Catenary-Free Tramway Systems: Functional and Cost\u2013Benefit Analysis for a Metropolitan Area

Marco Guerrieri

doi:10.1007/s40864-019-00118-y

Abstract

New tramway technologies such as “ground-level power supply systems” fit with the purpose of preserving historical heritage and urban environments of city centers. Such public transportation systems do not require a traditional air supply system (+ 750 V) and are therefore referred to as “catenary-free systems” (i.e., APS system, tramwave system, Primove system). Their implementation is becoming increasingly widespread, especially for cities with prestigious historical heritage, where high levels of environmental sustainability, capacity, reliability and safety standards are required. The study compares some of the most well-known and novel catenary-free systems for the creation of a 68-km tramway system, to be implemented in a metropolitan city. For each of the 7 new tramways, AIMSUN microsimulations were run to identify the most appropriate tramway track geometry and road section to minimize the interference with the vehicle activity. Moreover, for each system a financial and economic performance analysis has been carried out for an investment of about 869 million euros, while taking into account different scenarios of transportation demand. In addition, a cost–benefit analysis of the tramway lines investment project has been presented, including the calculation of the financial net present value, the economic net present value, rate of return of the investment and cost–benefit ratio. The analysis demonstrates that the APS ground-level power supply system is a proven alternative with greater economic and financial performance.

Highlights

In Europe, the transportation demand in urban and extraurban areas keeps on growing
A 23% of carbon dioxide (CO2) is generated by the transportation sector registering a total of 37% fatal road accidents (25,300 deaths in 2017; 14% of people killed on EU roads are aged between 18 and 24) [5]
The economic benefits and costs are related to the project scenario of new tramway lines compared to the counterfactual scenario (‘‘Scenario TP 0,’’ see Table 8), calculated in compliance with the microeconomic analysis principles, considering that the infrastructure is for the urban area [30]

Summary

Introduction

In Europe, the transportation demand in urban and extraurban areas (where 80% of the gross domestic product ‘‘GDP’’ is generated) keeps on growing. This hypothesis allows the identification of the best road and railway track layout, considering the most severe conflict conditions between tram vehicles and private vehicles. No residual value was considered for tram vehicles (Primove Bombardier for the induction system and Citadis X05 equipped with ‘‘ADAS’’ system—based on image analysis and algorithms for the detection [37]—for the APS Alstom system)

Financial Analysis

Economic Analysis

Findings

Conclusions