Light rail systems without wires?

For over 110 years, the use of overhead wires to power streetcars and more recently their successors, light rail vehicles, has been considered unsightly and undesirable by politicians and the general public alike. At the turn of the century many cities passed ordinances against them and many alternative power feed concepts were attempted, the most successful being the slot or conduit system used in New York City, Paris, London and Washington, DC until as late as 1963. In the end however, overhead wire (OCS) systems proved to be the most reliable and are now used on all streetcar and light rail systems worldwide. The dream of having a "wireless" system has not died, new technological developments in fuel cells, flywheels, micro-turbines, batteries, hybrid vehicles and various ground level switched contact systems such as STREAM, ALISS and INNORAIL are showing signs of offering a practical alternative to overhead catenary systems. Of particular interest are the latest European developments in hybrid light rail vehicles in Karlsruhe, Germany under the ULEV-TAP research program and the cutting edge INNORAIL ground level switched contact system being installed over nearly half the new light rail system in Bordeaux, France. From these developments, we can conclude that practical alternatives to overhead wire power systems for light rail systems are at last becoming service proven and commercially available.