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Trams are only way forward
PROBLEMS with jack-knifing in winter are commonplace in snowy cities such as Toron-to and Portland, Oregon which is why development and expansion of tram/light rail systems in those cities is being given substantial state investment.
Britain has had a long stretch of years with relatively mild winters, during which lowland snow and ice were a rarity. However, as early December 2008 indicated, we cannot remain complacent that this will continue.
Climate change does not necessar-ily mean weather here will become warmer in winter. Indeed, it could become wildly unpredictable.
Cold water from the melting Arctic ice-cap, flowing south, could conceivably interfere with the warm Gulf Stream which flows northwards from the Caribbean to Europe's Atlantic shores and the North Sea and keeps them free of ice. Preventing warm water from reaching these shores would result in drastic lowering of winter temperatures here.
We could have cold, snow-bound, icy winters resembling those of Scandinavia and the Baltic countries or of eastern Canada.
If the Department for Transport is to continue to direct Leeds to pursue a 'high quality bus' system as a supposedly congestion-busting solution it is likely to be based on a fleet of articulated single-deck trolley buses, if not on the infamous 'purple slug' ftr bendy bus.
The advantage of the modern tram is that it can be built with as many as seven articulated sections, giving it street manoeuvrability as well as high passenger capacity – but, as it runs with steel flanged wheels on steel rails, unlike an articulated bus with rubber tyres on a potentially icy road, any likelihood of whiplash after braking is completed eradicated by all wheels being guided and contained by rails.
Furthermore, the weight of the vehicle causes the sharp-edged steel wheels to bear down on and cut through snow and ice in a way that rubber-tyred buses could never do.
This is, how, in a harsh winter spell in the 1990s, shortly after its introduction, Sheffield Supertram was able to continue running without interruption while buses all around foundered in the snow.
The point is that through arrogant, ignorant, short-sighted officials at the Treasury and DfT imposing unreasonable, financial constraints, Metro is being forced to persue a relatively cheap-jack and inefficient, though superficially atttractive transport compromise – for implementation in seven years time!
Leeds needs transport of the highest efficiency, quality and atttractive-ness as soon as it can be constructed. This means reviving the Supertram scheme now – with completion of the system within three years maximum.
Dan Laythorpe, Little Woodhouse, Leeds
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Weather for Leeds
Thursday 24 May 2012
Today
Sunny
Temperature: 10 C to 26 C
Wind Speed: 10 mph
Wind direction: North west
Tomorrow
Sunny
Temperature: 10 C to 23 C
Wind Speed: 20 mph
Wind direction: East
