UK light rail needs to be ready to adapt to changed circumstances, delegates at the 5th Annual Light Rapid Transit Forum Conference heard from a transport minister and industry leaders. Tramway expansion could be speeded up once the current economic crisis is over if the UK’s outspoken new Transport Minister Norman Baker - “a fully signed-up light rail fan” - manages to move the financial goalposts. One of his first moves is to charge Steve Berry, one of his personal assistants with involving non-government private sector companies to tackle key issues such as the unfair burden of paying almost the entire cost of moving sub-surface cables, pipes and services before track can be laid. Liberal Democrat Mr Baker was speaking to delegates at the 5th Annual Light Rapid Transit Forum conference in Newcastle-upon-Tyne on 4 June in a video address that had been specially recorded a few hours earlier. He declared that light rail is: “good for passengers, good for local economies and good for the environment. It provides a service that is fast and flexible, comfortable and adaptable.” However, Mr Baker also warned that with the Government’s top priority being to lower the level of the national deficit, “we will all have to do more with less.” Admitting that the UK’s current spending review is a “challenge”, the Government’s new light rail leader added that it “is also an opportunity.” The review, said Mr Baker, gives an “opportunity to reassess priorities in transport spending and recalculate the economics of light rail so that when the smoke clears, it is in a good position to benefit.” Referring to a lack of progress on light rail in the UK as “not a happy picture”, the minister said there are “lessons to be learned” and told delegates: “I’ve asked my officials in the Department [for Transport] to undertake a review of how we can make light rail more cost effective and affordable.” He added: “I have already identified a number of areas where I believe my department can learn some important lessons. One such area is utilities. They can be a significant element of capital costs for trams and so we will now look at the issue again to see whether there are ways that we can help to minimise costs. I’m a fully signed up light rail fan, but I also believe that there are lessons to be learned.” Mr Baker’s comments came at the start of a conference focused on “investing in recovery.” Topics included tram-trains, lower-cost ‘streetcar’ projects and Nottingham’s Workplace Parking Levy scheme, as well as the expansion schemes in Nottingham (Nottingham Express Transit phase two) and on Manchester Metrolink. Also of key interest to delegates was a report from Nexus (PTE) Director General Bernard Garner on the major reinvigoration of the Tyne & Wear Metro. Nexus – along with Arup, Bircham Dyson Bell and Mott MacDonald– was one of the conference’s major sponsors.
 
Changed circumstances
The challenge of responding to changed circumstances was taken up by KPMG partner (and former Treasury official) Lewis Atter. “The better the impact of spend on GDP the more affordable it is as a result of the impact on the tax take,” he told the assembled audience of over 120 UK transport decision-makers.
Outlining a possible new model for spending, focused tightly on economic return rather than the more traditional cost-benefit analysis, Mr Atter argued: “Economic return should mean net impact on GDP (i.e. employment and productivity) per GBP spent.” Both Andrew Braddock (consultant and Light Rail Transit Association deputy chairman) and Neil Chadwick (Steer Davies Gleave) evaluated providing ‘more for less’ through lighter weight ‘streetcar’ systems rather than the conventional – and heavier weight – light rail common in Europe. Mr Braddock used the American examples of Portland’s 6.3km/3.9-mile USD75m (GBP63m) Streetcar, which carries four million passengers annually, as well as Seattle’s USD56m, 2.1km/1.3-mile South Lake Union Trolley line, and San Francisco’s ‘heritage’ operation. Neil Chadwick investigated how the streetcar’s “alternative approach” allowed promoters to “reduce the costs while looking to keep the benefits.” Lighter weight construction reduces the need to move utilities, allows relatively simple track construction and cheaper vehicles, he explained.- Trolleybuses also have a place, argued Mr Braddock, explaining that 360 cities worldwide use them, with 60 European Union cities having the electrically-powered buses as the mainstay of public transport. In Salzburg (Austria), he reported, 5600 tons of CO2 emissions are saved annually by using trolleybuses “on all main routes”. Urging people to “thing big – but start small,” Mr Braddock’s message was that “GBP150m can buy something worthwhile to start the process of transforming a city”. There is no better time than now to electrify public transport,” he concluded, and warned: “If we don’t, the EU fines for poor air quality in parts of the UK will cost as much as three or four new tram or trolleybus systems!”
 
Funding - and managing - expansion
Bircham Dyson Bell’s Head of Major Projects Robbie Owen examined Nottingham’s Workplace Parking Levy and its expected effects on raising funds for the scheme to extend NET. “Free (or relatively cheap) workplace parking encourages car-based commuting – the main cause of congestion in many towns and cities”, Mr Owen said. Benefits of the levy include that it “discourages car-based commuting and promotes use of alternative modes” and “generates funds to improve those alternative modes.” Charges start in Nottingham from 2012 (initially at GBP253 per space per year) and are expected to raise GBP14m from 2015 – money earmarked for NET, redeveloping Nottingham’s railway station, and bus services. Together with the schemes it helps pay for, the levy is expected to take 2.5m car journeys off roads by 2015 and increase public transport journeys by 20%. Nottingham City Council NET team leader Steve Tough’s presentation explained in detail the expansion the levy will provide funds for: NET phase two will add an extra 17km (10.5 miles) of route taking the tramway to 31km/19 miles, 28 new stops (taking it to 51) and 21 vehicles boosting the total to 36. Capital costs are expected to be around GBP500m - but the scheme is anticipated to add 13m passengers per year. Trams could be running in 2014. Effectively managing infrastructure projects was the theme of Laing O’Rourke’s Metrolink Project Director Bryan Diggins. Mr Diggins explained how Manchester’s newest expansion – a scheme supported by the new coalition government in its Budget statement the day before the conference – was benefiting from pro-active management structures with incentives for reducing costs. Pre-fabricated stops assembled on site were just one aspect of the efficient ways of working, he explained.
 
‘Main line to main street’
Tram-trains came under the spotlight of both Alstom’s tramway and metro product director Hubert de Blay and Mott MacDonald’s Mark Terry. M de Blay explained the multinational manufacturer’s approach to tram-trains, and emphasised the mode’s ability to take passengers from “main line” to “main street”. Alstom’s Regio Citadis is already running in Kassel and Den Haag, with the Citadis Dualis now on order for French state railway SNCF. The infrastructure challenges of bringing tram-trains to the UK were Mr Terry’s subject – with sanding gear, track brakes, train protection and differing wheel profiles and platform heights between heavy and light rail systems all on the list of issues to overcome. However, Mott MacDonald’s head of LRT rolling stock pointed out that Manchester Metrolink has used heavy rail infrastructure since 1992 (albeit not co-existing with ‘main line’ trains) and the Tyne & Wear Metro has shared heavy rail infrastructure since the Sunderland extension opened in 2002. Posing the question “Can it work in the UK?” Mr Terry was emphatic: “Yes it can!”
 
Reinvigorating the Metro
Nexus director general Bernard Garner explained in detail the current ‘reinvigoration’ of the Tyne & Wear Metro. With the roughly GBP55m phase one having included the refurbishment of stations at Sunderland and Haymarket, the investment process is now moving into phase two. By 2021 this will see up to GBP385m spent on fleet, station and infrastructure refurbishment, plus signalling and permanent way renewals. A third phase, explained Mr Garner, holds the prospect of a further GBP300m being spent on vehicle replacement and completion of other renewal and upgrade programmes.
Mr Garner also explained the division of responsibilities between Nexus and newly appointed train operator DB Regio Tyne & Wear, which took over operations in April. The contract provides for improvements in a number of significant areas, including an increased frequency of service.
The conference concluded with a panel discussion, introduced by Lewis Atter and overseen by conference chairman and leading independent transport journalist Christian Wolmar.
 
2010 themes
 
. How effective transit transforms life in smaller towns and cities
Neil Chadwick, Associate, Steer Davies Gleave
. Tram-train: Adapting heavy rail for 21st Century urban centres
Hubert de Blay, Tramway & Metro Product Director, Alstom Transport
. Tram-train: UK infrastructure challenges – train protection and train detection
Mark Terry, Associate Director and Head of LRT Rolling Stock, Mott MacDonald
. Reinvigorating the Tyne & Wear Metro
Bernard Garner, Director General, Nexus
. Nottingham Express Transit Phase Two and the Workplace Parking Levy
Robbie Owen, Head of Major Projects, Bircham Dyson Bell, and Steve Tough, Nottingham City Council
. What can I get for GBP150m?
Andrew Braddock, Independent Consultant, A-B-O-U-T
. Manchester Metrolink: Effectively managing complex infrastructure projects
Bryan Diggins, Project Director Metrolink. Laing O’Rourke
 
Light Rapid Transit Forum President Colin Walton performed the welcome address.
Conference chairman was independent transport journalist Christian Wolmar.