Ultra-Light Rail

Following the failure of ‘heavy’ light rail schemes in Liverpool and Bristol there is renewed interest in ultra light rail as a cheaper, lower tech more deliverable option.

Ultra light rail has been discussed in the past for Oxford, including during the OTS public inquiry in the mid 1990s when the Greens proposed it as alternative to the bus strategy. I think Craig Simmons was involved.

The attention then switched to ‘Guided Light Transit’ for a period, which was a scheme promoted by the then manager of the Oxford Bus Company to run parallel to the railway. It wouldn’t have served Oxford residents very well – it was mainly for P&R customers. It in any case proved to be impractical without major infrastructure and possibly also moving the railway station (which is now very unlikely to happen).

The Bristol-based company Sustraco is pursuing ULR for Bristol and is involved in delivering a scheme in Greece.

http://www.ultralightrail.com/Index.htm

And Parry People Movers have been promoting the technology since at least the beginning of the 1990s. Parry did try to interest the City and County Councils at one stage. Elsewhere there have been a number of on street and off street trials and a permanent public service now seems to be starting in the West Midlands on a former heavy rail branch line.

http://www.parrypeoplemovers.com/

The Sustraco site confirms my suggestion that ULR is about a tenth the cost of LR at around £2 million/km but as no permanent systems exist yet that may be open to debate.

I guess a big problem in Oxford is going to be how you introduce a system alongside the bus. It wouldn’t be possible to build the system everywhere at once, so for at least an interim period it would be necessary to squeeze the tram as well as buses through the available street space.

I picked up a leaflet about the Westgate meeting on Thursday 28^th. Actually I am a North Hinksey Parish Councillor and we have our monthly full council meeting that night so I think I will need to prioritise that.

Best regards

Graham

Dr Graham Parkhurst
Reader in Sustainable Mobility
Faculty of the Built Environment
University of the West of England, Bristol
Frenchay Campus
Coldharbour Lane
Bristol BS16 1QY
United Kingdom