Trams go off the rails in Yibin, China

In which I fail to convince Wellington's mayor of my research credentials

Making Wellington New Zealand’s capital city was a big mistake.
把新西兰的首都这个身份赋予惠灵顿，对我来说是个错误。

As much as I like the “coolest little capital”, as Stephen Levine humorously points out in New Zealand as it might have been, but for a narrow 1856 vote the Beehive would be in a far better place: Nelson.
虽然我作为惠灵顿市民喜欢‘世界最酷的首都’，我赞誉新西兰政治学家史蒂文•勒维呢在‘假想的新西兰’的一篇文章。勒维呢在文章中使用幽默指出，要不是一些全国议会员1856年回心转意，蜂窝内阁大厦很可能位于南岛背部城市尼尔逊。

Politicians’ sunny disposition would mirror the Nelsonian climate, Te Whanganui-a-Tara windfarm would supplement New Zealand’s hydroelectric dams with more renewable energy and necessarily strict earthquake building standards would not force the closure of office blocks, libraries and town halls.
作者认为气候宜人的尼尔逊会净化领导人的脾气。与此同时，‘多风的惠灵顿’会当上全国最大的风力电厂，而市民会避免惠灵顿的地震风险。

Instead, our capital is situated in a city which experienced major earthquakes in 1848 and 1855 and is, by all accounts, overdue for ‘the big one’ by about 10,000 years.
但事实上，我们首都位于一座1848年和1855年发生的巨大地震的北岛南部。专家们估计，惠灵顿下一个大地震已预期一万年。中央政府提高了对地震风险地区的建设标准，因而导致首都图书馆和市政大厅被关闭了。

In that perilous situation, local politicians are wary of building more public transport despite traffic in the city getting worse year after year. In the last couple of years, Mayor Justin Lester has shown interest in ‘trackless trams’ as a cheaper, faster to install, more flexible and more earthquake-resilient alternative. He wanted to travel to Zhuzhou, China where ‘trackless tram’ carriages have been on trial. They are produced by CRRC’s Zhuzhou CRRC Times Electric which, if I’m not mistaken, is the same company putting batteries in Wellington’s former trolleybuses.
在这个危险的情况下，虽然城市中心越来越堵，但是当地政府成员把建设轨道视为畏途。近年来，惠灵顿市长Justin Lester对‘智轨’这个建设成本低，建设速度快，线路灵活，有抗震性的公交方式感兴趣。他想去中国株洲访问示范线。智轨是株洲电力机车研究所有限公司制作的，该公司好像上年中标把电池放在惠灵顿备用无轨电车里。

While on my way back from Beijing to Wellington, I heard the regional council rebuffed Mayor Lester’s very ‘thin’ proposal to visit CRRC's Zhuzhou test carriages. At the time, I was nowhere near Zhuzhou, but riding a high-speed train to Chengdu. I emailed the mayor’s office to ask if he’d like me to take a day trip from there to Yibin City, which had just experienced an earthquake, to see its trial track. I didn’t get a reply, but decided to go and see for myself out of pure curiosity.
我坐高铁去成都的时候，听说由于倡议文件的不足，惠灵顿区域政府拒绝了市长Lester观察株洲智轨的倡议。我发给市长的办公室邮件，建议我自己跑宜宾示范线一趟。当时，宜宾县发上了地震，可能有助于惠灵顿是委员会的决定。虽然到了成都但没有回复，但是我这个好奇的人决定去看一看。

Yibin’s carriages trundle along a seven-station route on the city’s northeastern outskirts. A further five stations linking the existing line to the high-speed train station via the city centre were still being built when I visited. Yibin News Online reports the total network is expected to cover roughly 17.8 kilometres and cost about RMB1.1 billion (NZD241.8 million). If the report is accurate, that works out at about NZD13.5 million per kilometre.
智轨列车临宜宾东北部的智轨产业园至酒都路。我参观的时候，临中心至高铁站的示范线的一部分未开通，那五个站没完全建设了。宜宾新闻网报道，该项目全长约17.8公里，计划投资约11亿元。如果报道是准确的，每公里的的建设成本占着13,500,000纽元。

Of course, light rail costs are tricky to calculate, as Neil Gibson points out. A project’s business case depends on engineering standards for the tracks and what lies beneath them, who pays to move underground pipes and wires, as well whether or not to weigh ‘wider economic benefits’ against its costs. For example, a tramline in Newcastle is expected to cost twice as much per kilometre as one built in Canberra. With no specialist knowledge, I won’t even try to estimate the cost for a potential Wellington ‘trackless tram’ line except to say that judging by 2017 photographs of the Zhuzhou line’s construction, any New Zealand constructor could expect additional costs to meet New Zealand health and safety standards.
当然，正如Neil Gibson指出，有轨道车的建设成本毫不容易。某个计划的商业案例在于轨道的工程标准，谁负责改变管线的成本，并且怎么算计划的经济效益相对这些成本。例如，专家认为，澳大利亚纽卡斯尔的有轨电车系统的公里均成本高于坎培拉一倍。作为门外汉，除了说如果2017年在株洲拍的照片有代表性，某个新西兰建设者必须预算较高的工地安全成本，我无法估计惠灵顿潜在的智轨系统的成本。

However, I can tell you about the ride. Although Australian academic and ‘trackless tram’ advocate Dr Peter Newman has been quoted as saying the carriages travel “significantly faster than most traffic”, the one I rode in seemed to go a bit slower than the cars, which had three lanes on each side of the line for most of the rather straight ride.
但是，我会描述一下我在车辆内的体验。虽然澳大利亚公交专家和智轨倡导者Dr Peter Newman 表示车辆比普通交通相当快，我坐的智轨跑得比骑车慢。汽车有三条车道在很直的示范线的旁边。

An estimate from my phone’s GPS suggests an average speed of about 20 kilometres per hour across the trip, or 20-30 kilometres per hour if we take out time spent stopped at stations. A cold-weather trial in Harbin in late February was limited to 30 kilometres per hour. It’s a far cry from the up to 70 kilometres per hour top speed cited in press releases and studies on the carriages.
据手机GPS估计，智轨运行时的平均速度达到30公里/小时。在哈尔滨的低温环境试跑中，全程限速30公里/小时。由一些宣传和文章引用的70公里/小时设计最高时速对比，这个速度天壤之别。

The manufacturers have suggested sensors attached to the carriage which detect painted lines could one day allow the carriage to drive itself. For now, however, drivers at the wheel.
制作商暗示车辆的能够认识路上的白线地面信号系统和监控系统，车辆有自动驾驶潜力。然而现在车辆是人类控制的。

One aspect I couldn’t check was the carriage’s capacity. It’s supposed to hold 307 people, but there simply weren’t enough passengers to check. When it comes to the carriages’ effects on other traffic, the handful of locals I talked to had no firm conclusions, with the exception of a motorist who said because some cars currently drive in the carriageway at peak hours, the carriage has no real advantage.
另一个方面我无法调查是车辆的载客量。据报道，最大载客人数307人，但是列车内的乘客不够。在智轨对私家交通的影响的方面，我跟一些本地人聊天，但除了一位出租车司机以外他们的看法没有那么坚强。后者认为因为高峰中，一些私家汽车使用智轨的车道，智轨对其他公交没有优势。

As the formerly enthusiastic Miami-Dade county mayor Carlos Gimenez put it after his test ride in Zhuzhou, “it was alright”.
正如美国迈阿密-戴德县县长Carlos Gimenez在访问株洲示范线后，“还行吧”。

Gimenez noted the vehicle was unable to go very fast given the confines of the test track. “It has potential, but it left me wanting,” he said. My experience of the carriage was about the same.
Gimenez提示因为株洲试验线比较短，智轨不能实现高时速。Gimenez说“有潜力，我实在不敢恭维”。我的体验也是如此。

In Gimenez’ case, his trip aimed to implement a public transport plan from 2002 to grow the city’s existing rail network into its suburbs. Like San Antonio mayor Ron Nirenberg, who abandoned his hopes to return streetcars to the city, Gimenez is constrained by what Gibson considers excessive US engineering standards, a change of federal transport funding priorities, and past decision-making scandals about streetcar routes.
Gimenez访问株洲是为了贯彻迈阿密-戴德县2002年公交计划。该计划设想扩展迈阿密的轨道网络到郊区。Gimenez和圣安东尼奥市长Ron Nirenberg的电车理想都面临美国极高工程建筑标准，联邦政府运输优先次讯的波动性，和一些关于决定路线过程的丑闻。后者放弃了他的有轨电车理想，也对智轨感兴趣。

Information about the financing of Yibin and Zhuzhou’s ‘trackless trams’ has been hard to come by. However, their unusual design and the fact they are described on signs from the operator and the municipal government website as demonstration lines (示范线) makes me think of an unusual project. In Hengyan, Hunan province, carmaker BYD (比亚迪) hoped to build a SkyRail (云轨) project . Business paper Caixin suggests local officials gave it a different name and called it a demonstration line in a failed attempt to skirt central government funding scrutiny rules.
宜宾和株洲智轨的融资条件信息来之不易。然而，智轨的非传统的设计和他们示范线的身份让我想到一顶项目。在湖南省衡阳市，汽车制造商比亚迪投入一定“云轨”项目。据财新报道，当地官员为了绕行国家改革和发展委员会，称呼这条示范线“云轨”。

BYD agreed to build a Skyrail factory in Jining, which started installing a line in 2017. Similarly, part of a public-private sector agreement about Yibin’s carriages included an RMB4 billion (NZD884 million) investment in the construction of a production base located at the end of the test line. Zhuzhou, home to the first test line, is the manufacturer’s home city. Yibin Daily reporter Peng Shihong notes that although locals have their doubts about the line's effects on local traffic, the production plant would create new industry in the city.
比亚迪向济宁市政府承诺投资建一座云轨整车制造基。比亚迪2017年开始建设示范线。同样的，公共和私营伙伴决定在宜宾投资40亿元打造轨道交通产业基地。第一条示范线位于株洲，智轨制作商的总部。日报记者彭世宏指出，虽然“一些人对智轨的疑虑”， 但是“它的背后还有。。。重塑一个全新的产业链”.

Financing is also an issue in Wellington, where the relative priority given to roading and an as-yet unspecified “mass transit” project divides central government’s opposition and government political parties. In Auckland, a city councillor has suggested the Chinese carriages be used as a way of speeding up public transport development at low cost. Auckland’s high debt levels means it depends on government support for major infrastructure projects. Its mayor, whose challenger accuses him of waging ‘a war on cars’, says construction of a tram line could start next year.
在惠灵顿，融资也是一个挑战。在这里，中央政府和反对派对私家交通和公交的相对优先权有不同的看法。奥克兰市议员杨宗泽也建议了用智轨实现快捷成本低公交网络发展。由于奥克兰债务的关系，市政府靠中央政府的融资支持。市长Phil Goff估计明年开始建设一条有轨电车，他的对手认为Goff的政策等于对汽车征伐。

It seems ‘trackless trams’ sometimes serve as ‘compromise carriages’, technical attempts to resolve what are ultimately political deadlocks between local and central government.
在某种意义上，‘智轨’意味着‘妥协之车’，把科技创新看成中央当地政治僵局的法宝。

That’s not to say the vehicles can’t become practical modes of public transport. The French city of Metz’ Mettis service, a diesel-electric hybrid Belgian-built version of the carriages, has completed five years of service. Similar carriages operate in Geneva as trolleybuses supplementing the city tram network.
这不是说智轨完全没有效用。法国梅斯Mettis比利时制造柴电智轨已经五年运营了。在瑞士日内瓦，类似的电车与有轨电车相辅相成。

More information on the Chinese carriages’ performance might come out of Qatar. That’s where the manufacturer is carrying out high temperature trials ahead of the FIFA 2022 World Cup with the assistance of state-owned enterprise Norinco International. In the meantime, Mayor Lester and Wellington’s chief city planner have been “in liaison with Chinese officials to organise a potential trip in the near future”.
智轨在卡塔尔的试跑可能带来更多性能信息。2022年世界杯前，北方国际合作帮助中国中车贯彻高温试跑。同时，惠灵顿市长Lester和总城市计划专家已跟中国官员商量潜在访问。