used in many places, like soon in Groningen (Netherlands) too.

Photos: (C) Light Rail Atlas/Rob van der Bijl, Seattle, Waterfront Streetcar
September 21, 2004

June 2005
The average guy can't afford a Ferrari, because he can't afford it Perhaps Seattle will get a new monorail. It is sure though that such a controversal piece of infrastructure will be much more expensive (three times at least) than light rail. This month State Treasurer Mike Murphy urged local 'monorail' officials to shut the project down. Murphy is worried because the Seattle Monorail Project's financing plan would require $11.4 billion in taxes through the year 2053 to fund this $2.1 billion elevated monorail, that should serve an entire east-western corrdor with in the Seattle conurbation. Murphy is clear: "The average guy can't afford a Ferrari, because he can't afford it. There should be somebody at the monorail saying we can't afford this thing. The numbers keep getting bigger and bigger. To finance something at 5-½ times the construction value is totally ludicrous."
Meanwhile the real average guys of the George Benson Waterfront Streetcar perhaps don't have to loose the streetcar. The streetcar's maintenance facility sits at the proposed Seattle Art Museum's Olympic Sculpture Park; the museum officials have insisted that the facility must be removed. Metro, the county's transit agency, operates the line and has been searching for a new site to house the maintenance functions. Perhaps a new site is available at the historic centre, near Pioneer Square.
While the future of the old streetcar is still unsure, the proposed South Lake Union streetcar line evolves into a real project, that would spur a makeover of the South Lake Union neighborhood, where Paul Allen's development company has amassed 60 acres in hopes of building a biotech center and thousands of new condos and apartments.
Most important news from Seattle: the construction of the north-south light rail line is going well.

Photos: (C) Light Rail Atlas/Rob van der Bijl, Amsterdam, May 30, 2005

May 2005
New tramway in Amsterdam The 30th of May was the first day of operation of Amsterdam's latest tramway. Line 26, an almost independent new tramway system, serves a large, new residential area built on artificial islands in the eastern part of the Amsterdam region.
More Amsterdam: www.lightrail.nl/NL

Map & animations of Washington's new tramway.

March 2005
New Tramway in Washington D.C. Under construction is a six-stop, 4,34 km (2.7-mile) tramway service in the city of Washington, on the east side of the Anacostia River. The District of Columbia Department of Transportation (DDOT) in cooperation with Metro, is due to open this passenger rail demonstration project in 2006 to serve the Anacostia area in Southeast Washington, D.C. This new tramway, known as the Anacostia Light Rail Demonstration project, will use the existing CSX Shepard Branch Industrial spur right-of-way, and the service will extend along the east side of the Anacostia River between Bolling Air Force Base and Pennsylvania Avenue, near the John Phillip Sousa Memorial Bridge. The Anacostia line is part of a planned citywide Light Rail system designed to improve internal transportation. The tramway will be served by three trams (streetcars) similar to those now running in Portland (OR) and Tacoma (WA).

Photo: (C) Light Rail Atlas/Rob van der Bijl
Antwerp, December 4, 2004

December 2004
Success of Flemish Model De Lijn, the public transport operator of Flanders (Belgium), expects another successful year. There has been a sharp increase of public transport use since 1998. From 216 million users in that year, to 362 million in 2003 (average Vlaams Gewest, but similar figures for the tramways). Figures in 2004 will be in accordance to the last year's growth. This success is due to the socalled 'Flemish Model': an integrated public transport policy which incorparates a believe in public transport as a social service (in stead of commercial commodity) generally, and an improved fare structure particularly. Investments in the tramway infrastructure of the Belgian Coast and the cities of Ghent and Antwerp are part of this policy as well.
In the city of Antwerp the extended and improved tramway line 3 has contributed to the success (and still is). On the extension (2002) from Merksem to Merksem-Keizershoek (see photo) a second generation of new trams are on duty at the outskirts of the Antwerp conurbation, serving new emenities, car transfer facilities and some regional bus services.
De Lijn is the public transport (PT) operator of Flanders, covering rural areas mainly, as well as some smaller and medium-sized cities, like Antwerp, Ghent, Mechelen, Bruges and Hasselt. Flanders is one of the three semi-independent governments of federal Belgium (besides Wallony and Brussels).
De Lijn uses trams in Antwerp and Ghent. Along the entire Belgian coast De Lijn operates a regional tramway. All other PT is served by buses. In 1998 the government decided to introduce a new PT policy: the 'Flemish Model'. Due to this policy the use of PT has increased dramatically. The recent years showed a major shift in PT thinking. PT is conceived as a fundamental public service in stead of a commercial commodity.

October 2004
Euregiobahn extending The regional network of Light Rail-trains around the German city of Aachen keeps extending. September saw the opening of a new 10 km.branche into Eschweiler, including 4 new stops. Another new branche of the Euregiobahn system, Herzogenrath-Merkstein, is due to open in December.

August 2004
It is a go for RijnGouweLijn Monday August 30th the Dutch Minister of Transport has confirmed a contribution of 140 million euro for the eastern section of RijnGouweLijn. It is go for this first 'tram-train' project in Holland. Regional and local governments will contribute 90 million euro. Trams will run in 2010, while the current test operation will be continued for the next years.

June 2004
Bad news from Kiev According to our LRTA-source, on the 9 of June, a large section of the Kiev tram lines (from Square of the Great Patriotic War to the Leningradska sq., route # 21, 27, 31) were suddenly abandoned. The decision to abandon the tram lines was taken by the city mayor without notification to passengers. The last tram with passengers passed the Paton bridge at 20:00. Immediately after that workers began to remove rail tracks from the bridge.

April 2004
Moscow's light metro takes shape The sprawling metro system of Moscow is extended by 'L1', a futuristic-looking light metro along a 7.5-meter-high overpass, which covers an 8 kilometer stretch between the Dmitry Donskoi Boulevard station at the southern tip of the gray line and the South Butovo district. The line serves seven stations.
Soon 'L2' will be openend, a stretch of 2.8 kilometers connecting Kievskaya metro station with the Moscow-City business centre.
L1 has a capacity of 10,000 to 20,000 passengers per hour, while L2 will service up to 35,000.
Another major PT project which is completed recently is a monorail between Timiryazevskaya metro station on the gray line and VDNKh on the orange.
Light metro is also planned for Astafyevo, Shcherbinka and Bitsevsky Park in the south, and possibly for Solntsevo and the Moscow region towns of Mytishchi and Balashikha.

March 2004
Regular service on River Line The new light rail transit service from Trenton to Camden along the Delaware River has started its service on Sunday 14th of March. After months of delay European-built Stadler GTW, articulated diesel light rail vehicles, now travel along the 34-line, serving 20 stations. The project is and has been critized, since it is built entirely with state money and with only about 3000 users/weekday expected. According to the New York Times: "Each trip will cost New Jersey taxpayers about $30 to cover operating costs and debt service. And the state has sunk $1 billion into the project." But River Line's supporters describe it as an economic development project for the river towns.

January 2004
'TramTrain' for Luxembourg After the cancellation of the earlier scheme (2000) Parliament of Luxembourg has approved a new urban-regional Light Rail-project, which include a TramTrain service of 15 kilometer, partly on existing railway, partly on new tramway through the 'European' district of Kirchberg, northeast of the city. The 390 million euro project will be operational in 2007. LRV's will run to both Dommeldange at the existing 'north' railway line, as well as to Gare Central at the south side of the city. Soon tenders will be issued for the supply of 15 dual-voltage LRVs (750 V DC & 25 kV AC 50 Hz), with an option for another 25. Specification will be based on the Saarbrücken tram.

October 2003
Federal Grant for Seattle's Light Rail The federal government has approved Sound Transit's request for a $500 million grant for its Light Rail project. Construction of the 14-mile line from downtown Seattle to Tukwila will start in 2004. The long-delayed project is now scheduled for completion in 2009.
Seattle's Light Rail - called 'Link' - will serve Downtown, the industrial area south of downtown, and residential and commercial neighborhoods in Beacon Hill, the Rainier Valley, Tukwila, and SeaTac. A shuttle bus will connect passengers from the South 154th Station to Seattle-Tacoma International Airport until the Light Rail station is constructed in 2011. A ride on Link from downtown to South 154th will take only 33 minutes. Link trains will start service from downtown Seattle to South 154th Street by 2009 and by 2020 are projected to carry at least 42,500 riders a day.

September 2003
Yellow Mulhouse The French city of Mulhouse will get a new tramway system. It's called 'TramTrain', because the system will consist of urban and interurban lines. The first section of the system is due to open in 2005.
This month the citizens of Mulhouse have choosen the exterior design and color of the new trams. It will be yellow.

August 2003
Success of Tacoma's new Light Rail line This month Sound Transit announced that patronage of Tacoma's new Light Rail line exceeded expectations. The line would carry 2,000 riders a day by 2010, but this new tramway in the Northwest of the U.S. exceeded that number on eight of the first 13 weekdays that Tacoma Link was in operation. The peak happened on August 28, when 3,230 riders used the well designed system.
Tacoma's Light Rail has been financed by Pierce County taxpayers for $80.4 million. Sound Transit operates the line, which covers a 1.6-mile route from South Ninth and Commerce streets downtown to Freighthouse Square.

July 2003
LA's Gold Line opened In urban mass transit, there is nothing that seems to elicit an outpouring of enthusiastic public support, acclaim, and excitement so much as the opening of a brand-new rail transit line – particularly Light Rail Transit (LRT). And that certainly is the case with the opening of the Los Angeles area's new 13.7-mile Gold Line LRT running from Pasadena to LA's Union Station the weekend 26-27 July 2003.
LA transit officials found themselves with an unusual problem, as between 70,000 and 80,000 opening-day passengers "went for the Gold", overwhelming the new Gold Line Light Rail system connecting Pasadena with LA's Union Station.

May 2003
Award for Strasbourg's tram station A tram station and car park in Strasbourg has won the Mies van der Rohe European award for architecture. The concrete 'creation' of the famous architect Zahah Hadid is located at the terminus of line B at Hoenheim and serves as a transfer node.

March 2003
Diesel Light Rail Camden-Trenton expected to start in ~~June~~ November NJ TRANSIT will provide a new light rail transit service from Trenton to Camden along the Delaware River. The line runs roughly parallel to Route 130. European-built Stadler GTW, articulated diesel light rail vehicles will travel along an augmented freight right of way.
The 34-mile system will include 20 stations of which three are park-n-ride facilities. A total of 3,300 parking spaces will be available. More than 20 bridges will be reconstructed along the route and 50 grade crossings will be upgraded. It is expected to start the new system in June (LRA's update: November!). An extension to downtown Trenton has been planned.

February 2003
New Light Rail in Holland The first A32 LRV is transfered to perform tests on the railway between the old cities of Gouda and Alphen in the western part of Holland. The official start of this new Light Rail operation - however mixed with heavy rail - will be February 28.

January 2003
Light Rail for Liverpool The British Government announced (december last year) to provide £170m towards Line One of the proposed Merseytram Light Rail scheme. This 19km line will connect key sites around Liverpool city centre stretching out to Croxteth and Kirkby. The trams of Line One should be running in Liverpool by 2006. Planning is already under way for two more lines, running to Prescot and St Helens, and Liverpool John Lennon Airport.
At an estimated £225m Line One is the most expensive of the three proposed routes because it includes the City Centre Loop which embraces the heart of Liverpool, linking the city's commercial, cultural and business centres and tourist attractions. The balance of the cost of Line One will be met by £25m of the European Regional Development Fund and private sector investments, like £10m of Grosvenor Henderson's £750m redevelopment of Liverpool city centre.

November 2002
Washington, DC plans to bring back LRT D.C. officials want to jump-start new transit service in the city with a 7.2-mile light-rail line that would begin in the District's poorest neighborhoods in Southeast, cross the Anacostia River and connect with the burgeoning jobs and residences along the Southwest waterfront.
The $310 million "Anacostia Starter Line" tops the list of five new light-rail projects that city officials are pursuing. The LRT-proposal is key to link the Anacostia neighborhood to the rest of Washington.

Washington's once-extensive electric railway system was ripped out in the early 1960s; the massive service decline decimated public transport ridership, encouraged and forced dependency on automobiles, and helped foster suburban sprawl and legendary traffic congestion. Washington's impressive Metro rail transit system, supplemented by bus service improvements, has made impressive strides towards regaining some of the original ridership, but its relatively huge cost constrains the pace of system expansion.

By turning to lower-cost LRT such as DMUs, WMATA can extend the reach of rail transit further and at a faster pace. Together with better planning and management of land use, perhaps this will help make public transport more competitive with the automobile system.
DMUs can be found in Europe but aren't operating commercially in the United States because they had not passed federal safety tests until recently. Colorado Railcar is the first manufacturer to produce a unit that meets federal standards.

October 2002
Closures and cutbacks in Oslo Bad news: Oslo will close several tram routes as soon as the 1st of January 2003. The reason is the need to cut expences with NOK 75 million next year and then NOK 300 million each year up to 2006. The cutbacks also include the metro. The routes to Frognerseten (Holmenkollen) and Kolsås will be replaced by tramcars instead of metrocars with pantographs. Several bus routes will be abondened as well.
The decision took place recently, by the Tramwayboard and it is not likely that the politicians will save the case with extra funding. A public outcry amongst the public and especially the employees of the tramway is likely to lead to strikes and demonstrations. 80 tramdrivers will lose their jobs and there will be a need for another 300 buses and a similiar number of busdrivers. Oslo is lacking 150 today already which totals at least 450 within three months!
The changes should as far as possible take place from January 2003. Changes connected to Kolsåsbanen metroline and the (new) metro Ring should take place in July/August 2003.
(News from report of Johan Eriksson, Cityspår/Citytram)

August 2002
Almada and Seixal will get Combino A new Light Rail system in Portugal will link the cities of Almada and Seixal south of Lisbon and offer a number of connections to the main railway line and ferries serving Lisbon. During the first phase of the project an approximately 13-km-long LRT system of three routes, as well as a LRV maintenance and repair facility are to be built within three years. A 20-km extension is already being planned in order to tie more cities into this system.
The newly established company Metro Transportes do Sul (MTS) has received a concession from the Portuguese government to build and also operate the new system for a period of 27 years. This summer Siemens and MTS signed a turnkey EUR 136 million contract which calls for the supply of 24 Combino type five-section.

July 2002
SNCF chooses Avanto Light Rail of Siemens Today (July 4) president-director Louis Gallois of the French Railways (SNCF) have signed a contract with the german firm Siemens for the order of 15 Light Rail Vehicles (LRV's) of the Avanto-family for the use on the railline Aulnay-Bondy in the northeast of the Paris region. An option to 20 Avantos for other railways in Ile de France (Melun-Sénart) is part of the contract.
Gallois: "This contract is a very important step for public transportation, and particularly for SNCF. It clearly demonstrates SNCF values of public service, modernity and Europe, and illustrates our new corporate approach to transporting people in metropolitan areas: developing dual-system vehicles ('TramTrains'), able to run on rail lines in the outskirts of the cities, as well as on inner-city tramways, thus offering our customers direct access to the very heart of those cities. The 'TramTrain' concept also allows us to give a new and more urban look to existing rail lines inserted in densely populated areas."
This is big news. The french firm Alstom is NOT prefered by the french National Railways. And for the first time a national railway company has made a clear decision to become leader in the regional Light Rail-market.
"The multi-system AVANTO makes it possible to link outlying areas to the city center without requiring passengers to change trains - a significant argument in terms of convenience and time when it is important to persuade commuters to change over to public means of urban and regional transportation", according to Siemens, who also will apply Avanto-type of LRV's for San Diego and Houston in the USA.
On Aulnay-Bondy Avantos wil be in service in 2004. SNCF also participates in a regional co-operation of the region of Mulhouse. It is planned to open a 'TramTrain-system' there in 2006.

June 2002
Nordhausen (D) a new example of Diesel Light Rail A connection has been established between a regional railway in the Harz-area and the local tramway network of Nordhausen. In 2004 three Combino low-floor LRVs from Siemens - powered both electrically as well as by a diesel engine (!) - will be operated on the narrow-gauge, non-electrified railway between Nordhausen and Illfeld.
Each LRV will be fitted with a V8 diesel engine with an output of 180kW at 4000 rpm. Like the already operational city-Combino's the diesel-trams will be of the 3-section type, 2.3m wide and 20m long.

March 2002
Planning Light Rail in New Zealand. The heritage tramway of Christchurch represents all Light Rail of New Zealand. However, recently Light Rail got the green light from Auckland City Council, for the central and western corridors, with modern heavy rail being approved for the is easthern and southern corridors.
The socalled Britomart project is an important component of the Auckland Regional Land Transport strategy. The Britomart transport interchange will give passengers on buses, trains and ferries direct access to the Central Business District from all points in the Auckland region. A new underground rail station will bring trains back into the central city with provision for light rail in the future.

February 2002
TramTrain in France going on. SNCF ordered 15 'TramTrains' for the Bondy-project. An option was taken for 64 more LRVs to be used for projects in Lyon, Mulhouse, Strasbourg, St-Germain, and St-Etienne.
Recently SNCF bought Via-GTI, France's largest public transport operator. From now on SNCF will be a strong player on the market for local and regional public transport.
In the Paris region SNCF prepares TramTrain operation on the Bondy - Aulnay-sous-Bois railway.
As extensions new tramway alignments has been planned to Montfermeil and Parinor, including the notorious quarter of la Rose des Vents.

December 2001
Combino in Amsterdam. The first Combino has arrived in the capital of the Netherlands and showed to the public in the historic centre as well as at the terminus of the new tramway to the western housing area 'MAP'. The order of 155 Combinos is the biggest of its kind in Europe. The Amsterdam-Combino is one of the socalled 'second generation' Combinos. The german town of Ulm ordered the same type recently.

October 2001
Spanish Light Rail in progress. An overview: Alicante: extension on tracks directon Denia; Barcelona: work started, plans for two more lines, to Badalona and Sant Andrià; Bilbao: opening in 2002, extension planned to Basurto (near Guggenheim); La Coruña: enlargement and operation with lowfloor vehicles planned; Las Palmas: plan for Light Rail to Arucas and Maspalomas. San Sebastián: Reintroduction of tram considered; Sevilla: 4-line Light Rail network planned, incorporating never used metro-tunnel; Valencia: increasing amount of passengers, line 3 12% between 1999 and 2000.

September 2001
RER Genève extended. This month the Light Rail service Genève - La Plaine (Switzerland) is extended to boarder-town Bellegarde in France. This service on heavy railtracks is known as 'Rhône Express Régional'. The same kind of vehicles are used on the Light Rail-line of Lausanne (Tramway Sud-Ouest).
The extension to France has been delayed seriously because of discussions on fire prevention regulations in a tunnel section just over the boarder in France.

August 2001
New 'Stockholm' Light Rail in Holland. Stockholm trams (Tvärbana) will be used next year by the Dutch Railways (NS-Reizigers) and the tramway company of The Hague (HTM) in a joined operation to serve the excisting railway between the old cities of Gouda and Alpen in the western part of Holland. In fact this is a major breakthrough for new Light Rail in The Netherlands. Service will start in december 2002.

July 2001 (2)
RegioTram Kassel starts. In june the first phase of a new regional tramway network in Kassel (D) is opened. Using excisting heavy railway a starter service between Hbf Kassel and the village of Hofgeismar is commenced. During two years a socalled Vorlaufbetrieb will be operated by trams hired from Saarbrücken. The second phase includes enlargement of the network, as well as streetrunning in Kassel.

June 2001 (1)
Heilbronn: "One more Stadtbahn". Line S4 of the Karlsruhe-system is extended from the station to the centre (July 21, 2001). In the nearby future the centre alignment will serve as the backbone of a new independent network serving Heilbronn and its region.

May 2001
Three new UK systems approved. Recently Deputy Prime Minister John Prescott approved three schemes: Leeds, Bristol, and South Hampshire.
The long-awaited Supertram project in Leeds consists of a 3-line 28 kilometer network. A Centre Loop will connect the three lines. Like the Bristol and South Hampshire systems Leeds will include street running and use of segregated tracks.
The other systems will also use alignments of heavy railway. South Hampshire's key project is a tunnel underneath Portsmouth Harbour allowing a rapid connection between the city and Fareham.

April 2001
Tram on railway tracks in Holland. Recently (April 22) the Dutch Railways (NS) and the tram company of The Hague (HTM) have tested their 'TramTrain'. A rebuilt ex-Hannover tram was running between The Hague (Leidschendam) and Rotterdam (Hofplein).
This is the first test of its kind in The Netherlands. Comparable tests have been planned in the regions of Leiden and Haarlem. The HTM however is not involved (yet) in these projects.

March 2001
Guided buses Nancy in trouble. The recent opened guided bus project in Nancy is in trouble. Some accidents already happened, causing several injured. And after a serious 'derailment' early March operation has been cancelled until June this year.
Obviously the 'tramway sur pneus' lacks the soundness of a true Light Rail.

January 2001
New Light Rail in Holland. A new Light Rail for Houten (in the Dutch region of Utrecht) is opened January 8. The Light Rail provides a short shuttle service (1.9 km.) between the central station of Houten and a new housing area.
The service is operated by the national railways (NS), who has hired two ex-Hannover cars from The Hague (HTM).

December 2000
Diesel Light Rail in Holland: three projects. Three Diesel Light Rail projects will be opened in the near future. In 2001 the new company Syntus will operate Lint-cars on a 2-line network in the region of Winterswijk. The first car has arrived in the Netherlands in January.
The second project is a new Light Rail service with Talent-cars on Heerlen-Aachen (Germany).
And there is a serious plan to operate Lints between Enschede and Gronau (Germany) in 2003. This line is part of a longer service by the Regionalbahn Westfalen to the German city of Münster.

September 2000
Ups and Downs. Several Light Rail initiatives went down. Recently the project in Brisbane (Australia) has been cancelled. Last year Aachen (Germany) and the city of Luxembourg dropped their plans. In Hamburg (Germany) however old plans seems to revive.
In the meantime France is still going up. This summer nation's leading newspaper Le Monde dedicated a supplement to French Light Rail!

May 2000
New systems open. In the United States - Jersey City (near New York) - a new Light Rail line opened on 16 April. In England - at last! - on a part of the Croydon system revenue service started, from 10 May. This year three new systems will open in France: Orléans, Lyon and Montpellier.

March 2000
Break-through of TramTrains in France. Grenoble will enlarge its city-network in 2004 with a 57 km. east-west line, served by TramTrains, while a similar project is planned in Strasbourg. A new TramTrain system will be developed in Mulhouse.

January 2000 (2)
New Light Rail in Asia. New systems recently opened in Asia. In november Singapore got an new automated light metro, and Bangkok (Thailand) started revenue service on a new metro, 23 stations, built by Siemens, in december. Manilla (Philippines), in the same month, opened the first phase of the Metrostar Light Rail. Meanwhile Jerusalem (Israel) is seriously planning a large Light Rail network.

January 2000 (1)
Kaiserslautern chooses Light Rail. The German city of Kaiserslautern has decided to build a regional 'Stadtbahn' network. The idea is to adopt the socalled Karlsruher Model, and eventually transform this model to a "Kaiserslauterer Modell"!

December 1999
Light Rail in The Netherlands develops, but.... Members of parlement confirm the importance of Light Rail, BUT ask the Government to speed up the plans.

November 1999
Light Rail for Houston. Houston METRO decided to develop a Light Rail-network for the city.

September 1999
Light Rail for Heilbronn. This summer the Karsruhe Light Rail system (line S4) is extended to Heilbronn (60 km. to the north). This small German city (120.000 inhabitants) will eventually develop its own network, containing street operation in the centre by 2001.

August 1999
Dutch Design Low Floor. Stork-RMO, Traxis (former Holec) and Fokker Special Products designed a lowfloor tram:'Velocity' (very low cost tram). The tram will be develped in cooperation with Alstom (which has his own 'Citadis' already!). The new product must compete with similar products of companies like Siemens and Bombardier.

July 1999
Tram+Train. Diesel Light Rail-cars of the Vogtlandbahn now enter public space of Zwickau centre (Eastern Germany). In October trams of the city network will join them on the same tracks.

June 1999 (2)
Wiesbaden chooses 'Stadtbahn'. Like other European cities, such as Saarbrücken and Luxemburg, Wiesbaden (Western Germany) will built a brandnew Light Rail system, called 'Stadtbahn'.

June 1999 (1)
Trams in Lyon. The second city of France builts a new tramway. Lyon will get a 2-line system in 2001. The city has already a large metro network.

January 1999
The last one in England. The government appoved the Light Rail for Nottingham. But, transport minister John Reid warned it will be the last one...

October 1998
Quality. Not privatization, but quality is what counts in public transport. This say Dutch researchers (Adviesdienst Verkeer en Vervoer) in their recent study of several (Light Rail) cities like Basel, Karlsruhe en Stockholm.

September 1998 (2)
Success Light Rail in Portland. The westline is big success, acording to the local press: The new line attracted an average of 53,800 boardings a day during the westside lines first week of operation, exceeding Tri-Mets (the transport company; LRA) goal of attracting 50,000 trips a day after a full year of operation.

September 1998 (1)
France develops duo-Light Rail. Like Germany (Karlsruhe, Saarbrücken) France is now planning the introduction of two-system cars, capable of running on both heavy rail and tramtracks. The SNCF (national railways), the RATP (Paris) and some consultants examine saftety aspects. The French will use parts of their TGV-technology.

June 1998 (2)
Good news from Downunder. Light Rail in Australia is really developing. Sydney is building and Brisbane is planning Light Rail.
The Australian Prime Minister John Howard supports the plan financially.

June 1998 (1)
Kassel goes region. The German city of Kassel will integrate their city trams wtih the operation of local railways in the region. For this purpose a new company is started: the 'Regionalbahn Kassel' (RBK), which is a joint venture of the KVG (trams of the city) and the 'Kassel-Naumburger Eisenbahn AG (regional railways).
A first line is already running (to Baunatal).

April 1998
Oslo enlarges. The Norwegian capital Oslo will expand their tramway network as well as their Light Rail/Metro-system.

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