International Consortia Bid for Yorkshire's $700 Million Supertram

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Researched by Industrialinfo.com (Industrial Information Resources, Incorporated; Houston, Texas). Practical solutions to inner city traffic congestion are not easy or cheap, but with the average speed of road travel in central London down to 2.7kph, which is under half the speed of a business-like walking pace, new public transport options have to be implemented. London vies with Dublin and Calcutta for the worst congested city center, but no doubt you have a keen contender near you. The West Yorkshire city of Leeds in the United Kingdom is doing something about their problem.

Three consortia representing many of the world's leading transport, design, engineering, and finance companies with experience in design, build operate, and maintain (DBOM) and private finance initiative (PFI) funding contracts are preparing to submit their best and final offers (BAFO) for the $700 million Supertram project in Leeds. The contract is scheduled to be awarded in 2003. The concession allows four years for construction and 27 years for operation. The concessionaire can recover their initial investment from progress payments and surpluses in operating revenues.

Airelink consortium - Arriva (LSE:ARI), Siemens (NYSE:SI), and Project Investments; Leeds Tramlink consortium - Amey (LSE:AMY), Bechtel, MTR Corporation (HKSE:0066HK), Egis Semaly (Ireland); and Momentis consortium - (First, Bombardier (TorontoSE:BBDa), Bouygues TP (PARIS:BOUY) and Jarvis(LSE:JRVS) are the consortia bidding for the three-line, 28km of double track system with a city center core section branching off to serve the north, east, and south of the city.

A total of around 40 articulated trams, capable of comfortably carrying up to 200 passengers, will be ordered by Metro, the West Yorkshire Passenger Transport Executive, which hopes to have the first trams running on the system by 2007. It is Metro's prime priority transport project through to 2006. It is being developed specifically for transport corridors that are not well served by the heavy rail network and which experience heavy demand for buses. Four large park and ride sites and 49 tram stops are planned and the tram network will serve the city's main business area and public amenities such as sports grounds and educational institutions. The opening of a Supertram system some years ago in Sheffield, Yorkshire's largest city and the center of a metro conurbation to the south of Leeds, has served as a motivator for the new system.

The draft specification is a vehicle of 30m-32m long, 2.4m-2.65m wide and 3.5m high. The operating speed is 70kph. Each vehicle will have a floor height of not more than 350mm above the rail at entrances, providing level boarding access. Although systems have yet to indentified, the Leeds Supertram is likely to be controlled by absolute blocking signaling, similar to that in use on other UK light rail systems, and controlled from a central signaling center, at or near the main depot.

The UK government approved three light rail schemes in 2001, in line with its target of increasing light rail use by 50% over the next ten years. 75% of funding for the Leeds Supertram will come from the public sector and the city council. The balance will be met from the private sector.

Another traffic management option was mooted by the Irish a decade or so ago when it was thought to be a good idea to switch to driving on the right hand side of the road to fit in with Europe. It was proposed that trucks and heavy vehicles should switch on the first Thursday of the month and private cars on the second Thursday. Somehow the plan got lost in committees and nothing was done. They just walked away from it at between 5 to 6kph.