You can help expand this article with text translated from the corresponding article in Portuguese. (January 2015)Click [show] for important translation instructions.
|
Rio de Janeiro Light Rail | |||
---|---|---|---|
Overview | |||
Native name | VLT Carioca | ||
Owner | Municipality of Rio de Janeiro | ||
Locale | Rio de Janeiro, RJ, Brazil | ||
Transit type | Light rail | ||
Number of lines | 4 | ||
Number of stations | 43 | ||
Website | www | ||
Operation | |||
Began operation | 5 June 2016 | ||
Operator(s) | VLT Carioca | ||
Character | At-grade | ||
Number of vehicles | 32 Alstom Citadis 402 trams [1] | ||
Train length | 44 m (144 ft 4+1⁄4 in) | ||
Headway | 3-15 minutes 30 minutes (night) | ||
Technical | |||
System length | 28 km (17 mi) | ||
Track gauge | 1,435 mm (4 ft 8+1⁄2 in) standard gauge | ||
Electrification | 750 V DC (Alstom APS/SRS) [1] [2] | ||
Average speed | 15 km/h (9.3 mph) | ||
|
Rio de Janeiro Light Rail (Portuguese : VLT Carioca) is a modern light rail system serving Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. The system is among several new public transport developments in the region ahead of the city's successful bid for the 2016 Summer Olympics. [1] Its official name is VLT Carioca, the initialism "VLT" (which stands for veículo leve sobre trilhos, literally Light vehicle on rails) being equivalent to the English term light rail .
The first phase, consisting of a single 15-kilometre line between the Novo Rio Bus Terminal and Santos Dumont Airport and 18 stops, [3] was inaugurated on 5 June 2016, two months ahead of the Olympics opening ceremony, [4] with regular service beginning the following day. For the first month of operation, it was free of charge to ride, but only two trams were in service between noon and 15:00 on the section between Parada dos Museus in Praça Mauá and Santos Dumont Airport. [1] The remainder of the line was opened and service was expanded to full-time operation on 12 July, although only 16 of the 18 stops on the line are in use.
The network uses 32 Alstom Citadis 402 low-floor trams carrying 420 passengers each. They are bi-directional, air-conditioned, have seven sections, and eight doors per side. The first five trams were built in Alstom's facility in La Rochelle, France and shipped to Rio in July 2015, [5] and the remaining 27 were built in Alstom's facility in Taubaté, in the state of São Paulo. [2]
There are no overhead lines installed along the entire route. Instead, Alstom has equipped approximately 80% of the line with its proprietary ground-level power supply (APS) system. The remaining 20% uses on-board supercapacitor-based energy storage (SRS), also developed by Alstom. [6] Trams are still equipped with pantographs for use in the maintenance facility.
The remainder of the three-line, 28-km network will open in stages by the end of 2017.[ needs update ] It is estimated that when the entire network is at full capacity, it would be able to eliminate 60% of buses and 15% of automobile traffic circulating in the city centre.
The Alstom Citadis is a family of low-floor trams and light rail vehicles built by Alstom. As of 2017, over 2,300 Citadis trams have been sold and 1,800 tramways are in revenue service throughout the world, with operations in all six inhabited continents. An evolution of Alstom's earlier TFS vehicle, most Citadis vehicles are made in Alstom's factories in La Rochelle, Reichshoffen and Valenciennes, France, and in Barcelona, Spain, and Annaba, Algeria.
A tram-train is a type of light rail vehicle that both meets the standards of a light rail system, and also national mainline standards. Tramcars are adapted to be capable of running on streets like an urban tramway but also be permitted operation alongside mainline trains. This allows services that can utilise both existing urban light rail systems and mainline railway networks and stations. It combines the urban accessibility of a tram or light rail with a mainline train's greater speed in the suburbs.
The Rio de Janeiro Metro, commonly referred to as just the Metrô is a rapid transit network that serves the city of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. The Metrô was inaugurated on 5 March 1979, and consisted of five stations operating on a single line. The system currently covers a total of 58 kilometres (36 mi), serving 41 stations, divided into three lines: Line 1 ; Line 2, which together travel over a shared stretch of line that covers 10 stations of an approximate distance of 5 kilometres (3.1 mi); and Line 4. Metrô Rio has the second highest passenger volume of the metro systems in Brazil, after the São Paulo Metro.
The Valenciennes tramway is a tram system serving Valenciennes and part of its surrounding areas, in the Nord department of France. Since 2014 the network has consisted of two lines with a total of 33.8 mi (54.4 km) of track and 48 stations.
The Carioca Aqueduct, also known as Arcos da Lapa, is an aqueduct in the city of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. The aqueduct was built in the middle of the 18th century to bring fresh water from the Carioca River to the population of the city. It is a typical example of colonial architecture and engineering.
Reims tramway is a tram system in the French city of Reims, which opened in April 2011. It travels north to south, through the city, along 11.2 kilometres (7.0 mi) of route.
Although tram systems date to the late 19th and early 20th centuries, many old systems were closed during the mid-20th century because of the advent of automobile travel. This was especially the case in North America, but postwar reductions and shutdowns also occurred on British, French and other Western European urban rail networks. However, traditional tramway systems survived, and eventually even began to thrive from the late 20th century onward, some eventually operating as much as when they were first built over a century ago. Their numbers have been augmented by modern tramway or light rail systems in cities which had discarded this form of transport.
The Santa Teresa Tram, or Tramway, is a historic tram line in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. It connects the city's centre with the primarily residential, inner-city neighbourhood of Santa Teresa, in the hills immediately southwest of downtown. It is mainly maintained as a tourist attraction and is nowadays considered a heritage tramway system, having been designated a national historic monument in 1985. The line has a very unusual gauge: 1,100 mm. The main line is 6.0 kilometres long.
Trams in France date from 1837 when a 15 km steam tram line connected Montrond-les-Bains and Montbrison in the Loire. With the development of electric trams at the end of the 19th century, networks proliferated in French cities over a period of 15 years. Although nearly all of the country's tram systems were replaced by bus services in the 1930s or shortly after the Second World War, France is now in the forefront of the revival of tramways and light rail systems around the globe. Only tram lines in Lille and Saint-Étienne have operated continuously since the 19th century; the Marseille tramway system ran continuously until 2004 and only closed then for 3 years for extensive refurbishment into a modern tram network. Since the opening of the Nantes tramway in 1985, more than twenty towns and cities across France have built new tram lines. As of 2024, there are 28 operational tram networks in France, with 3 more planned. France is also home to Alstom, a leading tram manufacturer.
The Istanbul Tram is a modern tram system on the European side of Istanbul. The first section, the T1 opened in 1992, followed by the T2, which opened in 2006. In 2011, the T1 and T2 merged, with the line retaining the T1 name. The T4, T5 and the T6 lines followed, opening in 2007, 2021 and 2024 respectively.
Zona Central is the historical, administrative, and financial centre of the city of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. It has been undergoing a major revitalisation since it was rediscovered by locals in the 1990s.
The Casablanca Tramway is a low-floor tram system in Casablanca, Morocco. As of 2019, it consists of two lines - T1 from Sidi Moumen to Lissasfa, and T2 from Sidi Bernoussi to Aïn Diab—which intersect at 2 points and form a 47 km (29 mi) network with 71 stations. Two additional lines, T3 and T4, are scheduled to open in 2024.
The Algiers Tramway is a tram system which commenced service on 8 May 2011 in the Algerian capital, Algiers. By June 2012, the opened sections had a length of 16.2 kilometres (10.1 mi) and 28 stops and were operated by ETUSA, the public transport operator for the Algiers metropolitan area, using Alstom Citadis trams. Two extensions, to take the tramway to a total length of 23.2 kilometres (14.4 mi), opened on 16 April 2014 and 14 June 2015 respectively.
The Rabat–Salé tramway is a tram system in the Moroccan agglomeration of Rabat and Salé cities which opened on 23 May 2011.
The Dijon tramway is a tramway system opened in Dijon, France, in September 2012. The tramway consists of two lines totaling 20 kilometres (12.4 mi) in length and serving 37 stations.
The Circular light rail is a light rail loop line in Kaohsiung, Taiwan, operated by the Kaohsiung Rapid Transit Corporation. The line stretches over a length of 22.1 kilometers and has 38 stations. The southern part of this line makes use of the defunct tracks of the Kaohsiung Harbor Railway Line. Construction cost was forecasted to be 16.5 billion New Taiwan dollars.
Light rail is a commonly used mode of public transit in South America. The term light rail was coined in 1972 by the Urban Mass Transportation Administration to describe new streetcar transformations which were taking place in Europe and the United States. The Germans used the term Stadtbahn, which is the predecessor to North American light rail, to describe the concept, and many in UMTA wanted to adopt the direct translation, which is city rail. However, in its reports UMTA finally adopted the term light rail instead.
The Alstom Citadis Spirit is a low-floor articulated light rail vehicle developed by Alstom for Ottawa's O-Train. It is marketed as part of its Citadis family, which includes other models of light rail vehicles, and is based on the Citadis Dualis.
Alstom APS, also known as Alimentation par Sol or Alimentation Par le Sol, is a form of ground-level power supply for street trams and, potentially, other vehicles. APS was developed by Innorail, a subsidiary of Spie Enertrans, but was sold to Alstom when Spie was acquired by Amec. It was originally created for the Bordeaux tramway, which was constructed from 2000 and opened in 2003. From 2011, the technology has been used in a number of other cities around the world.