The NEW! Coventry Very Light Rail is here

There’s a NEW type of railway system that’s on trial in Coventry City Centre. Called ‘VLR’ it stands for Very Light Rail, and is a cheaper, lighter and quicker to build battery Tram system that is now being tested. I went along on the Press Day to go for a ride …

Official website, where you can book a place to ride it as well is here : https://www.coventry.gov.uk/coventry-light-rail

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Good morning from Coventry. In the world of transport, you have the phrase heavy rail. This refers to your regular train service that you know and love and ride on all the time. You then have the phrase light rail, which typically refers to a tram system. This morning, however, in Coventry, I’m going for a ride on something new. This here is Coventry’s very light rail system. The Coventry very light rail system is a new type of tram system that is now being triled. And I’m here today to see it up close and go for a ride. It can be delivered at half the cost and in half the time. That’s much more quickly than a conventional light rail tram. And also includes a groundbreaking track system, which means it can be laid on roads and streets without disturbing existing utilities. And a 220 m long test track section has been installed in under 2 months in Coventry city center. And I’m getting on board as well as talking to people involved in the project to find out more. It’s unlike any other tram out there, certainly of this this size. We can we can drive around a 15 meter curve at about 15 km an hour. And if you’ve been on on the tram in Dudley where we have actually got a prototype curve, it’s it’s actually quite impressive and it goes around pretty silently. So the main technical aspect that allows us to do that is the bogey design. The bogey is the technical part of this vehicle. It is the uh entrepreneurial side of it. This there four motors, one motor per axle, and that’s essentially what gives us the ability to run run around a 15 m curve at speed. Now, I’m not sure if to call it a tram or a tram car or car or carriage, but I do find out that seated and standing, it can carry up to 60 passengers. And yes, there’s an accessible area, too. And the whole vehicle is, of course, battery powered. Again, this means less costs involved because there’s no installation of overhead wires or electrics. And the range before full recharge is needed is around 70 km. We’re about to head off for a test ride in a second. Justin was just telling me there’s two batteries underneath. You got the bogeies at either end. They’re metal wheels with flanges. Battery either as well like a battery system in the middle. I know there’s a cab either end so it can be driven from either end. And um it’s been raining this morning. The weather’s not been great, but now the sun’s come out and it’s cleared up. We’re going to go for a little uh just a little back and forth. That’s a little shuttle test ride up and down and it’s just 220 m of test track here this morning. So, we’re going to do a few simple trips up and down. So, it’s about this point in a video for a new train, bus, or trend that I’d be showing you a map for you to see where the system runs. But this really is just a 220 m long length of test track in the middle of Coventry. But for map sake, we’re starting in Gray Fry Road and it’s going around the corner to Queen Victoria Road where we’ll reverse and come back again. All right, time to go for a quick trip. The vehicle weighs just 8 tons compared to 20 for a conventional trim, thus earning its very light rail tag and includes composite body panels made from recycled carbon. The ride is smooth, quiet, and speedy. And I’m already starting to wonder if this is a success here in Coventry, what other towns and cities could also benefit from a similar system. Whereas traditional light rail schemes can cost upwards of 25 million per kmter in suburban locations, the Coventry very light rail aims to deliver all the benefits of a modern light rail solution, but at a fraction of the cost. We’ve been taking some uh shots of it driving past. Well, I don’t want to get in this person’s way taking a picture as a chat there called Anthony. I want to want to bring you in Anthony cuz um been chatting to some other people. Apparently this doesn’t have a name yet, right? Because I keep thinking like in Snbridge you have the parry people mover but at the moment you’re just calling it the very light rail unit. It must have a name or like a number or No, no, it doesn’t. So we’ve been asking for quite some time how we name it and maybe um this event could uh could lead to some good ideas. It needs a name. I want to call it something. I can’t just call it the VLR. Back on board, I realize I can sit and check out the driver’s seat. They’re doing interviews down that end. So, I’m sat in the driver’s cab here. It’s a lefth hand control. I can see it saying traction, coast, brake, stop. Obviously, a whole range of buttons in the middle. Is that like to do that pertains to the battery information? I would imagine it well, it contains a lot of information. There’s a lot of information, but I can see here there’s obviously battery included battery and there’s two CCTVs. Why? Why are there two? There’s a CCTV here and Oh, front-facing rear. Oh, the sides. So, they are your wing mirrors. They’re the wing mirrors. Got it. Okay. Maintenance off drive. Okay. Okay. Is that a little PA? Is it Can I Can I do a little like What can I say? That’d be hilarious. Need a name. Well, we can see the R. It needs a name. What What can we call it? You see, there’s like a little partition here. This bit of glass. They’ve taken this out for this unit, but normally that would be a partition. So the driver would be separate from the rest of the I want to say are you calling it saloon a train saloon caboon cab saloon needs new names everywhere doesn’t it it does need new names everywhere it’s a tram that’s not a tram but is is a tram it’s fascinating [Music] so let’s find out why CVLR is different as we talk to Chris about the track installation so basically what we’re trying to do is is disturb the city as least as possible during the construction and delivery of these and be as quick as possible. So what you’re seeing um uh here it looks like practically any other embedded um track in any other city, right? You’re seeing the the top of the grooved rail and it’s being embedded in an asphalt pavement. The total track system is 26 cm deep. We allow for 30 cm construction dig depth. So essentially to build this we came with a normal highway milling machine. We milled the highway down to minus 30 cmters from existing top and then we started the construction from that um um plane upwards without creating a foundation and that is the principal differentiator between this and most other track systems. We do not need to build a um high bearing capacity foundation to start with. The slabs themselves have been designed with enough flexural strength to be able to survive and live on whatever we find when we dig 30 cm. Now, next, Coventry City Council want to construct a further 800 meter demonstrator route between Coventry station that goes to the National Transport Design Center and then the technology park and that will become part of the UK showcase for the IT World Congress in October 2027. But in the long term, they obviously want to use it to connect people to jobs, education, and healthcare, which means that Comventry City Center could be connected to the hospital, the West Midlands Investment Area, and Comventry Arena. These would all be excellent places that this system could run to. And I asked the local councelor if other cities were interested too. Well, other other cities and regions are doing exactly that. We’re talking to a number of them because there’s a lot of regions are saying, “Well, we want, you know, we want some form of a tram system.” But then they start looking at the costs and suddenly thinking, well, I’m not sure we’re going to get all the public finance to make that happen. And we’ve got a system here that we reckon we can do for 10 million a kilometer and makes it affordable for cities and towns the size of commentary going forward. And suddenly the taxpayer is saying we’ve got value for money here. And so obviously with the event over that’s the time that the weather chooses to stop raining and the sun comes out. My thanks to everyone at Coventry City Council this morning. That is the very light rail system there moving away. Expect the project to pick up pace to be here soon in Comry and who knows what other cities around the countries soon and in the future. Thanks for watching. See you in the next video.