Speaker
Description
Promoting public transport can significantly contribute to achieving climate neutrality goals, particularly in Europe, where 25% of CO2 emissions originate from the transport sector (European Parliament, 2023). In order to move towards this direction, many European cities have equipped themselves with innovative public transport systems. These include the ‘modern European tram’ (Heipp & Wetzel, 2008), which is a contemporary reinterpretation of the 19th-century tram, and which remained the primary means of urban transport until the 1950s. In fact, in the post-war period, tram systems were gradually phased out in many cities due to their perceived obsolescence compared to the cars and buses (Petkov, 2020). However, since the 1980s, cities have re-introduced these means of transport on their streets with new criteria. This process, known as the ‘tram renaissance’, started in France and then spread across the entire European continent. The modern tram differs from the ‘legacy’ tram both in terms of its performance and the structuring role it can play in urban public space (Richer, 2016).
The tramway renaissance has aroused great interest in academic literature. Three distinct approaches to the topic can be identified. The first consists of the qualitative evaluation of (at least) two different case studies, located in different contexts, with the aim of comparing different legislation and design traditions (Richer & Hasiak, 2014). A second approach consists of the quantitative evaluation of one or more modern tram projects, with the aim of assessing their economic consequences (Knowles & Ferbrache, 2016). The third approach consists of the systematic cataloguing of quantitative and transport aspects of existing tram systems (UITP, 2019), possibly with a focus on modern trams (Spinosa, 2022). In addition, it is worth mentioning a strand of literature focusing on legacy trams, mainly located in Central and Eastern European cities. The focus of such studies ranges from understanding the impact on tram systems of different political regimes (Khairullina & Ganges, 2021) to assessing the feasibility of new systems by analysing existing systems (Kołoś & Taczanowski 2016).
This paper proposes an alternative, GIS-based methodology. It is designed for the evaluation of tram systems intended not only as infrastructure or services, but as integrated systems that include both the components, as well their urban context. The method consists of four phases. In the first phase, existing literature was analysed to identify evaluation criteria and attributes. In the second phase, attributes were selected that could be measured quantitatively and calculated in a GIS environment, using open source datasets. These attributes were then categorised according to three criteria: people, places and nodes. In the third phase, tram systems were selected for analysis. In the fourth phase, based on the previously identified attributes, three indices were calculated for each criterion respectively, and calculated in GIS environment.
This method enabled a large-scale quantitative analysis of tram systems. All European systems were analysed, excluding the ones located in functional urban areas (FUA) with a metro system too. Furthermore, FUAs with more than 1,500,000 inhabitants were excluded. For these cases, future ad hoc research is proposed. The results were aggregated by country, making it possible to identify common patterns, such as the correlation between urban density and the distribution of tram lines. This study provides an original contribution to the body of research on the European tramway renaissance. The expected results aim to support urban planners and decision-makers in optimising tram networks, with a focus on integration on urban context.
References
European Parliament (2023). 'CO2 emissions from cars: facts and figures (infographics)'. Available at: https://www.europarl.europa.eu/topics/it/article/20190313STO31218/emissioni-di-co2-delle-auto-i-numeri-e-i-dati-infografica
Heipp, G. and Wetzel, A. (2008) The modern Tram in Europe. Munich: Münchner Verkehrsgesellschaft mbH.
Khairullina, E. and Ganges, L.S. y (2021) ‘Tram, trolleybus and bus services in Eastern-European socialist urban planning: Case studies of Magdeburg, Ostrava and Oryol (1950s and 1960s)’, The Journal of Transport History, 42(1), pp. 26–57.
Knowles, D.R. and Ferbrache, F. (2016) ‘Evaluation of wider economic impacts of light rail investment on cities’, Journal of Transport Geography, 54, pp. 430–439.
Kołoś, A. and Taczanowski, J. (2016) ‘The feasibility of introducing light rail systems in medium-sized towns in Central Europe’, Journal of Transport Geography, 54, pp. 400–413.
Petkov, D. (2020). Tramway Renaissance in Western Europe: A Socio-technical Analysis. Wiesbaden: Springer Fachmedien, pp. 1–16.
Richer, C. (2016) Appraising territorial effects of tram- based systems. Bron: CEREMA.
Richer, C. and Hasiak, S. (2014) ‘Territorial opportunities of tram-based systems: Comparative analysis between Nottingham (UK) and Valenciennes (FRA)’, Town Planning Review, 85(2), pp. 217–236.
Spinosa, A. (2022). Stato dell’arte del sistema tram nel mondo e prospettive future.
UITP (2019). The global tram and light rail landscape. Available at: https://www.uitp.org/publications/the-global-tram-and-light-rail-landscape-2019-21/
| Keywords | Tram; Public Transport; Europe; GIS; |
|---|---|
| Best Congress Paper Award | No |
