Tram use 25% of King William St width to carry 1,000 passengers per hour & no buses Video Nov 2016

The Glenelg Tramway was originally a private, single track, railway that originated at South Terrace and terminated at Colley Reserve in Glenelg as a street train along Jetty Road. Later the rail tack was extended to along King William Street to Victoria Square. Steam Trains and Steam Trams were run on the track

Passengers continued their journey on the horse tram that ran along King William Street.

The State Government acquired the South Terrace - Glenelg Railway and later moved the terminus back to South Terrace.

In 1929 the railway track was converted from Broad Gauge to Standard Gauge, duplicated and electrified (900 volt DC.) It then became part for Metropolitan Tramways Trust (MTT) network of tramways.

In the 1950's the tramway network was dismantled. Only the Glenelg tramway remained, running from Victoria Square to Glenelg.

In the Rann Government the tramway as brought back along King William Street and extended along North Terrace West and the Port Road to a Hindmarsh Terminus (Adelaide Entertainment Centre) .

[michaeleverett]

There's a tram/ light rail system in Frankfurt, Germany (1st link below) that operates in tunnels for the CBD, and at ground level with some level crossings for the outer sections (1st, 2nd & 3rd links below). The Frankfurt U-bahn (tram) system could be classed as light metro especially for its inner city sections and high frequency of 5 minutes in the peak with smaller rolling stock of up to 6 carriage consists. The Frankfurt U-bahn is one of the very few tram/ light rail systems in the world to have this sort of metro style operation (4th & 5th links below). It's strange to use a tram (high floor) for grade separation as it would be fully outclassed by a metro train (high floor). German cities in particular are crazy with their suburban trains, metros and trams/ light rail in regards to their branding, service pattern, stop spacing and route alignment.

The trams on the Frankfurt U-bahn accelerate very fast from a standstill when leaving stations and are able to decelerate quickly when entering stations (1st, 2nd & 3rd links below). This high acceleration by trams on the Frankfurt U-bahn is something that many railway systems don't have.

Frankfurt tram videos:

About Frankfurt U-bahn and other strange tram/ light rail systems:

[Highbury]

The use of Island Platforms means the trams carrying capacity cannot be increased by adding extra carriages to the trams. Two trams cannot be joined up. The only may to increase capacity is to increase frequency. Apparently the Glenelg Tram is currently at capacity.

[Highbury]

1. King William Street is the street Parades and Protests in Adelaide. Street Trams are trapped every time such events occur.
2. Grenfell Street - Currie Street Intersection with King William Street raise the problem of who has priority? Rubber wheels give way to steel wheels?
3. The announced extension of Trams along North Terrace to the Old RAH PLUS the announced extension of Trams along King William Road from King William Street to the Festival Theatre raises more questions about how to fit all this public transport across a major intersection - all "at grade".
The plans seem to have a Diamond / Star junction on this intersection.

Too many eggs in one basket.

[edwardcarter]

The author needs to provide evidence of steam trams in Municipal Tramways Trust.

[Highbury]

Dockands light rail DLR in London is served by two-car articulated units.

All routes are now capable of taking three units coupled together, though Cutty Sark, Elverson Road, Gallions Reach, and Royal Albert stations have not been lengthened and use selective door opening.
The station extension work required moving South Quay station to a new location further east.
Single units have always been forbidden in the tunnels to Bank because of the risk of a brake failure on the 1:17 incline.

[Highbury]

The use of island platforms in the middle of the roadway traps the tram corridor to only be used by short trams.

* Island platforms means the Flexity Classic & Citadis 302 / Type 200 Trams can NOT be coupled to double the carrying of the track. The longer trams would overhang the platform.

* Buses have doors on their Left Side but island platforms means buses would need doors on their right hand side if they were use the tram corridor.

The above video shows the street tram corridor in Basel being used by cars, trucks and buses being used by both long and short trams on lIne 6. In the some cases the tram track runs alongside the kerb making it easier to fit the trams into narrow streets.

Trams do not always need to use overhead cables to get their power
The above video shows the pantograph being lowered as they change from overhead cable to power from a third rail in the roadway.

Like most trams, Citadis vehicles are usually powered by overhead electric wires collected by a pantograph, but the trams in several places do not use pantograph current collection entirely.

The most popular solution is Alstom's proprietary ground-level power supply (APS, first used in Bordeaux and subsequently in Angers, Reims, Orleans, Tours, Dubai, Rio de Janeiro, and in the future, Sydney), consisting of a third rail which is only powered while it is completely covered by a tram so that there is no risk of a person or animal coming into contact with a live rail. On the networks in France and in Sydney, the trams switch to conventional overhead wires in outer areas, but the Dubai vehicles are the first to employ APS for its entire passenger length (although they are still equipped with pantographs for use in the maintenance depot).

Another option is to use on-board batteries to store electrical power, allowing brief periods of catenary-free operation without the need to install special infrastructure. The Citadis trams in Nice operate off a set of nickel metallic hydride batteries in two large open spaces where overhead wires would be an eyesore.

Adelaide's first experiment with electric powered trams was a demonstration run on the Adelaide and Hindmarsh Tramway company's line. A battery powered tram fitted with "Julien's Patent Electric Traction" ran in 1889 to Henley Beach. The trial was unsuccessful due to the batteries poor capacity, and the promoters' deaths in a level crossing accident shortly after precluded further experiments.