Translohr
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Translohr is a guided bus system manufactured by Lohr Industrie of France. It is used in Clermont-Ferrand, Tianjin and Padua; it is under construction in L'Aquila and in the mainland Mestre district of Venice in Italy.
The Translohr is intended to provide a much more tram-like experience than that provided by other guided bus systems. Unlike most models of guided bus (including the similar but incompatible Guided Light Transit system developed by Bombardier Transportation), is intended to be run only where there is a guide rail in place. Like a tram, power is provided by overhead wires and drawn via a pantograph, although the vehicle can also run on internal batteries (arranged in packs) on sections of the route where overhead wires are deemed to be undesirable.
Because the Translohr ‘tram’ cannot move without guidance it will probably not be classified as a bus. Hence the vehicles that are taken for test rides on the Clermont-Ferrand network are not equipped with licence plates.
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[edit] Advantages
Much like trams, Translohr vehicles can dock with low station platforms for level boarding.
An advantage over trams is that rubber tyres give significantly more traction than steel wheels, and so can be used to climb steeper hills, up to a grade of 13%, at a cost of greater rolling resistance.
Compared to buses, the use of a guidance rail allows Translohr vehicles running in parallel lanes to pass closer together than drivers could safely steer. They can also draw up to level, tram-like platforms that allow for easier boarding, and give access to passengers dependent on wheelchairs without requiring the time-consuming deployment of ramps or ‘kneeling’ systems.
[edit] Disadvantages
Where snowfall is an issue, this system may not be practical.
Critics of the system can also point out that unlike a conventional tramway, Translohr is a proprietary system, meaning that once having installed it, a city would face difficulties in purchasing vehicles from any manufacturer other than Lohr Industrie. A standard tramway, on the other hand, can easily accommodate vehicles from multiple suppliers; Strasbourg, for example, recently chose the Citadis tram from Alstom to supplement its existing Bombardier Eurotram fleet.
The Translohr guidance rail is likely to be more expensive than a regular rail because of the non-standard shape. The required gap in the pavement for its rail is quite large being a danger for cyclists.
In addition due to the tyres running over the same spot in the road there will be a significant rutting of the roadway; this has already happened on Bombardiers's GLT, resulting in extensive repairs at significant cost to the operator . This could be considered to add to the already high running costs. Ride quality is also said to be poor, not much of an improvement on a bus, due to the four-wheeled design, whereas trams have bogies with shock absorbers.
[edit] Derailment
After 3 months of the inauguration, in 20 August, 2007 evening, the first Translohr train derailment occurred in Tianjin. [1]
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