What's the maximum throughput of a tram line? What factors

Tram lines don't usually use the railway-like traffic control technology, that's one of the main factors that make tram a tram. That means there is no real thing like trains per hour at tram line. There are only theoretical numbers that say how much trams can still go thru a line without making it congested.

>branches and merging
most of the tram systems on the world work actually as a system, not several separated lines. That means there are dosens of branches and merging and junctions in every system. The most busy parts can serve then like one tram every minute. At least that's how it is in my city.

>>1020584
>40 TPH
>TPH
What does this mean? Thousan Per Hour? As in thousands of pax per hour?

You have to take into account how the maximum occupation of rail vehicles is calculated. Standard calculation is four people per square meters. Many specifications will calculate way more than that, which is a Tokyo-style crush load. Picture four people on one square meter, you're already breathing down the other persons neck. More than that is just madness. I'll get back to why I needed to explain this.

I can give you the specific numbers for Barcelona. We have a 2nd gen tram system with capacity for 60m long trams albeit it runs 30m trams that can be coupled together. Each tram has a capacity of 220 pax (seated, plus 4pax/m2 standing). The system is set up to run up to 20 trams/hr, which is one tram every 3 minutes (traffic light phases are 90 sec, so this would be one tram every other green light, this is considered the practical limit). The total is 8800 pax/hr.

Since you mentioned metro, I'll compare this to the municipal metro (there's a few lines that run on commuter systems and have different specs): This system runs 5 car trains, and the lines have no mergers nor intersections. Each train carries 700 pax, although many calculations will consider up to 1200 pax, which the manufacturer specifies as an exceptional (crush) load, which is why I insisted on how to calculate capacity first. This raises the pax/hr number about 70%. With 700 pax/train and 20 trains/hour you get a total of 14.000 pax/hr, not even twice that of the trams. With 1200 you'd get 24.000. At 30 trains/hr, the maximum possible frequency, you'd get 21.000 pax/hr. Of course this is a small-sized metro system.

>>1020629
trains per hour, not that hard to get it

>>1020584
About 30-36 trains per hour/direction, but it depends on a number of intersections, traffic control systems etc.

>>1020634
fuck you with a rake nobody ever says TPH

>>1020643
Next thing you'll tell us you've never heard or PPHPD.

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A few years ago Karlsruhe's tram managed to run 49 trams/hour/direction somewhat stable for the entire day and even went up to 55 within one hour during the morning peak.

The limiting factor were not so much junctions or intersections but the stops. As we run quite long light rail trains, double stops (i.e. two trams standing behind each other and loading simultaneously) are not possible.
But with shorter trams like in OP's picture even denser frequencies could be possible.

Additional info: Our planned tram tunnel (so operating with signals) is set to run 33 trams/hour at the busiest stop. Or even 39 during peak at the current level of service, but no planning document ever mentioned these peak services.

I know that SEPTA's Market Street trolley tunnel can handle up to around 70 tph, but it's grade-seperated and the units are short.

>>1020662
that sounds like an STD gross
>honey, I've just learned I have HPD on my PP