Public transport represents a green solution to the economic, energy and environmental crisis we are currently facing. At the same time, it’s the key towards sustainable mobility. Public transport has the capacity to provide a better social and economic environment for the cities we live in.
Considering the importance of the tram route and especially its infrastructure in the overall transportation system in cities and metropolitan areas, when new lines are built or old ones are modernised, it is necessary to follow certain European regulation principles by implementing proper constructive solutions, which can provide a high level of reliability and environmental protection, economic solutions with minimum impact on the infrastructure.
Due to the excessive urban development of the last few years, cities face an increase in population density and freight volumes. However, the development of the infrastructure necessary to cover these demands is limited in many cities by the lack of space. That is why decision-makers outline the fact that the applications of the Intelligent Transport Systems (ITS) are no used sufficiently in order to provide an efficient urban mobility management or they are developed without considering the interoperability factor.
The European Commission stresses the fact that the public authorities should ensure investments in infrastructure and in the existing rolling stock fleet, as well as its maintenance, and even in replacing the old fleet in order to provide safe urban transport services. To that end, it is necessary to develop the cooperation at local, regional, national and European level, as well as among the population which should ensure the fair payment of the service provided, seeing as the citizens would be willing to pay for quality public transport services.
Cooperation at regional and national level
The public transport sector benefits from the necessary capacity and ambition to improve the urban environment, both for the citizens and the activities undertaken. This can be observed in many urban centres. A fair and efficient transport infrastructure management can have a positive impact on safety and on the environment. The access to a public transport system is defined by the quality of urban mobility provided to the population, in terms of infrastructure and transport services.
Efficient connections between cities and metropolitan areas along urban and inter-urban networks, as well as the connection with the trans-European Transport Network (TEN-T) are considered essential. Having good connections between airports, railway stations, ports and intermodal freight terminals represents a major advantage in terms of interconnection between various modes of transport.
According to public transport decision-makers, there is a lack of implication in providing intermodal connections, as well as a lack of integrated solutions for public transportations, such as suburban rail transport systems and tram-train transport systems.
The White Paper on Urban Transport recommends the implementation of necessary measures in order to provide a fast, integrated, attractive and eco-friendly public transport system (with vehicles that can operate at high speed) and which can also be sustainable (using technical solutions that allows a reliability of up to 20-30 years, without maintenance or with minimum exploitation expenses).
In certain cases, more and more cities in South-Eastern Europe which operated a vast but rather old tram infrastructure, in order to even out the situation and to efficiently exploit, at optimum parameters, the tram infrastructure, have implemented radical measures, such as redesigning and adopting new, constructive solutions: urban integration of tram lines, improving tram transport attractiveness by increasing the level of comfort, reducing the discomfort caused by noise and vibrations, increasing passenger safety by implementing light-rail transport services, which operate on separate lines and therefore are not affected by road traffic.
The public transport industry has developed more and more products and mechanisms necessary for tram tracks, so that the tram route can be optimized and the exterior aspect can blend with the architecture of the streets.
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