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TRAM Power Ltd Affordable and sustainable rail technology |
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Green
Issues
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Greenhouse
Gases
The
recent award of the Nobel Prize to Al Gore for his work in
publicising the dangers of global warming reminds us that transport
is a significant and growing producer of greenhouse gases, and also
health threatening pollution. In the UK whilst about 4000 people a
year are killed in transport crashes, about 24,000 die as a result
of diseases caused by transport pollution. This excludes those who
die prematurely by being unfit through constant driving. Whilst the
moderate exercise required to use public transport will not
significantly alter that, TRAM Power Ltd. is concerned to maximise
the attraction of new rail systems, so that more people at least get
some exercise.
Capturing
car trips
Evidence
in Europe and North America is that car drivers will switch some of
their trips to rail transport, Whilst there used to be extensive
rail networks, many of the surviving lines are in the wrong place to
satisfy new travel patterns, which have emerged in the last 50
years. The motor car allows people to live further from their work,
shops, schools etc. In the UK just 1% of trips are made by rail, and
70% of those are London based.
If more
car trips are to be attracted to rail, then new rail lines are
needed. TRAM Power Ltd. is concentrating on the technology for
making urban rail lines affordable, since nearly 90% of Europeans
live in towns and cities. There is an equally strong case for new
interurban lines, where trips can be attracted both from cars and
airplanes. In both cases the key to attracting the maximum number of
car trips is fast and frequent services, accessible via convenient
Park and Ride Stations.
Sustainable
rail lines
Uniquely
railways can be easily electrified and with renewable power
generation, are energy sustainable, needing no fossil fuels, and so
further reducing the greenhouse gas emissions, from less private car
use.
Electric
traction is also quieter than internal combustion engines and emits
no pollution in city streets. This therefore helps to achieve two of
the key URBAN ENVIRONMENT Objectives of the World Health
Organisation (WHO). Traffic is the most frequently cited urban noise
nuisance in Europe. TRAM Power Ltd. has track and vehicle products
that separately reduce urban noise below 60dBA, and together reduce
it below that figure.
Affordable
rail
Light
Rail or tramway systems can be more easily and quickly threaded
through the urban fabric, than mainline railways or Metros. Indeed
Pierre Laconte, Director General of UITP observed that a light rail
system costs about 10% of a metro but delivers 90% of the benefits.
Being able to traverse tight corners, climb steep hills and have
simple stations close together, make new systems accessible and
competitive in journey time. With these important advantages, why
has light rail not made more impact in the UK ?
Over the
last 20 years a new system has on average been opened every four
years in Birmingham, Croydon, Manchester, Nottingham and Sheffield.
At this progress it will take 150 years to achieve the same level of
penetration as Germany.
Criticism
of present policy
A
comprehensive report published in April 2004, by the UK National
Audit Office, examined the publicly promoted and funded light rail
schemes opened thus far. It concluded that the capital costs were
twice as high as equivalent schemes built in the rest of the EU.
Objectives were rarely achieved, especially passenger and hence
revenue forecasts, leading to systems operating at a loss, needing
subsidies, on top of capital grants. It can hardly be a surprise
that the UK Government cancelled in 2006 £1bn of projects in Leeds,
Liverpool and Portsmouth, where the grant offered still left funding
gaps, not to mention the need for operating subsidies.
TRAM
Power Ltd reduces costs
TRAM
Power Ltd. products are cost effective and can reduce capital costs.
When coupled with promotion of routes where significant volumes of
car traffic can be attracted, commercial schemes become practical.
Here the operating surplus can be used to fund part or even all of
the capital investment. This would be a win-win situation, where
public authorities can benefit from having new light rail schemes in
their areas, without the cost or trouble of having to promote them.
TRAM Power Ltd. is working with a number of local authorities which
are interested in having privately promoted and funded light rail or
tramway schemes.
Back
to the future ?
Potentially
privately funded projects could result in a new light rail scheme
being opened every year in the UK, and allow existing systems to add
new lines to create genuinely integrated networks. The first
generation of tramways and railways in the 19th
century were all privately promoted and funded, and provide the
basis for our surviving networks. Private enterprise has similarly
revolutionised telephones, also a 19th
century invention. Of course Government’s have conflicts of
interest in that petrol taxes are a large revenue. Reducing car use
will reduce petrol tax take. Encouraging more fuel efficient cars,
will also reduce Government petrol tax income. When Health, Defence
and Education all need more investment, the odd light rail line is
going to come low in the Government’s calculus, even in
politically marginal areas, especially as a typical light rail line
is equivalent to four major hospitals or 30 senior schools ?
Forward
to the website
We
now invite you to look through the information put together in this
website. This demonstrates the considerable work undertaken to
develop, test and prove new products, which help to make light rail
and tramways affordable and sustainable.
Email : marketing@trampower.co.uk © TRAM Power Ltd 2007 |
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