Grassed track at the EuskoTran in Bilbao

Light rail tracks with concrete railroad ties (sleepers)

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Tracks & Studs

Tramway track is used on tramways or light rail operations, which, together with points guide trams, streetcars or light rail vehicles without the need for steering. Grooved rails (or girder rails) are often used in order to make street running feasible. more...

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Like standard rail tracks, tram tracks consist of two parallel steel rails.

Tram rails can be placed in several surfaces. They can, for example, be laid with standard rails on sleepers like railway tracks, or with grooved rails on concrete sleepers into street surfaces (pavement) for street running. Another environmentally-friendly or ecologically-friendly alternative is to lay tracks into grass turf surfaces; this is known as grassed track (or track in a lawn), first invented in Liverpool in 1924.

History

The first tramways were laid in 1832 in New York by John Stephenson, to assist horses pulling buses through dirt roads, especially in wet weather when muddy. By laying rails, a horse could easily pull a load of 10 tonnes, rather than 1 tonne on a dirt road. The evolution of street tramway tracks paralleled the development from horse power to mechanical, especially electric power. In a dirt road, the rails needed a foundation, usually a mass concrete raft. Highway authorities often made tramway companies pave the rest of the road, usually with granite or similar stone blocks, an extra cost.

The first tramways had a rail projecting above the road surface, or a step set into the road, both of which were apt to catch the narrow tyres of horse drawn carriages. The invention by Alphonse Loubat in 1852, of the grooved rail enabled tramways to be laid without causing a nuisance to other road users, except unsuspecting cyclists, who could get their wheels caught in the groove.

Electrification

Electrification needed other developments, most notably heavier rails to cope with electric tramcars weighing 12 tonnes rather than the 4 tonne horse drawn variety, switching points, as electric trams could not be pulled onto the right track by horses, and the need for electrical connections, to provide the return path for the electric current, which was supplied through an overhead wire.

Cable haulage

Prior to the universal introduction of electric power, many tramways were cable hauled, with a continuous cable carried in a conduit under the road, and with a slot in the road surface through which the tram could clasp the cable for motion. This system can still be seen in San Francisco in California and the Great Orme in Wales. This needed a rather more substantial track formation.

Conduit and stud systems

In some cities where overhead electric cables were deemed intrusive, underground conduits with electrical conductors were used. Examples of this were New York, Washington, Paris, London, Brussels, Budapest etc. The conduit system of electrical power was however very expensive to install and maintain, although Washington DC did not close until 1962. Attempts were made with alternative systems not needing overhead wires. There were many systems of “surface” contact, where studs were set in the road surface, and energised by a passing tram, either mechanically or magnetically to supply power through a skate carried under the tram. Unfortunately these systems all failed due to the problem of reliability and not always turning off after the tram had passed, resulting in the occasional electrocution of horses and dogs. In the last 5 years a new system of surface contact has been installed in the Bordeaux tramway by Alstom.