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Post by buspete on Nov 10, 2021 23:20:58 GMT
The Government are building Tram tracks in the last 30 years.
However London and many other UK cities had a comprehensive tram network. Short sighted town planners in the 1950’s ripped these out and put utilities and tarmac where the tracks once were, in favour of the car and buses.
Toronto didn’t do this and are reaping the benefits.
I would also say with railway lines closures, these have benefitted more by having light rail?
Now retrospectively was this short sighted?
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Post by greenboy on Nov 11, 2021 6:56:05 GMT
The Government are building Tram tracks in the last 30 years. However London and many other UK cities had a comprehensive tram network. Short sighted town planners in the 1950’s ripped these out and put utilities and tarmac where the tracks once were, in favour of the car and buses. Toronto didn’t do this and are reaping the benefits. I would also say with railway lines closures, these have benefitted more by having light rail? Now retrospectively was this short sighted? Incredibly short sighted ripping up tramlines and replacing them with diesel buses and now we're going full circle. These trams in Lisbon are a magnet for tourists youtu.be/L09q5AO7jSk
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Post by busman on Nov 11, 2021 12:08:48 GMT
The Government are building Tram tracks in the last 30 years. However London and many other UK cities had a comprehensive tram network. Short sighted town planners in the 1950’s ripped these out and put utilities and tarmac where the tracks once were, in favour of the car and buses. Toronto didn’t do this and are reaping the benefits. I would also say with railway lines closures, these have benefitted more by having light rail? Now retrospectively was this short sighted? Incredibly short sighted ripping up tramlines and replacing them with diesel buses and now we're going full circle. These trams in Lisbon are a magnet for tourists youtu.be/L09q5AO7jSkI was lucky enough to have a ride on some of those old Lisbon trams and the funicular trams in 2019. I’ve just realised I didn’t post images to my Flickr. Most of the content is video, so maybe I didn’t have many good snaps.
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Post by vjaska on Nov 11, 2021 12:55:14 GMT
The Government are building Tram tracks in the last 30 years. However London and many other UK cities had a comprehensive tram network. Short sighted town planners in the 1950’s ripped these out and put utilities and tarmac where the tracks once were, in favour of the car and buses. Toronto didn’t do this and are reaping the benefits. I would also say with railway lines closures, these have benefitted more by having light rail? Now retrospectively was this short sighted? Incredibly short sighted ripping up tramlines and replacing them with diesel buses and now we're going full circle. These trams in Lisbon are a magnet for tourists youtu.be/L09q5AO7jSkWell it isn’t exactly full circle because tramlines built in modern times have more so been done to replace cars & disused rail lines rather than buses.
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Post by buspete on Nov 13, 2021 1:30:13 GMT
Game changer now that trams will be able to use heavy rail lines along side National Rail trails like they do in Rotherham, then use light rail in town centres. So if they old tram tracks were left in-situ would be ripping them out today? Or enhancing the legacy network?
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Post by wirewiper on Nov 14, 2021 16:38:03 GMT
Game changer now that trams will be able to use heavy rail lines along side National Rail trails like they do in Rotherham, then use light rail in town centres. So if they old tram tracks were left in-situ would be ripping them out today? Or enhancing the legacy network? There were a number of reasons why trams fell out of favour in the UK. These include: - the development of trolleybuses and their use as a cheap replacement for trams. Trackwork typically needed replacing after around 30-40 years, but the electrical supply systems were still good for a further 20-30 years and could be adapted for the trolleybuses. - increasing traffic. Trams stopped and passengers boarded in the middle of the road, this meant that following traffic had to stop. This lead to delays, and increasing risk to boarding and alighting tram passengers. - nationalisation of the electricity supply industry. This increased the cost of electricity for trams owned by municipalities who might previously have generated their own electricity cheaply. - the positioning of the motor industry as a major player in the UK's postwar economy, especially with a considerable Empire and Commonwealth to take exports (many of these countries like the UK drove on the left). - the advent of mass motoring leading to a decline in public transport use generally. The only "legacy" tram system to survive was in Blackpool. The line along the seafront was unusual in that it was mostly segregated rather than on-street, so had more of the characteristics of an interurban tramway than most tram networks in the UK. The local council maintained the tramway here because they regarded it as an efficient way of moving the heavily seasonal loadings, and getting visitors around during the famous Blackpool Illuminations when the seafront road would often be gridlocked. The tramway was modernised and since 2012 the core service has been provided with modern new Bombardier Flexity 2 light rail trams, with heritage cars operating supplementary services at busier times. Interestingly given your tram-train comment, Blackpool, Fylde and Wyre Councils have applied for funding to investigate the feasibility of extending trams along the Blackpool South railway line and over the disused Fleetwood-Poulton-le-Fylde line.
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