Tours tramway refers to

tram A tram (called a streetcar or trolley in North America) is a rail vehicle that travels on tramway tracks on public urban streets; some include segments on segregated right-of-way. The tramlines or networks operated as public transport are ...

networks of the city of

Tours Tours ( , ) is one of the largest cities in the region of Centre-Val de Loire, France. It is the Prefectures in France, prefecture of the Departments of France, department of Indre-et-Loire. The Communes of France, commune of Tours had 136,463 ...

, in

Indre-et-Loire Indre-et-Loire () is a department in west-central France named after the Indre River and Loire River The Loire (, also ; ; oc, Léger, ; la, Liger) is the longest river in France and the 171st longest in the world. With a length of , it ...

, in the French region of

Centre-Val de Loire Centre-Val de Loire (, , ,In isolation, ''Centre'' is pronounced . ) or Centre Region (french: région Centre, link=no, ), as it was known until 2015, is one of the eighteen administrative regions of France. It straddles the middle Loire Valley ...

, at different times: # A network that functioned from 1877 to 1949. # A new network called RBD, designed from the 1990s, which was inaugurated on 31 August 2013, and is part of Fil Bleu (literally, ''blue wire''), the transit network of the

Touraine Touraine (; ) is one of the traditional provinces of France. Its capital was Tours. During the political reorganization of French territory in 1790, Touraine was divided between the departments of Indre-et-Loire, :Loir-et-Cher, Indre and Vie ...

agglomeration. It consists of a 15 km line with 29 stations. A second line could be built in the future, by installing rails on part of existing network TCSP Bus with High Level of Service, as was the case for the first line.

First-generation tram network (1877-1949)

Municipality Tours proposed the creation of a tramway in the city in 1874. Tours had spoken to a Belgian entrepreneur, Frederick the Hault, founder of the French General Tramways Company and with that the company commissioned the first network of public transport in the city, pulled by horses on 8 July 1877. Another operator extended the network in 1889 to

Vouvray Vouvray (, , ) is a commune in the Indre-et-Loire department in central France. It is around 9 km east of the centre of Tours. It is best known for its production of white wine, rated among the best in France. Population Education Schoo ...

along the Loire, on 7.6 km, with trams hauled by steam locomotives. A new company, the Tramways Company Tours was founded in 1898 to electrify and expand the urban network, which reaches 20 km in 1900. During the First World War in 1916 some sections were abandoned. Suburban lines closed in 1932 before road competition from private buses. The tram network was seriously damaged during the Second World War, particularly during the bombing of the tramway facilities in Tours on 20 May 1944, which destroyed the depot. Facilities were repaired as much as possible and the network operated until 14 September 1949, when the last tram was replaced by buses.

Network Map

References

External links

filbleu – official operator of the Tours tramway
Tram transport in France Transport in Tours, France

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