The Taiwan city of Kaohsiung is currently building a new light rail system. The trams will be catenary-free with no overhead wires. The project is meant to improve the abandoned harbor area and uses old railway tracks. The first phase is set to be completed in November 2015.
10-intuition wrote:The Taiwan city of Kaohsiung is currently building a new light rail system. The trams will be catenary-free with no overhead wires. The project is meant to improve the abandoned harbor area and uses old railway tracks. The first phase is set to be completed in November 2015.
I see it goes in one direction and has quick charging at each station, instead of overhead wires. It only goes in a circle, so it only needs one track and doors open on both sides of the cars at the same time.
So I wonder what path we might use if we did a similar circular single track. I would need to be relatively short, I assume, since you have to ride the whole route to get back. With no wires and single track, would this be a lot cheaper? Are one-direction trains cheaper than bi-directional?
These trams are bi-directional. There are dual tracks that goes in both directions. The first phase will take it from the old Treasure Island water park (where KRTC is building their tram depot) to the end of the harbor near the Pier 2 Arts District (13-14 stations are being built in the first phase). The length of the journey is approximately 5 miles. The ultimate goal is to make it a circular line, where some tracks may be one-direction when it reaches certain intersections. Phase 2 will have the trams running with traffic, similar to Phoenix's Metro Light Rail system. The City of Kaohsiung is planning on using the light rail as a way to beautify the harbor front with green space and TODs. Their new convention center opened last year and one of the light rail stops will be there.
I would've liked to see The Loop streetcars use quick charging rather than overhead wires, but since they will be using historical streetcars it may not be ideal.
