[PRCo] Re: Caen

[BRUCE C BENTE]

Jack,
Very interesting system.  How did the noise level compare with a modern European LRV system?

Bruce  




________________________________
From: Jack May <jack.may at americomm.net>
To: Schneider Fred <fwschneider at comcast.net>; Skip Gatermann <biker4 at sbcglobal.net>; Craig Phil <philgcraig204 at yahoo.com>; Bente Bruce <bbente at bellsouth.net>; pittsburgh-railways at dementia.org
Sent: Friday, July 31, 2009 6:14:50 PM
Subject: Caen

Caen is in Normandy and is a popular jumping-off point for touring the
beaches and battle sites of post D-Day World War II.  It was the center of
major wartime activity and was captured by the Allies a week after the
Normandy invasion.  It also is the location of another proprietary
rubber-tired fixed-guideway surface operation, this one the GLT system from
Bombardier.  Like Translohr in Clermont-Ferrand, the GLT system uses a
single rail for guidance and for returning the 750-volt DC current picked up
from the overhead wire by the pantographs.  The system, which opened in
2002, consists of a trunk line with two branches on either end.  Thus
Twisto, Caen's urban transit agency, operates two GLT routes.

5:  The principal attraction of Caen is its 17th century Chateau.  The
medieval castle is the site of a number of museums, although others are
scattered about the city.  The Bombardier vehicles look more like buses than
the corresponding rolling stock built by Lohr for Clermont-Ferrand.  One of
the 24 low-floor vehicles (I hesitate to call them trams) passes the castle,
near the center of the city.  Note the rear-view mirror and the license
plate.  The interior of each unit is equipped with a steering wheel for
operation off the route using a diesel engine.

6:  The rolling stock is single-ended, and the four terminals have loops.
Each has a tight radius, as the relatively short 100-percent low-floor
vehicles can navigate sharp turns.

8:  The Jean Villar terminal of Line A, at the southern end of Caen, is
covered by an attractive looking tubular structure.  Note the track
structure on the inbound side.  It allows the vehicles to attach themselves
to the guideway after arriving from the garage under diesel power.

10:  This view in the city center contrasts the front and the rear of the
single-ended rolling stock.  The vehicles are equipped with soft two-and two
seating and do not ride quite as roughly as the Clermont-Ferrand trams, but
they are still noisier than similar-style light rail lines in other French
cities.  The portions of the concrete under the tires are already beginning
to show ruts, and will eventually have to be repaved to avoid the ride
becoming as bumpy and uncomfortable as what I experienced on a similar
trolleybus application in Nancy a few years ago.

12:  A view from a pedestrian overpass in the suburb of
Herouville-Saint-Clair.  This area is a "new city," and the guideway is an
integral part of the amenities that have been built to attract residents.
Line B has four stops here, and is an important element of the area's
pedestrian-friendly circulation plan.


I recently heard that Caen's system was shut down for a few days before my
visit due to a derailment (from the August issue of T&UT)