In the last two decades of this century, light rail systems were built in a number of European and American cities. In cities with existing light rail systems, these were improved by realising own right-of-way, priorities at signalised intersections and by introducing monitoring and control systems. Improvement measures were taken also for the existing Dutch light rail systems of Amsterdam, Rotterdam and The Hague. Light rail systems are advantageous compared with bus in capacity, speed, reliability and comfort. They demand, however, high investments both in infrastructure and rolling stock. Operation is generally cheaper. The operational costs consist of kilometer costs (fuel, vehicle repairs), vehicle repairs), personnel cost and capacity costs (annual cost and housing of vehicles). For the Dutch systems, the operational costs (excluding infrastructure costs) were analyzed and compared with bus cost. Remarkable differences were found amongst the light rail lines (both within each city and between the cities) and between light rail and bus lines. A model was developed describing operational costs as a function of the number of passengers, the length of the line, the speed and the number of trips. The low speed found on a number of lines, which is mainly caused by short stopping distances and hindrance from road traffic, appears to be an important explanation for the high level of the operational costs for these lines. From this study the conclusion was drawn that light rail can play an important role in the public transport systems of middle-sized cities too small for a metro system, provided it performs the function of linking the big centres of activity, offering a high speed by a low access density and a high degree of right of way.
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