| dc.description.abstract | The domestic light rail transit system currently is still under development, and we mainly take a leaf out of foreign countries’techniques for developing the system in Taiwan. As rail system involves comprehensive aspects and techniques, planning such a system requires reference to related technical specifications, regulations and experiences. Although determining a rail type is just a part of the system planning process, it is still a significant one. However, there are no existing studies on evaluating rail type selection for domestic light rail transit system. Therefore, this study aims at proposing principles of selecting and analyzing rail types of light rail transit system. The study first reviewed technical specifications, regulations and references, and analyzed the rail type of the completed Danhai Light Rail Transit (non-ballast track). Furthermore, the study referred to scholarly journals and papers, and comprehensively collected data of various light rail system types, such as monorail rapid transit (straddle-beam monorail), autmatic guided transit (steel running surface) and advanced rapid transit. Five rail type selecting critical factors, i.e., construction costs, duration, vibration and noise reduction, technical characteristics and maintainability, were identified and used as the criteria for comparing light rail systems of various rail types. The features and applicabilities of various rail types were analyzed, and the findings were integrated with and validated by the opinions obtained from rail system experts’ intervies. We believe the study findings can be used as a reference for planning for rail type selection of light rail transit in the future. | en_US |