Trams, in practice
Is it really that much of a quick fix?
I’ve talked a few times about density and upzoning within the Redhill/Queenstown area. But can heavy rail transit investment catch up with the reality of urban renewal? I don’t think things look very positive there given the pace of MRT system expansion, but this opens up an opportunity to examine a practical use of trams in Singapore.
Of course, trams have their downsides too, but the upsides like quick construction (just lay tracks on the existing road, then build some rudimentary shelters) and easy accessibility also cannot be forgotten. Even with the same requirements as BRT, a tram can also carry more than that per vehicle. Well, the last time a tram ran in Singapore was over 90 years ago, but things are obviously quite different since. Someone did the math, apparently, and apart from the lower rolling resistance of steel on steel causing more energy efficiency (even if the trams have to carry batteries due to our dislike of overhead wires), trams also produce far less particulate matter as well. So between that and a fixed guidance system, perhaps a tram may be better than even a trolleybus.
In any case, it’s not that they have a particular aversion to modern tramway systems, given how several concepts have popped up in the Paya Lebar Airbase redevelopment competition, as was pointed out to me by a reader. But perhaps we may be able to find other opportunities in addition to the PLAB development.
Keep dreaming
What opportunity, exactly, would there be? The strongest one I’m looking at would be at the stretch of Jalan Bukit Merah from Kampong Bahru to Queensway, perhaps extending the line through one-north to the MRT station there, or a short stretch up the rail corridor to Tanglin Halt and Buona Vista, dusting off some of the old Buona Vista LRT plans from the 1990s. The road is three lanes wide with bus lanes in either direction that could probably be shared with the trams.
This section has seen increasing growth of passengers along with development, especially once you consider the Redhill Close enbloc sale and how it has the possibility to affect development, and the newer HDB high-rise developments around the east end of the road. Yet it is chiefly reliant on bus lanes with the nearest MRT connection still requiring a short distance bus ride, which means people have to squeeze on buses for 1 or 2 bus stops. It sounds like a good route to run a rail transit line along — which, apparently, Concept Plan 2001 thinks so too, but there’s still very big questions on what that line could look like.
Thus, while those arguments are sorted out and the MRT built, perhaps a tram could help in the meantime — and even with an MRT line beneath, the tram could still serve as a better feeder than a legion of buses given the likely passenger catchment the tram would pass through. While trams share the same weakness in requiring an actual driver, don’t listen to the bus companies and their propagandists since they won’t be able to sell you very-high-capacity buses with capacity meeting a tram, or maybe some other avant-garde gadgetbahn solution.
On the other hand, the large amount of disruption brought by the construction of an MRT line, if and when it happens, would mean a lot of tram infrastructure has to be torn up and rebuilt, perhaps multiple times depending on how the road diversions are planned. Not easy compared to a bus lane, which can just be asphalt and paint along with the rest of the road. But maybe this may not be a problem if we drag our feet some more with both urban upzoning and population growth, allowing the tram to get 15–20 years of useful life before the MRT shows up in that area.
Even with MRT service, perhaps the MRT station spacing within the tram service area could be higher to allow the tram to remain and fill in the gap, with technical complexity not being that high compared to the MTR Island Line; and thus access penalties being less of a problem. Given current master plans, I think this is more of a possibility than we think.
Start thinking
How would this tram look like? Let’s start with the biggest issue — a maintenance facility. There’s plenty of space around Portsdown Avenue for one, with the undeveloped area around the back of Alexandra Hospital. Here it might be possible to take advantage of the topology to build an overhead deck for oversite development over the tram depot as well, so no concerns about wasting land. For stations, see the image below:
We then discuss terminals. Apart from the mainline along Jalan Bukit Merah, I think there could be two branches on each end to provide improved connectivity to growth areas as well as the MRT network:
- West side, from within the Dover Knowledge District and one-north areas, and from Buona Vista station following the Rail Corridor (for Tanglin Halt and westbound EWL traffic)
- East side, Outram Park and Cantonment, providing access to 4 different MRT lines. That way, one can take the MRT at least within the CBD area, then transfer to the tram system.
Tram stops themselves would probably not be any much different from bus stops in terms of design, and thus would also not require a lot of space. They may even be able to basically use copies of existing bus stops if a low-floor tram design is used. But depending on choice of technology, while hydrogen fuel cell vehicles can be recharged at the maintenance facility, facilities to charge electric batteries could have to be factored into the design, like below.
The thing about trams is that while they share many of the same problems with BRT, but given that some BRT system (like the failed one in Taichung) even have the trappings of heavy rail systems such as platform screen doors, perhaps it might be possible to fence up the stops and install faregates, if not at least a proof of payment system. Alternatively, since the tram system isn’t that long, one can just charge a flat fare, if the operation can be sustained on flat fares with few expected to take long journeys on the tram, unlike other trunk bus routes already plying the area.
For the tram vehicles themselves, what could we use? There are trams in the length of 40m class out there, promising single-vehicle capacity higher than even a pair of people mover vehicles. But I think it unlikely that the tram service would be able to run very frequently either if it runs in mixed traffic (even just with buses, let alone private vehicles), so the resultant capacity could still be in the range of a few thousand per hour per direction, which may be enough once you consider that 2-car LRVs used on the MTR New Territories Light Rail, of similar capacity, can cope with the higher density of development there. With lesser construction needed, maybe it can even be more value for money.
The tram manufacturers nowadays (Siemens, Alstom, CAF, etc) now mostly have low-floor designs they sell off the shelf. Most new systems are also low-floor as well. Apart from the previously mentioned perk of basically being able to remain compatible with bus stop infrastructure and saving cost of building new high-platform stops, a low-floor tram system would also be more accessible for both an ageing population as well as prams and other wheeled mobility devices.
Where else?
That said, I don’t think this is the only place where trams could work, even if it possibly is the best. Despite the move to a more polycentric model with multiple MRT stations serving a single new town, there is one town that does not stand to benefit from whatever MRT projects we have in the pipeline.
Yes, I’m talking about Yishun, most particularly the new BTOs popping up around Avenue 6. While other towns have local feeder bus networks allowing for effective circumferential travel between different MRT lines, there are no alternative MRT lines in Yishun. Even the proposed North Shore line won’t do much good, seeing as how approaches from the east are constrained by the Lower Seletar Reservoir, which could unnecessarily drive up costs if you want to build a deep underwater tunnel and/or go under buildings. Don’t forget to account for the access penalty as well to such deep stations, especially once you look at Tampines and ask yourself who even takes the DTL one stop to Tampines Central.
Right now, they get by with feeder buses, and development is sort of restricted given the presence of both Seletar Airport and Sembawang Air Base placing a downward pressure on height limits. It’s quite possible at the end of the day that the current feeder bus network, perhaps with added bus lanes, can be more than sufficient, especially once you consider how the tram tracks would have to be run in order to accommodate traffic patterns. Sure, it would bring capacity, but I’m not of the opinion that one would see significant reductions in travel time compared to the feeder bus network.
The other problem is of course to identify which roads can even support the tram system in the first place. It would not be easy to convert any significant stretch of road to “transit priority corridors” for either trams or dedicated bus services given how local residents still have to rely on said roads for access to their homes by personal vehicle, private hire, or taxi. At the end of the day, much as NUMTOTs would love to ban cars, there are still legitimate reasons for having one.
Perhaps maybe we can go with a baseline of three-lane roads, such as Avenues 1, 2, 7 and 8. But given how among all these only Avenue 2 has any significant catchment, the rest being located on the edge of town, one can ask some questions. A more useful tram service would run along the Ring Road, but that’s not wide enough. So I’m not very sure how much a tram would help, or even if it had received a people mover system back then.
But it was worth a try to look at, as a wholly academic exercise.
