Actually, the wires above (and the rails below) are the main thing they have in common: typically they don't bother putting the overhead wires in the renderings, but both streetcars and LRVs are powered by overhead wire.
The main differences:
LRVs are larger vehicles, 60-80 feet, intended for operation as multiple-unit trains. Streetcars are smaller, 30-50 feet, intended for single-unit operation, although some can be MU'd. Streetcars deal with auto traffic a lot better because they're about the same size as a modern bus, and won't block off a block at a time and interfere with intersections as much as LRVs.
LRVs are heavier, requiring a lot heavier roadbed and track. Putting in the LRV line on 7th/8th required deep trenches, rerouting of utilities, encounters with archaeological remains, etcetera. Streetcar lines only need a trench about a foot deep, so no running into utility lines or ancestral burial grounds. You can lay a city block's worth of track in a week or two instead of a couple months.
Streetcars are cheaper, both the vehicles and the lines--and the overhead, which uses simple trolley overhead instead of compound catenary, due to lower maximum speeds. Streetcars are slower, they can't flat-out at 60-70 MPH for inter-city runs like an LRV, but they do fine at 20-40 MPH, in other words, the speeds of city traffic. Costs, all told, are about one-third what you'd pay for a comparable LRV system.
Light rail vehicles are best at interurban and commuter service, operating mostly on private right-of-way with limited sections of street travel. Streetcars, as the name implies, are intended to work on the street, at street speeds.
Quote:
Originally Posted by jsf8278
What's the difference between a street car and light rail? From the looks of the street car proposed for the Tower bridge it looks exactly the same as the light rail cars all around the city minus the wires above. Is that really the only difference?
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