What is Light Rail?
Light rail transit is generally defined as electric rail cars that operate in short trains. Powered from an overhead wire, LRT can run on exclusive, semi-exclusive or shared alignments, with or without grade crossings, or even in traffic lanes on city streets. Stations typically are 0.5-1.5 miles apart and rail service operates about 20 hours a day. LRT corridors are usually 10-20 miles long. Cost: $12-100 million dollars a mile.
Light rail is a form of transit which is most often used in urban areas as part of a mass transit system. Like other types of transit with “rail” in their titles, light rail consists of trains which run along tracks. The trains used in a Light Rail Transit (LRT) system are most often electric, although some LRT systems use diesel as well. As a general rule, this form of rail transport is designed for humans, rather than manufacturing goods. Several things set light rail aside from other types of rail transit, such as subways, heavy rail, and rapid transit systems, all of which use trains. The most important difference is that light rail usually shares the public right of way. For example, the tracks for many light rail trains are run in public streets sharing space with traffic. In other cases, a light rail train runs on a dedicated area of the street, but it will still have to comply with traffic laws. The second is that light rail is designed for speed and reasonably light loads, and
Light Rail Light rail is probably the most popular form of rail transit being proposed by cities today. Light rail, considered the modern trolley or streetcar, is used in urban areas with significant population centers. Light rail offers flexibility of location because it can be operated in a street as opposed to the dedicated right-of-way needed for commuter or heavy rail. Commuter Rail Commuter Rail typically consists of a locomotive pulling passenger cars on existing freight railroads, operating at high speeds with slow acceleration and deceleration. Routes are usually 25-50 miles long with a terminal in a central business district. Service is generally geared toward morning and evening commutes. Heavy Rail Heavy Rail is a high-speed passenger rail (subway or elevated) electrically powered generally from a third rail. Heavy rail, as opposed to light rail, operates on an exclusive right-of-way. Service is intended primarily for central city travel, and stations are generally close to
The American Public Transportation Association defines light rail as follows: Light Rail is lightweight passenger rail cars 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. Light rail vehicles are typically driven electrically with power being drawn from an overhead electric line via a trolley or a pantograph. Also known as “streetcar,” “tramway,” “trolley car.” “Heritage trolley” and “vintage trolley” systems are light rail systems that use vehicles that were built before 1960, or modern replicas of such vehicles. [1] The following characteristics distinguish streetcars: • Track is often mixed with road traffic. With modern light rail, track is segregated from traffic wherever possible enabling higher operating speeds; it’s normally placed in reserved lanes on streets, in separate reservations on or next to streets, on private right of way similar to railroad lines, in subways, or on el
Light rail is a type of transit service that operates relatively light weight, self-propelled (usually by electric motors) vehicles that have steel wheels that run on standard steel rails. The technology is basically the same as that of streetcars (called trams in some countries), although light rail systems usually operate on separate rights of way rather than streets for most of their length and provide faster service than streetcars. Numerous cities in the U.S. have recently constructed (or are constructing) light rail lines, including Seattle, in which one is being built from downtown to Sea-Tac International Airport. For a complete list of U.S. urban areas that have light rail and other rail transit systems in operation or under construction, please visit the page Rail Transit Systems in the U.S.
