Low-floor tram
Encyclopedia
Tram
A tram is a passenger rail vehicle which runs on tracks along public urban streets and also sometimes on separate rights of way. It may also run between cities and/or towns , and/or partially grade separated even in the cities...
that has no stair steps between one or more entrances and part or all of the passenger cabin. The low-floor design improves the accessibility
Accessibility
Accessibility is a general term used to describe the degree to which a product, device, service, or environment is available to as many people as possible. Accessibility can be viewed as the "ability to access" and benefit from some system or entity...
of the tram for the public, and also may provide larger windows and more airspace.
An accessible platform-level floor in a tram can be achieved either by using a high-floor
High-floor
High-floor is an expression used to distinguish tram, light rail and other rail vehicles, along with buses and trolleybuses, built to formerly conventional design, from their counterparts of low-floor design....
vehicle serving high-platform tram stops, or with a true low-floor vehicle interfacing with kerb
Curb (road)
A curb, or kerb , is the edge where a raised pavement/sidewalk/footpath, road median, or road shoulder meets an unraised street or other roadway.-Function:...
level stops.
Currently both types are in use, depending on the station platform infrastructure in existing rail systems. Some systems may make use of former railway alignments where use of existing high platforms is desirable, while others, particularly new systems, may not have the space to site high-level stops in urban centres.
Low-floor tram configurations
Trams traditionally had high floors, and these designs evolved into the tram with a low-floor centre section. Examples of this design are AmsterdamAmsterdam
Amsterdam is the largest city and the capital of the Netherlands. The current position of Amsterdam as capital city of the Kingdom of the Netherlands is governed by the constitution of August 24, 1815 and its successors. Amsterdam has a population of 783,364 within city limits, an urban population...
11g/12g-trams and the Kusttrams in Belgium
Belgium
Belgium , officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a federal state in Western Europe. It is a founding member of the European Union and hosts the EU's headquarters, and those of several other major international organisations such as NATO.Belgium is also a member of, or affiliated to, many...
.
The most common design of 100% low floor vehicles uses short carbody sections for the wheels and longer suspended sections. Examples of this are the Citadis
Citadis
The Citadis is a low-floor tram built by Alstom in La Rochelle, France, and Barcelona, Spain. 1,140 Citadis are currently in use in 28 cities, among others: Bordeaux, Grenoble, Lyon, Montpellier, Orléans, the Paris area, and Barcelona, Dublin, Gdańsk, Katowice, Adelaide, Melbourne, Jerusalem and...
and Combino
Combino
The Combino is a low floor tram produced by Siemens Transportation Systems . The first prototype was produced in 1996 at the Duewag works in Düsseldorf; the trams are currently made in Krefeld-Uerdingen. Because of its modular design using standardised components, and the resulting reduced costs,...
. A similar, but somewhat older technique is one that has been developed by MAN and was in 1990, the first 100% low floor tram. These trams are found in ten German cities (such as Bremen and Munich
Munich
Munich The city's motto is "" . Before 2006, it was "Weltstadt mit Herz" . Its native name, , is derived from the Old High German Munichen, meaning "by the monks' place". The city's name derives from the monks of the Benedictine order who founded the city; hence the monk depicted on the city's coat...
) and in the Swedish city Norrköping
Norrköping
Norrköping is a city in the province of Östergötland in eastern Sweden and the seat of Norrköping Municipality, Östergötland County. The city has a population of 87,247 inhabitants in 2010, out of a municipal total of 130,050, making it Sweden's tenth largest city and eighth largest...
. In many other German cities there are trams with low floor between the outer bogie
Bogie
A bogie is a wheeled wagon or trolley. In mechanics terms, a bogie is a chassis or framework carrying wheels, attached to a vehicle. It can be fixed in place, as on a cargo truck, mounted on a swivel, as on a railway carriage/car or locomotive, or sprung as in the suspension of a caterpillar...
s and single axle bogies under the centre section.
"Light rail
Light rail
Light rail or light rail transit is a form of urban rail public transportation that generally has a lower capacity and lower speed than heavy rail and metro systems, but higher capacity and higher speed than traditional street-running tram systems...
" type vehicles frequently have a similar configuration but with a centre bogie designed to accommodate a low floor situated under a short centre section. A more radical approach has been adopted for the City Class LRV (Citytram
Citytram
The Tram Power City Class Light Rail Vehicle is a prototype two car articulated electric tram previously tested on the Blackpool Tramway It operates off a power supply between 550V and 800V DC...
), where the main low floor section is only 300 mm above the rail. The low floor runs right through the articulation of both the 29 m long and 38 m Super Citytram version. In both, the corridor through the articulation is wide enough for seated passengers and a wheelchair to pass through. The City Class has been design to turn on 15 m radius curves and climb 10% gradients.
In Austria, the Porsche
Porsche
Porsche Automobil Holding SE, usually shortened to Porsche SE a Societas Europaea or European Public Company, is a German based holding company with investments in the automotive industry....
designed Ultra Low Floor
Ultra Low Floor
The Ultra Low Floor tram is a low-floor tram operating in Vienna, Austria and Oradea, Romania, with the lowest floor-height of any such vehicle...
(ULF) Trams can "kneel" at the curbside, reducing the height from the road to only 180 mm.
Many low floor trams have fixed bogies which increase track wear and tear, while decreasing the speed at which a tram can drive through a curve (usually 4-15km/h in 20m radius curve). The Škoda ForCity
Škoda 15 T
Škoda 15T is a 100% low floor tram developed by Škoda for the Transport Company of Prague in the years 2005-2008. The order and subsequent construction was influenced by experiences with operation of the Škoda 14 T in the Prague tram network...
, the world's first 100% low floor tram with pivoting bogies, is designed to cope with these issues through the use of pivoting bogies
Jacobs bogie
Jacobs bogies are a type of rail vehicle bogie commonly found on articulated railcars and tramway vehicles....
. Prior to the Škoda ForCity design, pivoting bogies could only be used under high floors, hence such trams could only be part low-floor, with high-floor sections over the pivoting bogies.
Typical floor heights
To put things into perspective, here are some typical floor heights for public transport vehicles, old and new:- Ultra Low FloorUltra Low FloorThe Ultra Low Floor tram is a low-floor tram operating in Vienna, Austria and Oradea, Romania, with the lowest floor-height of any such vehicle...
tram — 180 mm (7 inches) - Low-floor tram — 300 mm to 350 mm (11.8 to 13.78 inches)
- High-floor tram — more than 600 mm (23.62 inches)
- Heavy rail rapid transitRapid transitA rapid transit, underground, subway, elevated railway, metro or metropolitan railway system is an electric passenger railway in an urban area with a high capacity and frequency, and grade separation from other traffic. Rapid transit systems are typically located either in underground tunnels or on...
— 800 mm (31.5") to 1200 mm (47.25") - North AmericaNorth AmericaNorth America is a continent wholly within the Northern Hemisphere and almost wholly within the Western Hemisphere. It is also considered a northern subcontinent of the Americas...
n inter-city rail passenger cars — 1350 mm (51")
List of low-floor trams
- AvantoAvanto (tram)The Siemens S70 or Avanto is a low-floor light rail vehicle or tram manufactured by Siemens AG. In the United States, Siemens refers to this model only as the S70, while the Avanto name is used in Europe....
- Cegielski 118N "Puma" (>60% low floor)
- CitadisCitadisThe Citadis is a low-floor tram built by Alstom in La Rochelle, France, and Barcelona, Spain. 1,140 Citadis are currently in use in 28 cities, among others: Bordeaux, Grenoble, Lyon, Montpellier, Orléans, the Paris area, and Barcelona, Dublin, Gdańsk, Katowice, Adelaide, Melbourne, Jerusalem and...
- CitytramCitytramThe Tram Power City Class Light Rail Vehicle is a prototype two car articulated electric tram previously tested on the Blackpool Tramway It operates off a power supply between 550V and 800V DC...
- City Class LRV
- CobraCobra (tram)The Cobra Tram is Zurich's newest tram type and first low floor tram. It is currently only running on a limited number of lines alongside the other tram models, although further rollout is planned for the coming years....
- CombinoCombinoThe Combino is a low floor tram produced by Siemens Transportation Systems . The first prototype was produced in 1996 at the Duewag works in Düsseldorf; the trams are currently made in Krefeld-Uerdingen. Because of its modular design using standardised components, and the resulting reduced costs,...
- Combino SupraCombino SupraThe Combino Supra , Combino MkII, or Combino Plus is a new Combino model made of stainless steel instead of light materials, and manufactured at a new assembly line in Vienna.-Design differences with original Combino:...
- Crotram TMK 2200CROTRAMCrotram is a Croatian consortium of two companies, which produces the first Croatian low-floor tram . It consists of Končar Elektroindustrija d.d. and TŽV Gredelj d.o.o., both from Zagreb...
- Flexity ClassicFlexity ClassicThe Flexity Classic is a model of light-rail tram manufactured by Bombardier. Although it is marketed as the most traditionally-designed member of the Flexity family, it is nevertheless a modern bi-directional articulated tram with a low-floor section allowing improved accessibility, especially to...
- Flexity OutlookFlexity OutlookThe Flexity Outlook is a family of 100% low-floor articulated light-rail trams manufactured by Bombardier Transportation. Part of the larger Flexity product line , Flexity Outlook cars fall into two distinct sub-categories with dramatically different appearances...
Cityrunner and Eurotram - Flexity SwiftFlexity SwiftThe Flexity Swift tram is a family of urban and inter-urban light-rail vehicles manufactured by Bombardier Transportation for a wide number of customers across Europe...
- Green Mover MaxGreen Mover MaxThe Green Mover Max was the first 100% low-floor articulated Light Rail Vehicle to be built entirely in Japan. It was developed jointly by Kinki Sharyo, Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, and Toyo Electric Co., and introduced first in Hiroshima by the Hiroshima Electric Railway Company...
- IncentroIncentroThe Incentro is a model of tram manufactured by Bombardier Transportation. It is a five-section 100% low-floor articulated tram, built for bi-directional operation and capable of speeds up to 80 km/h...
- Little DancerLittle DancerThe Little Dancer is a low-floor tram brand built by Alna Sharyo, a Japanese manufacturer of trams and light rail vehicles.- Overview :"Little Dancer" was named by two means. One of the means is to aim lively and cute image. And another mean is a Japanese word "dansa". "dansa" in Japanese means...
- PESA 120NPESA 120NPESA 120N is a tram produced by a Polish company PESA in Bydgoszcz. The tram has a modern, fully low-floor design.They are currently used by Warsaw Tramway in Warsaw and operate on the line 9. Currently 15 trams 120N are in service in Warsaw. In 2009, a newer model of the tram, called 120Na was...
and derivatives - Protram 205 WrAsProtram 205 WrAsThe Protram 205 WrAs is a Polish partial low-floor, articulated tram produced by the company Protram.-Utilization:The trams of this type are currently used in Wrocław Poland. The first tram of this type was delivered to MPK Wrocław in December 2006. Currently there are 22 205 WrAs trams in operation....
- RTE 2009
- SirioSiriothumb|220px|A Sirio in Athens.220px|thumb|A Sirio of [[Azienda Trasporti Milanesi|ATM]] in Milan.Sirio is a low-floor tram built by AnsaldoBreda, an Italian manufacturer of trains, trams and light rail vehicles...
family (includes Sirietto) - Škoda Astra
- Škoda VektraŠkoda 05 TThe Škoda 05 T, also known as Škoda Vektra is a five-carbody-section low-floor tram which was developed by Škoda and based on the Škoda 03 T....
- Škoda ElektraŠkoda 14 TThe Škoda 14 T is a five carbody section low-floor uni-directional tram, developed by Škoda for the Prague tram system.The vehicle's body was designed by Porsche Design Group. The 14 T has six axles, and the low-floor area represents 50 % of the entire vehicle floor...
- Škoda ForCityŠkoda 15 TŠkoda 15T is a 100% low floor tram developed by Škoda for the Transport Company of Prague in the years 2005-2008. The order and subsequent construction was influenced by experiences with operation of the Škoda 14 T in the Prague tram network...
- TangoTango (tram)The Tango is a light rail vehicle and tram made by Stadler Rail. It is currently available in high-floor and 70% low floor. It is in use in Bochum, Basel and Lyon. An order of 32 vehicles has been placed by the city of Geneva in December 2009....
- Ultra Low FloorUltra Low FloorThe Ultra Low Floor tram is a low-floor tram operating in Vienna, Austria and Oradea, Romania, with the lowest floor-height of any such vehicle...
(ULF) in Vienna - MBTA Type 8
- VariotramVariotramVariotram is a German-designed articulated low-floor tram model. Since its introduction in 1993, the Variotram has been manufactured variously by ABB, Adtranz, Bombardier Transportation, and since 2001 by Stadler Rail. As of 2009, 254 trams have been ordered, with an additional 110 on option...
See also
- AccessibilityAccessibilityAccessibility is a general term used to describe the degree to which a product, device, service, or environment is available to as many people as possible. Accessibility can be viewed as the "ability to access" and benefit from some system or entity...
- Accessible vehicle
- Low-floor busLow-floor busA low-floor bus is a bus that has no steps between one or more entrances and part or all of the passenger cabin. Being low floor improves the accessibility of the bus for the public, particularly the elderly or infirm, or those with push chairs, and increasingly, those in wheelchairs.In the modern...
- Railway platform heightRailway platform heightOn a railway the platform height refers to the height of a platform above the rail. The value varies between railway systems. A related term is "train floor height" which is the height of the floor of the rail vehicle. There are a wide number of standards for platform heights and train floor heights...