Tram–train systems combine the best features of streetcars with regional rail. These systems make direct connections between town centers and surrounding regions possible by physically linking existing regional heavy rail networks with urban tram networks. The tram–train approach offers many advantages by using existing infrastructure to improve regional transit. However, the use of two dissimilar networks and the mixing of heavy rail and tram operations increase complexity and often require compromise solutions. The research surveyed existing systems to identify requirements for successfully introducing tram–train systems. The requirements include network design, city layout, population density, and physical factors (e.g., platform heights). One of the most important factors is cooperation between many actors, including transit operators, railways, and cities. Tram–train systems are complex but can provide significant benefits in the right situations. The paper describes tram–train systems, the key requirements for successful systems, and conclusions.

Broken rails remain one of the main causes of railway accidents despite improved rail quality and inspections. Today, signalling system with track circuits are often used to detect broken rails, however new signalling systems such as the European Train Control System (ETCS) with axle counters are replacing track circuits and therefore new methods are needed to detect broken rails. One promising technology is distributed acoustic sensing (DAS). The best DAS analytical techniques to show the position of the rail break are gradient analysis, convolution using the train consist and 2 D sinusoidal convolution. This paper describes field tests carried out on DAS to evaluate its ability to detect broken rails and the moment when rails break. The testing showed that DAS has good potential for detecting broken rails in both scenarios. Especially helpful is the ability of DAS to identify the moment of rail breakage and its potential for determining the break’s location on open lines. Recommendations for further research include testing these qualities in more detail and considering how DAS could be efficiently combined with new signalling systems.

The punctuality and the reliability of public transport are key factors in the choice of travel mode, and they also affect operating costs. When travel time on a route varies significantly, public transport operators need to increase scheduled buffer time to maintain punctuality and reliability. This increases costs by increasing staffing and equipment needed to offer a given level of service. The variability in route travel time depends on many factors, including traffic conditions, number of passengers, and operating practices (e.g., boarding processes). A study was done to evaluate the impact of one boarding subprocess, ticket sales, on bus dwell time at stops. The research confirmed that onboard ticket sales can significantly affect a public transport line's travel time and reliability. The research showed that onboard ticket sales subprocesses are relatively long and vary significantly; consequently, they strongly influence schedule reliability. Results showed that the time spent selling tickets can be up to 20% of the total run time. However, the biggest problem is the great variance in time spent on the ticket sales process.

This paper presents an analysis of tram safety in Switzerland and best practices for operating trams in mixed traffic developed by Swiss tram operators and authorities. Operating trams in mixed traffic can create safety problems because trams have differing operating characteristics from other roadway traffic. It is not always feasible to provide complete separation of tramways from other road users in crowded cities. Therefore, improving tram safety in mixed traffic has gained significant attention in recent years. In Switzerland, the majority of tram collisions occur with cars, but the most severe consequences stem from collisions with pedestrians and bicycles. The location of tram collisions is linked to the likelihood of interactions and, therefore, to the amount of tram service and traffic levels. Unfortunately, the possibilities for quantitatively assessing the safety of specific street configurations are limited because of missing secondary data on context, the small number of tram accidents, and the large number of potentially important variables. Therefore, this research supplemented available quantitative data with qualitative data. The most pertinent safety issues operators face are conflicts with turning vehicles (left-turn issue), disrespect of traffic signals, confusing or ambiguous layouts, distracted pedestrians, pedestrians unaware that trams have priority, missing physical separation in semiexclusive running sections, and lack of visibility. Although many measures have been successfully applied to mitigate these issues, it is not possible to achieve absolute safety, particularly where people’s behavior is a main source of accidents.

Transit priority is an excellent way of improving transit system productivity and attractiveness although it is often neglected in favor of larger investments. Transit priority techniques and implementation are outlined, Zurich’ss transit priority program is described, eight transit priority implementation lessons from Zurich are presented, and Zurich’s innovative traffic-signal transit priority system is summarized. A longer report that fully describes research results is the basis. Transit priority improvements are relatively low-cost ways to make transit systems work better by speeding up transit vehicles. Specific improvements include four categories: roadway improvements and traffic regulations, traffic signal priority, transit system operations, and separate right-of-way. These improvements may be implemented individually or in a comprehensive program. Comprehensive implementation is optimal but politically and institutionally difficult. Zurich has been successful in implementing a comprehensive transit priority program with impressive results. Implementation lessons from Zurich were identified through interviews and a survey of public officials. Key findings were the importance of support from public and elected officials (and the common underestimation by elected officials of their constituents’ transit support), smart implementation techniques (not alienating the public), government organization to deliver projects, careful traffic engineering, simultaneous implementation of complementary programs (such as traffic calming), careful systems-level thinking, and leveraging needed organizational change through capital improvement funding. Zurich’s traffic-signal transit priority system is an interesting example of reducing opposition to transit priority through technical innovation. The system provides transit priority without significantly affecting private vehicle traffic by adjusting signal timing and phasing to provide the right amount of green time for transit when needed.