06-05-2016, 03:04 PM
I'll echo that as well. I've ridden many older US (and Canadian) high-floor systems and it's exactly as you describe - stations go from being simple, elevated "sidewalks" to much more cumbersome contraptions with ramps, railings, etc... LA comes to mind - I couldn't believe how huge the stations were, and had to be, because of the high-floor design.
Purely from a technical standpoint, yes, there are merits insofar as slightly reduced track wear to high-floor trams with longer modules and articulated bogies (i.e., Toronto's legacy CLRV & ALRV fleet, Edmonton & Calgary's systems), but with proper track lubrication and the reduced mass of the individual modules in the fixed-bogie LRV's we're getting, it's really not a big deal. Toronto is actually reporting reduced track wear with their new LFLRV's. Fixed bogie has been the norm in Europe for at least a decade now, and everyone's moving toward that direction. The S200 trains Calgary just got are what they are because of the legacy of the existing infrastructure, not because they're technically superior.
Purely from a technical standpoint, yes, there are merits insofar as slightly reduced track wear to high-floor trams with longer modules and articulated bogies (i.e., Toronto's legacy CLRV & ALRV fleet, Edmonton & Calgary's systems), but with proper track lubrication and the reduced mass of the individual modules in the fixed-bogie LRV's we're getting, it's really not a big deal. Toronto is actually reporting reduced track wear with their new LFLRV's. Fixed bogie has been the norm in Europe for at least a decade now, and everyone's moving toward that direction. The S200 trains Calgary just got are what they are because of the legacy of the existing infrastructure, not because they're technically superior.