Light Rail Vehicles - LRT, ICTS, Monorail, and more

[ijmorlan]

How does CityVal handle this? It seems to be rubber on concrete but running mostly outside.

CityVal (you're only mentioning it because I pointed out I was excited for its launch in Rennes in a couple of years, a few pages ago), and it's predecessor VAL, aren't built in places with snow.

As for the comment about it running "mostly outside" - there is no relationship between the guideway alignment/type of grade separation and the technology.  It can be underground, elevated, or at-grade - your choice.

Morgantown's PRT is about the only [rubber-tired] AGT system I can think of that operates in an area with regular snow, and there, the entire guideway is heated (at great expense). The upshot is that it always works, even when the roads are completely impassible...

I remembered your reference to it from before, and wondered about it when you mentioned that Montreal’s system needed to be covered for snow protection. So I think what I’m understanding is that CityVal cannot run in snowy conditions, which in most of Canada means it would have to be fully enclosed (or with heated guideway). Which I think pretty well means it is not suitable for Canada, because anywhere that full enclosure is cost-effective, it will be a high-traffic line that needs to be a subway, not a medium-capacity system like LRT, ICTS, or CityVal. At least, that is my immediate reaction — I welcome correction.

I don’t quite understand your statement that there is “no relationship”. It seems to me that CityVal requires grade separation — is there a way of building a level crossing? Of course it can be at-grade regardless, but as I understand it anything crossing it has to go above or below. More generally, it seems clear that some technologies are incompatible with level crossings, while others (e.g. 3rd rail) make level crossings strongly not preferred although still possible. Other technologies allow level crossings, but obviously every technology can be installed on a fully isolated right-of-way with no crossings.

Also I’m not really aware of the climate in France, at least not in detail, so I didn’t understand that Rennes is snow-free. Looking on Wikipedia, it says that it averages 9 snowy days a year, which to me suggests that it will probably melt almost immediately. So not entirely snow-free but pretty well ignorable.