1863, the world's first underground railway was built in London on 65438+ 10/0. At first, steam locomotives were used for traction. 188 1 year, the first tram was exhibited at the Berlin industrial fair. 1888 Richmond, Virginia, USA, the world's first tram system was put into operation. 1908 The first tram in China was completed and opened to traffic. 1969 the first phase of the first subway in China was completed in June of that year. 1978, at the Belgian International Public Transport Federation, the unified name of the new tram traffic was determined, which was abbreviated as LRT.

According to rough statistics, 360 light rail lines have been built in 50 countries so far.

After the short-term economic recovery after World War II, the construction of underground railway began and accelerated with the economic take-off of the whole world. The 1970s and 1980s were the peak periods of subway construction in various countries. Major cities in developed countries such as new york, Washington, Chicago, London, Paris, Berlin, Tokyo and Moscow have basically completed the construction of subway networks. However, the subway construction in moderately developed countries and regions, especially in developing countries, is in the ascendant. For example, 26 cities in Asia have subways. Except Tokyo and Osaka, which built underground railways before World War II, all other cities were built after the war.

The old tram runs in the middle of the road, mixed with other vehicles, and the intersection is controlled by traffic lights, with slow running speed, low punctuality rate, high noise and poor acceleration and deceleration performance. With the rapid development of automobile industry, the number of private cars in western countries has increased rapidly, and a large number of cars have flooded into the streets, which obviously leads to insufficient urban road area.

Since 1950s, major cities in the world have been dismantling tram lines, and this gust has also spread to China. By the end of 1950s, tram lines were basically dismantled in major cities in China, and only a few lines were retained in Dalian, Changchun and other places, which continue to undertake normal public passenger transport tasks.

In the 1960s and 1970s, during the high tide of subway construction, due to the high cost of subway and the constraints of funds and other factors, western big cities turned their attention to ground tracks while building subways. Using modern high technology, a new generation of low-floor trams has been developed, which has low noise, high speed, flexible turning, convenient for passengers to get on and off, and even can take care of the elderly and the disabled. In the line structure, noise reduction technical measures are also adopted. For lines with high speed requirements, special lanes are used to cross busy roads and enter semi-underground or elevated intersections, which do not affect each other. You don't need high-speed lines to be flush with roads and mixed with cars.

Looking back on the development of urban traffic in the 20th century is a negative process, from the great development of trams to the great demolition. Then the car stepped onto the historical stage and gradually became the protagonist of urban traffic; By the end of the 20th century, urban rail transit represented by subway and light rail resumed its dominant position, which was a spiral process.

After understanding the history of the development of urban rail transit in the world, some friends may be tempted to ask: Since subway and light rail are the leading factors in the development of urban rail transit, and the cost of repairing light rail is much lower than that of subway, why should Chengdu choose to repair subway instead of light rail? This is mainly determined by the urban road traffic conditions in Chengdu. As we all know, the number of private cars in Chengdu has exceeded one million, ranking third in the country, and it is still increasing at the rate of 800- 1000 every day. Although the government has widened and reformed the existing urban roads many times, it still can't meet the road traffic demand. For a simple example, there was a parade of 1000 floats at the 24th Peach Blossom Festival held in Longquan on March 8, 2008. The floats participating in the parade range from Longquan downtown to the Fourth Ring Road in Si Long, close to the Third Ring Road in Chengdu. As you can imagine, just 1000 vehicles can achieve this effect. 100000 or 200000 cars? Comparatively speaking, the construction of light rail still occupies ground roads. Therefore, going underground and building a subway have become the only way to solve the road traffic problems in Chengdu.