On 25 Jan 2023, at 15:07, Matthew Geier matthew@...> wrote:
>
> There may be some wishing that they had put wires up. The traction batteries are regularly saving them from dead APS rails.
Give ‘em time.
The cost difference between OHW and APS was considered to be 3X for construction, 50X for maintenance, and these predictions are looking pretty true.
Bordeaux has the original APS installation and they spent a lot on bus hire in the early years while the bugs were worked out.
Here’s a list of APS tramways from Wikipedia. All new builds, no long lived systems are bothering to install it on either existing or new routes :
Bordeaux
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Bordeaux-aps-place-paul-doumer.jpg
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Bordeaux-aps-place-paul-doumer.jpgTrack with APS under construction in Place Paul Doumer, Bordeaux
Modern ground-level current collection was pioneered by the Bordeaux tramway https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bordeaux_tramway in France. The public had assumed that the new system would use a traditional conduit system, like that of the Bordeaux trams which ran prior to 1958 and objected when they learned that it was not considered safe and that overhead wires were to be used instead. Facing complaints both from the public and the French Ministry of Culture https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/French_Ministry_of_Culture, planners developed APS as a modern way of replicating the conduit system.[citation needed https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Citation_needed]
There are 12 km (7.5 mi) of APS tramway in the three-line network of 43.3 km (26.9 mi) as of 2008. Bordeaux Alstom Citadis https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alstom_Citadis trams https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tram use pantographs https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pantograph_(transport) and electric overhead lines https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Overhead_line in outlying areas.[citation needed https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Citation_needed]
Before use in Bordeaux, APS was tested and proved viable on a short section of reserved-track https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reserved_track in the French city of Marseille https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marseille. Nevertheless, Bordeaux has experienced problems, with APS being so temperamental that, at one stage, the Mayor issued an ultimatum that if reliability could not be guaranteed, it would have to be replaced with overhead wires.[citation needed https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Citation_needed]
Problems have included water-logging, when the water does not drain quickly enough after heavy rain.[citation needed https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Citation_needed]
Other cities :
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:New_trams_operating_in_George_street_Sydney_CBD_-_late_December_2019_-_49281061742.jpg
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:New_trams_operating_in_George_street_Sydney_CBD_-_late_December_2019_-_49281061742.jpgAlstom APS tracks on the CBD and South East Light Rail https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CBD_and_South_East_Light_Rail in
System City Country Opened Comments
Angers tramway https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Angers_tramway Angers https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Angers France https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/France 2011 [6] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alstom_APS#cite_note-rgi20060801-6[7] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alstom_APS#cite_note-rgi20110629-7
Reims tramway https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reims_tramway Reims https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reims France https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/France 2011 [6] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alstom_APS#cite_note-rgi20060801-6
Orléans tramway https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Orl%C3%A9ans_tramway Orléans https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Orl%C3%A9ans France https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/France 2012 [8] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alstom_APS#cite_note-springer-8
Tours tramway https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tours_tramway Tours https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tours France https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/France 2013 [9] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alstom_APS#cite_note-9
Dubai Tram https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dubai_Tram Dubai https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dubai United Arab Emirates https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_Arab_Emirates 2014 The system is fully equipped with APS over its entire passenger route length, and thus trams do not use their pantographs unless travelling within the depot area.[10] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alstom_APS#cite_note-Dubai-10
VLT Carioca https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rio_de_Janeiro_Light_Rail Rio de Janeiro https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rio_de_Janeiro Brazil https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brazil 2016 The system mainly uses APS, however where this was deemed impractical, the trams employ Alstom's proprietary supercapacitor https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Supercapacitor-based energy storage https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Energy_storage system.[11] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alstom_APS#cite_note-11
CBD and South East Light Rail https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CBD_and_South_East_Light_Rail Sydney https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sydney Australia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Australia 2019 The system uses APS within the Sydney CBD https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sydney_central_business_district and conventional overhead wires elsewhere.[12] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alstom_APS#cite_note-12
Cuenca tram https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cuenca_tram Cuenca https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cuenca,_Ecuador Ecuador https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ecuador 2020 The system uses APS in certain regions only and conventional overhead wires elsewhere.[13] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alstom_APS#cite_note-13
Istanbul T5 tramway https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/T5_(Istanbul_Tram) Istanbul https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Istanbul Turkey https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Turkey 2021 [14] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alstom_APS#cite_note-14
Lusail Tram https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lusail_Tram Lusail https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lusail Qatar https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Qatar 2022 The system uses APS on the above ground sections, with around 19km of APS.[15] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alstom_APS#cite_note-15
Tony