First look at the tram proposal for Iskandar Financial Centre

TRANSIT notes with interest that the proposed “city” of Medini, the financial centre for the Iskandar Development Region surrounding Johor Baru which is being built “from scratch” appears to have a tram running in the centre of the town along the north-south axis.

The photo below shows construction of this main road with the right of way for the tram in place. See a larger image here, or at the original page at this link.

This image showing a mockup of the town appears to show the public transport system (flashing lights representing the corridors).

This image shows the proposed “multi-modal transport terminal” but identifies the service as Bus Rapid Transit instead of tram.

Check out a video of Medini after the jump. Look for the tramway which appears from 0:44 to 1:08. Do take note of the crossing tracks at 0.45. The tram itself appears at 0:47

TRANSIT Says:

We know better than anyone that it is impossible to “create” a real.live.breathing.vibrant city – we’ve seen attempts to create “ideal” cities all over the world (Canberra, Brasilia, Islamabad, Putrajaya to name a few) which are more effective as design and planning statements rather than real cities.

At the same time, a tram is a tram and it is nice to see a tram under construction in Malaysia. We wonder how the Iskandar Regional Development Authority has managed to get around existing laws regarding trams (are they road or rail vehicles? is only the first question to ask) – and we are excited to see what will happen.

As always, your comments are welcome.