Bombardier PRIMOVE underground power system

Bombardier PRIMOVE underground power system
Originally uploaded by rllayman

The big news at the Action Coalition for Transit meeting tonight, in the presentation about Bombardier tram (streetcar) and light rail vehicles, is that the Primove underground power system Bombardier is testing is expected to be able to be deployed as a 100% catenary free operation.

This is different from the Alstom system deployed in Bordeaux, which can run with underground power for short distances (of a couple kilometers) only.

Citadis (Alstom) light rail train in the town center area of Bordeaux where the train runs on underground power. Alstom has stated that (because of engineering and other issues) they don't intend to offer this kind of powering system in North America. Photo by Kenneth Sislak, DMJMHarris.

Primove ends up being the solution for the "problem" in DC, where within the L'Enfant City boundaries, there is a prohibition against the use of overhead wires of all kinds.

While there is an effort within DC to change the law, in a conversation with Delegate Norton she seemed to indicate that there is little interest within Congress over allowing overhead wires, seeing as I am not into spending years of time lobbying on a venture that will likely fail, the Bombardier Primove system is quite attractive.