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Title:

COLOGNE'S CONTRIBUTION TO THE LIGHT RAIL CONCEPT

Accession Number:

00371617

Record Type:

Component

Availability:

Find a library where document is available


Order URL: http://worldcat.org/issn/0360859X

Abstract:

West Germany has been one of the most active countries in the development and application of light rail transit. Cologne (Koln) is the largest West German city to rely upon LRT (Stadtbahn) instead of full rapid transit (U-Bahn) as the primary rail transit mode. The LRT system, operated by the Kolner-Verkehrs-Betriebe (KVB), has developed in a well-planned, gradual manner from a basic streetcar system to a high-performance LRT network. The system was built by adapting the right-of-way to the physical and operating environment. Therefore, most of the 30 km of fully separated right-of-way are located in the heavily congested city center. Most lines reenter the surface after leaving downtown, but retain some form of priority right-of-way. To operate on the improved rights-of-way, the KVB developed and purchased the B-car, one of the highest performance cars in West Germany, but a car that is still flexible enough to operate on all surface sections, including conventional streetrunning. Other areas of investment, such as electrification, signals, and track, have kept pace with the overall system improvement. The result of these developments has been steadily improving performance and a ridership level that totaled 175.8 million passengers (LRT and bus) in 1980. Many of the technical and operating elements can be seen in the new intercity light rail line that runs from Cologne to Bonn. The route was converted from a declining commuter railroad operation to LRT in 1977 after several technical and institutional problems had been overcome. Improved service and integration of the former rail system into the LRT networks in Cologne and Bonn led to dramatic ridership gains.

Supplemental Notes:

This paper appeared in Transportation Research Board Special Report No. 195, Light Rail Transit: Planning, Design, and Implementation. Papers presented at the Conference on Light Rail Transit, March 28-30, 1982, San Diego, California, sponsored by Urban Mass Transportation Administration. 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 Accession #:

00371601

Corporate Authors:

Transportation Research Board

500 Fifth Street, NW
Washington, DC 20001 United States

Authors:

Clarke, R F

Pagination:

pp 77-82

Publication Date:

1982

Serial:

Transportation Research Board Special Report

Issue Number: 195
Publisher: Transportation Research Board
ISSN: 0360-859X

Conference:

Conference on Light-Rail Transit

Location: San Francisco California, United States
Date: 1982-3-28 to 1982-3-30
Sponsors: Urban Mass Transportation Administration

Media Type:

Print

Features:

References (5) ; Tables (2)

Uncontrolled Terms:

Right of way

Geographic Terms:

Cologne (Germany)

Subject Areas:

Environment; Highways; Planning and Forecasting; Public Transportation; Society

Files:

TRIS, TRB, ATRI

Created Date:

Apr 29 1983 12:00AM

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