Does anyone have any information on the following:
- Cornering capability of trams on light rail systems. What is
the relationship between curve radius and maximum safe speed, assuming
flat track (no banking).
- What approvals are required by the Railway Inspectorate (or
others) prior to operation of a new tram system with passengers?
- What emergency capabilities are required in the braking systems
of light rail / tram systems? Specifically, if a vehicle is 'off the
wire' or there is a power failure, what brakes still need to work and
for how long? Presumably, regen. braking won't work if there's nowhere
for the energy to go - in the system in question there are cooling
stations trackside but apparently no resistor banks, etc. on the
vehicles; air pressure brakes will only work if there's battery power to
run compressors and / or air left in the reservoirs; electromagnetic
drag brakes will only work if there's battery power to energise them;
....
The reason for my interest is the new Tramlink system in Croydon. The
system is still under construction. Bombardier is delivering trams.
At one point, there is a continuous gradient (starting VERY steeply)
leading directly down to the tightest bend on the whole system, which
has no banking. Less than 40 feet directly beyond the apex of the bend
there is the side of a house, and beyond that, another house.... I
asked the project for information on these issues and got only bland
reassurances.
If you cannot answer the questions above, maybe instead you could guess
how many houses' worth of kinetic energy there is in a two-car tram out
of control at (say) 80 kph. :=)
--
John Brooks
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