A Diversion In Paris
As I had some time in Paris, I went to look at their first tram-train line, T4.
I didn’t ride the tram-train, as it was very crowded and I couldn’t find out how you bought a ticket.
But as it appeared the tram-trains were the same as those in Mulhouse, it was an experience I could pass.
The trams run from Bondy on RER Line E to Aulnay sous Bois on RER Line B.
A Quick Exploration In Mulhouse
On the way from Basel to Strasbourg, I stopped off at Mulhouse to have a look at the city and ride its tram-trains.
The line is a good bit short of its planned length and rather infrequent at the moment, but compared to the two German systems in Karlsruhe and Kassel, it is a step up in design quality.
I should also say, I was impressed with both Mulhouse and its trams and tram-trains.
There was a lot of information maps everywhere and this was an order of magnitude better than anything I’d seen in Germany.
The Germans could do a lot worse than hop over the border with a camera and pinch the designs used in Mulhouse.
I particularly liked the red finger on the finger post, which always pointed to the historic city centre. So simple, I wonder why I’ve not seen it before!
If you look at the proposal for the extension of the Sheffield Supertram to Rotherham using a tram-train, it has similarities to the system in Mulhouse.
The Siemens S70/Avanto tram-trains used in Mulhouse are dual voltage capable of running on 750 V DC or 25kV AC. The Class 399 Sheffield tram-trains which are being made by Vossloh are said to have a similar capability. You could argue that being able to run on both these voltages is akin to the dual-voltage Class 378 which run on both voltages. The Class 378 halts for the changeover at places like Acton, but surely modern electric systems can be designed that handle the changeover between voltages automatically.
From Karlsruhe To Basel
I left Karlsruhe for Basel and one of the tram-trains had even turned up in the station.
Again it was another of those journeys which would have been better in the sun.
There is though the chance of having a stop in Baden-Baden to break up the journey.
Exploring Karlsruhe And Its Trams And Tram/Trains
As the main reason I went to Karlsruhe was to see their tram/trains, properly called the Karlsruhe Stadtbahn, in action, I’m combining all the posts in the city in one.
It’s also probably a good idea to combine the pictures, as the main street of the city is being dug up to create a new tunnel for the tram/trains across the city. So you can’t really see any of the city’s attractions.
Notice that Karlsruhe’s tram/trains can be quite large and I think I saw some of four or possibly five coaches. Their network is also over two hundred and fifty kilometres, so small it is not! By comparison the Sheffield Supertram is just thirty kilometres, but Sheffield has a population twice that of Karlsruhe. These figures show how undeveloped our tram systems are compared to those in Germany.
It will certainly be worth returning to Karlsruhe, when the tunnel is complete and the network is expanded.
The operation of Karlsruhe’s tram-trains are often described as the Karlsruhe model. Kassel is described as working to this and so is the Tyne and Wear Metro, although that is not a tram-train, but it does share tracks with heavy rail.
Karldruhe also uses Vossloh Citylink tram-trains, which are similar to the Class 399 ordered for Sheffield for operation as tram-trains to Rotherham.
A Design Crime – Crap Station Design In Kassel
Some parts of Kassel’s urban tram system might well have been good, but these images of some of the stations, show the crap level of some of the design.
One thing that surprised me was the crudeness of some of the stations I visited, which just had steep steps and no lifts. This certainly wouldn’t be acceptable in the UK for a new station and I’m surprised that German disability rules allowed such a station design.
I nominate their stations as a Design Crime.
The Trams And Tram-Trains Of Kassel
Kassel’s urban tram system mixes both regular trams and larger tram-trains on lines that cross the city. I took these pictures as I sat in a cafe on the Königsplatz in the centre.
The smaller generally blue ones are trams, whereas the larger silver ones are the tram-trains, which have routes that reach far into the suburbs.
The passengers could be seen alighting, boarding and transferring between the various trams, very much as they do in Piccadilly Gardens in Manchester, East Croydon and Fitzalan Square in Sheffield. It is interesting to note that the current Sheffield Supertrams are more the size of Kassel’s tram-trains, rather than their trams. Comparing Sheffield to Kassel, it is a bigger city, but its tram network, is nowhere near the size of that in Kassel, which is about six times as large.
After sitting for half-an-hour or so, I decided to explore the outer reaches of the system on a tram-train.
One thing that surprised me was the crudeness of some of the stations I visited, which are shown separately in this post.
There also only seems to be a train in places only once every thirty minutes.
On the core section of the East London Line near where I live it’s sixteen trains per hour, and limbs of the line to places like West Croydon and Clapham Junction, there are four trains per hour. Like much of the transport in London, these trains are also step-free from the platform, which I think a modern transport system should be. As the picture shows there was a protected gap in Kassel, which would have been difficult in a wheel-chair.
Kassel seems to have about half London’s frequencies. This low frequency and the poor street access probably explains, why in the middle of a Monday, there wasn’t a large number of passengers about.
A Hauptbahnhof But Not As The Germans Know It!
Hauptbahnhof, which is often abbreviated to Hbf, is the German equivalent of Central.
But Kassel Hauptbahnhof is a station that the high speed line from Hanover to Wurzburg, ignored to call at a new station of Kassel-Wilhelmshohe. So as it now gets only a few trains, and has been transformed into a culture station, with a tram-train station underneath.
It struck me that the people of Kassel could find a better use for it, although the tram-train station appeared to work well.
According to Wikipedia it is the only Hauptbahnhof, that is not the main station for the town or city. So when you book a hotel in Kassel and you’re coming by train, make sure the hotel is by Kassel-Wilhemshohe station
What Is Happening To The Sheffield-Rotherham Tram-Train?
The Sheffield-Rotherham Tram-Train is a pilot project to prove whether the technology can work on UK railways.
It’s a laudable aim, but I don’t like pilot projects as if they work, then you usually end up with an inadequately funded permanent one, that is lacking in certain areas and has to be upgraded. On the other hand, if they don’t work you have all the expense of ripping them out.
It is much better to take proven technology and phase the introduction of the system, funding and building every phase adequately.
This Google Earth map shows the area where the tram-train will run.
Sheffield Rotherham Tram Train
In the top right or north east corner of the image is the Rotherham Parkgate Retail Park, which will be the terminus of the route. In the bottom left hand corner is Meadowhall Shopping Centre, with the associated Interchange station, where the tram-train will join the Sheffield Supertram network. Tram-trains are proposed to run three times in an hour, which would be in saddition to the two or three trains per hour on the route.
This Google Map shows the layout of train tracks around Rotherham Central station.
Lines Through Rotherham
Note the New York stadium marked on the map, but not shown, as the image was taken before the stadium was built. Just after the stadium, the lines split with one going west to join other lines and go direct to the Meadowhall Interchange and the other, which is now a freight route, going more south-west over the river towards Sheffield.
This Google Map shows the layout of the railway lines and the tram tracks around Meadowhall Interchange.
Meadowhall Tram-Train Connection
Meadowhall Shopping Centre itself, is just off the bottom of this map and is connected to the station by a bridge over bus, tram and train stations, which can just be seen in the bottom-left corner.
Note how the railway to the east from Sheffield goes under the M1 motorway, with the Sheffield Supertram coming up parallel to the motorway and then turning into the interchange.
It will be difficult to get this connection right, as a direct tram-train from Rotherham will come under the motorway and then stop in the Meadowhall Interchange station. I would assume that it would stop in the Sheffield Supertram platforms and then reverse direction to go on to Sheffield.
This must be wrong, as it would be a difficult scheme to run efficiently with three tram-trains an hour in each direction reversing in the tram platforms and then Rotherham-bound trams sometimes waiting there to cross the westbound rail line to get on the right track for Rotherham.
So I would assume the second route that breaks off to the south-west from Rotherham would be used. This Google Earth map shows where the line meets the Sheffield Supertram around Meadowhall South station.
Medowhall South
This would be a much easier connection and I think this is the way the tram-trains will go to and from Rotherham.
The Sheffield-Rotherham tram-train has been a long time coming since the decision to start. I wonder if the reason is that the engineering of both track and signalling has been much more difficult than first thought. The first direct route is difficult if not impossible operationally, but sorting out the tracks for the second route may not be too easy, as looking at the image there is a lot of water about, that might need to be bridged, by the tight turn.
I think too, that as it’s only a trial, we might see a single track curve, as the tram-trains will be reversing at Meadowhall Interchange. That would at least cut costs and men less disruption to the Supertram, whilst the connection is being made.
One issue that has to be thrown into the pudding, is the electrification for the trams, which is 750 volts DC overhead. If at some future date the planned electrification of the Midland Main Line and trans-Pennine routes at Sheffield is extended to Meadowhall and Doncaster, then the new station at Rotherham Central would possibly be electrified at 25kV AC.
So it could be that extending the tram-train pilot scheme between Sheffield and Rotherham into the future, might be scuppered by electrification plans for the North.
It does strike me that the £60million or so being spent on the tram-train pilot, might be better spent on providing extra trams for the Sheffield Supertram and trains for more services through Rotherham.
Could it be that just as the great and good in the Department for Transport, forced Cambridge to have a guided busway, they are persuading Sheffield and Rotherham to have a tram-train?
The Anonymous Widower 