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discharge passengers at station platforms or at street, track, or car-floor level, and is normally powered by overhead electrical wires.
In most current settings, light rail is anything but \exacting standards. The maximum speed of light rail trains is normally 60 miles per hour (100 km per hour), while heavy rail trains normally operate at higher speeds. Depending upon the specific system, the distance between light rail stations is shorter than within heavy rail systems, which lends some major advantages to urban settings.
Light rail trains operate as either single or multiple car consists. Passenger capacity of each car in a multiple car consist can be up to as many as 250 passengers (standees included). PART II
In 1888, Boston, Massachusetts, became the first American city to replace horse-drawn trolleys with electric streetcars. Streetcars, which look similar to train passenger coaches, clanged their bells, rattled around the corners and crried almost 14 billion riders at their height in 1920. old photos show overhead vires crisscrossing almost every US city. Then streetcars ridership replaced trolleys steadily as Americans took to automobiles and communities replaced trolleys with buses. But now it seems cities can’t lay streetcars tracks fast enough.
So why is the number of US cities running streetcars and other light
rail systems now up to 19? Why are 43 other cities building or drawing plans for light rail lines?
Dan Tangherlini is acting dicrestor of Wanshington D.C.’s Transportation Department.
:Many cities are beginning to re-evaluate that decision to move away from streetcars. We look at current bus ridership members, and many of the routes that have the highest bus ridership were some of our most popular streetcar routes. So there goes the notiong that the buses are providing increased flexibility, at least on those roads. And so maybe there’s something between the very expensive subway systems, which cost between 140 and 200 million dollars a mile and the bus route. And that’s what we’re beginning to ask.
Streetcar lines cost less than 10 million dollars a mile to build. Washington is the latest city to announce it is studying the feasibility of bringing back streetcars, even though it already it already enjoys a fast-moving regional subway system called “metro” that runs through several parts of the city.
Across country in Washington D.C., Bill Lind works for a conservative think tank called the Free Congress Foundation. The organization has printed several studies supporting light rail transit, including streetcars.
“The old rationale for getting rid of the streetcars is that they get in
the way of the automobiles. But what we found is that the automobile, generally with one person per car, is probably the least efficient way to use the limited amount of space you have on urban streets. If you’ve got 50 people on board a streetcar, you’re doing a lot better job of making use of the street space you have.”
Even if Washington’s transit department gets the green light to bring back streetcars, it’s likely to be at least ten years before Mr. Lind and his neighbor will be riding them. The city has to secure federal funding for a large chunk of the work. Citizens who say they pine for the trolleys may lose their nostalgia when they realize the cars will be jangling past their windows or slowing their automobile rides across town.
But across America, streetcars and light rail trains are curiosities no longer. They’re a prestige item, tangible proof that a city is environmentally friendly, on the move, an din touch with the human desire, in the midst of today’s bustle and speed, for a streetcar’s soothing touch of serenity.
A: the most popular streetcar routes
B: less than 10 million dollars (130-190 million dollars) / between 140 and 200 million dollars
A: the least efficient way to use the limited amount of space on
urban streets
B: you’ve got 50 people on board a streetcar.
A: federal funding
B: jangle past citizens’ windows C: slow the automobiles rides
A: a city is environmentally friendly B: a streetcar’s soothing touch of serenity. B:
I.
Above and underground public transit systems A. traffic jams / congestion
B. frustration / discomfort / unhapiness II.
Public transportation A. light rail systems B. a new public train III.
B. 1. metro systems 2. Southeast Asia
3. innovative us of public transit buses. IV.
Excessive greenhouse gas emissions