And Andalu-THEE-a and Cerca-KNEE-as. Also, Andalucía is not a province, it's an *autonomous region* that includes no fewer than *8 provinces* (one of them being Málaga).
Yes, I was about to write that. The costly part (opening tunnels and stations) is done; when the number of daily trips requires it, they can just sell some of the tram and buy bigger trains.
As you mentioned, the ridership has doubled since last year. Last February, I took a few rides on the metro on a Sunday afternoon and it definitely didn't feel empty anymore. In fact Atarazanas station (in the city centre) definitely feels cramped, since the only platform is quite narrow and both disembarking and embarking passengers have to stand very close to each other. Spanish authorities love to call tram systems "metropolitano" or "metro" since it sounds more prestigious, but in reality their services resemble those of a light rail or a tram (same goes for the metro systems in Granada or Seville). It is also widely believed that trams aren't as good as metros since they run overground, so they would rather build "metro" systems that don't interfere with road traffic. This is a huge misconception that has prevented the construction/reconstruction of proper tram lines, so there is a serious lack of tram infrastructure in many medium-sized cities, unlike other European countries. The situation has been improving in recent times, but changes are slow. In spite of its issues, I think the metro expansion has been quite beneficial for Málaga and the price is reasonable (€0.33 per ride). Further expansions are desperately needed, but I wish local authorities (and people) were more open to building more tram lines instead of spending a fortune on the construction of tunnels and underground infrastracture.
@@tim333y7 Well, Seville Metro is considered light rail transit and there's only one operating line at the moment (the second line is expected to open in 2030 at the earliest), so calling it just "metro" is a little bit generous, in my opinion. There is also a short line in the city centre which goes by the name of Metrocentro but it is, in fact, a tram line. Which should be fine, but using the word "metro" is misleading. Overall, one LRT line and one tram line for a city of 700,000 plus a deficient commuter rail system in the metropolitan area. Not great by European standards - and that explains why Seville has one of the highest car use rates in Spain.
@@123pgq yes the vehicles of the seville metro are not high floor metro vehicles like usual, but the system is still a completely grade separated system and even has plattform screen doors on every station, a metro line can technically use tram like vehicles, but still be a metro system if it is completely grade separated I agree its way too little for a city its size, but its still a full on metro
The thing is that a city with the population of 500,000 people isn’t going to have a huge metro system let’s see how many metro systems a city like Malaga size has in USA
10:02 You said it yourself, in the end it doesn't matter how it's built or what kind of public transport is, what matters is the ridership, and Malaga wins that point, even more with the extension to Atarazanas and will be more with the Hospital extension. Amazing review, greetings from Spain!✌
In Southern NJ, there's a town also named Malaga, though that one is pronounced "Malla-guh", the first syllable rhyming with "pal", by locals. Malaga has no trams. Though, it does have a Wawa.
Presumably the platforms were built with the intention of lashing together multiple trams when the traffic demands it. I also noticed a bunch of NaviLens markers around the station, a big plus for accessibility. (The black, cyan, magenta, and yellow tiles that sort of look like multicolor QR codes.)
I'm sure having underground tramways is not unique to Malaga, look at Valencia and Porto (Oporto) for cities with trams that go underground. However, it is unusual to have a fully underground tramway, but this would save on having a shared fleet of vehicles - if the width of the tunnels is large enough it might be possable to switch to a full size train later.
Starting up a escalator or large conveyor belt from zero takes a ton of energy and is hard on components so sometimes idling them at low speed its better then stopping and starting them. Its also much better then leaving them running at full speed.
Got to love zoomers that know nothing and are too dumb to work the obvious out - it would be obvious to blind Freddy they slow down when not in use to save energy.
I came to say this. To add on, it is an energy saving measure, and might also save mechanical wear and tear versus just leaving it going full speed all the time. I know that at least some stations in Puget Sound/Seattle Sound Transit Link Light Rail Line 1 use this. (Angle Lake station definitely does, the others might.) Caleb, I wouldn’t be surprised if other systems that you’ve ridden have this, just that they have higher passenger volumes, so they don’t frequently go into slow mode, so it might not have been obvious.
that is very interesting. I find it odd that running escalators all the time or stopping and starting them is a cultural divide between Europe and the US. Considering that so many escalators used in the US are even built by German companies, it's quite surprising that both areas wouldn't just chose the most efficient option of the two, whichever it is.
@@yaush_ Otis is a American company which I what I see around the most. Also some Schindler which is Swiss. Tho for the most part elevators and escalators are original to what was put in god knows how long ago and the eco modes are newish. I have seen a lot of ecompanies slash their warehouse energy use by updating their conveyor belts. But companies have factory engineers. Malls do not
This is very common across Europe. I saw this at Lentoasema/Airport Station at HEL airport in Helsinki, which made me at first think the escalator was broken for what is a crazy long escalator ride into a crazy deep train station (you basically go to the bottom of the earth and hit a train platform just above the molten lava ;)
2:09 I believe it serves as an energy-saving measure, because, you know, why does an escalator need to move if there's no one currently on it? Exactly. That's why these sorts of escalators have started to become mainstream.
This reminds me of the O Train in Ottawa. The downtown stations are all large underground metro stations, but cater to 1 or 2 tram cars. If you want to roast a transit system you should check it out when it’s running
I remember a full metro system option was considered, but would have required an underground station at uOttawa and a complete realignment around Hurdman station. Also, fully driverless operation was considered (The signalling system used supports it), but platform-edge doors were omitted from the project due to cost.
I rode this system. It’s pretty nice but is indeed quite odd. I couldn’t help but think about just how large the stations are. Like they’re a bit too large than they need to be, although I’m sure this is just a bit of forward planning for when the system eventually expands. I also couldn’t help but think this project must’ve been a bit controversial as the construction of this system must’ve been quite expensive for what it is; a tram. I’m sure it would’ve been feasible to just build it as a normal at grade/grade separated tramway. But alas this is what it is. I’d love to go back in the future as I quite enjoyed my stay in Malaga.
Another system you can speedrun on just one train is the Newark Light Rail as on weekends, service on the two lines operate jointly! Their Alcazaba is pretty cool! It was built starting in the 11th century and then was modified or rebuilt multiple times up to the 14th century. Their big cathedral was constructed between 1528 and 1782, following the plans drawn by Diego de Siloe, who was also the primary architect of the Almería, Granada and Guadix Cathedrals in Spain, Guadalajara Cathedral in Mexico, and the cathedrals of Lima and Cuzco in Peru! Famed traveler Ibn Battuta passed through the city in 1325 and praised it for its beauty, ruby-colored pomegranates, and pottery! The María Zambrano that the city's main station is named after was a Spanish essayist and philosopher associated with the Generation of '36 movement or a group of poets and playwrights who worked during the Spanish Civil War. After the Second Spanish Republic lost in 1939, she went into exile and lived in many places like Italy, Switzerland, France, Mexico, and Cuba. She finally returned to Spain in 1984 after Franco passed away and passed in February 1991 at age 86.
Haha! I had a guest professor from the University at Buffalo and he joked about how it's the only tramway in the world where the line is underground in the suburbs and overgound in the dense city center.
As you mentioned the Phoenicians, it is obligatory for me to reference "Thank the Phoenicians" from Epcot's Spaceship Earth! Andalusia comes from the Arabic name for Muslim Iberia which was "Al-Andalus". Málaga got its name from the Phoenicians who named it Malaka. Besides Belgrade and Málaga, other systems that have used Urbos 3s include Oslo, Antwerp, Mauritius (yes, the African island nation of Mauritius actually has a light-rail system!), the Coast Tram (an interurban tramway along the Flemish coast), Lund in Sweden, and Cuiabá, Brazil. The eye being a reference to the boats there having eyes on them is such a cool reference! Maltese boats (luzzus) have eyes on them because of the Phoenicians as well! Here are some interesting Pablo Picasso facts: Picasso had such a difficult birth and was such a weak baby that when he was born, the midwife thought that he was stillborn so she left him on a table to attend his mother. It was his uncle, a doctor named Don Salvador, that saved him. Because of his father who worked as a painter, Picasso's first word was lapiz, or pencil! His father, who specialized in naturalistic paintings of birds, began teaching him to create artistic works from the age of seven! In all his life Picasso produced about 147,800 pieces, consisting of: 13,500 paintings, 100,000 prints and engravings, 300 sculptures and ceramics and 34,000 illustrations, quite the impressive career for nearly 80 years!
More Málaga history: After being founded by the Phoenicians in 770 BC, the city was under the hegemony of Ancient Carthage from the 6th century BC, and from 218 BC, it was under Roman rule, economically prospering owing to garum production. In the 8th century, after a period of Visigothic and Byzantine rule, it was placed under Islamic rule. But in 1487, the Crown of Castile gained control in the midst of the Granada War. Málaga is known for its Holy Week and Feria de Agosto festivities. The Feria de Agosto commemorates the taking of the city by Isabella I of Castile and Ferdinand II of Aragon on August 18, 1487, five years before the completion of the Reconquista. During the fair, the streets of the city center are adorned with paper lanterns and floral displays, verdiales (which is the most characteristic local variant of flamenco) and decked-out horses and carriages.
the slowing down escalators are a cost saving measure. we have them too in vienna. the reason is, that it is more taxing to the escalator to start it up from 0 to regular speed than to start it up from a very slow speed. it's essentially saving them on mainenance, more than saving them on energy. still cost saving.
I don't know, platforms are long, stations are spacious, tunneling is done, it seems quite future proof. It's easy to add more capacity by using longer sets, pairing units, wtv, or even evolve into a light metro. The surface parts can be an issue though, but not the tunnel sections. It reminds me of Porto's Metro. That said, Europe is full of awkward or poor transit systems...as well as lack of them!
First of all, the current system is small but (very slowly) developing. Currently the system is 13.6 km and it carries almost 14 million people in 2023, with single tram car, and there are similar systems that carry much more. The stations are built for the future to allow larger capacity and longer trains and tunneling allows higher frequency. It´s also possible to convert this in the future to full metro service. Apart from that, this is Spain. Our cities (certainly the central parts) are far more dense with much narrower streets and the costs here are not as high as in the US. The complicated extension to the center was way over budget at the cost of 160 million Euros. Construction of the extension of L2 has started and future extensions will not necessarily by all underground. One more thing about your pronunciation. It is pretty good but you forget the one thing many do, the accented letters. Málaga has one above the "a" so there must be en emphasis on the Má -laga. Andalucía as one above the i so you emphasis the cí Andalu -cí -a, the same goes to Cercanías. Also, CAF is read like a word and not C.A.F by letters. This is usually the case when it can be read as a word, and I believe that in many cases this also applies to English (at list in the US). If it's not cannot be read as a word than it will be by letters like B.B.V.A (a bank).
I've been to Malaga this month and I never used the metro. Only the commuter rail. I found it very convenient. I do find it really odd that Malaga central is just one rail.
The slow escalators when there hasn't been a rider recently are a recent thing to save electricity, not money. Some even stop but I think that was deemed too disconcerting for wide adoption.
It’s not a German fizzy drink, it’s a Spanish city! Try pronouncing Malaga properly. The stress is on the first vowel and it’s one word. I lived there for years, spending a lot of time avoiding the construction work for the metro.
I stayed in Malaga for a few months, years ago, and always wanted an excuse to take this tram because I honestly loved the design of the stations (and I like anything rail related). The only use I found for it was to take it the the local university (which had a really nice library) and to the very end of the line. I used the circanas way more often, because it actually... went places. I now live in Nice and there is a surprisingly similar situation, making the TER 90% of my train travel. I agree with exactly what you said in the intro because even though the Western Europeans mindset is much more positive about transit than your average American, there are these total oddities everywhere! Edit: After watching this video it's awesome to see you do all the things I did haha. I remember how much I love the design language of these Spanish rail systems!
It seems like in Europe there are a lot of mass transit systems that are hybrid light rail and metro systems and hybrid metro and commuter rail systems.
One thing what is a bit of a pity is that you didn't show the surface sections. I've looked it up on the map and the surface sections run besides the street if at all so installing high platforms isn't much of a problem outside of potential residents who don't like seeing proper railway platforms in their eyesight and the only other "justification" are manifacturers (and even they can be convinced to build high-floor vehicles, considering that there still is a demand for them). I wouldn't even call it a tramway outside of the use of tramcars with how off-street it is. Line 2 is even more extreme (total grade separation) and should have used a separate technology with the only justification there being the reversal at El Perchel (which I believe get cut after the line 2 extension) and maintenance facilities but these could have been avoided had line 1 be built high-floor... And I as mentioned last week, with how much of it is grade separate, it should have either been a branching system or fully grade separated (or at least most of the crossings removed on the surface sections).
I'm very conflicted about these types of systems. I understand that it's cheaper and easier to get regular metro trains for the same capacity as the trams. But the low-floor trams require much smaller tunnels and are easier to bury underground if you're doing cut and cover construction. And how much capacity do you lose with a two-three of the seats in the way? 5-10 standees? Sure, but you do get a few extra seats. It's not like we don't have metro systems with waaaaaaaay too many seats taking up space from standees. All in all, I do think that the future of metros is probably low-floor and tram-like. These systems are just so much cheaper to build and extend. And you can easily do a temporary surface alignment if you run out of money or can't tunnel some place. These things may still seem exotic now, but at rate that they're spreading I think that even in 10-15 years they will be perceived as just another type of standard metro/subway.
@@Croz89 But even those tend to waste a ton of space by trying to still be high-floor. So you get a cramped short train that also performs poorly. And it's usually a custom unicorn that cost a ton more than a regular train with the same specs. Why not simply use low-floor vehicles then? They need even less space, are full height, and are a modern vehicle type that is in constant development. Low-floor trams used to be pretty crappy when they first started to get popular. They were mechanically unreliable and hard to work on. Most of those issues have now been sorted. We have fully mature 3rd, 4th, 5th generation designs. I dunno, it seems to me like this is very cost effective standardization that would make new metros a lot cheaper to build and extend.
@@leonpaelinck That's the thing though, I don't think that the service is any different from high-floor trains. What do you actually lose by going low-floor? A few extra seats are added in a few places? Ok, fine you lose like 2% capacity. If you save a couple of billion on smaller tunnels built with very standardized and cost-effective tech... I dunno, sounds like a good tradeoff to me. Long live tne universal vehicle for everything! 😀/jk
@@TohaBgood2 If tunnel height is an issue, you can use third rail with a high floor metro and have the vehicle roof go right up to the ceiling rather than needing to squeeze in a pantograph. There are metro systems with very squat tunnels out there that do this. Generally high floor is better if you can use it, and a grade separated metro can have high platforms, low floor makes sense when you need minimalist kerbside stops in a streetscape.
A tram is a catch all term for a small lightweight rail vehicle that can navigate tight corners. Technically speaking a train is multiple rail vehicles coupled together, but casually it can refer to any vehicle on rails
Odd use of 5-car Urbos 3s but on reflection, reasonably future-proof. Long platforms, mostly dedicated right of way and incorporating Alstom Urbalis CBTC from day one, means they could feasibly upgrade to 6 or 8 car 100km/h metro sets with screen doors and automated operation on the underground section, as demand increases. Platform height would need to be increased too.
MAH-laga
So it is. Somehow didn't notice the accent during my trip or my research!
@@ClassyWhaleDude, the announcements at the stations are pronouncing it correctly, and you still botched it. LOL!
And Andalu-THEE-a and Cerca-KNEE-as.
Also, Andalucía is not a province, it's an *autonomous region* that includes no fewer than *8 provinces* (one of them being Málaga).
The fact is that this system can just upgrade the vehicles and then it becomes a Light Metro system
Yes, I was about to write that.
The costly part (opening tunnels and stations) is done; when the number of daily trips requires it, they can just sell some of the tram and buy bigger trains.
As you mentioned, the ridership has doubled since last year. Last February, I took a few rides on the metro on a Sunday afternoon and it definitely didn't feel empty anymore. In fact Atarazanas station (in the city centre) definitely feels cramped, since the only platform is quite narrow and both disembarking and embarking passengers have to stand very close to each other.
Spanish authorities love to call tram systems "metropolitano" or "metro" since it sounds more prestigious, but in reality their services resemble those of a light rail or a tram (same goes for the metro systems in Granada or Seville). It is also widely believed that trams aren't as good as metros since they run overground, so they would rather build "metro" systems that don't interfere with road traffic. This is a huge misconception that has prevented the construction/reconstruction of proper tram lines, so there is a serious lack of tram infrastructure in many medium-sized cities, unlike other European countries. The situation has been improving in recent times, but changes are slow.
In spite of its issues, I think the metro expansion has been quite beneficial for Málaga and the price is reasonable (€0.33 per ride). Further expansions are desperately needed, but I wish local authorities (and people) were more open to building more tram lines instead of spending a fortune on the construction of tunnels and underground infrastracture.
Seville does actually have a real metro like tho
@@tim333y7 Well, Seville Metro is considered light rail transit and there's only one operating line at the moment (the second line is expected to open in 2030 at the earliest), so calling it just "metro" is a little bit generous, in my opinion. There is also a short line in the city centre which goes by the name of Metrocentro but it is, in fact, a tram line. Which should be fine, but using the word "metro" is misleading. Overall, one LRT line and one tram line for a city of 700,000 plus a deficient commuter rail system in the metropolitan area. Not great by European standards - and that explains why Seville has one of the highest car use rates in Spain.
@@123pgq yes the vehicles of the seville metro are not high floor metro vehicles like usual, but the system is still a completely grade separated system and even has plattform screen doors on every station, a metro line can technically use tram like vehicles, but still be a metro system if it is completely grade separated
I agree its way too little for a city its size, but its still a full on metro
@@tim333y7 you are right, it could be considered a metro system ("metro ligero" in Spanish).
The thing is that a city with the population of 500,000 people isn’t going to have a huge metro system let’s see how many metro systems a city like Malaga size has in USA
10:02 You said it yourself, in the end it doesn't matter how it's built or what kind of public transport is, what matters is the ridership, and Malaga wins that point, even more with the extension to Atarazanas and will be more with the Hospital extension.
Amazing review, greetings from Spain!✌
In Southern NJ, there's a town also named Malaga, though that one is pronounced "Malla-guh", the first syllable rhyming with "pal", by locals.
Malaga has no trams. Though, it does have a Wawa.
Presumably the platforms were built with the intention of lashing together multiple trams when the traffic demands it.
I also noticed a bunch of NaviLens markers around the station, a big plus for accessibility. (The black, cyan, magenta, and yellow tiles that sort of look like multicolor QR codes.)
I'm sure having underground tramways is not unique to Malaga, look at Valencia and Porto (Oporto) for cities with trams that go underground. However, it is unusual to have a fully underground tramway, but this would save on having a shared fleet of vehicles - if the width of the tunnels is large enough it might be possable to switch to a full size train later.
Starting up a escalator or large conveyor belt from zero takes a ton of energy and is hard on components so sometimes idling them at low speed its better then stopping and starting them. Its also much better then leaving them running at full speed.
Got to love zoomers that know nothing and are too dumb to work the obvious out - it would be obvious to blind Freddy they slow down when not in use to save energy.
I came to say this.
To add on, it is an energy saving measure, and might also save mechanical wear and tear versus just leaving it going full speed all the time.
I know that at least some stations in Puget Sound/Seattle Sound Transit Link Light Rail Line 1 use this. (Angle Lake station definitely does, the others might.)
Caleb, I wouldn’t be surprised if other systems that you’ve ridden have this, just that they have higher passenger volumes, so they don’t frequently go into slow mode, so it might not have been obvious.
that is very interesting. I find it odd that running escalators all the time or stopping and starting them is a cultural divide between Europe and the US. Considering that so many escalators used in the US are even built by German companies, it's quite surprising that both areas wouldn't just chose the most efficient option of the two, whichever it is.
@@yaush_ Otis is a American company which I what I see around the most. Also some Schindler which is Swiss. Tho for the most part elevators and escalators are original to what was put in god knows how long ago and the eco modes are newish.
I have seen a lot of ecompanies slash their warehouse energy use by updating their conveyor belts. But companies have factory engineers. Malls do not
This is very common across Europe. I saw this at Lentoasema/Airport Station at HEL airport in Helsinki, which made me at first think the escalator was broken for what is a crazy long escalator ride into a crazy deep train station (you basically go to the bottom of the earth and hit a train platform just above the molten lava ;)
2:09 I believe it serves as an energy-saving measure, because, you know, why does an escalator need to move if there's no one currently on it? Exactly. That's why these sorts of escalators have started to become mainstream.
This looks like some sort of pre-metro as it is called
It reminds me of the Cologne U Bahn.
This reminds me of the O Train in Ottawa. The downtown stations are all large underground metro stations, but cater to 1 or 2 tram cars. If you want to roast a transit system you should check it out when it’s running
I remember a full metro system option was considered, but would have required an underground station at uOttawa and a complete realignment around Hurdman station. Also, fully driverless operation was considered (The signalling system used supports it), but platform-edge doors were omitted from the project due to cost.
I rode this system. It’s pretty nice but is indeed quite odd. I couldn’t help but think about just how large the stations are. Like they’re a bit too large than they need to be, although I’m sure this is just a bit of forward planning for when the system eventually expands. I also couldn’t help but think this project must’ve been a bit controversial as the construction of this system must’ve been quite expensive for what it is; a tram. I’m sure it would’ve been feasible to just build it as a normal at grade/grade separated tramway. But alas this is what it is. I’d love to go back in the future as I quite enjoyed my stay in Malaga.
Another system you can speedrun on just one train is the Newark Light Rail as on weekends, service on the two lines operate jointly! Their Alcazaba is pretty cool! It was built starting in the 11th century and then was modified or rebuilt multiple times up to the 14th century. Their big cathedral was constructed between 1528 and 1782, following the plans drawn by Diego de Siloe, who was also the primary architect of the Almería, Granada and Guadix Cathedrals in Spain, Guadalajara Cathedral in Mexico, and the cathedrals of Lima and Cuzco in Peru! Famed traveler Ibn Battuta passed through the city in 1325 and praised it for its beauty, ruby-colored pomegranates, and pottery!
The María Zambrano that the city's main station is named after was a Spanish essayist and philosopher associated with the Generation of '36 movement or a group of poets and playwrights who worked during the Spanish Civil War. After the Second Spanish Republic lost in 1939, she went into exile and lived in many places like Italy, Switzerland, France, Mexico, and Cuba. She finally returned to Spain in 1984 after Franco passed away and passed in February 1991 at age 86.
I was gonna suggest Newark but I figured you might've beaten me to it! ;)
They should have made it all underground except for the city center like Buffalo
Haha! I had a guest professor from the University at Buffalo and he joked about how it's the only tramway in the world where the line is underground in the suburbs and overgound in the dense city center.
@@Rebasepoisshe wrong lol
Light or pre-metro. Brussels has them too.
Similar system up the road in Granada
YOU CANT SWEAR ITS CLASSY WHALE
can’t find the timestamp
As you mentioned the Phoenicians, it is obligatory for me to reference "Thank the Phoenicians" from Epcot's Spaceship Earth! Andalusia comes from the Arabic name for Muslim Iberia which was "Al-Andalus". Málaga got its name from the Phoenicians who named it Malaka. Besides Belgrade and Málaga, other systems that have used Urbos 3s include Oslo, Antwerp, Mauritius (yes, the African island nation of Mauritius actually has a light-rail system!), the Coast Tram (an interurban tramway along the Flemish coast), Lund in Sweden, and Cuiabá, Brazil. The eye being a reference to the boats there having eyes on them is such a cool reference! Maltese boats (luzzus) have eyes on them because of the Phoenicians as well!
Here are some interesting Pablo Picasso facts: Picasso had such a difficult birth and was such a weak baby that when he was born, the midwife thought that he was stillborn so she left him on a table to attend his mother. It was his uncle, a doctor named Don Salvador, that saved him. Because of his father who worked as a painter, Picasso's first word was lapiz, or pencil! His father, who specialized in naturalistic paintings of birds, began teaching him to create artistic works from the age of seven! In all his life Picasso produced about 147,800 pieces, consisting of: 13,500 paintings, 100,000 prints and engravings, 300 sculptures and ceramics and 34,000 illustrations, quite the impressive career for nearly 80 years!
Birmingham/West Midlands and Edinburgh also use the Urbos 3, and I think Sydney as well
More Málaga history: After being founded by the Phoenicians in 770 BC, the city was under the hegemony of Ancient Carthage from the 6th century BC, and from 218 BC, it was under Roman rule, economically prospering owing to garum production. In the 8th century, after a period of Visigothic and Byzantine rule, it was placed under Islamic rule. But in 1487, the Crown of Castile gained control in the midst of the Granada War. Málaga is known for its Holy Week and Feria de Agosto festivities. The Feria de Agosto commemorates the taking of the city by Isabella I of Castile and Ferdinand II of Aragon on August 18, 1487, five years before the completion of the Reconquista. During the fair, the streets of the city center are adorned with paper lanterns and floral displays, verdiales (which is the most characteristic local variant of flamenco) and decked-out horses and carriages.
It’s a tram-tro
the slowing down escalators are a cost saving measure. we have them too in vienna.
the reason is, that it is more taxing to the escalator to start it up from 0 to regular speed than to start it up from a very slow speed. it's essentially saving them on mainenance, more than saving them on energy. still cost saving.
Did you use a common farecard for both systems or were you required to use a separate card for the Cercanias?
I think it's separate, but that was just my experience! I'm no authority on the subject, I didn't even pronounce the city right 😂
I don't know, platforms are long, stations are spacious, tunneling is done, it seems quite future proof. It's easy to add more capacity by using longer sets, pairing units, wtv, or even evolve into a light metro. The surface parts can be an issue though, but not the tunnel sections. It reminds me of Porto's Metro.
That said, Europe is full of awkward or poor transit systems...as well as lack of them!
It fells like i am in nordkorea seeing empty station that looks like north Korea station
Fun Fact, there is EU wide regulations which enforce the speedlimit of escalators
First of all, the current system is small but (very slowly) developing. Currently the system is 13.6 km and it carries almost 14 million people in 2023, with single tram car, and there are similar systems that carry much more. The stations are built for the future to allow larger capacity and longer trains and tunneling allows higher frequency. It´s also possible to convert this in the future to full metro service. Apart from that, this is Spain. Our cities (certainly the central parts) are far more dense with much narrower streets and the costs here are not as high as in the US. The complicated extension to the center was way over budget at the cost of 160 million Euros. Construction of the extension of L2 has started and future extensions will not necessarily by all underground.
One more thing about your pronunciation. It is pretty good but you forget the one thing many do, the accented letters.
Málaga has one above the "a" so there must be en emphasis on the Má -laga. Andalucía as one above the i so you emphasis the cí Andalu -cí -a, the same goes to Cercanías.
Also, CAF is read like a word and not C.A.F by letters. This is usually the case when it can be read as a word, and I believe that in many cases this also applies to English (at list in the US).
If it's not cannot be read as a word than it will be by letters like B.B.V.A (a bank).
I really like the trams' livery. It's a very unique design, and I like that it taps into elements of the city's cultural heritage.
In 2023, I think, they opened a two station-extension to the historic city centre.
2:10 It'a a cost-saving measure common in many countries in Europe
I've been to Malaga this month and I never used the metro. Only the commuter rail. I found it very convenient.
I do find it really odd that Malaga central is just one rail.
The slow escalators when there hasn't been a rider recently are a recent thing to save electricity, not money. Some even stop but I think that was deemed too disconcerting for wide adoption.
Reminds of a certain project in Toronto...
It’s not a German fizzy drink, it’s a Spanish city! Try pronouncing Malaga properly. The stress is on the first vowel and it’s one word. I lived there for years, spending a lot of time avoiding the construction work for the metro.
Which German fizzy drink are you referring to here? 😂
I stayed in Malaga for a few months, years ago, and always wanted an excuse to take this tram because I honestly loved the design of the stations (and I like anything rail related). The only use I found for it was to take it the the local university (which had a really nice library) and to the very end of the line. I used the circanas way more often, because it actually... went places. I now live in Nice and there is a surprisingly similar situation, making the TER 90% of my train travel. I agree with exactly what you said in the intro because even though the Western Europeans mindset is much more positive about transit than your average American, there are these total oddities everywhere!
Edit: After watching this video it's awesome to see you do all the things I did haha. I remember how much I love the design language of these Spanish rail systems!
Interesting that they use "elevator" instead of "lift" for the english subtext for the elevator
It seems like in Europe there are a lot of mass transit systems that are hybrid light rail and metro systems and hybrid metro and commuter rail systems.
porto had one for years and no one is talking about it
Awesome!
1:33 When it comes to accents, Caleb DID do his research!
Aaahhh now I see where you got the community post idea from
One thing what is a bit of a pity is that you didn't show the surface sections. I've looked it up on the map and the surface sections run besides the street if at all so installing high platforms isn't much of a problem outside of potential residents who don't like seeing proper railway platforms in their eyesight and the only other "justification" are manifacturers (and even they can be convinced to build high-floor vehicles, considering that there still is a demand for them). I wouldn't even call it a tramway outside of the use of tramcars with how off-street it is.
Line 2 is even more extreme (total grade separation) and should have used a separate technology with the only justification there being the reversal at El Perchel (which I believe get cut after the line 2 extension) and maintenance facilities but these could have been avoided had line 1 be built high-floor...
And I as mentioned last week, with how much of it is grade separate, it should have either been a branching system or fully grade separated (or at least most of the crossings removed on the surface sections).
I'm very conflicted about these types of systems. I understand that it's cheaper and easier to get regular metro trains for the same capacity as the trams. But the low-floor trams require much smaller tunnels and are easier to bury underground if you're doing cut and cover construction. And how much capacity do you lose with a two-three of the seats in the way? 5-10 standees? Sure, but you do get a few extra seats. It's not like we don't have metro systems with waaaaaaaay too many seats taking up space from standees.
All in all, I do think that the future of metros is probably low-floor and tram-like. These systems are just so much cheaper to build and extend. And you can easily do a temporary surface alignment if you run out of money or can't tunnel some place. These things may still seem exotic now, but at rate that they're spreading I think that even in 10-15 years they will be perceived as just another type of standard metro/subway.
You can get "light metro" trains that will fit in small tunnels. Quite a few european subways are like this, skinny tunnels with skinny trains.
Don't know man. You still lose so much money in building the tunnels but you only gain a very small fraction of the benefits
@@Croz89 But even those tend to waste a ton of space by trying to still be high-floor. So you get a cramped short train that also performs poorly. And it's usually a custom unicorn that cost a ton more than a regular train with the same specs.
Why not simply use low-floor vehicles then? They need even less space, are full height, and are a modern vehicle type that is in constant development. Low-floor trams used to be pretty crappy when they first started to get popular. They were mechanically unreliable and hard to work on. Most of those issues have now been sorted. We have fully mature 3rd, 4th, 5th generation designs.
I dunno, it seems to me like this is very cost effective standardization that would make new metros a lot cheaper to build and extend.
@@leonpaelinck That's the thing though, I don't think that the service is any different from high-floor trains. What do you actually lose by going low-floor? A few extra seats are added in a few places? Ok, fine you lose like 2% capacity. If you save a couple of billion on smaller tunnels built with very standardized and cost-effective tech... I dunno, sounds like a good tradeoff to me.
Long live tne universal vehicle for everything! 😀/jk
@@TohaBgood2 If tunnel height is an issue, you can use third rail with a high floor metro and have the vehicle roof go right up to the ceiling rather than needing to squeeze in a pantograph. There are metro systems with very squat tunnels out there that do this. Generally high floor is better if you can use it, and a grade separated metro can have high platforms, low floor makes sense when you need minimalist kerbside stops in a streetscape.
Classy🐳 😃
Premieres in 6 days????
Ok I’ll see everyone in 6 days :P
The trams look very similar to the CAF Urbos 3 trams we have in Edinburgh.
They are CAF Urbos 3 indeed. New Urbos 100 trams were also added to Metro Málaga a few months ago.
But how do you see the difference between a Tram and a Metro?
What's the difference between a tram and a train? Trains are just bigger?
A tram is a catch all term for a small lightweight rail vehicle that can navigate tight corners. Technically speaking a train is multiple rail vehicles coupled together, but casually it can refer to any vehicle on rails
This is a year overdue
I have a question for you: Do you share posts?
I like your videos do you have an Instagram page
No
Brilliant video sir.
Odd use of 5-car Urbos 3s but on reflection, reasonably future-proof.
Long platforms, mostly dedicated right of way and incorporating Alstom Urbalis CBTC from day one, means they could feasibly upgrade to 6 or 8 car 100km/h metro sets with screen doors and automated operation on the underground section, as demand increases. Platform height would need to be increased too.
Trams in tunnels yuk
Try Brussels or much of Nord Rhein Westfalia, where underground trams are really useful and come back on street outside the city core
Sorry dude, couldn't watch your video just because of the annoying botched city name.
Fair enough
I love them and I have a folder about them
come take a ride! (at folder 2) :))
🚅🚈🚞🚝🚂🚃🚄
trains, trams, aren't they all beautifull