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SURETY ( = Reliability)
“ Nottingham Tram causes worst Traffic Jam ‘in years’ ”
Because so-called ‘Light Rail’ is designed to run at street level, sharing the road, it incurs numerous derailments and collisions resulting in -
- Traffic Jams,
- Loss of Service, and
- Personal injury
This risk, and the consequences of Tram/’Light Rail’ derailments and collisions, is part of a fundamental design flaw.
Derailments: are not unusual. In Melbourne, they occur 15 - 20 times per year. Why?... Tram carriages sit atop narrow rails with a centre of gravity above the rails on which they run. This characteristic increases the likelihood of derailment from -
Each derailment takes hours to put the tram back on the rails, causing a prolonged traffic jam (Why trams derail & why fixing takes so long).
Although they do not derail, Trackless Trams incur many of the same risks. Why?...
SHARING THE ROAD with other vehicles and pedestrians is deadly. Trams are heavy, with long stopping distances. 75% of Melbourne routes are shared with other vehicles.
- Collisions with other vehicles are common (see our Accidents page - 1100 during 2018 in Melbourne, and increasing).
- Collisions with pedestrians are not unusual (51 during 2018 in Melbourne, 2 killed. In Canberra a 61-year-old man was struck - Aug 2019, Rail Safety Week - a 2nd accident for 2019 in that location; in Adelaide a man sustained serious head injuries, 29/1/2020).
How can Wellington avoid this road-sharing problem over the majority of proposed routes?...
Suspension Monorail:
These risks will never occur with a Suspension-Monorail-based public transport system. This rail design (with centre of gravity below the rails) virtually eliminates the risk of derailment and collisions as it flies above the other forms of transport at a consistently higher speed than ground-based transport (up to 75kph).
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