18TRAM MARKINGS
18.1 The general principles for signing and marking tramways are set out in HM Railway Inspectorate's "Railway Safety Principles and Guidance, Part 2, Section G, Guidance on Tramways" published by the Health and Safety Executive (ISBN 0-7176-0951-0). The following paragraphs give more detailed guidance on the use of road markings for street-running tramways. Early contact should be made with the Inspectorate to discuss design issues.
18.2 Tramways may be categorised as follows:
(i)integrated on-street tramways (see para 18.3) where the part of the highway occupied by the rails may be used by other vehicles or by pedestrians,
(ii) tram gates (see para 18.4), where only trams (and buses if permitted) travel along a short length of road that precedes an integrated on-street system,
(iii) segregated on-street tramways or tram-only streets (see paras 18.5 and 18.6) where the part of the highway occupied by rails may be crossed by pedestrians, but is not normally shared with other road users, or
(iv) off-street tramways (see para 18.7 to 18.10) where the alignment of the track is wholly separate from the highway.
INTEGRATED TRAMWAYS
18.3 Markings are used at junctions (see paras 18.11 to 18.15), at tram stops (see para 18.16 to 18.18) and to indicate the swept path of trams (see paras 18.19 to 18.23).
TRAM GATES
18.4 Access to an integrated route may be controlled by tram gates. These allow the passage of trams (and buses if permitted) using vertical signing to diagrams 953.1 and 953.2 in conjunction with the marking to diagram 1048.2 TRAM ONLY or TRAN & BUS ONLY (see figure 18-1 and para 18.6). Although only these vehicles are allowed to pass through the gate,, otheer vehicles may be encountered in the road ahead.
SEGREGATED TRAMWAYS
18.5 These may take the form of either a road that is reserved for trams only, or one in which other vehicles are allowed, but are physically separated from the tram route. In each case, buses may also be permitted to use the facility. No markings are currently prescribed for tram lanes and they would need to be specially authorised (see para 2.1).
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