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There is a crucial point of difference between Trams and genuine Light Rail (as it is understood in the USA where the term originated in the 1970s – see Wikipedia).
[Picture: – Los Angeles Light Rail, from Wikimedia].
The point is about genuine Light Rail achieving almost total physical separation from road traffic. It is this separation that allowed genuine Light Rail to travel faster than road speed limits, achieve shorter transit times, and yet maintain a decent safety record (like its big brother, heavy rail). Monorail systems (of which Suspension Monorail is a simpler type) have an even better safety record, because they do not need to involve level crossings.
But other countries since then have messed with the meaning of “Light Rail”, and thus confused the issues affecting efficiency. This seems to be driven more by cost savings than any understanding of safety and reliability. So now if you do a Google search for photos of “light rail”, most examples will turn out to be road-sharing schemes with all the problems these bring in terms of poor safety and reliability!
[Picture: Sydney breakdown, 12 November 2019]
Let’s not mince words: What LGWM and FIT have talked about for Wellington can only boast short stretches with full separation from other traffic. This is to be achieved by digging 2 – 3 tunnels (at great additional COST and DELAY not required for SM). Even creating such dedicated LR tunnels is not always a guarantee of keeping fallible humans out
[picture below from 2020 in Sydney].
But the vast remainder of the LR run between Wellington’s Central Railway and airport would involve tracks sharing road space with other vehicles as well as cyclists, scooters and pedestrians.
In particular, the LGWM plans mention intersections being managed purely by lights giving trams “priority” (but this is currently done for buses... This is clearly a fertile area for crashes, with Wellington’s increasing notoriety for red-light-runners.
[picture below from Sydney, 26 January 2020]
This proposal is not particularly new for Wellington (see “Lost History”). It is about large Trams - such as in Sydney and Melbourne, with their frequent accidents, near-misses, and breakdowns hindering not only the Tram system, but also other traffic, for hours each time. Wellington gave up trams many years ago, and LGWM seems to rely on short memories about that. Must we relive Wellington’s history?
- This appears to be an expensive scam, because in Wellington Suspension Monorail would achieve 100% separation (over its whole length), at reduced costs compared with the Tram/LR proposal.
- Melbourne - with precious few segments (only 25% of its length) being separated - reports 15 - 20 tram derailments per year and multiple accidents.
- Sydney, not having learned from history, is doing a rapid catch up with its new trams. The Sydney example illustrates the ‘Priority Illusion’ at traffic lights: see a 52-minute timing run over the whole tram route, HERE.
- For comparison, Chiba Urban Flyer, in Japan, runs the longest SM network in the world (a total of 15.2km). Its Line 2 covers the distance of 12km in 20 minutes with 13 stops.
- Wuppertal Schwebebahn in Germany, over its 120+ years, has had just ONE fatal accident, involving a derailment (1999, from a 1-off maintenance error). Yet it can carry 80,000 passengers per day over a similar distance to the proposed Wellington route.
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