Britain’s nine light rail systems compare with around 30 in France and 60 in Germany as, historically, Britain has failed to invest in its transport infrastructure. With conventional tram systems typically costing around £50 million per kilometre, the UK will not be able to significantly increase the number of its light rail systems without a radically new approach.
The urban Very Light Rail (VLR) programme is such an approach. It is the result of Coventry City Council approaching WMG (Warwick Manufacturing Group) in 2016 to see if a lightweight tram could be produced using the technology of their Revolution VLR railcar (RVLR). The city also specified that the total cost of its proposed VLR system must not exceed £10 million per kilometre. WMG then partnered with the Paris-based engineering group INGEROP and its British consultancy, Rendel, to develop the required novel trackform.
On 16 June, the Black Country Innovative Manufacturing Organisation held its first VLR conference in Dudley at the Black Country and Marches Institute of Technology. This is next to the almost complete VLR innovation centre as described in issue 191 (Jul-Aug 2021). The event described the latest VLR system developments including the RVLR, Coventry VLR, and the novel trackform. A full report of this conference and the VLR vehicles will appear in our next issue whilst this focus feature considers the novel trackform.
Utilities
Achieving low-cost light rail track installation is only possible if the number of utility diversions can be significantly reduced. These are required when there is a physical clash between the new light rail line and the buried services. The minimum depth of utilities is 450 mm for telecoms cables, 600 mm for electrical cable, and 750mm for gas and water pipes.
In addition, utility diversions will be required if the utility companies consider that the new line does not give them acceptable access to their utilities. Installing VLR track over buried services will only be acceptable to utility companies if they can treat the track as a normal road.