Relationship between Light Rail Systems Design and System Operations

Light rail transit (LRT) offers the widest range of opportunities to the design community in “applications engineering.” There are certainly more varied possibilities in the design and configuration of LRT than in that of rail rapid transit or commuter rail. Consequently, it is particularly important to understand the relationship between applications design and railway operations when deploying light rail. The development of a new rail system should begin with a clearly stated operational requirements document and then evolve to a comprehensive, systems-level design. This evolution must be supported by an active systems integration process. Examples of this approach are taken from the deployment of the Hudson-Bergen Light Rail, a high-performance light rail transit system located in northern New Jersey that is currently in deployment through a design, build, operate, and maintain contract.