Paris, France--Rubber-tired, low floor, guided vehicles that both operate on electric power from an overhead catenary and go offline to become diesel buses are currently getting a trial along a bus line in a Paris suburb.
The object of the 18-month exercise is to evaluate three types of experimental vehicles built by different manufacturers that are vying to become the standard for a new generation of urban hybrids for medium-size cities that are seeking solutions less costly than rail but with capacities higher than buses. Each vehicle will run along the Trans Val-de-Marne suburban corridor in revenue service over a six-month period.
A public/private project management committee with manufacturers, local authority, and regional and national government representatives is monitoring the pilot project.
The TVR, built by a consortium headed by Bombardier, is one of the participants in the trial; the other two are fielded by GIE France and by Translohr. TVR stands for "Transports Routieres sur Voie Reservee," which might be rendered in English as "Bus Rapid Transit on a Dedicated Corridor." Guided Light Rail or GLT is the English acronym preferred by Bombardier.
The three are in competition for a new system to be installed by the regional center of Clermont-Ferrand. Single guiderail, optical guidance, and hybrid diesel/electric propulsion are among the features of the different models.
The stakes are high because the system selected is likely to become the preferred option for medium-sized cities that need to move beyond the bus but are not willing to face the cost of LRT systems.
Caen (pop. 117,000) in Normandy, whose niche in history dates back to some of the fiercest fighting in World War II, has opted for the Bombardier version that will become operational in the year 2000.
Caen urgently needs to reduce motorized traffic in the center of the city while creating commuter links to its northern and southern suburbs. The conventional light rail systems now on the market are considered too large and too costly for a city its size. The hybrid solution--part trolley, part bus, part people mover on its own guideway--will be built by Bombardier, which hopes to market it to other medium-sized cities faced with the same problems.
The Bombardier version for Caen will be able to carry up to 3,000 passengers an hour, will be articulated and about 78 feet long. Each train set will carry up to 145 passengers. The system is said to cost the equivalent of about $14 million per kilometer (or $23 million per mile), in place of the $35 million per mile that is the going rate for a new LRT line. The Caen version, which includes 20 articulated train sets, is being built by an industry consortium of three partners with Bombardier in the lead.
About a dozen French cities with populations above 100,000 are watching the tests in the Paris suburbs because they also need to get people out of their cars to lower downtown congestion.
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