This series charts the specialities, differing best uses, and newer developments of different local rail systems. This part covers (heavy) metro -- that is mostly subways, and a new system pioneered by Paris's RER.
This series can also be viewed as a general guide as to what kind of projects local initiatives could aim for, and tries to give examples around the world that can be used as model for supporters and argument against opponents.
Some general points are valid throughout the series.
Don't think in lines, think in networks -- even if a first line won't grow into a full network in decades. Coordination between different modes of transport, rather than rivalry, is essential. Even just in rail, one shoe doesn't fit them all. Different public transport modes are for differing kinds of travel, and it's best to have them as different levels in a linked-up system, say:
- high-speed rail,
- express rail,
- normal stopping trains,
- rapid transit,
- metro (subway/elevated),
- light rail,
- buses.
Of these, this series covers the four categories of local rail (nos. 3-6 on the list); as well as some ingenious ideas to mix these categories.
This series was inspired by BruceMcF's diary on various local transport modes as potential 'recruiters' for high-speed rail. Jerome a Paris was kind enough to guest-post Part 1 (on 'normal' stopping trains), I posted Part 2, while BruceMcF wrote a parallel diary emphasizing the connections to high-speed rail.
Heavy metro/subway/elevated
For traffic corridors within a major city, for acceptable speeds (and curve radii), you have to leave street level. There are two ways to go: up and down.
At the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries, both were tried. But elevated railways, while somewhat cheaper to build, still take away building space, emit noise all around, block sunlight, and are exposed to weather. So, while New York's system has a lot of elevated sections, the even more subway sections gave it its name, and Chicago's 'L' is rather unique in still being dominated by elevated sections.
There are modern examples, though. There are a number of elevated light metros for example Vancouver's SkyTrain, but I deal with light metros in the last episode. In monsoon-frequented Delhi and a number of high-density East Asian cities, putting heavy rail on long concrete bridges became common practice. Though, the latter is typically in suburbs, and would really belong into the previous episode.
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Since 2004, Binhai Mass Transit's 45.4 km (28.3 mi) JinBin line runs from a suburb of Tianjin to the Tianjin Economic Developing Area, mostly elevated, though the in-construction downtown extension is in tunnel. Here one of the automatic trains (made by Chanchun Railway Vehicles) turns at the temporary terminus Zhongshanmen, with the ramp to the subway extension visible. Tianjin also has a subway, China's second-oldest. Photo by Pierre2427 from 2427junction.com |
Urban rail in major cities (say half a million or more) also means corridors with the heaviest traffic (say upwards from 100,000 trips a day, and into the millions). You need something even more high-capacity than a normal rapid transit. Two possibilities remained for that: running trains more frequently, and providing more space to standing passengers. The first demands dedicated lines, both demand purpose-built trains. The dedicated lines can, however, extend out from the densest part, and run on the surface, much like a normal rapid transit service. New York, San Francisco has such lines, and Washington D.C.'s was built so very purposefully.
In North America, heavy-load urban rail service is commonly not even separated from 'rapid transit'. Elsewhere however, using the name of the fifth subway system in the world, Paris's, 'metro' is the generic name, and is considered a separate category, especially as many cities have both systems overlaid.
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Impressions from the busiest and most beautiful subway in the world: Moscow's Metro, with its rich 'Stalin-baroque' interieur. Video by Andron3 |
I stressed the importance of connection with other modes of public transport at stations. This doesn't just mean location. It's already good to have with normal rapid transit, but essential for metros to have common ticketing with buses and light rail, so that travellers don't have to buy a separate ticket or monthly card for each leg of their journey/commute. In an American context, also worth to point out: such tickets take away the stigma of a bus ride ("I'm just hopping on to the train station" will be the initial excuse).
France is also the pioneer of some new developments.
Lyon pioneered the recent trend to automated metros. Automation is easier on a completely grade-separated and dedicated line. This is not yet a cheap option, but may become one. An example is Paris Metro's new line 14, which also exhibits another new trend: glass platform doors that both prevent train-pushed winds and suicide jumps.
Although subways are the most expensive form of local rail, practically all metro systems in Europe and Asia are still growing. I give some examples of recent fast growth.
The subway system of South Korean capital Seoul started only in 1971, the system was more than doubled in the nineties, all the while the country also undertook the construction of the first phase of its KTX high-speed railway (opened three years ago), and this year it will grow to the world's third longest (after London & NYC) with around 320 km (200 mi) line length. The metro of Taiwanese capital Taipei is only 11 years old, but during the same time the expensive Taiwan High-Speed Rail was constructed (it opened in January this year), Taipei Metro expanded to a network of six lines totalling 74.4 km (46.2 mi), carrying over a million daily riders, and these numbers are to be tripled in another 11 years.
The Chinese boom didn't just brought an explosion of cars, but also massive rail construction, from light rail to high speed. From the nineties, a dozen major cities construct subway systems at breakneck speed. All but two are totally new, yet Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou aim for systems the size of New York's or Seoul's. For example, Guangzhou Metro's current four lines totalling 89.7 km (55.7 mi) were built in a mere ten years, and just counting in-construction lines, network length is to triple by 2010!
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A subway train (made by Siemens & Zhuzhou Electrical Locomotive Works) arrives at its terminus under Guangzhou East Railway Station on the just 19-month-old line 3. All stations on the Guangzhou Metro have transparent platform doors. Photo by Pierre2427
from 2427junction.com |
Metros are expanding in other parts of Asia, too. In India, the now three-line Delhi Metro started less than five years ago. Iran isn't only busy building a nuclear industry, but Tehran Metro, too. In the rich oil-producing Arab countries, the in-construction Dubai Metro will be the first urban rail system.
In Europe, Spain was most wise in using EU Structural Funds, and that with support from both political sides. Only Madrid and Barcelona had subways before the Civil War, not much happened under Franco's dictatorship. But today, half a dozen cities are busy boring tunnels, and Madrid's system quadrupled. For a developed Western country, Madrid should be the example to follow in how to build subways.
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Urban rail system of Madrid (click for full-size version). Pink is Cercanías (suburban rapid transit), red-bordered yellow is in-construction light rail, the rest subway. Dashed: built in the 2003-7 period (note that the rapid transit central artery is doubled, too -- includes a 7.5 km tunnel). Map from The Subway Page |
Metro Madrid added more than 40 km (25 mi) in a four-year period to 2003, and another 56 km (35 mi) heavy metro this year -- to a total of 283 km (176 mi) -- note that Madrid is a city of just 3.2 million. The showcase project of the previous four years was Line 12 (yellowish green on the map), nicknamed MetroSur. This ring line doesn't circle the city, but serves a couple of suburban towns by distributing traffic among radial subway and rapid transit lines.
Planning, tendering, boring, fitting out with concrete lining and tracks and electronics of this 40.5 km all-tunnel line; station construction; and purchase, testing and commissioning of subway trains was all done within four years and on a budget of only 1.1 billion! On time and budget in the extreme! Compare that to the time and cost earmarked for New York's 8.5-mile Second Avenue Subway project.
RER
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Extreme capacity: two five-car bi-level EMUs (Z1547 and another type MI2N of Paris transport authority RATP) on RER A outer branch A3 near Achères, April 7th, 2007. The inner part of RER A is one of the busiest railways in the world. Photo by Patrick Meunier from RailFanEurope.net |
Réseau Express Régional (=Regional Express Network) is essentially nothing but rapid transit resp. S-Bahn in another language, French. Indeed one system called so, that of the Belgian (and EU) capital Brussels, is indistinguishable. (As I mentioned in the series intro, local rail terminology is totally chaotic.)
But the reason for a separate treatment based on the first RER, that of Paris, has to do with long city tunnels.
As often is the case, the idea is not entirely new. There is the through line formed by the tunnels into New York's Penn Station (1910). There is the North-South central artery of Berlin's S-Bahn, which has six stations along a 5.9 km (3.7 mi) tunnel (1936/1939). The latter is an example of cities with (multiple) terminal stations pursuing underground connection of commuter lines. Younger examples are the rapid transit central arteries of Madrid, Frankfurt, Munich, Zurich. Also, Seoul's metro line 1 is co-used by suburban trains, while the downtown loop shared by most lines of Sydney's CityRail rapid transit system is mostly underground.
But, in the largest cities, there is room for multiple central arteries, which thus can form a whole inner-city network. So, while suburbanites 'see' commuter rails bundled together into five rapid transit line families, city-dwellers see a second, express subway network.
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Lots of doors: Another MI2N bi-level EMU (this one owned by state railways SNCF as series Z 22500) at Haussmann-St-Lazare station, on the underground part of RER line E, January 1st, 2000. Photo by Jörg Kuntz from RailFanEurope.net |
In Paris, the systematic connection of suburban lines going into the eight (now six) terminals was pursued from 1969. Today RER trains on the five line families (A to E) traverse four long tunnels (altogether 60 km/37 mi underground). With 273 million trips in 2004, only a couple of subway lines (most in Moscow) and Tokyo commuter rapid transit lines are busier than the inner-city part of RER line A.
Similar systems are planned in London (Crossrail), Guangzhou and Shanghai.
Outlook
A lot of subways, including Boston's Green Line and San Francisco's Muni Metro, weren't covered here: so-called light metros. They get their turn after their parental category: light rail.
In the light rail episode (to be posted on Sunday), you will also read more about the technology in newer rail vehicles. For a view on overall public transport development, wait for the concluding part (to be posted Tuesday, probably by Jerome a Paris).