Definitions of Light Rail terminology

  1. ESTABLISHED SURBURBAN PASSENGER TRANSIT MODES
  • ‘Heavy Rail’ traditional standard gauge lines and rolling stock mainly within the Franchised Rail Network
  • ‘LRT/Metro’ also mainly standard gauge, include partially underground systems (London, Glasgow and Merseyside)
    and newly built ‘supertram’ operations Manchester, Sheffield, Midland Metro, Nottingham, Croydon, Edinburgh
    and modernised Blackpool system
  • Suburban buses the most widely used form of passenger transit in every town and city in the UK
  1. INTERMEDIATE MODE SYSTEMS
  • Intermediate Mode Systems – the intermediate mode covers a range of technologies and engineering solutions as covered in this section.
  • Ultra Light Rail – pioneering innovative very light rail based railcars with integrated powertrain, sometimes also referred to as Very Light Rail
  • Lightweight Railcars Pathfinder operation at Stourbridge (Class 139 units)
  • Bus Rapid Transit part-segregated systems using modified standard buses which whilst on ‘guideways’ are mainly steered by mechanical contact with specially designed Kerbs – examples in Cambridgeshire, Leigh-Salford, Luton-Dunstable and Ipswich
  • Preparing for introduction:
    ‘Sprint’.  Articulated buses with LRT-style features supported by Bus Priority measures – TfWM
    ‘Tramtrains’ European-style, supertram sized, electrified able to run on tramways and modified rail lines
    ‘Light trams’ – Returning to the dimensions of the traditional British street tram but in ‘no wires’ form