Light Rail Transit

Definition

LRT is a public transport system that uses steel-tracks on a fixed guideway, generally operating using exclusive rights of way and vehicles that can operate as multiple units coupled together or as single units. Sometimes LRT tracks can overlap with city streets, sharing traffic with cars and other vehicles. Light rail systems are usually at surface level, but they sometimes operate within systems with underground, or subway, stations and sections. For example, about 80 percent of Buffalo, New York's LRT system is underground.

Although heavy transit systems—popularly known as subways, metros, or undergrounds—generally have greater operating speeds than LRT systems, the LRT can save passengers time through reduced boarding and exiting times, and stations can be closer to destinations, leading to shorter commuting times. Planners must decide between [Page 880]having more stops, which provides better access to buildings and homes in dense downtown areas, or fewer stops, which decrease total commuting time for those living in outlying areas.

A variety of different specific technologies are being used by different LRTs around the world. In Portland, Oregon; and Boston, Massachusetts, a part of the system involves underground stations. In both Portland, Oregon; and Stockholm, Sweden; the light rail system interfaces with street traffic in some areas, even though each system primarily travels on a dedicated right-of-way separated from street traffic. In the United Kingdom, the Docklands Light Railway (DLR) in London is a fully automated system with cars powered by an electrified third rail, a power source usually used by traditional heavy rail systems.

The Rise and Fall of the Streetcar

In the Light Rail Developers' Handbook, Lewis Lesley compares light rail to streetcars and traces them back “to medieval mines in Europe, where beams of wood were laid longitudinally to make the haulage of wagons easier. These “traams” or wooden balks lent their name to tramways. Later, iron plates were used on the timber beams to increase life and give a smoother haul, and with the advent of iron rails and steam haulage came railways.”

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