Quick design: Metro Sul do Tejo (light rail) network diagram. Straight forward design with obvious angles. Did it for fun! Enjoy! Constructive feedback is welcome. Chris

2 comments

  2. Hey, the map looks nice. Just want to share my point of view after looking at it for a while. Please don’t take this badly and I might not have the full picture. For context I’m not from the region but I’m an urban and transport planner.

    1. You need a main station in the midle, typically an intermodal station. This is one of the most important points, as its the easiest way to bring together different lines. In your example, someone that wants to go from Pragal to Cova da Piedade it has to go to Bento Gonçalves. That is going back and that equals to losing time.
    2. Without having a intermodal station that unites several lines, you get to the point where you are: the yellow line is not need, nor is either the green or the blue going from Bento Gonçalves to Cacilhas: You only need one.

    Now with those two points made, here are the compromise. If you build your main station in the midle of Pragal and Cova da Piedade it won’t have enough catchment (people around the station to use it). So, you are left with either building it on Cova da Piedade or Pragal. You chose the one that has more catchment (amount other factors ofcourse). This means that everyone that is using the green line has to come to Cova da Piedade (and that is in fact a detour) to go to Cacilhas but is far more inexpensive in comparison to having to build infrastructure for three lines, as in terms of tunnels construction you would have double the size, and on stations, instead of 2 carrige-ways, you would need 4 (one for each line, for each direction).

    In sum, you can make it with two lines, and chose the one that goes up to Cacilhas based on the sum of people that each catch from the start. If the sum from the blue line is bigger, than, thats the one that goes all the way and in the midle, Cova da Piedade, green ends.

    In terms of stations I don’t have the scale but it should be at max 600m between stations. Thats well documented, and is typically what every TOD city development aims for. In this case, the metro came after the city (contrary to the model).

    Finally, despite not knowing well the area, I think it would make sense to connect the green line to Costa da Caparica, since its a famous beach that attract a lot of people all year, and Charneca da Caparica, the last major urban agglomeration on that line.

    These are my only comments. Margem sul of Lisbon is really hard to connect. There are a lot of urban areas far away from each other, making a subway not ideal.

    Again, don’t take this in a bad way. Loved the map, love what you do and keep doing it. This is really amazing to see 😀

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