As we notice day by day more cities are running light rails to benifit their commuter and cut back on pollution. How come the cities don't used the same system and equipment? Keep a standard and price control? Which city run the best light rail in the country?
Actually, having only one builder would create a monopoly and would more likely mean higher prices and a less advanced product. Companies competing for business work to come up with new advances in technology while working to still have the best price and highest quality.
The only standardized streetcar design was the PCC and that was a modular concept with the various design patents held by the Transit Research Corp. TRC would grant licenses to any builder who could meet the specs. As it turned out, only Pullman-Standard and St. Louis Car Co. came up with conforming bids. Brill would regularly put out non-conforming bids and was never licensed to build PCC's.
Prior to the PCC and apparently since that time, each operator has developed its own set of specs and builders bid on those specs, leading to a lot of customized short production runs.
As has been noted, the PCC car was the only "standard" ever set in the industry and even that had many variations. The fact is that each city has its eclectic and real needs and differences. Climate, clearances, distances, densities, available power sources, available monies, concepts, engineering proclivities, geography, history etc. all enter into the final decsions.
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There was a standard car before the PCC. Single-truck Birney Safety Cars were used in 332 cities world-wide, about 300 in the USA and Canada, but also in Austrailia and Holland. It had several variations, as did the PCC: Four doors, two on one side, front corner double end, double doors, single doors, single-end, double-end, built by just about every USA and Candadian car builder. Some still running in heritage operations.
Almost all the USA light rail cars ARE STANDARD CARS, used in many European and other cities worldwide. Note that Salt Lake City had no trouble borrowing and using Dallas cars for its Olympics. Don't let minor cosmetic differences fool you.
The Norristown 100 SEPTA cars are not standard. The MBTA Bredas and the Shaker Heights Bradas are are not standard. Other then that........
The reason I was asking the question. Let's take Austin CapitalMetro. It's been taking longer than expected. THey have found alot of errors. If everyone use a standard system for cars and equipment. We shouldn't have this problems.
First, Capitol Metro is diesel. Most light rail lines are overhead wire electric. Second, as far as I know, the Stadler car used by Capitol Metro is a very minor variation on a standard car widely used in Europe. The problem was in the signal systems, inlcuding crossing protection activation, and not the vehicle itself.
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