Very Light Rail technology discussed at meeting

Technology involved with Coventry’s Very Light Rail (VLR) system is a game-changer for the UK and could boost Coventry City Council’s coffers. That was the message from the Nicola Small, the VLR programme director who has been involved with the project from day one.

At a meeting of the council’s business, economy and enterprise scrutiny board, she outlined some of the work that had gone on ahead of the next phase of the project which will link Coventry railway station to Coventry University Technology Park.

She said: “I have had the privilege of being involved since the beginning so it is great to see things finally happening on site as it has been a lot of work over the past seven or eight years with research and development (R&D) taking place behind closed doors. But what we have demonstrated with our off-site tests is that we have really hit upon something that is game-changing for the UK and in particular for Coventry.”

The council owns the rights to the revolutionary trackbed – the universal slab – being used for the VLR and there has been interest in the system from both home and abroad. The trackbed is just 30cm deep compared to those used on systems like the Midland Metro which are more than three times the size.

“We have lots of interest and it is quite difficult to manage that while delivering the programme,” she added. “We are in conversation with lots of different councils and just last week spoke to a Canadian delegation.

“We have also spoken to people in Australia and Ireland and are trying to work very closely with South Yorkshire who have a renewals programme which would give us an ideal opportunity to test the universal slab in Sheffield where they have the heaviest tram in the country. We do have buy-in from their chief executive and are currently working with the officers to try and make that happen, hopefully in the next financial year.”

Colin Knight, director of innovation at the city council, added: “We want this to be an exemplar. This is the concluding part of the R&D stage of the project and we own the majority of the intellectual property rights so there is a great opportunity for the city council to capitalise on this, so we need it to be successful.

“You can’t make an omelette without cracking eggs so I am not going to sit here and say there will be no disruption because that is not the case. But what we can do is manage it in a way that is far less damaging than if you were putting a conventional tram in. That is the point to bear in mind.

“I’m sure most of us can remember Broad Street in Birmingham which was closed for around four years. What we are talking about is measuring disruption in weeks, not years, and that is a critical point which makes it more affordable so that it can be adopted in many more towns and cities. There is so much opportunity with this and we need to make sure we capitalise on it.”