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Marco Chitti

@ChittiMarco

12 Feb

1/ The debate between BRT (rubber based transit) and LRT/Tramway (rail-based transit) is often split around ideological lines. But the reality is that the choice is not so neat and it depends on a number of factors.

An example from the planned green line of Bologna's tramway.

2/ It's a short line, in reality a semi-line, the first section of a longer second line.

It is an interesting case because it replaces completely on almost the same corridor an existing frequent bus line (27) that has a 3'-4' headway at peak and 5'-6' during the day

3/The average speed of the proposed tramway line is 17.6km/h. Checking the current timetables of line 27, the average speed is almost the same of the current line. That because stop spacing is similar (350-400m), and there are already bus-only lanes on part of the route

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Marco Chitti

@ChittiMarco

10 Feb

@750V_DC

Doing other researches in the library, I ended up on a book @750V_DC will for sure appreciate:

A compilation of all the trolleybus systems that existed in Italy from early 20th century to today.

There were really a lot of systems at the peak (pre and postwar years), including some interurban trolleybus I wasn't aware of, like around Salerno, Verona and in the Valtellina valley (Bormio)

There are a lot of pictures, including some of the very first generation of trolleybus in the 1900s, mostly around Turin, but also in Siena.

Read 6 tweets

Marco Chitti

@ChittiMarco

9 Feb

1/ Today I'll bring you in a little walk in the "città giardino" of Bologna.

Despite borrowing the name from Howard's Garden City (probably one of the most imitated and most twisted concept in history after pizza), the città giardino bears little resemblance with the original

2/ For once, Italian garden cities are way more urban in location and in form, with little concession to neo-pastoralist fantasies. Most of the time it's just a appealing foreign label applied to the typical "fin-de-siècle" bourgeois low density neighborhood

3/ The prevailing typology is the "villino", a single family 2-3 stories urban villa with a modest garden on a relatively large lot. Unlike England, and 4in a more Mediterranean fashion, the garden is fenced

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Marco Chitti

@ChittiMarco

9 Jan

1/ Before the world ends, I must finish my series "RAIL TRANSIT TERMINOLOGY". So, here is another episode:

"LIGHT RAIL TRANSIT" or LRT, a special North American typology of rail transit terminology that is, in reality, many things at a time.

2/ A short recap, that most of you already know. LRT came to the US via Canada as an adaptation of the Stadtbahn or pre-metro model, that is, a rail system that uses tramway technology in a range of reserved-to-segregated alignements to improve speed, capacity and reliability

3/The German or Belgian model are different though. There, Stadtbahn/Pre-metro systems were developed out of existing tramway networks in the postwar years, mostly coupling new city-center tunnels with existing reserved RoWs (boulevard medians or out-of-street) in outlying areas

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Marco Chitti

@ChittiMarco

3 Jan

1/ Here we are: the third episode of the holiday limited series : "RAIL TRANSIT TERMINOLOGY"

Today, I will focus on two typologies that are separated by a century but are somehow related: "INTERURBAN TRAMWAYS" and "TRAM-TRAIN", or when the streetcar discover the countryside.

2/ Disclaimer: "interurban" describes a wide family of street and off-street rail transit whose technical characteristics are blurred with proper mainline rail. Interurbans are effectively a family of rail transit solutions ranging from out-of-town tramway to "cheap" local rail

3/ The era of interurbans started in the 1880s, first as steam (or even horse) powered local railways with extensive street-running sections. Yet, the real golden-age, as for urban tramways, begun with the electric traction, spurring the 1885-1915 30-year global interurbans' boom

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Marco Chitti

@ChittiMarco

28 Dec 20

1/ We all know WHAT are the ingredients of a Frequent "Regional Rail" network. But there is little talk often about the "HOW to get there".

The case of Lombardy is quite interesting as it shows that, no matter how long it takes, what matters is to have a PLAN and stick to it.

2/ I'm doing this thread because I ended up reading a number of documents about how, in a general framework of stagnation or even decrease in regional rail use in Italy in the last two decades, Lombardy doubled its daily rail ridership from 400,000 in 2000 to 800,000 in 2018.

3/ Of course, the most "glittering part", the piece of hard infrastructure that enabled such a stark increase in service is the "passante": a cross-city rail link opened in phases between 1997-2004 that allows for through-running of "suburban" trains

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