Pesa low floor streetcar for the Krakow Tram System
There is quite an assortment of rolling stock at the Innotrans 2016 show, but I have selected one in particular to serve as an example of what is being built for other cities. It isn’t necessarily something that should be grabbed as a complete design and immediately put to use in Seattle, as it has a number of features that were requested by the operator. It does illustrate what features other cities have asked to have on their transit equipment and some of these features may be useful to consider when looking at what might one day operate in Seattle.
The particular car I have selected is the Krakowiak, built by Pesa for the Krakow, Poland tram (streetcar) system.
Some basic numbers:
Length: 141 feet in four car sections
Number of seats: 93
Full passenger capacity: 284
Maximum Speed: 43 mph
By the numbers it doesn’t seem so impressive I suppose. It sounds like a fairly typical streetcar, though obviously a bit longer than what is currently in use in Seattle, Tacoma or Portland. Though, it should be pointed out that in the not too distant past streetcars in use in Krakow weren’t this long either, but the transition to longer cars proved desirable for a number of reasons.
Taking a look inside gives an impression the numbers don’t necessarily reveal:
The bike rack section of the car is an unusual design that prevents people from lifting the bikes onto hooks, and keeps one bike from blocking another.
While most of the doors have a fair amount of space for passengers to move around, one door is the designated bike door and pictured above is their solution to bike storage.
A view of the bike rack area from a different angle.
While this particular method of stowing a bike on transit equipment takes up a bit of space, it also eliminates some of the issues with having people lift their bikes into a hook. The door is equipped with a sign that indicates bikes need to board at that particular door.
Even though most passengers will be traveling short distances, the car has small tables.
I found it interesting that some of the seats were equipped with these very small tables.
Those small tables come with two USB power outlets.
I found it especially interesting that these tables were each equipped with USB power outlets.
USB power outlets seems to be an extremely popular thing for transit equipment these days. At least two of the battery buses on display at the show have them, as well as a number of rail transit cars.
The 100% low floor design means the wheels protrude into the passenger area, but it is still possible to use the space.
The car is essentially 100% low floor, and there are no stairs at all from the entry to the rest of the car floor. While this does mean that the wheels protrude into the passenger area, it is still possible to utilize the space.
The ticket validator on the far right is a touch screen that is able to display messages in any of six or so languages.
Destination displays are so much more than LED signs.
As with pretty much all of the transit equipment at the show, the car is equipped with LCD screens that give the next several stations, and otherwise is a much more useful display than what is typically seen in the USA.
Tomorrow the outdoor displays are open to the public, and this is usually an extremely popular day. Visitor counts on Saturdays have been in the tens of thousands. Thus, this is my final article about Innotrans 2016, unless someone has special requests for more.
My hope is that you have enjoyed a little bit of a window into what is currently being built for other transit systems elsewhere.
Glenn Laubaugh (“Glenn in Portland”) is part of the engineering staff for a small company in Portland that builds electrical equipment for railroad passenger cars.
While it is true that Innotrans is advertised as a railway exhibition and trade show, there are some non-railroad products at the show as well, as operators of railroad equipment may also be interested in these products.
No diesel powered buses of any sort are part of the displays (many are operating services to and around the show), but there are five battery powered buses as well as several variations of charging apparatus that are part of the show displays.
Battery bus used in Hochbahn service in Hamberg.
Hamberg is one of several cities in Europe using battery powered buses, and in fact in the case of Hamberg their goal is to move completely to battery powered buses by 2020. One of the Hochbahn buses being used in this service is on display.
Sileo battery bus makes a loop around the Summer Garden section of the grounds.
Two of the buses are full scale articulated buses. One of the representatives from battery bus maker Sileo says they guarantee in their literature a distance of 230 km (143 miles) per charge, but in reality they typically get closer to 300 km (186 miles).
The battery buses are operating an occasional very slow loop around the Summer Garden area of the show, and they are all very eerily quiet. One can drive right past only inches away and you don’t know that it is there.
Alstom LINT regional train adapted to have a hydrogen fuel cell power system.
Efforts at making things quiet, zero emissions and otherwise eliminating traditional combustion powered engines is also going on with the railway equipment that is being shown as well, but none of it has enough space at the show to actually operate.
The above example is a hydrogen fuel cell powered version of the Alstom Coradia Lint regional train. They are calling this the iLint. It will begin service on regional trains in northern Germany after the show is over. Equipped with a restroom and commuter style seating, the car will operate in services of distances similar to Sounder.
Other pieces of equipment at the show that illustrate the extensive efforts at moving away from diesel engines include a regional freight locomotive from the Austrian Federal Railway that was upgraded to include off-wire battery packs. Passenger locomotives can’t be too far behind if freight equipment is already being built with this capability.
Austrian Federal Railways electric locomotive adapted to have battery powered off-wire capability.
Noise along railway lines, however, isn’t just caused by diesel engines. Streetcar and other urban systems suffer from wheel on rail noise transmitted through the concrete into which the rails are set.
Cross section of street railway with BRENS system of noise and water absorption, as well as a demonstration wall made from the material.
Prokop Rail of the Czech Republic has developed their BRENS system of sound deadening cushions specifically aimed at noise reduction and runoff water control for street railways or other situations where railway lines might otherwise be encased in concrete. Their system includes panels made from repurposed old automotive upholstery. These panels may have either artificial turf on top, or have an assortment of small plants such as sedum sewn into the material so that a natural top layer is formed. It is intended for use on lines with speeds up to 160 km/hr (100 mph).
Other products at the show to help make operations more quiet include various makers of transparent noise walls made from plexiglass or similar materials that are intended to block the noise but allow light to pass through. Several other non-transparent noise wall products were at the show as well, but everyone knows what noise walls look like.
There are many things that I don’t have enough time or space to cover. For example, a non-catenary light rail car for the Dubai Metro is also at the show. However, the products listed above are the ones that stand out to me as far as serving as an interesting step forward in the area of making things run quieter and cleaner.
Glenn Laubaugh (“Glenn in Portland”) is a member of the engineering staff of a small Portland based manufacturer of electrical equipment for railroad passenger cars.
People tending to crowd particular cars isn’t just a problem on Link. Passenger information displays may be able to help this issue.
The area of keeping passengers informed has advanced well beyond simply telling people when the next train will arrive.
While it first appeared at the show two years ago, displays on Siemens trans that show where the least crowded cars are located on the train were being shown this year too. One of the Siemens engineers said “Of course, the display is not very useful unless it displays the information on the platform before the train gets there. However, the operator is still working on installing the infrastructure to support that.”
Southwest Trains class 707 is a member of the Siemens Desiro class of equipment.
The particular trains equipped with this display will be entering service for Southwest Trains services out of London starting in 2017.
A passenger display that rises and lowers with a gate system is being demonstrated by a Korean company. The gate system, which comes to a stop immediately when someone puts their foot under it, is the actual technology being demonstrated.
Passenger information displays are, in fact, a significant part of the public transportation part of the show. There is some really interesting stuff going on in the area of passenger information technology. What we have seen so far in the USA is only a tiny piece of what is available.
Glenn Laubaugh (“Glenn in Portland”) is part of the engineering staff at a small company in Portland that builds electrical equipment for railroad passenger cars.
DART Polish Regional Train by Pesa was the winner of the iF 2016 Design Award
The Innotrans show is huge. For example, remember the light rail car that I had seen being moved into the show on Monday? I still haven’t found where they have that particular car on display. There aren’t too many trade shows out there where you could loose an entire light rail car. The map and guide to the trade show is a nearly 700 page back-breaking phone book sized publication.
As it was the winner of the iF 2016 Design Award (an international product design group), the new Polish regional express train is one place to start as it shows some of the features being put into today’s railway equipment worldwide. It is intended for use on routes that are in the four hours or so in length range, so in that regard it is somewhat like what would be used on the likes of Amtrak Cascades types of services.
Though, it should be noted that the top speed of slightly over 150 mph is definitely not something we will see in Cascades service any time soon.
Business Class seating in Pesa DART
What we might call business class seating has a folding table so it is easier to get into and out of the seat than if the table were a fixed design. Electrical outlets are provided between the seats. There is a trash receptacle at the table too (see the open hatch close to the window).
Above each row of seats is an electronic sign, which gives the seat assignment for that particular seat.
Electronic displays above each seat give seat assignment information.
However, the electronic gadgetry does not stop there by any means.
Some of the tables are a complete electronic system in their own right.
Electronic table displays give route information or allow food ordering.
The display allows for menu selections to be made from the dining car, or it can be switched to show route and destination information. The circular device at the far end of the table in the photo is an inductive cell phone charger.
Coach seating is decent, but nothing special.
The regular coach seating isn’t quite a comfortable looking as you might expect, but it is what the regional train operator ordered and apparently fits their customer needs.
The entire train was built with a lower floor than standard equipment so that it is entirely at platform level (which in Poland is about a foot and a half above the rail height). It’s no curb-height light rail car, but it is still much lower than standard equipment and therefore required the use of some of the same construction methods that would be required in low floor equipment.
Glenn Laubaugh (“Glenn in Portland”) is part of the engineering staff at a small company in Portland that builds electrical equipment for railroad passenger cars.
“NO, my trade show display booth will NOT fit in the overhead luggage rack on the plane over there.” 3 section 100% low floor tram car arrives by truck at Messe Berlin for Innotrans 2016.
Every two years, the Innotrans railway technology trade show takes over the huge exhibition grounds of Messe Berlin. Monday of show week is reserved for those moving displays into the show grounds. This includes everything from setting up a hundred or so feet of railroad track to display how maintenance equipment works to full size locomotives and passenger equipment. Due to the placement, some of the equipment must be brought in by truck. While there is track (quite a lot of it, actually) into the show, even the fairly extensive track arrangement is completely filled. Getting it all to work means sometimes trucks are used.
As admission to the show begins tomorrow (Tuesday), I will reserve today to discuss the location of the show and its transit access.
Typical northwest Amtrak service on Thanksgiving weekend might mean Amfleet Cars along Puget Sound, as seen on this four car train near DuPont Wharf on November 24, 2012. Photo by Glenn Laubaugh (“Glenn in Portland”).
Most years, around Thanksgiving Amtrak operates extra trains between Portland and Seattle. As this is Amtrak’s busiest travel weekend, usually this means grabbing several extra Amfleet and Horizon cars from California, or other places that could make just as good use of those cars.
Is the service provided by these trains sufficient? There is no way to know right now, since having a constrained number of seats means Amtrak’s yield based ticket price structure forces the ticket prices into an unattractive price range before the trains truly sell out. All it tells us is that far fewer people are willing to pay $63 for a ticket that normally sells for $35, which we knew already and is basically the point of yield based ticket prices. Based on the significant road traffic problems seen up and down the Cascades corridor every year, I’m guessing the seating capacity could afford to be increased.
By brining in several leftover cars from California, train length is severely limited due to the limited availability of additional cars out of California, which has its own severe travel needs during Thanksgiving weekend.
Such single level cars are not particularly well suited for service along the Cascades corridor anyway. No stations anywhere along the entire corridor have high level platforms level with the floor on these cars, so that detraining means a steep, narrow staircase. It is a slow process even for the most able-bodied.
In the Northeast, it is not unusual at all for Amtrak to make use of existing commuter cars from local agencies. In one example, Maryland Area Rail Commuter Service (MARC) winds up with a fairly significant portion of its fleet in Amtrak service over Thanksgiving weekend. Some I have talked to say the proportion is somewhere close to half of the MARC fleet.
The Sounder cars aren’t intended for long distance service but the seating isn’t especially uncomfortable. SoundTransit purchased its cars with comfortable benches and tables, rather than the hard plastic seats certain other commuter agencies have ordered. Arguably, they are more comfortable than some of the Amfleet and Horizon cars that appear in the northwest during Thanksgiving weekend. Let’s not forget that Oregon’s two Talgo trains were actually designed for the 90 minute Chicago to Milwaukee trip, which is actually in the commuter railroad range and have comfort levels to match.
While not completely platform level, Sounder cars have somewhat lower floors than the Amfleet or Horizon stock and reasonably wide doors, which allow them to have somewhat better boarding and detraining at the typical Cascades platform. The upper level means that the cars maintain reasonable comfort while having considerable seating capacity per car.
Most Cascades platforms are not directly wheelchair accessible from the floor of these cars, but the cars were used on emergency Amtrak service between Seattle and Bellingham after the Skagit River Interstate 5 bridge collapse. Many of the Cascades stations already have backup wheelchair lifts at station platforms. Therefore, in reality wheelchair access doesn’t appear to be an issue and in fact due to the wider and multiple doors per car would probably be better with Sounder equipment than with the Amfleet or Horizon cars.
None of the Sounder cars are equipped for food service but there are ways of solving that problem. As the Sounder cars have end doors that are compatible with standard equipment, one possible solution would be to only move a couple of lounge/cafe cars to the northwest and have them serve on these trains. There are also privately owned passenger cars that are maintained to Amtrak standards for use in special tourist service at the end of Amtrak trains, and some of those cars are equipped with food service. They are a hodgepodge of car types and colors, but to be legal for connection to Amtrak trains they have to have passed a certain set of safety inspections to make them as safe as Amtrak equipment. If the train gets long enough, it would probably be a good idea to have one car equipped with food service capability at each end of the train, which also saves some platform space since dining cars really don’t need platform access during passenger boarding.
In theory there are some political obstacles because Federal Transit Administration funded equipment is normally excluded from use by Amtrak. Other areas of the country have managed to work this out. Witness, for example, MARC.
As of late September, already Thanksgiving weekend had all trains on November 25th from Portland to Seattle in the $63 range. A few $53 seats remained for Seattle to Portland on that day, but only on train 501. The 27th was somewhat better, but the 29th was back up in the $63 range for most trains. With almost two months to go, the trains for that weekend were already showing signs of needing a bump in capacity. As of this writing (October 14th), conditions have changed a little bit: for the 25th prices on train 504 were available at $35. Train 501 also had tickets available at $35, but all other trains that day from Seattle to Portland only have $63 tickets available.
These ticket price levels drive people away from using the train at a time when the potential for first time riders is extremely high.
These high ticket prices are basically influenced by insufficient seats to meet demand on certain travel days.
For the most part, the equipment to accomplish a short term capacity increase is already in the region.
While Sounder equipment is in use until the evening of November 25th, it isn’t needed for commuter service on Thanksgiving day. SoundTransit could probably get away with reduced length trains on the day after Thanksgiving. I’ve seen 14 car Coast Starlight trains with two privately owned cars on the rear, so coupling two standard 8 car Sounder trains together to quickly make up a 16 car train should be able to fit in the longer King Street Station platform, and Portland has handled 18 car trains in the not too distant past. Sure, all of the seats may not be sold, but once you are operating a train to Portland adding extra cars really doesn’t add too much to the operating costs. Food service cars may or may not be available, but if they are not at least make a note of it on the reservation system so that people know what they are not getting.
Such a train, departing Seattle for Portland on Wednesday evening just after train 509, would not only provide some badly needed capacity increases but would also allow for some gauging of the actual demand for tickets when capacity isn’t constrained by seating capacity and yield based pricing.
For the rest of the weekend, the train could be broken into smaller pieces and provide a Thanksgiving weekend service that is typically seen with the extra cars, only with considerable flexibility in the length of the various trains as the number of cars available wouldn’t be as limited. There is only so much that can be done with four Amfleet cars, but 16 Sounder bilevel cars is a different matter in terms of flexibility to create long and short trains as needed. Some of those could return to Seattle as needed to provide service on the day after Thanksgiving, with the rest returning to Seattle as continued weekend specials wind up their service.
Another possibility would be to use some of the Sounder North equipment for this service. By 5:30 pm the first two northbound trains have completed their runs. At one time those trains were operating as three car trains, but recently have been two car trains. Turning them back into three car trains for a single day, then converting some of the equipment into a southbound Everett to Portland train would leave some equipment in Everett for the day after Thanksgiving service.
Eventually, there should be a reckoning over the inefficiency forced on passenger train operations by requiring Federal Transit Agency funded equipment (paid for by federal tax money) to not be used for Amtrak service (paid for by federal money). This essentially requires that “commuter” equipment, once paid for, spend a huge portion of its time laying over between peak periods when it might be used for regional train services when not needed for peak periods. When a German friend looked at Sounder service hours, his first comment was “Why would you spend a hundred million dollars on equipment and then let it sit around for 80% of the week?”
In reality, it shouldn’t. It particularly shouldn’t when there is a significant demand for its use in regional services. The fact that such a waste is cast in concrete as a matter of federal requirements of Amtrak and commuter operators is a battle for another day.
In the meantime, we need to figure out how MARC and Amtrak back east are able to temporarily boost Amtrak service on Thanksgiving weekend despite this requirement.
Glenn Laubaugh (“Glenn in Portland”) is employed in Portland in the field of specialized electrical equipment for the railroad industry. Typical commute: TriMet #10.
Amtrak Cascades train at the Oregon City station in October of 2004. Photo by Glenn Laubaugh (“Glenn in Portland”).
[NOTE: The summary published in Railway Age, which I used as the primary source for this article and which had its original source in news reports elsewhere, contained a few inaccuracies. This included reporting the funding package at the state level in a way that neglected to include a number of funding sources, thus representing the total cost of the Oregon section of the Cascades service. Please read the much better article on the main Seattle Transit Blog page article, as well as the much more extensive discussion there. – Glenn Laubaugh]
The cost to operate Amtrak Cascades service in the state of Oregon during the next two year budget cycle is estimated to be $10.4 million. Originally Amtrak had requested $20 million to operate the service but this was negotiated downward by state officials.
The Oregon Joint Ways and Means Committee has now reduced the funds available to $5 million.
If this level of funding is the final budget for the Oregon section of Cascades service, it is likely to be insufficient for any regular train operations and the service may have to be cut. There are some at the Oregon Department of Transportation that feel there are likely other sources of funds available and if those come through they will continue operating the Cascades trains even with this restricted level of general funds available. Efforts are far from over yet.
If you are one of those approximately 24,000 passengers* per year from the Puget Sound region that continue south of Portland, you may need to be prepared for some service adjustments that coincide with the Oregon funding.
For the coming budget cycle the allocation for highways is $1.6 billion, for a comparison of how little of the total Oregon transportation package is actually spent on the Cascades service.
While this is obviously an Oregon problem, the fact is the Cascades trains are a regional service. If there is any interest in further updates I will attempt to keep people here informed of further developments.
* The totals listed in the September, 2014 Seattle Transit Blog entry do not include passengers that had to change trains or change from a train to a bus due to a lack of through service. Thus, e.g., in that article no passengers are shown traveling from Eugene to Everett as there is no single service that makes such a trip. Actual through ridership south of Portland is higher than indicated in that article due to southbound bus connections at Portland for several trains from Seattle.
Glenn Laubaugh (“Glenn in Portland”) is employed by a manufacturer of electrical equipment for railroad passenger cars. Typical commute: TriMet #10.
Diagonal elevator at Warbass Way Marina, Friday Harbor. The elevator car is at the center of the photo, while the bottom door is visible to the bottom right of the tree trunk. Photo by Glenn Laubaugh (“Glenn in Portland”).
Perhaps one of the more unique pieces of transportation infrastructure in the Puget Sound region, though little remarked, are what amount to diagonal elevators. They are very small funicular railways designed for completely automatic operation, just as an elevator is. Usually these are located in areas that make them exceptionally difficult to see up close. From a distance they may be observed from the waters of Puget Sound as they are in use as connectors between hill top houses and water level docks for the obligatory boat. Several spectacular ones are visible from the Victoria Clipper route to Friday Harbor, but only at a distance.
One remarkable trait many of the ones in the Puget Sound region seem to have in common is their construction by a company in the region. This isn’t something that must be procured from halfway across the world, or even halfway across the country.
These photos are of the unit at the Warbass Way Marina in Friday Harbor. The public is not allowed to ride their particular device. The top level is a public viewpoint though, which allows a closeup view of the entire machine.
Upper door of the diagonal elevator owned by the Warbass Way Marina in Friday Harbor. The loading zone at the top also serves as a public viewpoint of Mt. Baker. Photo by Glenn Laubaugh (“Glenn in Portland”).
While the viewing provided by the viewpoint is intended to be of Mount Baker, peering downward allows a nice look at the elevator track.
Track of diagonal elevator at Warbass Way Marina, Friday Harbor. Photo by Glenn Laubaugh (“Glenn in Portland”).
In some areas of the world escalators are used to extend the reach of deep level stations to cover areas beyond what would be possible with simple vertical access. Very shallow stations are convenient, but if a deep level station must be built (such as seen on the Moscow metro) that depth may as well use that depth to some advantage where possible. Escalators, however, are not accessible to everyone so a different solution would be required for stations doing this in the USA.
Small automated funiculars such as shown here could be used alongside escalators to produce stations that reach further than typically accomplished with standard vertical access. A minimum of two would be best at each location as one alone would represent a single point of station failure.
As an example, Husky Stadium Station might benefit from these. The station attempts to serve the University of Washington, a number of bus routes, and the UW Medical Center from beneath a triple direction tangled intersection centered around a private parking garage. The station is reasonably deep due to the underwater tunnel. Depending on the minimum slope possible with these devices, diagonal access towards the UW campus and the bus stop on Stevens Way could help make this station a bit more accessible from the campus itself, and provide somewhat better transfers.
In a city with as many hills as Seattle, the ability to move diagonally between areas is a necessary part of getting from place to place. Short funiculars are certainly impractical in some locations, but in others they might prove a very useful link.
Glenn Laubaugh (“Glenn in Portland”) is employed by a small company that manufactures electrical equipment for railroad cars. Typical commute: TriMet #10.
Interior of Centralia Amtrak Station by Glenn Laubaugh (“Glenn in Portland”)
In keeping with the spirit of the occasional series offered on Seattle Transit Blog entitled “Link Excuse of the Week”, Cascades Excuse of the Month is offered for those wishing to explore various events further afield.
Today’s suggestion is in honor of recent discussions that some day the South Lake Union Streetcar may one day get a piece of dedicated transit lane.
From April 10th through 26th, the Evergreen Playhouse in Centralia will be performing Tennessee Williams’ A Streetcar Named Desire. The theatre is located at 226 West Center Street in Centralia, which is well within the walkshed of the Centralia Amtrak station. It’s essentially two blocks north and two blocks west. The performances are Friday and Saturday at 8 pm and Sundays at 2 pm. The performance tickets are $10.
The Sunday performances at 2 pm do allow for someone to arrive and depart by Amtrak on the same day. The last southbound train goes through a little after 7 pm, and the last northbound train goes through around 8:20 pm. NOTE: The station waiting room closes at 4:30 pm. After that time you just go out on the platform and wait there.
As the performances on Friday and Saturday are at 8 pm, it is not possible to use Amtrak to get back home from those performances, unless you spend the night.
If you do decide to spend the night, McMenamins Olympic Club and the Centralia Square Grand are both within several blocks of the theatre and the Amtrak station. Also, keep in mind that Twin Transit ceases service pretty early in the evening and has nearly nothing on Saturdays, and completely nothing on Sundays. Thus, your options of getting from the central downtown area to a more remote hotel (such as those along I-5) is limited to a 3/4 mile to 1 mile or so walk.
The Greyhound stop is close to I-5 and a bit over 3/4 of a mile from the central downtown area. There are sidewalks the entire way along several routes. Twin Transit does have a bus stop close to the Greyhound stop, but the lack of Twin Transit service in the evenings and weekends makes using Twin Transit of very limited utility for getting from the Greyhound stop into downtown Centralia for this event.
Another option for returning to the Seattle area from Centralia is the Capitol Airporter shared van to SeaTac. It is expensive but it is cheaper that some of the hotel options.
Anyone with suggestions for future Cascades Excuse of the Month are welcome to send them to glennl at the internet provider named easystreet.net.
Glenn Laubaugh (“Glenn in Portland”) is employed by a small company in Portland that manufactures electrical equipment for railroad passenger cars. Typical commute: TriMet #10, but may also be seen on #14, #17 or MAX Green Line.
South Lake Union Streetcar by Glenn Laubaugh (“Glenn in Portland”)
The Seattle Times (picked up nationally by Mass Transit Magazine newswire here) says that there is a plan brewing to give the South Lake Union Streetcar dedicated lanes. This is a result of decreasing ridership on the line that goes through the city’s fastest growing area.
If it happens, this might be a huge step forward towards making the new rage in streetcars more useful for people actually wanting to go places.
Or maybe not, depending on how it is implemented.
This change, along with signal pre-emption and a few other improvements would be a welcome change towards the operating methods used on the most popular tram lines in Europe.
Glenn Laubaugh (“Glenn in Portland”) is employed by a small company in Portland that manufactures electrical equipment for railroad passenger cars.
