If one is going to write a book about a particular Metro, then perhaps one should try and answer the question, “what is a Metro?” as well as “why build a Metro?” I’m not going to labour this effort, as many others have written more eloquently than me on this subject. This is more a reflection of my journey and increasing understanding of public transport and Metro systems over the last twenty years.
In this chapter I cover:
- 2.1 Metro modes and features
- 2.2 A brief Metro history and example systems
- 2.3 Metro definitions
- 2.4 Is Newcastle the best example of a UK Metro?
- References
2.1 Metro modes and features
Let’s start with a brief explanation of some of the various public transport modes and features used by Metros today.
Figure 19 TfW Stadler FLIRT Bi-Mode (image credit Rail Business UK)
Heavy Rail (HR) services in the UK are operated by Train Operating Companies (ToCs) on track maintained by Network Rail typically using Diesel Multiple Unite (DMUs), Electric Multiple Unit (EMUs) and now some Bi mode and Tri-mode rolling stock designed for longer trips and station spacings measured in kilometres or tens of kilometres. Such vehicles are big and heavy and in the main have to be segregated from other stuff. They can accommodate anything from 250-500-1500 people and can manage gradients up to perhaps 2% and turning radii typically of at least 250M. The system is heavily regulated in the UK by the Office of Road and Rail (ORR).
Light Rail (inc. tramways) cover a range of systems outside of the NR National Rail network and so designated as “Non-mainline or “tramway” when in a street environment. The Core Valley Lines (CVL)is a departure, it is no longer managed by Network Rail but is still defined (currently) as HR and part of the National rail network (apart from the Bay line) and will be operating a mix of Light Rail Vehicles (LRVs), called tram-trains and more traditional HR Stadler “FLIRT” tri-mode rolling stock. Light Rail Vehicles can hold 200-500 people, manage gradients of up to 9% and turning radii as low as 25M and are typically focussed on shorter urban trips of less than an hour. When operating on/in street environments, they are defined as tramways. De-designated LR systems typically apply very different staffing protocols and Terms and Conditions to HR. Example LR systems in the UK can be found in Manchester, Newcastle, Nottingham, Croydon and Sheffield.
Figure 20 Manchester Metrolink “High Floor” Bombardier LRV (image credit Tom Page)
Figure 21 TfW Stadler Tram-train for South Wales Metro (image credit TfW)
Bus Rapid Transit is less common in the UK and in “gold form[1]” typically requires high-quality bus vehicles, off vehicle ticketing and services operating on segregated alignments. These are most common now in South America and Africa. BRT systems typically use vehicles that can hold 75-150 people. In the UK there are some systems which have some (if not all) of these features, for example the Glider in Belfast.
Figure 22 BRT in Quito Ecuador (Credit ?)
Figure 23 Glider “Bus” in Belfast (image credit Dept for Infrastructure NI)
Frictionless travel via Integrated ticketing is a feature common in Europe where one ticket can provide access at one price to a range of services (rail, bus, LR) within a city – often with a capped daily maximum, called a capped Pay as you Go (PAYG). Networks and timetables are then often designed to enable and/or enhance integration of services across different modes through good interchange – although if service frequencies are sufficiently high (typically at least 4 services per hour) then the timetable becomes almost irrelevant from a passenger perspective. This enables passengers to experience a single system rather than a collection of unconnected services each requiring its own ticket and with different fare structures, which is more common in the UK (esp. outside London). This is the kind of frictionless travel that is attractive to passengers.
Figure 24 TfW Tap and Go Station Reader
Overall Capacity Another metric sometimes used to define a Metro is capacity, total system or route. Again, I am not sure there are hard and fast “rules” but in the Cardiff Region, a system with core routes that can move at least 2,000 people per hour might be a “Metro”. That would mean a LRV that can carry 500 people would need 4 services an hour as a minimum, a BRT system with vehicles holding 150 people would likely need up to 15 services an hour to move that number of people. Many international “Metro” systems are designed and capable of moving 10,000s of people per hour. As a comparator in the UK, the Tyne and Wear Metro typically operates with 5 services an hour with new 60M vehicles capable of holding 500/600 people – so 2,500~3,000 people an hour.
(See Transport Planning and choices for some more detail and features of these different modes.)
2.2 A brief Metro history and example systems
Perhaps the world’s first rapid transit system or Metro, was London’s underground Metropolitan Railway Figure 25 Figure 26 opened in 1863 using steam locomotives, and which now forms part of the London Underground[2]. In 1868, New York opened the elevated West Side and Yonkers Patent Railway[3], initially a cable-hauled line using static steam engines. Other systems followed around the world in places like Glasgow Figure 27, Chicago Figure 28, Athens and Berlin.
Figure 25 London Metropolitan Railway 1863 #1
Figure 26 London Metropolitan Railway 1863 #2 (image credit LT Museum)
Figure 27 Glasgow Underground “Orange” (credit SPT)
Figure 28 Chicago “L” train (image credit Kelly Martin)
Figure 29 Tokyo Subway map
Today, I don’t think anyone doubts that there are Metros in Paris[4] (but distinct from its Light Rail and bus offer), Tokyo[5] Figure 29 and Washington DC[6] (which seems to refer the transit authority rather than a mode of transport). In London we have the Underground, in New York the Subway and in Los Angeles[7], a mix of Heavy Rail (HR), Light Rail (LR) and Bus Rapid Transit (BRT). In Denver, its RTD Metro[8] system has utilised a number of old freight lines as part of a broader system of both HR and LR; its RTD agency also explicitly sets out Transit Oriented Development (TOD) ambitions as part of its Fastracks[9] expansion. No one in Newcastle has any doubt abouts its Metro[10], nor in Manchester its expanding Light Rail Metrolink[11]. More recently we have Metrobus in Bristol[12] and Glider[13] BRT in Belfast. I have also personally experienced what to me felt like Metros in places like Lyon, Boston, Copenhagen, Hamburg, Rome and Milan.
In fact, I could identify many systems around the world that make claims to being Metros and/or with organisations with Metro nomenclature; most very similar and almost all a little different.
At a glance all these urban systems utilise one or more of underground rail, overground rail, heavy rail, light rail and buses and different traction power systems. They also offer a range of ticketing systems. So, really not helping a clear explanation.
2.3 Metro definitions
So again, what is a Metro?
The Cambridge English Dictionary says,
“an underground electric railway system in some cities”,
Britannica also adds,
“of or relating to a large city and sometimes to the area around it”.
In the Netherlands[14]I have seen Metros defined as systems that,
“operate in a closed system, which does not intersect with normal road traffic”.
The International Association of Public Transport (L’ Union Internationale des Transports Publics, or UITP)[15] defines Metro systems as urban passenger transport systems,
“operated on their own right of way and segregated from general road and pedestrian traffic“.
They also say,
“Metros are very often the fastest and most energy-efficient way to get around a city. They run on electricity and can easily be powered by renewable energy sources. With lines circulating on segregated infrastructure, Metros avoid traffic jams and can transport large amounts of people, making them the backbone of many cities”.
One of the leading thinkers in the transport planning world, Jarrett Walker, says,
“The word “Metro” is meant to refer to the high-frequency, high-capacity rail transit, usually underground, that laces the dense cores of those cities”[16].
So, I am not sure there is a single unambiguous definition of a Metro.
For me, Metro is about, primarily, urban transportation using frequent rail (HR or LR) and/or prioritised/segregated bus services. When I first started trying to articulate what I thought Metro was, I included integration between modes and services as was the case in Newcastle in the earlier 1980s[17].
2.4 Is Newcastle the best example of a UK Metro?
In cogitating the shape and scope of “our” Metro in Cardiff and the wider region, we may benefit by looking back at what Newcastle achieved with its integrated rail and bus Metro opened in 1980 (in the period before bus deregulation was initiated in the late 1980s)[18]. This perhaps provides the best comparator for us in the wider Cardiff Capital region given both regions have broadly similar economic and socio-economic characteristics[19] and both were heavily influenced by the growth and decline of the coal industry.
The original Tyne and Wear Metro system involved the upgrade of approximately 40Km of poorly utilised and maintained British Rail tracks that were connected across the centre of Newcastle through new tunnels and a bridge over the Tyne. This was and still is a very ambitious project that enabled an entire fully electrified network, running bespoke Metro rolling stock, to be “disconnected from the “mainline” network and planned, developed and operated as a completely separate system by the PTE Figure 30. This “full separation” is something the South Wales Metro would benefit from in future development. (See 15.5 Cardiff, the Cardiff Capital Region and Crossrail)
Figure 30 Tyne and Wear Metro
Perhaps the key feature of the Newcastle Tyne and Wear Metro[20] was the re-design and integration of its local bus networks, the provision of multi-modal integrated fares and ticketing and the development of purpose-built rail/bus interchanges. Once the system was fully operational in 1985, passenger numbers reached over 50m pa. However, the degree of rail/bus integration was severely restricted as a consequence of bus deregulation[21] in the late 1980s and passenger numbers fell to only 30M by 2000; they later rose to 35-40M in the period before Covid and are now in back to 30M a year. This is relevant given the catchment population of the Tyne and Wear Metro is broadly similar to the Core Valley Lines (CVL) in the Cardiff Capital Region.
The overt need to plan and integrate rail and bus networks and services is perhaps the most important lesson from the Newcastle of the early 1980s; especially as we bring forward bus reform and franchising in Wales. Too often I hear a rail versus bus narrative, often encouraged by challenges over funding (See 12.6 Transport modes). However, this misses the point, local bus, BRT and rail have very different operational characteristics, capacities, costs and outputs and so are suited to different applications; most importantly perhaps, they need to work together to create an effective multi-modal public transport system. In urban areas the rail elements (and sometimes gold standard segregated BRT), given their greater capacity, can constitute the arteries of this system, and the bus, the local capillaries.
This approach will be fundamental to the affordable expansion of the current phase of the Cardiff Capital Region Metro. This needs a more joined up and integrated approach to transport planning and demand analysis than we have seen for decades and requires skills and capabilities that have been lost across much of the UK post the de-regulation of bus services in the 1980s. Clearly Metro is going to be more than just building infrastructure and operating trains, trams and buses.
References
[1] Classes of BRT IRDP Scoring The Bus Rapid Transit Standard – Institute for Transportation and Development Policy (itdp.org)
[2] Transport for London Tube trivia and facts – Made by TfL
[3] New York Elevated Railroad Train 110th St., In Harlem, 1893 (harlemworldmagazine.com)
[4] Paris Map of the Metro, RER, bus and tramway lines | RATP
[5] Tokyo Tokyo Metro Home
[6] Washington DC Home | WMATA
[7] Los Angeles Metro | Bus, Rail, Subway, Bike & Micro in Los Angeles
[8] Denver RTD – Regional Transportation District (rtd-denver.com)
[9] Denver FasTracks | RTD – Denver
[10] Newcastle Metro | nexus.org.uk
[11] Manchester Travel by tram | Transport for Greater Manchester (tfgm.com)
[12] Bristol Metrobus – Travelwest
[13] Belfast, Belfast Rapid Transit – Glider Introduction | Department for Infrastructure (infrastructure-ni.gov.uk)
[14] Government of The Netherlands, Types of public transport | Mobility, public transport and road safety
[15] Union Internationale des Transports Publics) || The International Association of Public Transport | UITP ||
[16] Jarrett Walker , “Human Transit” Human Transit-The professional blog of public transit consultant Jarrett Walker
[17] Nexus How the Tyne and Wear Metro was built
[18] Huw Lewi (Nexus), The Charted Institution of Highways & Transportation, 2012 Building TW Metro (ciht.org.uk)
[19] From: United Kingdom: Countries and Major Urban Areas – Population Statistics, (citypopulation.de) which sources 2021 ONS Census data. The population of the Tyne and Wear Metropolitan Area is approx. 1.2M, the Newcastle Bult Up area (BUA) is~790k with density 4,180 people/Km2 and adjacent Sunderland BUA is 333k and 3760 people/Km2. In comparison the Cardiff Capital Region has a population of 1.6M. The Cardiff BUA is 465k with density 4,280 people/Km2; adjacent Newport’s BUA is 318k and density 3,306/Km2; Tonypandy has a BUA of 62k and a density of 4760 p/Km2).
[20] Steer Davies Gleave, Urban Transport Group 2005 What Light Rail Can Do for Cities – A Review of Evidence
[21] Rivasplata, UC Berkley 2006 An Analysis of the Impacts of British Transport Reforms on Transit Integration in the Metropolitan Areas, ANALYSIS OF THE IMPACTS OF BRITISH REFORMS