The Coventry Very Light Rail (CVLR) project has successfully run a vehicle on its test track in Dudley.
The project aims to develop an urban rapid passenger transport system using battery-powered vehicles and an innovative thin track system, which can be installed more easily and cheaply than current light rail and tram systems.
The thinner track can be laid just thirty centimetres deep into the road surface. This reduces the need to divert pipes and cables, which is a costly and time-consuming part of light rail installation.
To accurately represent and test city landscapes, the test track includes a 250m vertical hump and a tight curve. Features such as these present a challenge to traditional slab track constructions and contribute to the time and cost of installation.
The test track also includes instrumentation to monitor vibration, sound and stresses produced by the vehicle. This will demonstrate how the track form and CVLR vehicle operate together to reduce vibration and sound compared to standard tram systems.
The Coventry VLR project has been developed by West Midlands organisations including Coventry City Council, Transport for West Midlands (TfWM), and WMG at the University of Warwick. Also involved is the Black Country Innovative Manufacturing Organisation (BCIMO), the company formed to open and operate the Very Light Rail National Innovation Centre (VLRNIC) in Dudley where the tests have been taking place.
The project has received £40m funding from the £1.05 billion City Region Sustainable Transport Settlement (CRSTS), which the Department for Transport awarded to the West Midlands Combined Authority (WMCA).
Ingerop / Rendel worked with WMG to design the track slab, which was laid by Galliford Try. Laying the track took just a few weeks, illustrating that the simplicity of the design can reduce construction time and costs.
The VLRNIC is also partly funded through CRCRSTS, and is a key element in developing CVLR. It provides engineering support in an environment where new technologies can be developed and tested robustly and safely before being implemented in city streets. Engineers are working towards a real-world demonstration of Very Light Rail on the streets of Coventry city centre.
Cllr Jim O’Boyle, Coventry City Council’s cabinet member for jobs, regeneration and climate change, observed the test at the VLRNIC and said, “It was fantastic to see the vehicle running on its track for the very first time. This track is crucial to our vision and this successful test is a big milestone for the project.
“The track is unique; it’s specifically designed to be installed more quickly and more easily than the tracks used by other light rail systems.
“This test will also show that our vehicle is able to run on tight corners and up and down hills – it’s this that will enable it to run in smaller and medium sized cities. But there is no reason a traditional tram couldn’t run on it too – making delivery of trams more affordable.
“Coventry Very Light Rail is pioneering – with the potential to create new jobs and tackle climate change by providing people with a zero-emission mode of travel.
“This is Coventry doing what it does best. We led the industrial revolution here in Coventry and now, with fantastic projects like this, we are leading the green industrial revolution too.”
Andy Street, the Mayor of the West Midlands and WMCA chair, visited the test track to view progress, and said: “By investing in – and supporting the development of – Very Light Rail in Coventry and Dudley, we’re placing our region right at the forefront of what is a tremendously innovative technology.
“It’s yet another wonderful example of the industry and ingenuity for which the West Midlands is deservedly known. I look forward to seeing this technology progress from the workshop to real world application in the months and years ahead.
“As VLR picks up pace, we’ll be able to further reduce traffic congestion and improve our air quality – offering a convenient and sustainable transport option for local people to enjoy.”
Cllr Patrick Harley, leader of Dudley Council, said: “This is an important milestone on this site and I am delighted to see the first tests taking place. This is a very important aspect of our wider £1 billion regeneration story that is really gathering speed.”
Neil Fulton, chief executive of BCIMO, said: “This project is a great example of BCIMO’s ability to support the development of innovative technologies in a controlled environment using our unique, rail test facilities – and it highlights the huge benefits of effective collaboration.”
Jamie Missenden, regional manager with Galiford Try, added: “Having experience of light rail construction previously, the opportunity to play a part in creating an innovative system like this provided us with the chance to see how these complex infrastructure systems could be installed with significant risk and cost savings.
“With the test track now completed, we are proud of the work we have completed with partners and have been impressed by the speed of the installation of the track. In our view, this system offers significant benefits and added value to that of the more traditional light rail installation and construction process.”
Responses
Having been involved with Manchester Metro link Light Rail system (it is not a Tram system) installing the track in only 30 centimetres is all well and good, but there will be infrastructure under the track bed and sods law will apply that you will need to dig under the track that is why on all tram and street running light rail systems all infrastructure is removed from under the track.
We have had trams this size before around 120 years ago and they could cope with hills and tight turns.
I am very supportive of building new tram/light rail systems but really don’t know what the point is to have those “Baby-Trams” or “Mini-Trams”. They have less capacity then a single decker bus. These Mini-Trams are supposedly all that smaller cities in the UK can afford. But Coventry is not a small city with over 300’000 people living there!. All the other countries in Europe can afford the real thing, a high capacity tram system. So again as so often is Britain Europe’s Public Transport Poorhouse? Thanks to the last Labour government who destroyed all light rail systems where construction was about to start nearly 20 years ago, nearly all larger cities in Europa without an Urban Rail system are now in the UK! And it shows as much less people use public transport and congestion is worse. And it seems all in all both Labour and the Conservative Party are fine with this.
That curve in the leading photo doesn’t look like “an innovative thin track system” to me, in fact it looks decidedly conventional. Can’t the “innovative thin track system” go round corners? VLR have ignored my suggestion regarding new curving technology.
The track in the curve is exactly the same depth as on the straight. The rail itself is the same as normal light rail systems and the concrete slab beneath is 100 mm thick. What was the new curving technology?
Probably. But, it’s called “pay attention to what you are doing”. We survive fine here in Melbourne, Australia with the worlds largest tram network. On a group ride, with one friend facing tram lines on a ride the first time (also in the wet). It was explained to her to turn wide and “cross” the tram line, don’t ride and merge over it (like a car). Well she didn’t listen and landed flat on her money-maker. Laughter ensued all round. Some times people just have to learn the lesson themselves.
The bus lanes are ideal for track and stop sharing, with good road space re allocation, most of the car drivers will be in the tram. Incidentally, elsewhere, similar vehicles carry 100xpassengers and are coupled autonomously to the power of 3 giving a ratio of three hundred passengers to one driver. Unlike a bus or car which can never be zero emissions because of the road/tyre dust, Vlr trams have pollution at the point of use. The working life of tram can be upto 40 years +, the infrastructure 140 years + just look at Blackpool and some of the European Tram systems. The Zebra buses have a working life of 8-12 years with no infrastructure legacy and are heavy particulates producers which will not pass WHO air quality minimums
So don’t knock this project it may prolong your life when you are aged and prevent your grandchildren’s cardiovascular and mental being stunted
A good example at last in Public money well spent
Kind of a weird rail vehicle and I am a railfan!
For smaller and medium sized cities? I know just the place for something like this: Sierra Vista, Arizona, U.S.A! It’s a former railroad town and I used to live there and I’ve been wanting rail back in that town, which is the largest in its county, bigger than Benson, which not only has railroad tracks but Amtrak stops there. Would also be great to run regional rail from Tucson, where I now live, to Sierra Vista and via Benson.
But I did imagine what Sierra Vista would be like if it also had light rail, or a streetcar system, which Tucson now has, Tempe too! But where would it go? What routes would it take? And would the people of Sierra Vista go for that? Probably not! Well, Sierra Vista is still too small for Light Rail but could probably still have a streetcar system or even this so called VLR instead!
Three places in Sierra Vista I can think of are West Sierra Vista (near Fort Huachuca and east of Buffalo Soldier Trail,) The Sierra Vista Mall, and maybe the University of Arizona and running along Fry Boulevard though it ends at Highway 90 and Highway 92 on the east and even I’m not sure a streetcar or VLR should run down a highway! And how would it get to the Sierra Vista Mall? That and West Sierra Vista, the Mall, and the U of A are spread out and so a Y-shaped route would have to be built, or one of those places would have to be left out, making it either be:
1. West Sierra Vista to the U of A
2. West Sierra Vista to the Mall
3. U of A to the Mall (shortest route but would only serve Eastern Sierra Vista!)
If I have to choose one of those routes I’d go with option 2, it would serve more of Sierra Vista than options 1 and 3! Besides not everyone goes to the U of A there!
But would the Sierra Vistans even want that? How high would be the ridership? And would it be completely double-track or single track with side tracks? And where will the stops be? (One stop should be Lenzner Avenue, and perhaps 7th Street and Coronado Drive to name a couple more!) It also has to be able to connect to the Sierra Vista Transit Center!
This is all just my opinion and this probably wouldn’t work for Sierra Vista anyway! But thanks for reading.
Non-serious discussion time:
Imaging having a garden big enough to house all this and have all this in said garden, nice.
I agree with Dave. Why would anyone want to run trains on the street?
How about fitting the train with standard road wheels and then you wouldn’t need the rails at all. I’m going to call this new fangled vehicle a bus.
Trams are more suited to pedestrianised areas, as the path is predictable for people and you can provide easy level boarding. Then, in certain places, such as with South London Trams, the trains can run on old railway corridors, away from the traffic. Light rail can be easily automated to be driverless at times, with computer safety breaking systems. I agree tho, a bus is far cheaper and you can easily change where it goes. Bus lanes could run in place of rail.
And where do you find the road room for bus lanes then
Do VLR tracks still present a hazard to cyclists (especially in damp/wet conditions)?
Interesting comment ” no reason why a traditional tram could not run on this type of track”. Trams have a bigger passenger carrying capacity than Very Light Rail vehicles. When the track is eventually laid on Coventry’s streets ( what year is the planned opening?) could we see conventional trams running on this system?
It’s an oxymoron to create a VLR track and then allow “normal” trans on it.