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Light rail is a commonly used mode of public transit in North America. The term ''light rail'' was coined in 1972 by the Urban Mass Transportation Administration (UMTA; the precursor to the U.S. Federal Transit Administration) to describe new streetcar transformations which were taking place in Europe and the United States. The Germans used the term ''Stadtbahn'', which is the predecessor to North American light rail, to describe the concept, and many in the UMTA wanted to adopt the direct translation, which is ''city rail''. However, in its reports the UMTA finally adopted the term ''light rail'' instead.〔Gregory L. Thompson (2003), ''Defining an Alternative Future: Birth of the Light Rail Movement in North America'', Transportation Research Board, http://trb.org/publications/circulars/ec058/03_01_Thompson.pdf〕 ==History of streetcars and light rail== From the mid-19th century onwards, horse-drawn trams or ''horsecars'' were used in cities around the world. In the late 1880s electrically powered street railways became technically feasible following the invention of a trolley pole system of collecting current by American inventor Frank J. Sprague who installed the first successful system at Richmond, Virginia. They became popular because roads were then poorly surfaced, and before the invention of the internal combustion engine and the advent of motor-buses, they were the only practical means of public transport around cities. The streetcar systems constructed in the 19th and early 20th centuries typically only ran in single-car setups. Some rail lines experimented with multiple unit configurations, where streetcars were joined together to make short trains. When lines were built over longer distances (typically with a single track) before good roads were common, they were generally called ''interurban streetcars'' or ''radial railways'' in North America. After World War II, seven major North American cities (Boston, Newark, New Orleans, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, San Francisco, and Toronto) continued to operate large streetcar systems. Some of these cities called their modernized systems light rail in an attempt to differentiate it from their existing streetcars particularly cities that continued to operate both the old and new systems. Cleveland, Ohio, maintained an interurban system (e.g. the Blue and Green Lines) that is equivalent to what is now "light rail", which opened before World War I, and which is still in operation to this day.〔〔〔 In North America, many of these original streetcar systems were decommissioned in the 1950s and onward as the popularity of the automobile increased. Although some traditional trolley or tram systems still exist to this day, the term "light rail" has come to mean a different type of rail system. Modern light rail technology has primarily German origins, since an attempt by Boeing Vertol to introduce a new American light rail vehicle was a technical failure. The renaissance of light rail in North American began in 1978 when the Canadian city of Edmonton, Alberta adopted the German Siemens-Duewag U2 system, followed three years later by Calgary, Alberta and San Diego, California. Historically, the rail gauge has had considerable variations, with narrow gauge common in many early systems. However, most light rail systems are now standard gauge. An important advantage of standard gauge is that standard railway maintenance equipment can be used on it, rather than custom-built machinery. Using standard gauge also allows light rail vehicles to be delivered and relocated conveniently using freight railways and locomotives. Another factor favoring standard gauge is that low-floor vehicles are becoming popular, and there is generally insufficient space for wheelchairs to move between the wheels in a narrow gauge layout. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Light rail in North America」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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