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Title: A COMPARISON OF SOME NEW LIGHT RAIL AND AUTOMATED-GUIDEWAY SYSTEMS
Accession Number: 00483659
Record Type: Component
Availability: Find a library where document is available Abstract: The past decade has seen dramatic developments in urban rail transit, particularly in the field of light rail transit (LRT). At the same time, several proprietary automated systems have been developed and deployed, often claiming superior levels of service and cost-effectiveness. Data are now becoming available that make it possible to check, for the first time, how well the new automated-guideway transit (AGT) systems are meeting their promoters' claims, and to compare such systems with the new conventional LRT systems. Methodologies are presented to collect and screen performance data from different systems in a uniform manner, and examples are developed to show how these data can be used to compare modes using actual operating information to the maximum extent. When new AGT systems are compared with new LRT systems, or when AGT and LRT are compared on identical alignments, it appears that the cost of additional maintenance and supervising staff and additional "non-staff" budget may exceed the savings that AGT systems achieve by eliminating operators. Although the new AGT systems represent a further advance in the development of urban transit technological capabilities, and reflect great credit on those who have built and financed them, they may also contain the seeds of future problems. Having a significantly higher construction cost per mile than LRT, urban areas with AGT will tend to have smaller rail networks than equivalent areas selecting LRT. Being proprietary systems in limited use, they may experience future procurement problems, particularly if the promoter goes out of business. Being a contemporary, high-technology product, there is also a high risk of obsolescence in future years.
Supplemental Notes: This paper appears in Transportation Research Board Special Report No. 221, Light Rail Transit: New System Successes at Affordable Prices - Papers presented at the National Conference on Light Rail Transit, May 8-11, 1988, San Jose, California, Conducted by the Transportation Research Board. Distribution, posting, or copying of this PDF is strictly prohibited without written permission of the Transportation Research Board of the National Academy of Sciences. Unless otherwise indicated, all materials in this PDF are copyrighted by the National Academy of Sciences. Copyright © National Academy of Sciences. All rights reserved
Monograph Title: LIGHT RAIL TRANSIT: NEW SYSTEM SUCCESSES AT AFFORDABLE PRICES Monograph Accession #: 00483651
Corporate Authors: Transportation Research Board 500 Fifth Street, NW Authors: Fox, Gerald DPagination: pp 98-110
Publication Date: 1989
Conference:
National Conference on Light Rail Transit
Location:
San Jose California, United States ISBN: 0-309-04713-7
Media Type: Print
Features: References
(9)
; Tables
(5)
TRT Terms: Uncontrolled Terms: Subject Areas: Construction; Design; Finance; Highways; Operations and Traffic Management; Planning and Forecasting; Public Transportation
Files: TRIS, TRB, ATRI
Created Date: May 31 1990 12:00AM
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