Low-floor tram

A low-floor tram is a tram that has no stairsteps between one or more entrances and part or all of the passenger cabin. The low-floor design improves the accessibility of the tram for the public, and also may provide larger windows and more airspace.[1]

Two low floor trams, an Alstom Citadis 302 and Bombardier Flexity Classic, in Adelaide, South Australia

An accessible platform-level floor in a tram can be achieved either by using a high-floor vehicle serving high-platform tram stops, or with a true low-floor vehicle interfacing with curb level stops.

Currently both types are in use, depending on the station platform infrastructure in existing rail systems. Some systems may make use of former railway alignments where use of existing high platforms is desirable, while others, particularly new systems, may not have the space to site high-level stops in urban centres.

Low-floor tram configurations
Entry door of a low-floor tram, with "roll-in" level floor accessibility.
Entry door of a low-floor tram, with "roll-in" level floor accessibility.
Entry door of a high-floor tram. Stair steps shown just inside the door.
Entry door of a high-floor tram. Stair steps are visible just inside the door.

Trams traditionally had high floors, and these designs evolved into the tram with a low-floor centre section. Examples of this design are Amsterdam 11g/12g-trams and the Kusttrams in Belgium.

The most common design of 100% low floor vehicles uses short carbody sections for the wheels and longer suspended sections. Examples of this are the Alstom Citadis and Combino. A similar, but somewhat older technique is one that has been developed by MAN. In 1990, it was the first 100% low floor tram. These trams are found in ten German cities (such as Bremen and Munich) and in the Swedish city Norrköping. In many other German cities there are trams with low floor between the outer bogies and single axle bogies under the centre section.

"Light rail" type vehicles frequently have a similar configuration but with a centre bogie designed to accommodate a low floor situated under a short centre section. A more radical approach has been adopted for the City Class LRV (Citytram), where the main low floor section is only 300 mm above the rail. The low floor runs right through the articulation of both the 29 m long and 38 m Super Citytram version. In both, the corridor through the articulation is wide enough for seated passengers and a wheelchair to pass through. The City Class has been designed to turn on 15 m radius curves and to climb 10% gradients.

In Austria, Porsche Design designed Ultra Low Floor (ULF) Trams can "kneel" at the curbside, reducing the height from the road to only 180 mm.

Wheelchair access ramp in Protram 205 WrAs tram. Low floor is approximately 360 mm high

Some public transport companies have both low floor and high floor trams. They report that low floor trams have 15% higher maintenance costs for the rolling stock, and 20% higher maintenance costs for the infrastructure on average.[2] Among the problems observed is that the missing bogies result in a higher level of wear and tear.

Many low floor trams have fixed bogies[3] which increase track wear and tear, while decreasing the speed at which a tram can drive through a curve (usually 4–15 km/h in 20 m radius curve).[4] The Škoda ForCity and the newest Alstom Citadis X04 try to counter the effect with low floor pivoting bogies while maintaining 100% low floor design. Prior to the new design, pivoting bogies could only be used under high floors, hence such trams could only be part low-floor, with high-floor sections over the pivoting bogies.

Historic examples
Brisbane Hedley-Doyle Stepless tram, No. 301

The idea of a low-floor tram dates back to the early 20th century when a number of trolley systems began experimenting with various "stepless" designs. Perhaps the most notable is the Hedley-Doyle Stepless car introduced in 1912 for use on Broadway in Manhattan.[5] A number of other cities also purchased Hedley-Doyle Stepless trams after seeing their success in Manhattan. Since these cars had a unique appearance compared to any other trams running at the time, they earned a number of nicknames, including hobble skirt cars, public welfare cars, and sow bellies.[6]

Typical floor heights
See also: Railway platform height

To put things into perspective, here are some typical floor heights for public transport vehicles, old and new:

List of low-floor trams by country manufactured and manufacturers
AKSM-843 in Kazan

Belarus
Belkommunmash
  • AKSM-743 - Third Generation tram on Minsk tramway
  • AKSM-843 - Fourth generation tram on Minsk tramway

Canada
Bombardier Transportation (are subtypes and more)
Bombardier Flexity Outlook in Toronto
Bombardier Cobra in Zürich
E-class Melbourne tram
Type 1 LVR Flexity Swift in Minneapolis, Minnesota
K5000 in Bonn

Croatia
CROTRAM
TMK 2200-K in Zagreb

Czech Republic
ČKD Tatra
Two Tatra KT8D5R.N2P cars in Prague
  • K3R-N (reconstruction with low-floor middle section)
  • K3R-NT (reconstruction with low-floor middle section)
  • KT8D5N (with low-floor middle section)
  • KT8D5R.N1 (reconstruction with low-floor middle section)
  • KT8D5R.N2 (reconstruction with low-floor middle section)
  • KT8D5R.N2P (reconstruction with low-floor middle section)
  • KTNF6 (reconstruction with low-floor middle section)
  • KTNF8 (reconstruction with low-floor middle section)
  • RT6N1
  • RT6N2
  • RT6S
  • Satra III (reconstruction with low-floor middle section)
Aliance TW Team
Tatra T3R.PLF (first car) in Prague
  • Tatra T3R.PLF (nicknamed "wana" (Czech for 'bath') - newly built with low-floor middle section)
  • Tatra T3R.SLF ("wana")
  • VarioLF ("wana")
  • VarioLF plus ("wana")
  • VarioLF plus/o ("wana")
  • VarioLF2
  • VarioLF2 plus
  • VarioLF2/2 IN
  • VarioLF3
  • VarioLF3/2
  • EVO1
  • EVO2
  • VV60LF (tow tramcar)
Škoda Transportation
Škoda 19T Electra in Wrocław
Inekon Trams
Inekon 12 Trio in Portland

France
Alstom
Citadis 302 in Lyon
Tramway Français Standard-2 vehicle in Grenoble

Germany
Allgemeine Elektricitäts-Gesellschaft AG (AEG)
ATAC Class 9000 in Rome
  • ATAC Class 9000
Duewag
Duewag-Vevey Be 4/6 in Geneva
Düwag GT8N in Freiburg
MGT6D in Erfurt
  • Düwag-Vevey Be 4/6
  • Düwag-Vevey Be 4/8
  • GT6-70D/N
  • GT8-100C/2S
  • GT8-100D/2S-M
  • GT8N (reconstruction with low-floor middle section)
  • GT8Z (reconstruction with 73% low-floor)
  • GT10 NC-DU (reconstruction with low-floor middle section)
  • MGT6D
  • M8C (not low-floor, but due to the high platform is wheelchair-accessible)
  • M8C-NF (reconstruction with low-floor middle section)
  • MGT6D
  • Moderus Beta MF 01, MF 13, MF 14 AC BD, MF 18 (reconstruction with low-floor middle section)
  • M97 (reconstruction with low-floor middle section)
  • N8C (not low-floor, but due to the high platform is wheelchair-accessible)
  • Stadtbahnwagen B (not low-floor, but due to the high platform is wheelchair-accessible)
  • Supertram
  • TW 6000 (not low-floor, but due to the high platform is wheelchair-accessible)
  • U2 (not low-floor, but due to the high platform is wheelchair-accessible)
  • U3 (not low-floor, but due to the high platform is wheelchair-accessible)
  • U4 (not low-floor, but due to the high platform is wheelchair-accessible)
  • 6MGT
  • 8MGT
MAN
N8S-NF in Kraków
  • N8C (not low-floor, but due to the high platform is wheelchair-accessible)
  • N8S-NF (reconstruction with low-floor middle section)
Siemens
Avenio in The Hague
GT8-100D/2S-M and GT8-100D/2S-M in Karlsruhe
  • Avenio (on Munich tramway locally designated class T1)
  • Combino (on Melbourne tramway locally designated D1-class and D2-class)
  • Combino Plus (also known as Combino Supra or Combino MkII)
  • GT6-70D/N
  • GT8-70D/N
  • GT8-100D/2S-M
  • N8C (not low-floor, but due to the high platform is wheelchair-accessible)
  • Supertram
  • S70
  • SD-160 in platform level version (not low-floor, but due to the high platform is wheelchair-accessible)
  • S200 (not low-floor, but due to the high platform is wheelchair-accessible)
  • SD-400 (not low-floor, but due to the high platform is wheelchair-accessible)
  • SD-460 (not low-floor, but due to the high platform is wheelchair-accessible)
  • Stadtbahnwagen B (not low-floor, but due to the high platform is wheelchair-accessible)
  • TW 2000 (not low-floor, but due to the high platform is wheelchair-accessible)
  • Ultra Low Floor (ULF) in Vienna
  • U2 (not low-floor, but due to the high platform is wheelchair-accessible)
  • U3 (not low-floor, but due to the high platform is wheelchair-accessible)
  • U4 (not low-floor, but due to the high platform is wheelchair-accessible)
Adtranz
Eurotram in Strasbourg
Vossloh Kiepe
  • GTZ8-B Vamos (not low-floor, but due to the high platform is wheelchair-accessible)
  • N8C (not low-floor, but due to the high platform is wheelchair-accessible)
  • Stadtbahnwagen B

Ireland
Alstom

Italy
AnsaldoBreda
SL95 in Oslo
Fiat Ferroviaria
ATM 6000 in Turin
  • ATM Class 5000
  • ATM Class 6000
  • ATAC Class 9100
  • ATAC Class 9200
Società Costruzioni Industriali Milano (Socimi)

Japan
Alna Sharyo
Little Dancer Type C in Hakodate
Kinki Sharyo
Utsunomiya Light Rail HU300 series in Utsunomiya
Niigata Transys
  • Utsunomiya Light Rail HU300 series

Poland
Konstal
Konstal 114Na in Gdańsk
  • Konstal 112N
  • Konstal 114Na
  • Konstal 116N/116Na
  • Konstal NGd99
  • Konstal 116Nd
Modertrans
Moderus Beta MF 01 in Gdańsk
  • Moderus Beta MF 01, MF 13, MF 14 AC BD, MF 18 (reconstruction with low-floor middle section)
  • Moderus Beta MF 02 AC, MF 15 AC, MF 16 AC BD, MF 19 AC (reconstruction with low-floor middle section)
PESA
Pesa 122 in Toruń
Protram
Protram 205WrAs in Wrocław
  • Protram 205 WrAs
  • Protram 206 WrAs - In project phase
  • Protram 405N - one prototype produced in 2012 and is used since then in Kraków
Solaris Bus & Coach

Romania
Astra Vagoane Călători
Astra Imperio in Arad
Astra Auntenic In Galati
Astra imperio in cluj napoca
Astra Imperio In Oradea
  • Astra Imperio Metropolitan
  • Imperio Civitas
Imperio Civitas In Arad
URAC Bucharest
Green Tram V3A-93-CH-PPC In Bucharest
V3A-93-CH-PPC In Bucharest
V3A-2010-CA In Bucharest

(low-floor middle section)

V3A-93-M2000-PPC In Bucharest
V3A-93-PPC In Bucharest

(reconstruction with low-floor middle section)

Russian Federation
PTMZ (Petěrburgskij tramvajno-mechaničeskij zavod)
71-154М in Volgograd
  • LVS-2005
  • LVS-2008
  • LVS-2009 (71-154) and 71-154М
UKVZ (Usť-Katavskij vagonstrojitělnyj zavod imeni Sergeje Mironoviče Kirova)
  • KTM-23 (71-623)
  • KTM-24 (71-624)
  • KTM-25 (71-625)
  • KTM-30 (71-630)
  • KTM-31 (71-631)
Tver Carriage Works
71-931M (Vityaz-M) in Moscow
71-911E in Rostov-on-Don

Spain
Construcciones y Auxiliar de Ferrocarriles (CAF)
Urbos 70 and 100 in Budapest
Vossloh España

Switzerland
ABB Group
  • GT8-100C/2S (not low-floor, but due to the high platform is wheelchair-accessible)
  • Tram 2000 Be 4/8 (low-floor middle section)
  • Variobahn
Stadler Rail
Tango (Model Basel) in Zürich

Turkey
Durmazlar
  • Durmaray Panorama
  • Durmaray Silkworm
Bozankaya

Ukraine
Electrontrans
Electron T5L64 in Lviv
Tatra-Yug
  • K-1M6 (experimental)
  • K-1M8
  • K-1M

Other trams

See also

References
  1. "The joy of high ceilings (also called low floors)". Human Transit. Retrieved 2010-02-22.
  2. Prof. Dr. Ing. Thomas Siefer (March 2010). "Abschlussbericht - Entwicklung des Stadtbahnnetzes Hannover - Studie zum Einsatz von Niederflurfahrzeugen" (PDF). Institut für Verkehrswesen, Eisenbahnbau und -betrieb (TU Braunschweig). p. 111. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2014-02-22. Retrieved 2012-02-18. Eine weitere Erknenntnis der Unternehmem, die sowohl Hochflur-, als auch Niederflurfahrzeuge im Einsatz haben, ist der direkte Kostenvergleich beider Systeme. Für die Wartung und Instandhaltung der Fahrzeuge werden im Mittel Mehrkosten in Höhe von 20% genannt. Für die Wartung und Instandhaltung der Infrastruktur werden beim Einsatz von Niederflurfahrzeugen um 15% höhere Kosten ermittelt.
  3. "Zelingr, Heptner" (PDF). Retrieved 2010-05-12.
  4. "ČVUT.cz - Čapek, Kolář" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 2011-07-18. Retrieved 2010-05-12.
  5. "A Novelty in Car Construction, The "Stepless" type of the New York Railways Company". Brill Magazine. J. G. Brill Company. VI (3): 73–84. 1912. Retrieved 2012-08-17.
  6. "San Diego Electric Railway San Diego Class I Electric Streetcar Bodies No. 126, 128 & 138" (PDF). pp. 24–25. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2012-05-06. Retrieved 2012-08-17.
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