There's not the snowballs chance in hell of getting lower adjunct platforms in New South Wales rail corridors, as the rail authorities and state government is on a corridor trespass kick, and low platforms encourage corridor trespass.
But hell, I figure high floor rolling stock is easier anyway. They could even shift the diesel-hybrid from the cabin roof to under the floor of the rear trailer. I've been accused of being a Marxist, yet while Harpo's my favourite, it's Groucho I'm always quoting. Odd, that.
The details would, of course, be left to the bidder, inside a design envelope of one wide station-platform entry/exit on both sides of the vehicle, two left side only low floor entry/exit in the front and middle of the tram, and disabled access throughout.
The station entry/exit could in fact be at the tail of the vehicle with an internal ramp to a mid-floor trailer, to make the transition to the low floor front modules easier. I've been accused of being a Marxist, yet while Harpo's my favourite, it's Groucho I'm always quoting. Odd, that.
Loops at all ends are no problem, so if the design is modular, there's only a need to customize the trailing module for platform access, avoiding the need to monkey around with a standard cab module.
For instance, the common Church Street end of the tram/train routes is intended to be a one way terminal loop in any event, as the most effective route ...
Among the five routes ... one CBD route in stage 1, two urban routes in Stage 2, two regional routes in stage 3, there are two pure balloon loops, but one is ducking underneath a rail bridge and the other is in the dead space inside a rail triangle. The rest are routed as one-way loops. I've been accused of being a Marxist, yet while Harpo's my favourite, it's Groucho I'm always quoting. Odd, that.
