Detailed analysis of the tram tracks of konya: the comparison of the construction and maintenance cost between ballasted and ballastless tram track superstructure types

Human being is restless, so since the beginning, because of various reasons, they move around. People has to get involved in transportation network, sometimes with the aim of travelling, sometimes moving and sometimes because of business life. As an example, some people living in İstanbul, who are transport from one continet to the other (Europe to Asia) because of educational need or business life. Accompanied by developing and increasing population problems, transportation brings major problems in crowded cities. Transportation is being a visible problem of administration in developing and developed countries in all over the world and to resolve this problem in efficient and productive way is the mass transportation which is sustainable and also enviromental. There are many types of mass transportation methods with different forms based on structure and demands of the city. For instance, in some seasides regions, ferries or boats may be an effective way of solving transportation problems or in over-populated regions may use suburban lines. A tram (or tramway, trolley, streetcar) is a light-rail vehicle for public transport. Trams are distinguished from other forms of light rail in that they travel along tracks laid down in the right-of-way of city streets. Another distinguishing factor is the short length of the vehicle, which usually consists of a standalone car or three at most. A special type is the cable car.Tram systems are common throughout Europe and developing countries were common throughout the Western world in the early 20th century. Early trams were pulled along by horses. Later trams, known as cable cars, attached to a moving cable underneath the road. The cable would be pulled by a steam engine at a powerhouse. Modern trams generally use overhead electric cables, from which they draw current through a pantograph or a trolley pole. In some countries, the word "tram" also refers to small localized transportation systems that do not run on rails. These can be small linked vehicles used to shuttle visitors around a tourist attraction or from a large parking lot into a building such as a shopping center. These trams run on regular paved road with rubber tires. Horsecars were largely replaced by electric-powered trams following the improvement of an overhead trolley system on trams for collecting electricity from overhead wires by Frank J. Sprague. His spring-loaded trolley pole used a wheel to travel along the wire. In late 1887 and early 1888, using his trolley system, Sprague installed the first successful large electric street railway system in Richmond, Virginia. Within a year, the economy of electric power had replaced more costly horsecars in many cities. By 1889, 110 electric railways incorporating Sprague's equipment had been begun or planned on several continents When we look at Turkey for example, the tram in the country in the 1880s were drawn by horses and vehicles were tires. This thesis investigates trams which is part of rail systems in mass transportation. Details of the tram will be analysed. In the content of this thesis is, firstly the general scanning of technical literature of lined mass transportation is carried out. Afterwards the detailed tramvay system in Turkey's three big cities will be examined. In particular, tram system in the city of Konya will be discussed. The history and development of using tramvay systems will be studied and the lines will be examined. The first tram track of two tram tracks of Konya, constructed with ballast is the Alaaddin-Selçuk University line and the second one constructed ballastless is Alaaddin-Adliye tram line. Within this thesis, these two lines are researched, common and different characteristics are mentioned and finally the tracks are examined according to the convenience of standarts. In the context, there are two reasons of giving importance to this issue. The first reason is my duty in construction of tracks completed in 2015 Alaaddin-Adliye, as I can reach the technical information of construction of this line easily. The other reason is, Konya is my hometown so I have the chance of getting to know about the technical information of construction of Alaaddin- Selçuk University track. After making multi-dimensional examination of tram cars in section 5 and tram tracks in section 6, the cost comparison which is also included in the title of the thesis has been started.The reason of this section is to determine the advantages and disadvantages of ballasted and ballastless tram tracks compared to each other in terms of cost. In a ballasted tram tracks, maintenance cost was calculated as 83.61% of the initial construction cost of the tram tracks during 40 years which is the service life of the system. On the other hand, this rate is 15.24% of the initial construction cost of a ballastless tram tracks. As a result of these resources and exercises, it was shown that the initial construction of the ballasted tram tracks was 25.31% lower than the initial construction of the ballastless tram tracks. However, in other repects, considering the cost of maintenance process in the long term, it was concluded that constracting ballastless tram tracks was 19% more cost effective than constracting ballasted tram tracks. As a result of this study, ballasted or ballastless tram tracks, and the necessity of European Standarts related with this lines are explained. The compliance of the tracks in Konya with European Standarts was also audited in section 6.3 and in the conclusion section, the compliance with standarts and ideas about the necessity of this issue will be presented. In another point, result of the economical analysis, which superstructure type will be implement for the construction of planned lines of our developing country is determined from the economical point of view. The implementation in accordance with findings in this thesis is presented to provide both the construction of lines in secure and acceptable way to the standarts and to gain favor to the identification of the most advantageous superstructure type economically.