|
Tram
A tram (also known as a streetcar or trolley in Canada and the United States) is an urban rail transit in which Rolling stock, vehicles, whether individual railcars or multiple-unit trains, run on tramway tracks on urban public streets; some include segments on segregated Right-of-way (property access), right-of-way. The tramlines or tram networks operated as public transport are called tramways or simply trams/streetcars. Because of their close similarities, trams are commonly included in the wider term ''light rail'', which also includes systems separated from other traffic. Tram vehicles are usually lighter and shorter than Main line (railway), main line and rapid transit trains. Most trams use electrical power, usually fed by a Pantograph (transport), pantograph sliding on an overhead line; older systems may use a trolley pole or a bow collector. In some cases, a contact shoe on a third rail is used. If necessary, they may have dual power systems—electricity in city stre ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Light Rail
Light rail (or light rail transit, abbreviated to LRT) is a form of passenger urban rail transit that uses rolling stock derived from tram technology National Conference of the Transportation Research Board while also having some features from heavy rapid transit. The term was coined in 1972 in the United States as an English equivalent for the German word ''Stadtbahn'', meaning "city railway". From: 9th National Light Rail Transit Conference Different definitions exist in some countries, but in the United States, light rail operates primarily along exclusive Right_of_way#Rail_right_of_way, rights-of-way and uses either individual tramcars or multiple units coupled together, with a lower capacity and speed than a long heavy rail passenger train or rapid transit system. Narrowly defined, light rail transit uses rolling stock that is similar to that of a traditional tram, while operating at a higher capacity and speed, often on an exclusive right-of-way. In broader usage, light ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Tram-train
A tram-train or dual-system tram is a type of light rail vehicle that both meets the standards of a light rail system, and also national mainline standards. Tramcars are adapted to be capable of running on streets like an urban tramway but also be permitted operation alongside mainline trains. This allows services that can utilise both existing urban light rail systems and mainline railway networks and stations. It combines the urban accessibility of a tram or light rail with a mainline train's greater speed in the suburbs. The modern tram-train concept was pioneered by the German city of Karlsruhe in the late 1980s, resulting in the creation of the Karlsruhe Stadtbahn. This concept is often referred to as the Karlsruhe model, and it has since been adopted in other cities such as Mulhouse in France and in Kassel, Nordhausen and Saarbrücken in Germany. An inversion of the concept is a train-tram – a mainline train adapted to run on-street in an urban tramway, also know ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Interurban
The interurban (or radial railway in Canada) is a type of electric railway, with tram-like electric self-propelled railcars which run within and between cities or towns. The term "interurban" is usually used in North America, with other terms used outside it. They were very prevalent in many parts of the world before the Second World War and were used primarily for passenger travel between cities and their surrounding suburban and rural communities. Interurban as a term encompassed the companies, their infrastructure, their cars that ran on the rails, and their service. In the United States, the early 1900s interurban was a valuable economic institution, when most roads between towns, many town streets were unpaved, and transportation and haulage was by horse-drawn carriages and carts. The interurban provided reliable transportation, particularly in winter weather, between towns and countryside. In 1915, of interurban railways were operating in the United States and, for a few ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Overhead Line
An overhead line or overhead wire is an electrical cable that is used to transmit electrical energy to electric locomotives, Electric multiple unit, electric multiple units, trolleybuses or trams. The generic term used by the International Union of Railways for the technology is ''overhead line''. It is known variously as overhead catenary, overhead contact line (OCL), overhead contact system (OCS), overhead equipment (OHE), overhead line equipment (OLE or OHLE), overhead lines (OHL), overhead wiring (OHW), traction wire, and trolley wire. An overhead line consists of one or more wires (or Overhead conductor rail, rails, particularly in tunnels) situated over rail tracks, raised to a high electrical potential by connection to feeder stations at regularly spaced intervals along the track. The feeder stations are usually fed from a High voltage, high-voltage Electricity distribution, electrical grid. Overview Electric trains that collect their current from overhead lines use a de ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Tramway Track
Tramway track is used on tramways or light rail operations. As with standard rail tracks, tram tracks have two parallel steel rails, the distance between the heads of the rails being the track gauge. When there is no need for pedestrians or road vehicles to traverse the track, conventional flat-bottom rail is used. However, when such traffic exists, such as in urban streets, grooved rails are used. Tram rails can be placed on several surfaces, such as on ground over which track ballast topped by sleepers (US: ties) and flat-bottom rails are laid – as with railway tracks – or, for street running, with grooved rails usually embedded into a concrete pavement. In some places, tracks are laid into grass turf surfaces; they are known as '' green track'', ''grassed track'' or ''track in lawn''. History Tramway tracks have been in existence since the mid-16th century. They were made of wood, but during the late 18th century iron and later steel came into use and then ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Third Rail
A third rail, also known as a live rail, electric rail or conductor rail, is a method of providing electric power to a railway locomotive or train, through a semi-continuous rigid conductor placed alongside or between the rails of a track (rail transport), railway track. It is used typically in a mass transit or rapid transit system, which has alignments in its own corridors, fully or almost fully segregated from the outside environment. Third-rail systems are usually supplied with direct current. Modern tram systems with street running avoid the electrical injury risk of the exposed electric rail by implementing a segmented ground-level power supply, where each segment is electrified only while covered by a vehicle which is using its power. The third-rail system of electrification is not related to the third rail used in dual gauge, dual-gauge railways. The system is generally associated with a low voltage (rarely above 750 V) and is far less used for main lines than ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Urban Rail Transit
Urban rail transit is a wide term for various types of local rail systems providing passenger service within and around urban or suburban areas. The set of urban rail systems can be roughly subdivided into the following categories, which sometimes overlap because some systems or lines have aspects of multiple types. Types Tram A ''tram'', ''streetcar'', or ''trolley'' system is a rail-based transit system that runs mainly or completely along streets (with street running), with a relatively-low capacity and frequent stops; however, modern trams have a greater passenger capacity than traditional trams. Passengers usually board at the street or curb level, but low-floor trams may allow level boarding. Longer-distance lines are called ''interurbans'' or ''radial railways''. Modern trams also operate as self-propelled trains coupled through a multiple unit instead of individual trams and are often included within the broader term light rail; however, they differ in that trams ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Public Transport
Public transport (also known as public transit, mass transit, or simply transit) are forms of transport available to the general public. It typically uses a fixed schedule, route and charges a fixed fare. There is no rigid definition of which kinds of transport are included, and air travel is often not thought of when discussing public transport—dictionaries use wording like "buses, trains, etc." Examples of public transport include Public transport bus service, city buses, trolleybuses, trams (or light rail) and Passenger rail transport, passenger trains, rapid transit (metro/subway/underground, etc.) and ferry, ferries. Public transport between cities is dominated by airlines, intercity bus service, coaches, and intercity rail. High-speed rail networks are being developed in many parts of the world. Most public transport systems run along fixed routes with set embarkation/disembarkation points to a prearranged timetable, with the most frequent services running to a headwa ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Bow Collector
A bow collector is one of the three main devices used on tramcars to transfer electric current from the wires above to the tram below. While once very common in continental Europe, it was replaced by the pantograph. Origins The first bow collector was designed by the German engineer Walter Reichel in 1889 and shown at the World Expo in Paris the same year. Reichel worked closely with Ernst Werner von Siemens, and with Siemens being a dominating force in the development of tramways in Europe, the bow collector quickly became the standard solution on the continent for collecting current. Reichel also designed the bow collectors used on the Gross Lichterfelde Tramway, the worlds first public tramway, when it was converted to overhead wire 1891 (it collected current from the rails before that). The Hobart electric tramway system - the first of its kind in the Southern Hemisphere, opened in 1893 - used Siemens cars with very early bow collectors. Many other continental European an ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Swansea And Mumbles Railway
The Swansea and Mumbles Railway was the venue for the world's first passenger horsecar railway service, located in Swansea, Wales, United Kingdom. Originally built under an act of Parliament, the Oystermouth Railway or Tramroad Act 1804, to move limestone from the quarries of Mumbles to Swansea and to the markets beyond, it carried the world's first fare-paying railway passengers under an agreement effective from 25 March 1807. It later moved from horse power to steam locomotion, and was finally converted to electric power, using the largest tram cars ever built for service in Britain, before closing in January 1960, in favour of motor buses. At the time of the railway's closure, it was claimed to have been the world's longest serving railway, although this distinction has to be qualified because other railways which were used solely for goods traffic (e.g. the Middleton Railway in Leeds, Yorkshire, dating from 1758) had been operating for longer. History In the ( 44 Geo. ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Trolley Pole
A trolley pole is a tapered cylindrical pole of wood or metal, used to transfer electricity from a "live" (electrified) overhead line, overhead wire to the control and the electric traction motors of a tram or trolley bus. It is a type of current collector. The use of overhead wire in a system of current collection is reputed to be the 1880 invention of Frank J. Sprague, but the first working trolley pole was developed and demonstrated by Charles Joseph Van Depoele, Charles Van Depoele, in autumn 1885.William D. Middleton, Middleton, William D. (1967). ''The Time of the Trolley'', pp. 63–65, 67. Milwaukee: Kalmbach Publishing. . History An early development of an experimental tramway in Toronto, Ontario, was built in 1883, having been developed by John Joseph Wright (inventor), John Joseph Wright, brother of swindler Whitaker Wright. While Wright may have assisted in the installation of electric railways at the Canadian National Exhibition (CNE), and may even have used a pol ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Rapid Transit
Rapid transit or mass rapid transit (MRT) or heavy rail, commonly referred to as metro, is a type of high-capacity public transport that is generally built in urban areas. A grade separation, grade separated rapid transit line below ground surface through a tunnel can be regionally called a subway, tube, metro or underground. They are sometimes grade-separated on elevated railways, in which case some are referred to as el trains – short for "elevated" – or skytrains. Rapid transit systems are usually electric railway, electric railways, that unlike buses or trams operate on an exclusive right-of-way (transportation), right-of-way, which cannot be accessed by pedestrians or other vehicles. Modern services on rapid transit systems are provided on designated lines between metro station, stations typically using electric multiple units on railway tracks. Some systems use rubber-tyred metro, guided rubber tires, magnetic levitation (''maglev''), or monorail. The stations typica ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
