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Light Rail Transit, Shared Infrastructural Issues

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Encyclopedia of Sustainability Science and Technology

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Definition of the Subject

Interest in light rail transit (LRT), as a viable urban transportation system, has been growing worldwide, and new LRT systems are appearing in urban areas of many countries. One advantage of LRT is its ability to use existing railroad infrastructure to reduce construction cost and environmental impact. The majority of LRT systems in the USA share right-of-way or utilize the same tracks but temporally separated from the freight railroads, while commingled or simultaneous operation has been common practice for many countries in Asia and Europe. With the success of LRT applications in recent decades, service providers are looking for more space and infrastructure for expansion. Interest in applying overseas commingled experience in the USA has been growing.

Current Federal Railroad Administration (FRA) policy, dominated by safety concerns, does not allow commingling of LRT and freight rail operations within the same time period. The general practice is that...

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Abbreviations

Commingled operation:

Transit trains and freight trains are separated by headway intervals measured in minutes in an operating schedule.

Light rail transit:

Also called streetcar, tramway, or trolley; it is a system with passenger railcars operating singly or in short, usually two-car, trains on fixed rails in right-of-way that is not separated from other traffic for much of the way.

Shared corridor:

Transit and freight operators share a transportation corridor, but tracks are separated by at least 25 ft and no more than 200 ft.

Shared right-of-way:

The transit vehicles run on separate tracks, but track centers are less than 25 ft, that is, separation between the centerline of the freight track and the centerline of the passenger track is less than 25 ft.

Shared track:

Heavy or LRT vehicles operate on the same tracks used by freight trains.

Temporal separation:

Both transit and freight trains utilize the same track but are separated by time windows.

ACS:

Automatic cab signaling

ADA:

Americans with Disabilities Act

APTA:

American Public Transportation Association

ATC:

Automatic Train Control

ATS:

Automatic train stop

CBTC:

Communication-based train control

CFR:

Code of Federal Regulation

CN:

Canadian National

CTC:

Centralized traffic control system

DMU:

Diesel multiple unit

FHWA:

Federal Highway Administration

FRA:

Federal Railroad Administration

FTA:

Federal Transit Administration

GAO:

Government Accountability Office or General Accounting Office, prior to 2004

ICE:

Intercity express train

ITS:

Intelligent transportation system

JNR:

Japanese National Railways

JR:

Japanese Railways

LRT:

Light rail transit

LRV:

Light rail vehicle

MBTA:

Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority

MTA:

Maryland Transit Administration

MTDB:

Metropolitan Transportation Development Board

NCTD:

North County Transit District

NJ TRANSIT:

New Jersey Transit

PTC:

Positive train control system

PZB:

Indusi “Punktförmige Zugbeeinflussung” System

ROW:

Right-of-way

RSIA:

Railroad Safety Improvement Act

SDTI:

San Diego Trolley, Inc.

STB:

Surface Transportation Board

SWG:

Shared-Use Working Group

TCRP:

Transit Cooperative Research Program

TPWS:

Train Protection and Warning System

TRB:

Transportation Research Board

UTA:

Utah Transit Authority

VTA:

Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, New Jersey Institute of Technology, University Heights, Newark, NJ, 07102, USA

    Rongfang Rachel Liu

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  1. Rongfang Rachel Liu
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Correspondence to Rongfang Rachel Liu .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Ramtech Ltd., Larkspur, California, USA

    Robert A. Meyers

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Liu, R.R. (2015). Light Rail Transit, Shared Infrastructural Issues. In: Meyers, R. (eds) Encyclopedia of Sustainability Science and Technology. Springer, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4939-2493-6_295-3

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4939-2493-6_295-3

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  • Online ISBN: 978-1-4939-2493-6

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