![Tram in Almada pic-007](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/a2/Tram_in_Almada_pic-007.jpg)
A tram (called a streetcar or trolley in North America) is a
rail vehicle
The term rolling stock in the rail transport industry refers to railway vehicles, including both powered and unpowered vehicles: for example, locomotives, freight and passenger cars (or coaches), and non-revenue cars. Passenger vehicles can be ...
that travels on
tramway track
Tramway track is used on tramways or light rail operations. Grooved rails (or girder rails) are often used to provide a protective flangeway in the trackwork in city streets. Like standard rail tracks, tram tracks consist of two parallel s ...
s on public urban streets; some include segments on segregated
right-of-way
Right of way is the legal right, established by grant from a landowner or long usage (i.e. by prescription), to pass along a specific route through property belonging to another.
A similar ''right of access'' also exists on land held by a gov ...
. The tramlines or networks operated as
public transport
Public transport (also known as public transportation, public transit, mass transit, or simply transit) is a system of transport for passengers by group travel systems available for use by the general public unlike private transport, typi ...
are called tramways or simply trams/streetcars. Many recently built tramways use the contemporary term
light rail. The vehicles are called streetcars or trolleys (not to be confused with
trolleybus
A trolleybus (also known as trolley bus, trolley coach, trackless trolley, trackless tramin the 1910s and 1920sJoyce, J.; King, J. S.; and Newman, A. G. (1986). ''British Trolleybus Systems'', pp. 9, 12. London: Ian Allan Publishing. .or trol ...
) in
North America and trams or tramcars elsewhere. The first two terms are often used interchangeably in the
United States
The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territori ...
, with ''trolley'' being the preferred term in the eastern US and ''streetcar'' in the western US. ''Streetcar'' or ''tramway'' are preferred in Canada. In parts of the United States, internally powered
bus
A bus (contracted from omnibus, with variants multibus, motorbus, autobus, etc.) is a road vehicle that carries significantly more passengers than an average car or van. It is most commonly used in public transport, but is also in use for cha ...
es made to resemble a streetcar are often referred to as "trolleys". To avoid further confusion with
trolley bus
A trolleybus (also known as trolley bus, trolley coach, trackless trolley, trackless tramin the 1910s and 1920sJoyce, J.; King, J. S.; and Newman, A. G. (1986). ''British Trolleybus Systems'', pp. 9, 12. London: Ian Allan Publishing. .or troll ...
es, the
American Public Transportation Association
The American Public Transportation Association (APTA) is a nonprofit group of approximately 1,500 public and private sector member organizations that promotes and advocates for the interests of the public transportation industry in the United S ...
(APTA) refers to them as "
trolley-replica bus
A tourist trolley, also called a road trolley, is a rubber-tired bus designed to resemble an old-style streetcar or tram, usually with false clerestory roof. The vehicles are usually fueled by diesel, or sometimes compressed natural gas.
The ...
es". In the United States, the term ''tram'' has sometimes been used for rubber-tired
trackless train
A trackless train — or tram ( U.S. English), road train, land train, or parking lot train is a road-going articulated vehicle used for the transport of passengers, comprising a driving vehicle pulling one or more carriages connected by dra ...
s, which are unrelated to other kinds of trams.
Tram vehicles are usually lighter and shorter than
main line and
rapid transit
Rapid transit or mass rapid transit (MRT), also known as heavy rail or metro, is a type of high-capacity public transport generally found in urban areas. A rapid transit system that primarily or traditionally runs below the surface may be ...
trains. Today, most trams use electrical power, usually fed by a
pantograph
A pantograph (, from their original use for copying writing) is a mechanical linkage connected in a manner based on parallelograms so that the movement of one pen, in tracing an image, produces identical movements in a second pen. If a line dr ...
sliding on an
overhead line
An overhead line or overhead wire is an electrical cable that is used to transmit electrical energy to electric locomotives, trolleybuses or trams. It is known variously as:
* Overhead catenary
* Overhead contact system (OCS)
* Overhead equipm ...
; older systems may use a
trolley pole
A trolley pole is a tapered cylindrical pole of wood or metal, used to transfer electricity from a "live" (electrified) overhead wire to the control and the electric traction motors of a tram or trolley bus. It is a type of current collector. ...
or a
bow collector
A bow collector is one of the three main devices used on tramcars to transfer electric current from the wires above to the tram below. While once very common in continental Europe, it was replaced by the pantograph or the trolley pole, itself o ...
. In some cases, a
contact shoe
Electric current collectors are used by trolleybuses, trams, electric locomotives or EMUs to carry electrical power from overhead lines, electrical third rails, or ground-level power supplies to the electrical equipment of the vehicles. Those for ...
on a
third rail
A third rail, also known as a live rail, electric rail or conductor rail, is a method of providing electric power to a railway locomotive or train, through a semi-continuous rigid conductor placed alongside or between the rails of a railway ...
is used. If necessary, they may have dual power systems—electricity in city streets and diesel in more rural environments. Occasionally, trams also carry
freight
Cargo consists of bulk goods conveyed by water, air, or land. In economics, freight is cargo that is transported at a freight rate for commercial gain. ''Cargo'' was originally a shipload but now covers all types of freight, including tran ...
. Trams are now commonly included in the wider term "
light rail", which also includes
grade-separated systems. Some trams, known as
tram-train
A tram-train is a type of light rail vehicle that meets the standards of a light rail system (usually an urban street running tramway), but which also meets national mainline standards permitting operation alongside mainline trains. This all ...
s, may have segments that run on mainline railway tracks, similar to
interurban
The Interurban (or radial railway in Europe and Canada) is a type of electric railway, with streetcar-like electric self-propelled rail cars which run within and between cities or towns. They were very prevalent in North America between 1900 ...
systems. The differences between these modes of rail transport are often indistinct and a given system may combine multiple features.
Ultra Light Rail ULR trains are trams are a developing light weight rail type, around <5T/axle (empty), for use in smaller cities and towns to replace main bus routes e.g.
Coventry Very Light Rail
Coventry Very Light Rail (CVLR) is a light rail tram system proposed to operate in Coventry, England. The system has been promoted as being the first of its kind in the United Kingdom. When finished, it will also be the first tram network to op ...
, ULR Partners future-light-rail or lower use branch train lines. They may be normal trams, rail motor sized and/or smaller modular units capable of platooning. They offer all the advantages of traditional trams but their lower weight, prefabricated beam type tracks offer the possibility of avoiding costly services diversions, lightweight OHL Over Head Lines and/or onboard power options e.g. hydrogen, biomethane, battery, may mean reduced/eliminated OHL. Thus installation costs may be lower than traditional trains and trams.
One of the advantages over earlier forms of transit was the low
rolling resistance of metal wheels on
steel rails, allowing the trams to haul a greater load for a given effort. Another factor which contributed to the rise of trams was the high
total cost of ownership
Total cost of ownership (TCO) is a financial estimate intended to help buyers and owners determine the direct and indirect costs of a product or service. It is a management accounting concept that can be used in full cost accounting or even ecolog ...
of horses. Electric trams largely replaced animal power in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Improvements in other vehicles such as
bus
A bus (contracted from omnibus, with variants multibus, motorbus, autobus, etc.) is a road vehicle that carries significantly more passengers than an average car or van. It is most commonly used in public transport, but is also in use for cha ...
es led to decline of trams in the mid 20th century. However, trams have seen resurgence in recent years. In 2014, the
Aubagne tramway in
Southern France became the first tram system in the world
not to charge fares.
History
The history of trams, streetcars or trolley systems, began in the early nineteenth century. It can be divided into several distinct periods defined by the principal means of power used.
Horse-drawn
![Horsetrain 1870](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/e9/Horsetrain_1870.jpg)
The world's first passenger train or tram was the
Swansea and Mumbles Railway
The Swansea and Mumbles Railway was the venue for the world's first passenger horsecar railway service, located in Swansea, Wales, United Kingdom.
Originally built under an Act of Parliament of 1804 to move limestone from the quarries of Mum ...
, in
Wales
Wales ( cy, Cymru ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by England to the east, the Irish Sea to the north and west, the Celtic Sea to the south west and the Bristol Channel to the south. It had a population in ...
, UK. The Mumbles Railway Act was passed by the British Parliament in 1804, and horse-drawn service started in 1807. The service closed in 1827, but was restarted in 1860, again using horses. It was worked by steam from 1877, and then, from 1929, by very large (106-seater) electric tramcars, until closure in 1960. The Swansea and Mumbles Railway was something of a one-off however, and no street tramway would appear in Britain until 1860 when one was built in
Birkenhead
Birkenhead (; cy, Penbedw) is a town in the Metropolitan Borough of Wirral, Merseyside, England; historically, it was part of Cheshire until 1974. The town is on the Wirral Peninsula, along the south bank of the River Mersey, opposite Liver ...
by the American
George Francis Train
George Francis Train (March 24, 1829 – January 18, 1904) was an American entrepreneur who organized the clipper ship line that sailed around Cape Horn to San Francisco; he also organized the Union Pacific Railroad and the Credit Mobilier in th ...
.
Street railways developed in America before Europe, largely due to the poor
paving of the streets in American cities which made them unsuitable for
horsebus
A horse-bus or horse-drawn omnibus was a large, enclosed, and sprung horse-drawn vehicle used for passenger transport before the introduction of motor vehicles. It was mainly used in the late 19th century in both the United States and Europe ...
es, which were then common on the well-paved streets of European cities. Running the horsecars on rails allowed for a much smoother ride. There are records of a street railway running in
Baltimore
Baltimore ( , locally: or ) is the List of municipalities in Maryland, most populous city in the U.S. state of Maryland, fourth most populous city in the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic, and List of United States cities by popula ...
as early as 1828, however the first authenticated streetcar in America, was the
New York and Harlem Railroad developed by the Irish coach builder
John Stephenson, in New York City which began service in the year 1832. The New York and Harlem Railroad's
Fourth Avenue Line ran along the
Bowery
The Bowery () is a street and neighborhood in Lower Manhattan in New York City. The street runs from Chatham Square at Park Row, Worth Street, and Mott Street in the south to Cooper Square at 4th Street in the north.Jackson, Kenneth L. ...
and
Fourth Avenue in New York City. It was followed in 1835 by the
New Orleans and Carrollton Railroad
The New Orleans and Carrollton Railroad (originally Rail Road) was one of six short-line rail systems built to connect the city of New Orleans, Louisiana, with surrounding neighborhoods, in this case, four-and-a-half miles to the resort village of ...
in
, which still operates as the
St. Charles Streetcar Line. Other American cities did not follow until the 1850s, after which the "animal railway" became an increasingly common feature in the larger towns.
The first permanent tram line in continental Europe was opened in Paris in 1855 by
Alphonse Loubat
Alphonse Loubat (15 June 1799 – 10 September 1866) was a French inventor who developed improvements in tram and rail equipment, and helped develop tram lines in New York City and Paris.
Loubat was born in Sainte-Livrade-sur-Lot. He went to New ...
who had previously worked on American streetcar lines. The tram was developed in numerous cities of Europe (some of the most extensive systems were found in Berlin,
Budapest
Budapest (, ; ) is the capital and most populous city of Hungary. It is the ninth-largest city in the European Union by population within city limits and the second-largest city on the Danube river; the city has an estimated population ...
,
Birmingham
Birmingham ( ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in the metropolitan county of West Midlands (county), West Midlands in England. It is the second-largest city in the United Kingdom with a population of 1. ...
,
Saint Petersburg
Saint Petersburg ( rus, links=no, Санкт-Петербург, a=Ru-Sankt Peterburg Leningrad Petrograd Piter.ogg, r=Sankt-Peterburg, p=ˈsankt pʲɪtʲɪrˈburk), formerly known as Petrograd (1914–1924) and later Leningrad (1924–1991), i ...
,
Lisbon,
London
London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...
,
Manchester
Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of Salford to the west. The t ...
,
Paris
Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), ma ...
,
Kyiv
Kyiv, also spelled Kiev, is the capital and most populous city of Ukraine. It is in north-central Ukraine along the Dnieper River. As of 1 January 2021, its population was 2,962,180, making Kyiv the seventh-most populous city in Europe.
Kyi ...
).
![Horsedrawn tram which ran between Newtown Station and St Peters](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/2b/Horsedrawn_tram_which_ran_between_Newtown_Station_and_St_Peters.jpg)
The first tram in South America opened in 1858 in
Santiago, Chile. The first trams in Australia opened in 1860 in
Sydney. Africa's first tram service started in
Alexandria
Alexandria ( or ; ar, ٱلْإِسْكَنْدَرِيَّةُ ; grc-gre, Αλεξάνδρεια, Alexándria) is the second largest city in Egypt, and the largest city on the Mediterranean coast. Founded in by Alexander the Great, Alexandri ...
on 8 January 1863. The first trams in Asia opened in 1869 in
Batavia (now Jakarta), Netherlands East Indies (now Indonesia).
Problems with horsecars included the fact that any given animal could only work so many hours on a given day, had to be housed, groomed, fed and cared for day in and day out, and produced prodigious amounts of manure, which the streetcar company was charged with storing and then disposing of. Since a typical horse pulled a streetcar for about a dozen miles a day and worked for four or five hours, many systems needed ten or more horses in stable for each horsecar. In 1905 the British newspaper ''Newcastle Daily Chronicle'' reported that, "A large number of London's discarded horse tramcars have been sent to
Lincolnshire
Lincolnshire (abbreviated Lincs.) is a Counties of England, county in the East Midlands of England, with a long coastline on the North Sea to the east. It borders Norfolk to the south-east, Cambridgeshire to the south, Rutland to the south-we ...
where they are used as sleeping rooms for
potato pickers".
Horsecars were largely replaced by electric-powered trams following the improvement of an overhead trolley system on trams for collecting electricity from
overhead wire
An overhead line or overhead wire is an electrical cable that is used to transmit electrical energy to electric locomotives, trolleybuses or trams. It is known variously as:
* Overhead catenary
* Overhead contact system (OCS)
* Overhead equipm ...
s by
Frank J. Sprague
Frank Julian Sprague (July 25, 1857 in Milford, Connecticut – October 25, 1934) was an American inventor who contributed to the development of the electric motor, electric railways, and electric elevators. His contributions were especially ...
. His spring-loaded
trolley pole
A trolley pole is a tapered cylindrical pole of wood or metal, used to transfer electricity from a "live" (electrified) overhead wire to the control and the electric traction motors of a tram or trolley bus. It is a type of current collector. ...
used a wheel to travel along the wire. In late 1887 and early 1888, using his trolley system, Sprague installed the first successful large electric street railway system in
Richmond, Virginia. Within a year, the economy of electric power had replaced more costly horsecars in many cities. By 1889, 110 electric railways incorporating Sprague's equipment had been begun or planned on several continents.
![The last of the Horse Drawn Carriages](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/66/The_last_of_the_Horse_Drawn_Carriages.JPG)
Horses continued to be used for light shunting well into the 20th century, and many large metropolitan lines lasted into the early 20th century. New York City had a regular horsecar service on the
Bleecker Street Line until its closure in 1917.
Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
Pittsburgh ( ) is a city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, United States, and the county seat of Allegheny County. It is the most populous city in both Allegheny County and Western Pennsylvania, the second-most populous city in Pennsylva ...
, had its Sarah Street line drawn by horses until 1923. The last regular mule-drawn cars in the US ran in
Sulphur Rock, Arkansas
Sulphur Rock is a town in Independence County, Arkansas, United States. The population was 456 at the 2010 census.
Geography
Sulphur Rock is located approximately six miles east of Batesville along Arkansas Highway 69 and about four miles north ...
, until 1926 and were commemorated by a
U.S. postage stamp
Postal service in the United States began with the delivery of stampless letters whose cost was borne by the receiving person, later encompassed pre-paid letters carried by private mail carriers and provisional post offices, and culminated in a ...
issued in 1983.
The last mule tram service in
Mexico City
Mexico City ( es, link=no, Ciudad de México, ; abbr.: CDMX; Nahuatl: ''Altepetl Mexico'') is the capital city, capital and primate city, largest city of Mexico, and the List of North American cities by population, most populous city in North Amer ...
ended in 1932, and a mule tram in
Celaya, Mexico, survived until 1954.
The last horse-drawn tram to be withdrawn from public service in the UK took passengers from
Fintona
Fintona (; ), is a village and townland in County Tyrone, Northern Ireland. Its population at the 2011 Census was 1,164.
Name and etymology
Fintona is derived phonetically from the Irish name of the area, ''Fionntamhnach''; this is often trans ...
railway station to Fintona Junction one mile away on the main Omagh to Enniskillen railway in Northern Ireland. The tram made its last journey on 30 September 1957 when the Omagh to Enniskillen line closed. The "van" now lies at the Ulster Transport Museum.
Horse-drawn trams still operate on the 1876-built
Douglas Bay Horse Tramway
The Douglas Bay Horse Tramway ( gv, Raad Yiarn Cabbyl Vaie Ghoolish) on the Isle of Man runs along the seafront promenade for approximately , from the southern terminus at the Victoria Pier, adjacent to the Isle of Man Sea Terminal, to Derby Ca ...
in the
Isle of Man
)
, anthem = "O Land of Our Birth"
, image = Isle of Man by Sentinel-2.jpg
, image_map = Europe-Isle_of_Man.svg
, mapsize =
, map_alt = Location of the Isle of Man in Europe
, map_caption = Location of the Isle of Man (green)
in Europe ...
, and at the 1894-built
horse tram
A horsecar, horse-drawn tram, horse-drawn streetcar (U.S.), or horse-drawn railway (historical), is an animal-powered (usually horse) tram or streetcar.
Summary
The horse-drawn tram (horsecar) was an early form of public rail transport, wh ...
at
Victor Harbor in
South Australia
South Australia (commonly abbreviated as SA) is a state in the southern central part of Australia. It covers some of the most arid parts of the country. With a total land area of , it is the fourth-largest of Australia's states and territories ...
. New horse-drawn systems have been established at the
Hokkaidō Museum in Japan and also in
Disneyland
Disneyland is a theme park in Anaheim, California. Opened in 1955, it was the first theme park opened by The Walt Disney Company and the only one designed and constructed under the direct supervision of Walt Disney. Disney initially envision ...
. A horse tram route in
Polish
Polish may refer to:
* Anything from or related to Poland, a country in Europe
* Polish language
* Poles
Poles,, ; singular masculine: ''Polak'', singular feminine: ''Polka'' or Polish people, are a West Slavic nation and ethnic group, w ...
gmina Mrozy, first built in 1902, was reopened in 2012.
Steam
![Bruehl Feuriger Elias](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/9e/Bruehl_Feuriger_Elias.jpg)
The first mechanical trams were powered by
steam. Generally, there were two types of steam tram. The first and most common had a small
steam locomotive (called a
tram engine
A tram engine is a steam locomotive specially built, or modified, to run on a street, or roadside, tramway track.
Legal requirements
In the steam locomotive era, tram engines had to comply with certain legal requirements, although these varie ...
in the UK) at the head of a line of one or more carriages, similar to a small train. Systems with such steam trams included
Christchurch
Christchurch ( ; mi, Ōtautahi) is the largest city in the South Island of New Zealand and the seat of the Canterbury Region. Christchurch lies on the South Island's east coast, just north of Banks Peninsula on Pegasus Bay. The Avon Rive ...
, New Zealand; Sydney, Australia; other city systems in
New South Wales
)
, nickname =
, image_map = New South Wales in Australia.svg
, map_caption = Location of New South Wales in AustraliaCoordinates:
, subdivision_type = Country
, subdivision_name = Australia
, established_title = Before federation
, es ...
;
Munich
Munich ( ; german: München ; bar, Minga ) is the capital and most populous city of the German state of Bavaria. With a population of 1,558,395 inhabitants as of 31 July 2020, it is the third-largest city in Germany, after Berlin and Ha ...
, Germany (from August 1883 on),
British India
The provinces of India, earlier presidencies of British India and still earlier, presidency towns, were the administrative divisions of British governance on the Indian subcontinent. Collectively, they have been called British India. In one ...
(from 1885) and the Dublin & Blessington Steam Tramway (from 1888) in Ireland. Steam tramways also were used on the suburban tramway lines around
Milan
Milan ( , , Lombard: ; it, Milano ) is a city in northern Italy, capital of Lombardy, and the second-most populous city proper in Italy after Rome. The city proper has a population of about 1.4 million, while its metropolitan city h ...
and
Padua
Padua ( ; it, Padova ; vec, Pàdova) is a city and ''comune'' in Veneto, northern Italy. Padua is on the river Bacchiglione, west of Venice. It is the capital of the province of Padua. It is also the economic and communications hub of the ...
; the last ''Gamba de Legn'' ("Peg-Leg") tramway ran on the Milan-
Magenta
Magenta () is a color that is variously defined as pinkish- purplish- red, reddish-purplish-pink or mauvish-crimson. On color wheels of the RGB (additive) and CMY (subtractive) color models, it is located exactly midway between red and blu ...
-Castano Primo route in late 1957.
The other style of steam tram had the steam engine in the body of the tram, referred to as a
tram engine
A tram engine is a steam locomotive specially built, or modified, to run on a street, or roadside, tramway track.
Legal requirements
In the steam locomotive era, tram engines had to comply with certain legal requirements, although these varie ...
(UK) or
steam dummy
A steam dummy or dummy engine, in the United States and Canada, was a steam locomotive enclosed in a wooden box structure made to resemble a railroad passenger coach. Steam dummies had some popularity in the first decades of railroading in the U. ...
(US). The most notable system to adopt such trams was in Paris. French-designed steam trams also operated in
Rockhampton, in the Australian state of
Queensland
)
, nickname = Sunshine State
, image_map = Queensland in Australia.svg
, map_caption = Location of Queensland in Australia
, subdivision_type = Country
, subdivision_name = Australia
, established_title = Before federation
, establishe ...
between 1909 and 1939.
Stockholm, Sweden, had a steam tram line at the island of
Södermalm
Södermalm, often shortened to just Söder, is a district and island in central Stockholm.
Overview
The district covers the large island of the same name (formerly called ''Åsön''). Although Södermalm usually is considered an island, wa ...
between 1887 and 1901.
Tram engines usually had modifications to make them suitable for street running in residential areas. The wheels, and other moving parts of the machinery, were usually enclosed for safety reasons and to make the engines quieter. Measures were often taken to prevent the engines from emitting visible smoke or steam. Usually the engines used
coke rather than coal as fuel to avoid emitting smoke;
condensers __NOTOC__
Condenser may refer to:
Heat transfer
* Condenser (heat transfer), a device or unit used to condense vapor into liquid. Specific types include:
** HVAC air coils
** Condenser (laboratory), a range of laboratory glassware used to remove ...
or
superheating were used to avoid emitting visible steam. A major drawback of this style of tram was the limited space for the engine, so that these trams were usually underpowered. Steam tram engines faded out around the 1890s to 1900s, being replaced by electric trams.
Cable-hauled
![Minories stationLBR](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/95/Minories_stationLBR.jpg)
Another motive system for trams was the cable car, which was pulled along a
fixed track by a moving steel cable. The power to move the cable was normally provided at a "powerhouse" site a distance away from the actual vehicle. The
London and Blackwall Railway
Originally called the Commercial Railway, the London and Blackwall Railway (L&BR) in east London, England, ran from Minories to Blackwall via Stepney, with a branch line to the Isle of Dogs, connecting central London to many of London's docks. ...
, which opened for passengers in east London, England, in 1840 used such a system.
The first practical cable car line was tested in
San Francisco
San Francisco (; Spanish for " Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the fourth most populous in California and 17th ...
, in 1873. Part of its success is attributed to the development of an effective and reliable
cable grip mechanism, to grab and release the moving cable without damage. The second city to operate cable trams was
Dunedin
Dunedin ( ; mi, Ōtepoti) is the second-largest city in the South Island of New Zealand (after Christchurch), and the principal city of the Otago region. Its name comes from , the Scottish Gaelic name for Edinburgh, the capital of Scotland. Th ...
, from 1881 to 1957.
The most extensive cable system in the US was built in
Chicago
(''City in a Garden''); I Will
, image_map =
, map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago
, coordinates =
, coordinates_footnotes =
, subdivision_type = Country
, subdivision_name ...
, having been built in stages between 1859 and 1892. New York City developed multiple cable car lines, that operated from 1883 to 1909. Los Angeles also had several cable car lines, including the Second Street Cable Railroad, which operated from 1885 to 1889, and the Temple Street Cable Railway, which operated from 1886 to 1898.
![Melbourne’s first cable tram](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/2d/Melbourne%E2%80%99s_first_cable_tram.jpg)
From 1885 to 1940, the city of
Melbourne
Melbourne ( ; Boonwurrung/Woiwurrung: ''Narrm'' or ''Naarm'') is the capital and most populous city of the Australian state of Victoria, and the second-most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Its name generally refers to a met ...
, Victoria, Australia operated one of the largest cable systems in the world, at its peak running 592 trams on of track. There were also two isolated cable lines in
Sydney, New South Wales, Australia; the North Sydney line from 1886 to 1900, and the King Street line from 1892 to 1905.
In
Dresden
Dresden (, ; Upper Saxon: ''Dräsdn''; wen, label= Upper Sorbian, Drježdźany) is the capital city of the German state of Saxony and its second most populous city, after Leipzig. It is the 12th most populous city of Germany, the fourth ...
, Germany, in 1901 an elevated
suspended cable car following the ''Eugen Langen one-railed floating tram system'' started operating. Cable cars operated on
Highgate Hill in North London and
Kennington to
Brixton Hill in South London. They also worked around "Upper Douglas" in the
Isle of Man
)
, anthem = "O Land of Our Birth"
, image = Isle of Man by Sentinel-2.jpg
, image_map = Europe-Isle_of_Man.svg
, mapsize =
, map_alt = Location of the Isle of Man in Europe
, map_caption = Location of the Isle of Man (green)
in Europe ...
from 1897 to 1929 (cable car 72/73 is the sole survivor of the fleet).
In Italy, in
Trieste
Trieste ( , ; sl, Trst ; german: Triest ) is a city and seaport in northeastern Italy. It is the capital city, and largest city, of the autonomous region of Friuli Venezia Giulia, one of two autonomous regions which are not subdivided into prov ...
, the
Trieste–Opicina tramway
The Trieste–Opicina tramway ( it, Tranvia Trieste-Opicina, sl, openski tramvaj, Triestine: ''Tram de Opcina'') is an unusual hybrid tramway and funicular railway in the city of Trieste, Italy. It links ''Piazza Oberdan'', on the northern edg ...
was opened in 1902, with the steepest section of the route being negotiated with the help of a funicular and its cables.
Cable cars suffered from high
infrastructure costs, since an expensive system of
cables,
pulleys,
stationary engines and lengthy underground vault structures beneath the rails had to be provided. They also required physical strength and skill to operate, and alert operators to avoid obstructions and other cable cars. The cable had to be disconnected ("dropped") at designated locations to allow the cars to coast by inertia, for example when crossing another cable line. The cable would then have to be "picked up" to resume progress, the whole operation requiring precise timing to avoid damage to the cable and the grip mechanism. Breaks and frays in the cable, which occurred frequently, required the complete cessation of services over a cable route while the cable was repaired. Due to overall wear, the entire length of cable (typically several kilometres) would have to be replaced on a regular schedule. After the development of reliable electrically powered trams, the costly high-maintenance cable car systems were rapidly replaced in most locations.
![San Francisco Cable Car MC](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/98/San_Francisco_Cable_Car_MC.jpg)
Cable cars remained especially effective in hilly cities, since their nondriven wheels would not
lose traction as they climbed or descended a steep hill. The moving cable would physically pull the car up the hill at a steady pace, unlike a low-powered steam or horse-drawn car. Cable cars do have wheel brakes and
track brake
A magnetic track brake (Mg brake) is a brake for rail vehicles. It consists of brake magnets, pole shoes, a suspension, a power transmission and, in the case of mainline railroads, a track rod. When current flows through the magnet coil, the ma ...
s, but the cable also helps restrain the car to going downhill at a constant speed. Performance in steep terrain partially explains the survival of cable cars in San Francisco.
The
San Francisco cable cars
The San Francisco cable car system is the world's last manually operated cable car system and an icon of the city of San Francisco. The system forms part of the intermodal urban transport network operated by the San Francisco Municipal Railway ...
, though significantly reduced in number, continue to perform a regular transportation function, in addition to being a well-known
tourist attraction
A tourist attraction is a place of interest that tourists visit, typically for its inherent or an exhibited natural or cultural value, historical significance, natural or built beauty, offering leisure and amusement.
Types
Places of natural ...
. A single cable line also survives in
Wellington
Wellington ( mi, Te Whanganui-a-Tara or ) is the capital city of New Zealand. It is located at the south-western tip of the North Island, between Cook Strait and the Remutaka Range. Wellington is the second-largest city in New Zealand by metr ...
(rebuilt in 1979 as a
funicular
A funicular (, , ) is a type of cable railway system that connects points along a railway track laid on a steep slope. The system is characterized by two counterbalanced carriages (also called cars or trains) permanently attached to opposite e ...
but still called the "
Wellington Cable Car"). Another system, actually two separate cable lines with a shared power station in the middle, operates from the Welsh town of
Llandudno up to the top of the
Great Orme
The Great Orme ( cy, Y Gogarth) is a limestone headland on the north coast of Wales, north-west of the town of Llandudno. Referred to as ''Cyngreawdr Fynydd'' by the 12th-century poet Gwalchmai ap Meilyr, its English name derives from the Old N ...
hill in
North Wales
North Wales ( cy, Gogledd Cymru) is a region of Wales, encompassing its northernmost areas. It borders Mid Wales to the south, England to the east, and the Irish Sea to the north and west. The area is highly mountainous and rural, with Snowdonia N ...
, UK.
Gas
In the late 19th and early 20th centuries a number of systems in various parts of the world employed trams powered by gas,
naphtha
Naphtha ( or ) is a flammable liquid hydrocarbon mixture.
Mixtures labelled ''naphtha'' have been produced from natural gas condensates, petroleum distillates, and the distillation of coal tar and peat. In different industries and regions ' ...
gas or
coal gas in particular. Gas trams are known to have operated between
Alphington and
Clifton Hill in the northern suburbs of
Melbourne
Melbourne ( ; Boonwurrung/Woiwurrung: ''Narrm'' or ''Naarm'') is the capital and most populous city of the Australian state of Victoria, and the second-most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Its name generally refers to a met ...
, Australia (1886–1888); in Berlin and
Dresden
Dresden (, ; Upper Saxon: ''Dräsdn''; wen, label= Upper Sorbian, Drježdźany) is the capital city of the German state of Saxony and its second most populous city, after Leipzig. It is the 12th most populous city of Germany, the fourth ...
, Germany; in
Estonia
Estonia, formally the Republic of Estonia, is a country by the Baltic Sea in Northern Europe. It is bordered to the north by the Gulf of Finland across from Finland, to the west by the sea across from Sweden, to the south by Latvia, a ...
(1921–1951); between
Jelenia Góra
Jelenia Góra (pron. ; Polish: ; german: Hirschberg im Riesengebirge; Exonym: ''Deer Mountain''; szl, Jelyniŏ Gōra) is a historic city in southwestern Poland, within the historical region of Lower Silesia. Jelenia Góra is situated in the Low ...
,
Cieplice, and
Sobieszów in Poland (from 1897); and in the UK at
Lytham St Annes,
Trafford Park
Trafford Park is an area of the Metropolitan Borough of Trafford, Greater Manchester, England, opposite Salford Quays on the southern side of the Manchester Ship Canal, southwest of Manchester city centre and north of Stretford. Until the l ...
, Manchester (1897–1908) and
Neath, Wales (1896–1920).
On 29 December 1886 the Melbourne newspaper ''
The Argus'' reprinted a report from the
San Francisco Bulletin
The ''San Francisco Evening Bulletin'' was a newspaper in San Francisco, founded as the ''Daily Evening Bulletin'' in 1855 by James King of William. King used the newspaper to crusade against political corruption, and built it into having the highe ...
that Mr Noble had demonstrated a new 'motor car' for tramways 'with success'. The tramcar 'exactly similar in size, shape, and capacity to a cable grip car' had the 'motive power' of gas 'with which the reservoir is to be charged once a day at power stations by means of a rubber hose'. The car also carried an electricity generator for 'lighting up the tram and also for driving the engine on steep grades and effecting a start'.
Comparatively little has been published about gas trams. However, research on the subject was carried out for an article in the October 2011 edition of "The Times", the historical journal of the Australian Association of Timetable Collectors, now the Australian Timetable Association.
A tram system powered by
compressed natural gas
Compressed natural gas (CNG) is a fuel gas mainly composed of methane (CH4), compressed to less than 1% of the volume it occupies at standard atmospheric pressure. It is stored and distributed in hard containers at a pressure of , usually in cy ...
was due to open in
Malaysia
Malaysia ( ; ) is a country in Southeast Asia. The federation, federal constitutional monarchy consists of States and federal territories of Malaysia, thirteen states and three federal territories, separated by the South China Sea into two r ...
in 2012, but the news about the project appears to have dried up.
Electric
![First electric tram- Siemens 1881 in Lichterfelde](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/90/First_electric_tram-_Siemens_1881_in_Lichterfelde.jpg)
The world's first electric tram line operated in
Sestroretsk
Sestroretsk (russian: Сестроре́цк; fi, Siestarjoki; sv, Systerbäck) is a municipal town in Kurortny District of the federal city of St. Petersburg, Russia, located on the shores of the Gulf of Finland, the Sestra River ...
near
Saint Petersburg
Saint Petersburg ( rus, links=no, Санкт-Петербург, a=Ru-Sankt Peterburg Leningrad Petrograd Piter.ogg, r=Sankt-Peterburg, p=ˈsankt pʲɪtʲɪrˈburk), formerly known as Petrograd (1914–1924) and later Leningrad (1924–1991), i ...
invented and tested by inventor
Fyodor Pirotsky
Fyodor Apollonovich Pirotsky or Fedir Apollonovych Pirotskyy ( ukr, Федір Аполлонович Піроцький; russian: Фёдор Аполлонович Пироцкий; -) was a Ukrainian engineer and inventor of the world's first ra ...
in 1875. Later, using a similar technology, Pirotsky put into service the first public electric tramway in St. Petersburg, which operated only during September 1880.
The second demonstrative tramway was presented by Siemens & Halske at the 1879 Berlin Industrial Exposition.
The first public electric tramway used for permanent service was the
Gross-Lichterfelde tramway
The Gross Lichterfelde Tramway was one of the world's first electric tramways ( Miller's line was electrified in 1875). It was built by the Siemens & Halske company in Lichterfelde, a suburb of Berlin, and went in service on 16 May 1881.
Ove ...
in
Lichterfelde near Berlin in Germany, which opened in 1881. It was built by
Werner von Siemens
Ernst Werner Siemens (von Siemens from 1888; ; ; 13 December 1816 – 6 December 1892) was a German electrical engineer, inventor and industrialist. Siemens's name has been adopted as the SI unit of electrical conductance, the siemens. He foun ...
who contacted Pirotsky. This was world's first commercially successful electric tram. It initially drew current from the rails, with
overhead wire
An overhead line or overhead wire is an electrical cable that is used to transmit electrical energy to electric locomotives, trolleybuses or trams. It is known variously as:
* Overhead catenary
* Overhead contact system (OCS)
* Overhead equipm ...
being installed in 1883.
In Britain,
Volk's Electric Railway
Volk's Electric Railway (VER) is a narrow gauge heritage railway that runs along a length of the seafront of the English seaside resort of Brighton. It was built by Magnus Volk, the first section being completed in August 1883, and is the old ...
was opened in 1883 in Brighton. This two kilometer line along the seafront,
re-gauged to in 1884, remains in service to this day and is the oldest operating electric tramway in the world. Also in 1883,
Mödling and Hinterbrühl Tram
Mödling and Hinterbrühl Tram or ''Mödling and Hinterbrühl Local Railway'' (German: ''Lokalbahn Mödling–Hinterbrühl'') was an electric tramway in Austria, running 4.5 km (2.8 mi) from Mödling to Hinterbrühl, in the southwest ...
was opened near
Vienna
en, Viennese
, iso_code = AT-9
, registration_plate = W
, postal_code_type = Postal code
, postal_code =
, timezone = CET
, utc_offset = +1
, timezone_DST ...
in Austria. It was the first tram in the world in regular service that was run with electricity served by an overhead line with
pantograph
A pantograph (, from their original use for copying writing) is a mechanical linkage connected in a manner based on parallelograms so that the movement of one pen, in tracing an image, produces identical movements in a second pen. If a line dr ...
current collector
Electric current collectors are used by trolleybuses, trams, electric locomotives or EMUs to carry electrical power from overhead lines, electrical third rails, or ground-level power supplies to the electrical equipment of the vehicles. Those for ...
s. The
Blackpool Tramway was opened in Blackpool, UK on 29 September 1885 using conduit collection along Blackpool Promenade. This system is still in operation in a modernised form.
The earliest tram system in Canada was built by
John Joseph Wright
John Joseph Wright (July 18, 1909 – August 10, 1979) was an American cardinal of the Roman Catholic Church. He served as Prefect of the Congregation for the Clergy from 1969 until his death, and was elevated to the cardinalate in 1969.
Bio ...
, brother of the famous mining entrepreneur
Whitaker Wright
James Whitaker Wright (9 February 1846 – 26 January 1904) was a company promoter and swindler, who committed suicide at the Royal Courts of Justice in London immediately following his conviction for fraud.
Early life
The eldest of five child ...
, in
Toronto
Toronto ( ; or ) is the capital city of the Canadian province of Ontario. With a recorded population of 2,794,356 in 2021, it is the most populous city in Canada and the fourth most populous city in North America. The city is the anch ...
in 1883, introducing electric trams in 1892. In the US, multiple functioning experimental
electric trams were exhibited at the 1884
World Cotton Centennial
The World Cotton Centennial (also known as the World's Industrial and Cotton Centennial Exposition) was a World's Fair held in New Orleans, Louisiana, United States in 1884. At a time when nearly one third of all cotton produced in the United Sta ...
World's Fair in
, but they were not deemed good enough to replace the
Lamm
Lamm is a surname. Notable people with the surname include:
* Brad Lamm (born 1966), American interventionist, educator, and author
* Carolyn Lamm, American lawyer, president of the American Bar Association, 2009-10
* Claus Lamm (born 1973), Au ...
fireless engines then propelling the
St. Charles Avenue Streetcar in that city. The first commercial installation of an electric streetcar in the United States was built in 1884 in
Cleveland, Ohio and operated for a period of one year by the East Cleveland Street Railway Company. The first city-wide electric streetcar system, was implemented in
1886
Events
January–March
* January 1 – Upper Burma is formally annexed to British Burma, following its conquest in the Third Anglo-Burmese War of November 1885.
* January 5– 9 – Robert Louis Stevenson's novella ''Strange ...
in
Montgomery, Alabama
Montgomery is the capital city of the U.S. state of Alabama and the county seat of Montgomery County. Named for the Irish soldier Richard Montgomery, it stands beside the Alabama River, on the coastal Plain of the Gulf of Mexico. In the 202 ...
by the
Capital City Street Railway Company, and ran for 50 years.
In 1888, the
Richmond Union Passenger Railway
The Richmond Union Passenger Railway, in Richmond, Virginia, was the first practical electric trolley (tram) system, and set the pattern for most subsequent electric trolley systems around the world. It is an IEEE milestone in engineering.
Th ...
began to operate trams in
Richmond, Virginia that
Frank J. Sprague
Frank Julian Sprague (July 25, 1857 in Milford, Connecticut – October 25, 1934) was an American inventor who contributed to the development of the electric motor, electric railways, and electric elevators. His contributions were especially ...
had built. Sprague later developed
multiple unit control, first demonstrated in Chicago in 1897, allowing multiple cars to be coupled together and operated by a single motorman. This gave rise to the modern
subway train. Following the improvement of an overhead "trolley" system on streetcars for collecting electricity from
overhead wire
An overhead line or overhead wire is an electrical cable that is used to transmit electrical energy to electric locomotives, trolleybuses or trams. It is known variously as:
* Overhead catenary
* Overhead contact system (OCS)
* Overhead equipm ...
s by Sprague, electric tram systems were rapidly adopted across the world.
Earlier electric trains proved difficult or unreliable and experienced limited success until the second half of the 1880s, when new types of current collectors were developed.
Siemens' line, for example, provided power through a live rail and a return rail, like a
model train, limiting the
voltage
Voltage, also known as electric pressure, electric tension, or (electric) potential difference, is the difference in electric potential between two points. In a static electric field, it corresponds to the work needed per unit of charge to ...
that could be used, and delivering
electric shocks to people and animals crossing the tracks. Siemens later designed his own version of overhead current collection, called the
bow collector
A bow collector is one of the three main devices used on tramcars to transfer electric current from the wires above to the tram below. While once very common in continental Europe, it was replaced by the pantograph or the trolley pole, itself o ...
, and
Thorold, Ontario
Thorold is a city in Ontario, Canada, located on the Niagara Escarpment. It is also the seat of the Regional Municipality of Niagara. The Welland Canal passes through the city, featuring lock 7 and the Twin Flight Locks.
History
The first su ...
, opened in 1887, and was considered quite successful at the time. While this line proved quite versatile as one of the earliest fully functional electric streetcar installations, it required horse-drawn support while climbing the
Niagara Escarpment and for two months of the winter when
hydroelectricity
Hydroelectricity, or hydroelectric power, is electricity generated from hydropower (water power). Hydropower supplies one sixth of the world's electricity, almost 4500 TWh in 2020, which is more than all other renewable sources combined an ...
was not available. It continued in service in its original form into the 1950s.
Sidney Howe Short designed and produced the first
electric motor
An electric motor is an electrical machine that converts electrical energy into mechanical energy. Most electric motors operate through the interaction between the motor's magnetic field and electric current in a wire winding to generate for ...
that operated a streetcar without gears. The motor had its
armature direct-connected to the
streetcar
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 a ...
's
axle for the driving force.
Short pioneered "use of a conduit system of concealed feed" thereby eliminating the necessity of
overhead wire
An overhead line or overhead wire is an electrical cable that is used to transmit electrical energy to electric locomotives, trolleybuses or trams. It is known variously as:
* Overhead catenary
* Overhead contact system (OCS)
* Overhead equipm ...
and a
trolley pole
A trolley pole is a tapered cylindrical pole of wood or metal, used to transfer electricity from a "live" (electrified) overhead wire to the control and the electric traction motors of a tram or trolley bus. It is a type of current collector. ...
for street cars and railways. While at the University of Denver he conducted important experiments which established that
multiple unit powered cars were a better way to operate trains and trolleys.
Electric tramways spread to many European cities in the 1890s, such as Prague, Bohemia (then in the Austro-Hungarian Empire), in 1891;
Kyiv, Ukraine
Kyiv, also spelled Kiev, is the capital and most populous city of Ukraine. It is in north-central Ukraine along the Dnieper River. As of 1 January 2021, its population was 2,962,180, making Kyiv the seventh-most populous city in Europe.
Kyi ...
, in 1892 (the first permanent electric tram line in the Russian Empire); Dresden, Germany, Lyon, France, and Milan and Genoa, Italy, in 1893; Rome, Italy, Plauen, Germany,
Lviv, Ukraine
Lviv ( uk, Львів) is the largest city in western Ukraine, and the seventh-largest in Ukraine, with a population of . It serves as the administrative centre of Lviv Oblast and Lviv Raion, and is one of the main cultural centres of Ukrain ...
, Belgrade, Serbia in 1894; Bristol, United Kingdom, Munich, in 1895; Bilbao, Spain, in 1896; Copenhagen, Denmark, and Vienna, Austria, in 1897; Florence and Turin, Italy, in 1898; Helsinki, Finland, and Madrid and Barcelona, Spain, in 1899.
Sarajevo
Sarajevo ( ; cyrl, Сарајево, ; ''see names in other languages'') is the capital and largest city of Bosnia and Herzegovina, with a population of 275,524 in its administrative limits. The Sarajevo metropolitan area including Sarajevo ...
built a citywide system of electric trams in 1895.
Budapest
Budapest (, ; ) is the capital and most populous city of Hungary. It is the ninth-largest city in the European Union by population within city limits and the second-largest city on the Danube river; the city has an estimated population ...
established
its tramway system in 1887, and its ring line has grown to be the busiest tram line in Europe, with a tram running every 60 seconds at rush hour.
Bucharest
Bucharest ( , ; ro, București ) is the capital and largest city of Romania, as well as its cultural, industrial, and financial centre. It is located in the southeast of the country, on the banks of the Dâmbovița River, less than north of ...
and
Belgrade ran a regular service from 1894.
Ljubljana
Ljubljana (also known by other historical names) is the capital and largest city of Slovenia. It is the country's cultural, educational, economic, political and administrative center.
During antiquity, a Roman city called Emona stood in the are ...
introduced
its tram system in 1901 – it closed in 1958.
Oslo
Oslo ( , , or ; sma, Oslove) is the capital and most populous city of Norway. It constitutes both a county and a municipality. The municipality of Oslo had a population of in 2022, while the city's greater urban area had a population ...
had the first tramway in
Scandinavia
Scandinavia; Sámi languages: /. ( ) is a subregion in Northern Europe, with strong historical, cultural, and linguistic ties between its constituent peoples. In English usage, ''Scandinavia'' most commonly refers to Denmark, Norway, and Swe ...
, starting operation on 2 March 1894.
The first electric tramway in Australia was a Sprague system demonstrated at the 1888
Melbourne Centennial Exhibition in
Melbourne
Melbourne ( ; Boonwurrung/Woiwurrung: ''Narrm'' or ''Naarm'') is the capital and most populous city of the Australian state of Victoria, and the second-most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Its name generally refers to a met ...
; afterwards, this was installed as a commercial venture operating between the outer Melbourne suburb of
Box Hill and the then tourist-oriented country town
Doncaster
Doncaster (, ) is a city in South Yorkshire, England. Named after the River Don, it is the administrative centre of the larger City of Doncaster. It is the second largest settlement in South Yorkshire after Sheffield. Doncaster is situated in ...
from 1889 to 1896. As well, electric systems were built in
Adelaide
Adelaide ( ) is the capital city of South Australia, the state's largest city and the fifth-most populous city in Australia. "Adelaide" may refer to either Greater Adelaide (including the Adelaide Hills) or the Adelaide city centre. The dem ...
,
Ballarat,
Bendigo,
Brisbane
Brisbane ( ) is the capital and most populous city of the Australian state of Queensland, and the third-most populous city in Australia and Oceania, with a population of approximately 2.6 million. Brisbane lies at the centre of the South ...
,
Fremantle,
Geelong,
Hobart,
Kalgoorlie,
Launceston,
Leonora,
Newcastle Newcastle usually refers to:
*Newcastle upon Tyne, a city and metropolitan borough in Tyne and Wear, England
*Newcastle-under-Lyme, a town in Staffordshire, England
*Newcastle, New South Wales, a metropolitan area in Australia, named after Newcastle ...
,
Perth
Perth is the capital and largest city of the Australian state of Western Australia. It is the fourth most populous city in Australia and Oceania, with a population of 2.1 million (80% of the state) living in Greater Perth in 2020. Perth i ...
, and
Sydney.
![Melbourne Tram 1979](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/ca/Melbourne_Tram_1979.jpg)
By the 1970s, the only full tramway system remaining in Australia was the Melbourne tram system. However, there were also a few single lines remaining elsewhere: the
Glenelg tram line
The Glenelg tram line is a tram/ light rail line in Adelaide. Apart from a short street-running section in Glenelg, the line has its own reservation, with minimal interference from road traffic.
The service is free in the city centre and a ...
, connecting Adelaide to the beachside suburb of
Glenelg, and tourist trams in the Victorian
Goldfields
Goldfield or Goldfields may refer to:
Places
* Goldfield, Arizona, the former name of Youngberg, Arizona, a populated place in the United States
* Goldfield, Colorado, a community in the United States
* Goldfield, Iowa, a city in the United State ...
cities of Bendigo and Ballarat. In recent years the Melbourne system, generally recognised as the largest urban tram network in the world, has been considerably modernised and expanded. The Adelaide line has also been extended to the Entertainment Centre, and work is progressing on further extensions.
Sydney re-introduced trams (or light rail) on 31 August 1997. A completely new system, known as
G:link, was introduced on the
Gold Coast, Queensland on 20 July 2014. The
Newcastle Light Rail
The Newcastle Light Rail is a light rail system in Newcastle, New South Wales, Australia, running from Newcastle Interchange through the central business district to Pacific Park. Major construction commenced in September 2017 and the line wa ...
opened in February 2019, while the
Canberra light rail opened on 20 April 2019. This is the first time that there have been trams in Canberra, even though
Walter Burley Griffin
Walter Burley Griffin (November 24, 1876February 11, 1937) was an American architect and landscape architect. He is known for designing Canberra, Australia's capital city and the New South Wales towns of Griffith and Leeton. He has been cr ...
's 1914–1920 plans for the capital then in the planning stage did propose a Canberra tram system.
In Japan, the Kyoto Electric railroad was the first tram system, starting operation in 1895. By 1932, the network had grown to 82 railway companies in 65 cities, with a total network length of . By the 1960s the tram had generally died out in Japan.
Two rare but significant alternatives were
conduit current collection
Conduit current collection is an obsolete system of electric current collection used by some electric tramways, where the power supply was carried in a 'conduit' (a small tunnel) under the roadway. Modern systems fall under the term ground-leve ...
, which was widely used in London, Washington, D.C. and New York City, and the
surface contact collection method, used in
Wolverhampton
Wolverhampton () is a city, metropolitan borough and administrative centre in the West Midlands, England. The population size has increased by 5.7%, from around 249,500 in 2011 to 263,700 in 2021. People from the city are called "Wulfrunians ...
(the Lorain system),
Torquay
Torquay ( ) is a seaside town in Devon, England, part of the unitary authority area of Torbay. It lies south of the county town of Exeter and east-north-east of Plymouth, on the north of Tor Bay, adjoining the neighbouring town of Paig ...
and
Hastings
Hastings () is a large seaside town and borough in East Sussex on the south coast of England,
east to the county town of Lewes and south east of London. The town gives its name to the Battle of Hastings, which took place to the north-west ...
in the UK (the Dolter stud system), and currently in
Bordeaux
Bordeaux ( , ; Gascon oc, Bordèu ; eu, Bordele; it, Bordò; es, Burdeos) is a port city on the river Garonne in the Gironde department, Southwestern France. It is the capital of the Nouvelle-Aquitaine region, as well as the prefect ...
, France (the
ground-level power supply
Ground-level power supply, also known as surface current collection or, in French, ''alimentation par le sol'' ("feeding via the ground"), is a concept and group of technologies whereby electric vehicles collect electric power at ground level fro ...
system).
The convenience and economy of electricity resulted in its rapid adoption once the technical problems of production and transmission of electricity were solved. Electric trams largely replaced animal power and other forms of motive power including cable and steam, in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.
There is one particular hazard associated with trams powered from a trolley pole off an overhead line. Since the tram relies on contact with the rails for the current return path, a problem arises if the tram is derailed or (more usually) if it halts on a section of track that has been particularly heavily sanded by a previous tram, and the tram loses electrical contact with the rails. In this event, the underframe of the tram, by virtue of a circuit path through ancillary loads (such as interior lighting), is live at the full supply voltage, typically 600 volts DC. In British terminology, such a tram was said to be 'grounded'—not to be confused with the US English use of the term, which means the exact opposite. Any person stepping off the tram and completing the earth return circuit with their body could receive a serious electric shock. In such an event, the driver was required to jump off the tram (avoiding simultaneous contact with the tram and the ground) and pull down the trolley pole, before allowing passengers off the tram. Unless derailed, the tram could usually be recovered by running water down the running rails from a point higher than the tram, the water providing a conducting bridge between the tram and the rails.
In the 2000s, several companies introduced catenary-free designs. Alstom's Citadis line uses a third rail, Bombardier's PRIMOVE LRV is charged by contactless induction plates embedded in the trackway and CAF URBOS tram using ultracaps technology
Other power sources
In some places, other forms of power were used to power the tram.
Battery
As early as 1834,
Thomas Davenport, a Vermont blacksmith, had invented a battery-powered electric motor which he later patented. The following year he used it to operate a small model electric car on a short section of track four feet in diameter.
Attempts to use
batteries as a source of electricity were made from the 1880s and 1890s, with unsuccessful trials conducted in among other places
Bendigo and
Adelaide
Adelaide ( ) is the capital city of South Australia, the state's largest city and the fifth-most populous city in Australia. "Adelaide" may refer to either Greater Adelaide (including the Adelaide Hills) or the Adelaide city centre. The dem ...
in Australia, and for about 14 years as
The Hague
The Hague ( ; nl, Den Haag or ) is a city and municipality of the Netherlands, situated on the west coast facing the North Sea. The Hague is the country's administrative centre and its seat of government, and while the official capital o ...
''accutram'' of
HTM in the Netherlands. The first trams in Bendigo, Australia, in 1892, were battery-powered, but within as little as three months they were replaced with horse-drawn trams. In
New York City
New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the Un ...
some minor lines also used storage batteries. Then, comparatively recently, during the 1950s, a longer battery-operated tramway line ran from
Milan
Milan ( , , Lombard: ; it, Milano ) is a city in northern Italy, capital of Lombardy, and the second-most populous city proper in Italy after Rome. The city proper has a population of about 1.4 million, while its metropolitan city h ...
to
Bergamo. In China there is a
Nanjing battery Tram line and has been running since 2014. More recently in 2019, the
West Midlands Metro
The West Midlands Metro (originally named Midland Metro) is a light-rail/tram system in the county of West Midlands, England. Opened on 30 May 1999, it currently consists of a single route, Line 1, which operates between the cities of Birmi ...
in
Birmingham
Birmingham ( ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in the metropolitan county of West Midlands (county), West Midlands in England. It is the second-largest city in the United Kingdom with a population of 1. ...
, England, has adopted battery-powered trams on sections through the city centre close to
Grade I listed Birmingham Town Hall.
Compressed air
Paris and Berne (Switzerland) operated trams that were powered by
compressed air using the
Mekarski system
The Mekarski system was a compressed-air propulsion system for trams invented by Louis Mékarski or Louis Mékarsky (the correct spelling is uncertain) in the 1870s. He worked in France, was born in 1843 in Clermont-Ferrand (center of France) ...
.
Trials on street tramways in Britain, including by the
North Metropolitan Tramway Company between Kings Cross and Holloway, London (1883), achieved acceptable results but were found not to be economic because of the combined coal consumption of the stationary compressor and the onboard steam boiler.
Human power
![Osaki City Matsuyama Furusato History Museum, restored handcar](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/d8/Osaki_City_Matsuyama_Furusato_History_Museum%2C_restored_handcar.jpg)
The Convict Tramway
was hauled by human power in the form of convicts from the
Port Arthur convict settlement.
and was created to replace the hazardous sea voyage from
Hobart to
Port Arthur, Tasmania
Port Arthur is a town and former convict settlement on the Tasman Peninsula, in Tasmania, Australia. It is located approximately southeast of the state capital, Hobart.
The site forms part of the Australian Convict Sites, a World Heritag ...
.
Charles O'Hara Booth oversaw the construction of the tramway.
It opened in 1836 and ran for 8 km (5 miles) from Oakwood to
Taranna. By most definitions, the tramway was the first passenger-carrying railway/tramway in Australia.
An unconfirmed report says that it continued to
Eaglehawk Neck and, if this was so, the length of the tramway would have been more than doubled. The tramway carried passengers and freight, and ran on wooden rails. The gauge is unknown. The date of closure is unknown, but it was certainly prior to 1877.
Hydrogen
In March 2015,
China South Rail Corporation (CSR) demonstrated the world's first hydrogen
fuel cell vehicle
A fuel cell vehicle (FCV) or fuel cell electric vehicle (FCEV) is an electric vehicle that uses a fuel cell, sometimes in combination with a small battery or supercapacitor, to power its onboard electric motor. Fuel cells in vehicles generate e ...
tramcar at an assembly facility in Qingdao. The chief engineer of the CSR subsidiary
CSR Sifang Co Ltd., Liang Jianying, said that the company is studying how to reduce the running costs of the tram.
Hybrid
The
Trieste–Opicina tramway
The Trieste–Opicina tramway ( it, Tranvia Trieste-Opicina, sl, openski tramvaj, Triestine: ''Tram de Opcina'') is an unusual hybrid tramway and funicular railway in the city of Trieste, Italy. It links ''Piazza Oberdan'', on the northern edg ...
in
Trieste
Trieste ( , ; sl, Trst ; german: Triest ) is a city and seaport in northeastern Italy. It is the capital city, and largest city, of the autonomous region of Friuli Venezia Giulia, one of two autonomous regions which are not subdivided into prov ...
operates a hybrid funicular tramway system. Conventional electric trams are operated in
street running and on
reserved track
Reserved track, in tram transport terminology, is track on ground exclusively for trams (in the US, typically called a "private right-of-way").
Description
Unlike street running track embedded in streets and roads, reserved track does not need t ...
for most of their route. However, on one steep segment of track, they are assisted by cable tractors, which push the trams uphill and act as brakes for the downhill run. For safety, the cable tractors are always deployed on the downhill side of the tram vehicle.
Similar systems were used elsewhere in the past, notably on the
Queen Anne Counterbalance in Seattle and the
Darling Street
Darling Street is a 3.1 kilometre street in Sydney, Australia running from Victoria Road to Balmain East ferry wharf. It is the main thoroughfare and high street of the suburbs of Rozelle
Rozelle is a suburb in the inner west of Sydney, ...
wharf line in Sydney.
Liquid fuel
Hastings
Hastings () is a large seaside town and borough in East Sussex on the south coast of England,
east to the county town of Lewes and south east of London. The town gives its name to the Battle of Hastings, which took place to the north-west ...
and some other tramways, for example
Stockholms Spårvägar in Sweden and some lines in
Karachi
Karachi (; ur, ; ; ) is the most populous city in Pakistan and 12th most populous city in the world, with a population of over 20 million. It is situated at the southern tip of the country along the Arabian Sea coast. It is the former c ...
, used
petrol
Gasoline (; ) or petrol (; ) (see ) is a transparent, petroleum-derived flammable liquid that is used primarily as a fuel in most spark-ignited internal combustion engines (also known as petrol engines). It consists mostly of organic c ...
trams.
Galveston Island Trolley in Texas operated
diesel trams due to the city's hurricane-prone location, which would result in frequent damage to an electrical supply system.
Although
Portland, Victoria
Portland is a city in Victoria, Australia, and is the oldest European settlement in the state. It is also the main urban centre in the Shire of Glenelg and is located on Portland Bay. As of the 2021 census the population was 10,016, increasin ...
promotes its
tourist tram as being a cable car it actually operates using a hidden diesel motor. The tram, which runs on a circular route around the town of Portland, uses dummies and salons formerly used on the extensive
Melbourne cable tramway system
The Melbourne cable tramway system was a cable car public transport system, which operated between 1885 and 1940 in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia.
The first line, from Spencer Street to the end of Bridge Road Richmond via Flinders Street, ...
and now beautifully restored.
Modern development
In the mid-20th century many tram systems were disbanded, replaced by buses,
trolleybus
A trolleybus (also known as trolley bus, trolley coach, trackless trolley, trackless tramin the 1910s and 1920sJoyce, J.; King, J. S.; and Newman, A. G. (1986). ''British Trolleybus Systems'', pp. 9, 12. London: Ian Allan Publishing. .or trol ...
es, automobiles or
rapid transit
Rapid transit or mass rapid transit (MRT), also known as heavy rail or metro, is a type of high-capacity public transport generally found in urban areas. A rapid transit system that primarily or traditionally runs below the surface may be ...
. The
General Motors streetcar conspiracy
The General Motors streetcar conspiracy refers to the convictions of General Motors (GM) and related companies that were involved in the monopolizing of the sale of buses and supplies to National City Lines (NCL) and subsidiaries, as well as to ...
was a case study of the decline of trams in the United States. In the 21st century, trams have been re-introduced in cities where they had been closed down for decades (such as
Tramlink
London Trams, previously Tramlink and Croydon Tramlink, is a light rail tram system serving Croydon and surrounding areas in South London, England. It began operation in 2000, the first tram system in the London region since 1952. It is manage ...
in London), or kept in heritage use (such as
Spårväg City
Spårväg City is a tram line in central Stockholm, inaugurated in 2010. It is the first tram line in regular traffic in central Stockholm since 1967. The service is run by AB Stockholms Spårvägar for Storstockholms Lokaltrafik (SL), using the ...
in Stockholm). Most trams made from the 1990s onwards (such as the
Bombardier Flexity
The Alstom Flexity (sold as Bombardier Flexity before 2021, stylized in all caps) is a family of modern trams, streetcars and light rail vehicles manufactured by Bombardier Transportation, since 2021 a division of French company Alstom. As of ...
series and
Alstom Citadis) are articulated
low-floor tram
A low-floor tram is a tram that has no stairsteps between one or more entrances and part or all of the passenger cabin. The low-floor design improves the accessibility of the tram for the public, and also may provide larger windows and more airspac ...
s with features such as
regenerative braking
Regenerative braking is an energy recovery mechanism that slows down a moving vehicle or object by converting its kinetic energy into a form that can be either used immediately or stored until needed. In this mechanism, the electric traction mo ...
.
Design
![Raitiovaunu Hämeenkadulla](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/ac/Raitiovaunu_H%C3%A4meenkadulla.jpg)
Trams have been used for two main purposes: for carrying passengers and for carrying cargo. There are several types of passenger tram:
*
Articulated
An articulated vehicle is a vehicle which has a permanent or semi-permanent pivot joint in its construction, allowing it to turn more sharply. There are many kinds, from heavy equipment to buses, trams and trains. Steam locomotives were sometim ...
*
Cargo trams
*
Double-Decker
*
Drop-centre (or drop-center)
*
Double ended and Single ended
*
Low-floor
Accessibility is the design of products, devices, services, vehicles, or environments so as to be usable by people with disabilities. The concept of accessible design and practice of accessible development ensures both "direct access" (i. ...
*
Rubber-tired
*
Tram-train
A tram-train is a type of light rail vehicle that meets the standards of a light rail system (usually an urban street running tramway), but which also meets national mainline standards permitting operation alongside mainline trains. This all ...
Operation
There are two main types of tramways, the classic tramway built in the early 20th century with the tram system operating in mixed traffic, and the later type which is most often associated with the tram system having its own right of way. Tram systems that have their own right of way are often called
light rail but this does not always hold true. Though these two systems differ in their operation, their equipment is much the same.
Controls
Trams were traditionally operated with separate levers for applying power and brakes. More modern vehicles use a
locomotive-style controller which incorporate a
dead man's switch
A dead man's switch (see alternative names) is a switch that is designed to be activated or deactivated if the human operator becomes incapacitated, such as through death, loss of consciousness, or being bodily removed from control. Originally a ...
. The success of the
PCC streetcar had also seen trams use automobile-style
foot controls allowing hands-free operation, particularly when the driver was responsible for fare collection.
Power supply
![Tramway graz03](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/45/Tramway_graz03.jpg)
Electric trams use various devices to collect power from
overhead line
An overhead line or overhead wire is an electrical cable that is used to transmit electrical energy to electric locomotives, trolleybuses or trams. It is known variously as:
* Overhead catenary
* Overhead contact system (OCS)
* Overhead equipm ...
s. The most common device found today is the
pantograph
A pantograph (, from their original use for copying writing) is a mechanical linkage connected in a manner based on parallelograms so that the movement of one pen, in tracing an image, produces identical movements in a second pen. If a line dr ...
, while some older systems use
trolley pole
A trolley pole is a tapered cylindrical pole of wood or metal, used to transfer electricity from a "live" (electrified) overhead wire to the control and the electric traction motors of a tram or trolley bus. It is a type of current collector. ...
s or
bow collector
A bow collector is one of the three main devices used on tramcars to transfer electric current from the wires above to the tram below. While once very common in continental Europe, it was replaced by the pantograph or the trolley pole, itself o ...
s.
Ground-level power supply
Ground-level power supply, also known as surface current collection or, in French, ''alimentation par le sol'' ("feeding via the ground"), is a concept and group of technologies whereby electric vehicles collect electric power at ground level fro ...
has become a recent innovation. Another new technology uses
supercapacitors; when an
insulator at a track switch cuts off power from the tram for a short distance along the line, the tram can use energy stored in a large
capacitor
A capacitor is a device that stores electrical energy in an electric field by virtue of accumulating electric charges on two close surfaces insulated from each other. It is a passive electronic component with two terminals.
The effect of ...
to drive the tram past the gap in the power feed. A rather obsolete system for power supply is
conduit current collection
Conduit current collection is an obsolete system of electric current collection used by some electric tramways, where the power supply was carried in a 'conduit' (a small tunnel) under the roadway. Modern systems fall under the term ground-leve ...
.
The old tram systems in London,
Manhattan
Manhattan (), known regionally as the City, is the most densely populated and geographically smallest of the five boroughs of New York City. The borough is also coextensive with New York County, one of the original counties of the U.S. state ...
(New York City), and Washington, D.C., used live rails, like those on third-rail electrified railways, but in a conduit underneath the road, from which they drew power through a
plough. It was called
Conduit current collection
Conduit current collection is an obsolete system of electric current collection used by some electric tramways, where the power supply was carried in a 'conduit' (a small tunnel) under the roadway. Modern systems fall under the term ground-leve ...
. Washington's was the last of these to close, in 1962. Today, no commercial tramway uses this system. More recently, a modern equivalent to these systems has been developed which allows for the safe installation of a
third rail
A third rail, also known as a live rail, electric rail or conductor rail, is a method of providing electric power to a railway locomotive or train, through a semi-continuous rigid conductor placed alongside or between the rails of a railway ...
on city streets, which is known as surface current collection or
ground-level power supply
Ground-level power supply, also known as surface current collection or, in French, ''alimentation par le sol'' ("feeding via the ground"), is a concept and group of technologies whereby electric vehicles collect electric power at ground level fro ...
; the main example of this is the new tramway in
Bordeaux
Bordeaux ( , ; Gascon oc, Bordèu ; eu, Bordele; it, Bordò; es, Burdeos) is a port city on the river Garonne in the Gironde department, Southwestern France. It is the capital of the Nouvelle-Aquitaine region, as well as the prefect ...
.
Ground-level power supply
![Bordeaux-aps+isolation&joint](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/f5/Bordeaux-aps%2Bisolation%26joint.jpg)
A ground-level power supply system also known as surface current collection or (APS) is an updated version of the original stud type system. APS uses a third rail placed between the running rails, divided electrically into eight-metre powered segments with three-metre neutral sections between. Each tram has two power collection skates, next to which are antennas that send radio signals to energize the power rail segments as the tram passes over them.
Older systems required mechanical switching systems which were susceptible to environmental problems. At any one time no more than two consecutive segments under the tram should actually be live. Wireless and solid state switching remove the mechanical problem.
Alstom developed the system primarily to avoid intrusive power supply cables in the sensitive area of the old city of old
Bordeaux
Bordeaux ( , ; Gascon oc, Bordèu ; eu, Bordele; it, Bordò; es, Burdeos) is a port city on the river Garonne in the Gironde department, Southwestern France. It is the capital of the Nouvelle-Aquitaine region, as well as the prefect ...
.
Routes
![Île-de-France - plan des tramways](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/aa/%C3%8Ele-de-France_-_plan_des_tramways.png)
Route patterns vary greatly among the world's tram systems, leading to different
network topologies.
* Most systems start by building up a strongly nucleated radial pattern of routes linking the city centre with residential suburbs and traffic hubs such as railway stations and hospitals, usually following main roads. Some of these, such as those in
Hong Kong
Hong Kong ( (US) or (UK); , ), officially the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China (abbr. Hong Kong SAR or HKSAR), is a city and special administrative region of China on the eastern Pearl River Delta i ...
,
Blackpool and
Bergen
Bergen (), historically Bjørgvin, is a city and municipality in Vestland county on the west coast of Norway. , its population is roughly 285,900. Bergen is the second-largest city in Norway. The municipality covers and is on the peninsula o ...
, still essentially comprise a single route. Some suburbs may be served by loop lines connecting two adjacent radial roads. Some modern systems have started by reusing existing radial railway tracks, as in
Nottingham
Nottingham ( , locally ) is a city and unitary authority area in Nottinghamshire, East Midlands, England. It is located north-west of London, south-east of Sheffield and north-east of Birmingham. Nottingham has links to the legend of Robi ...
and
Birmingham
Birmingham ( ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in the metropolitan county of West Midlands (county), West Midlands in England. It is the second-largest city in the United Kingdom with a population of 1. ...
, sometimes
joining them together by a section of street track through the city centre, as in
Manchester
Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of Salford to the west. The t ...
. Later developments often include tangential routes linking adjacent suburbs directly, or multiple routes through the town centre to avoid congestion (as in Manchester's
Second City Crossing).
* Other new systems, particularly those in large cities which already have well-developed metro and suburban railway systems, such as
London
London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...
and
Paris
Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), ma ...
, have started by building isolated suburban lines feeding into railway or metro stations. In Paris these have then been linked by
ring lines.
* A third, weakly nucleated, route pattern may grow up where a number of nearby small settlements are linked, such as in the coal-mining areas served by
BOGESTRA or the
Silesian Interurbans
Silesian Trams ( pl, Tramwaje Konurbacji Śląskiej) is one of the largest tram systems in the world and the largest and longest tram system in Poland, located entirely within the Silesian Voivodeship. Started as a part of the German Empire in 189 ...
.
* A fourth starting point may be a loop in the city centre, sometimes called a
downtown circulator In the United States, a downtown circulator is a road, bus or tram system to distribute traffic or people through a downtown area.
Examples include:
*Miami, Florida's Downtown Distributor
*Pawtucket, Rhode Island's Downtown Circulator
*The DC Cir ...
, as in
Portland or
El Paso
El Paso (; "the pass") is a city in and the seat of El Paso County in the western corner of the U.S. state of Texas. The 2020 population of the city from the U.S. Census Bureau was 678,815, making it the 23rd-largest city in the U.S., the s ...
.
* Occasionally a modern tramway system may grow from a preserved heritage line, as in
Stockholm.
The resulting route patterns are very different. Some have a rational structure, covering their catchment area as efficiently as possible, with new suburbs being planned with tramlines integral to their layout – such is the case in
Amsterdam
Amsterdam ( , , , lit. ''The Dam on the River Amstel'') is the capital and most populous city of the Netherlands, with The Hague being the seat of government. It has a population of 907,976 within the city proper, 1,558,755 in the urban ar ...
.
Bordeaux
Bordeaux ( , ; Gascon oc, Bordèu ; eu, Bordele; it, Bordò; es, Burdeos) is a port city on the river Garonne in the Gironde department, Southwestern France. It is the capital of the Nouvelle-Aquitaine region, as well as the prefect ...
and
Montpellier have built comprehensive networks, based on radial routes with numerous interconnections, within the last two decades. Some systems serve only parts of their cities, with
Berlin
Berlin ( , ) is the capital and List of cities in Germany by population, largest city of Germany by both area and population. Its 3.7 million inhabitants make it the European Union's List of cities in the European Union by population within ci ...
being the prime example, owing to the fact that trams survived the city's political division only in the Eastern part. Other systems have ended up with a rather random route map, for instance when some previous operating companies have ceased operation (as with the ''tramways vicinaux/buurtspoorwegen'' in
Brussels
Brussels (french: Bruxelles or ; nl, Brussel ), officially the Brussels-Capital Region (All text and all but one graphic show the English name as Brussels-Capital Region.) (french: link=no, Région de Bruxelles-Capitale; nl, link=no, Bruss ...
) or where isolated outlying lines have been preserved (as on the eastern fringe of Berlin). In
Rome
, established_title = Founded
, established_date = 753 BC
, founder = King Romulus (legendary)
, image_map = Map of comune of Rome (metropolitan city of Capital Rome, region Lazio, Italy).svg
, map_caption ...
, the remnant of the system comprises 3 isolated radial routes, not connecting in the ancient city centre, but linked by a ring route. Some apparently anomalous lines continue in operation where a new line would not on rational grounds be built, because it is much more costly to build a new line than continue operating an existing one.
In some places, the opportunity is taken when roads are being repaved to lay tramlines (though without erecting overhead cables) even though no service is immediately planned: such is the case in Leipzigerstraße in Berlin, the Haarlemmer Houttuinen in Amsterdam, and Botermarkt in Ghent.
Cross-border trams
Tram systems operate across national borders in
Basel
, french: link=no, Bâlois(e), it, Basilese
, neighboring_municipalities= Allschwil (BL), Hégenheim (FR-68), Binningen (BL), Birsfelden (BL), Bottmingen (BL), Huningue (FR-68), Münchenstein (BL), Muttenz (BL), Reinach (BL), Riehen (BS ...
(from Switzerland into France and Germany),
Geneva
, neighboring_municipalities= Carouge, Chêne-Bougeries, Cologny, Lancy, Grand-Saconnex, Pregny-Chambésy, Vernier, Veyrier
, website = https://www.geneve.ch/
Geneva ( ; french: Genève ) frp, Genèva ; german: link=no, Genf ; it, Ginevr ...
(from Switzerland into France) and
Strasbourg (from France into Germany). A planned
line linking Hasselt (Belgium) with Maastricht (Netherlands) was cancelled in June 2022.
Track
![Szyny Głogowska RB2](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/d5/Szyny_G%C5%82ogowska_RB2.JPG)
Tramway track can have different
rail profiles to accommodate the various operating environments of the vehicle. They may be embedded into
concrete
Concrete is a composite material composed of fine and coarse aggregate bonded together with a fluid cement (cement paste) that hardens (cures) over time. Concrete is the second-most-used substance in the world after water, and is the most wid ...
for street-running operation, or use standard
ballasted track with
railroad tie
A railroad tie, crosstie (American English), railway tie ( Canadian English) or railway sleeper ( Australian and British English) is a rectangular support for the rails in railroad tracks. Generally laid perpendicular to the rails, ties tran ...
s on high-speed sections. A more ecological solution is to embed tracks into
grass turf.
Tramway tracks use a
grooved rail with a
groove
Groove or Grooves may refer to:
Music
* Groove (music)
* Groove (drumming)
* The Groove (band), an Australian rock/pop band of the 1960s
* The Groove (Sirius XM), a US radio station
* Groove 101.7FM, a former Perth, Australia, radio station
...
designed for tramway or railway track in
pavement or grassed surfaces (grassed track or track in a lawn). The rail has the railhead on one side and the guard on the other. The guard provides accommodation for the flange. The guard carries no weight, but may act as a checkrail. Grooved rail was invented in 1852 by
Alphonse Loubat
Alphonse Loubat (15 June 1799 – 10 September 1866) was a French inventor who developed improvements in tram and rail equipment, and helped develop tram lines in New York City and Paris.
Loubat was born in Sainte-Livrade-sur-Lot. He went to New ...
, a French inventor who developed improvements in tram and rail equipment, and helped develop tram lines in New York City and Paris. The invention of grooved rail enabled tramways to be laid without causing a nuisance to other road users, except unsuspecting cyclists, who could get their wheels caught in the groove. The grooves may become filled with gravel and dirt (particularly if infrequently used or after a period of idleness) and need clearing from time to time, this being done by a "scrubber" tram. Failure to clear the grooves can lead to a bumpy ride for the passengers, damage to either wheel or rail and possibly derailing.
In narrow situations double-track tram lines sometimes reduce to single track, or, to avoid
switches
In electrical engineering, a switch is an electrical component that can disconnect or connect the conducting path in an electrical circuit, interrupting the electric current or diverting it from one conductor to another. The most common type of ...
, have the tracks interlaced, e.g. in the Leidsestraat in
Amsterdam
Amsterdam ( , , , lit. ''The Dam on the River Amstel'') is the capital and most populous city of the Netherlands, with The Hague being the seat of government. It has a population of 907,976 within the city proper, 1,558,755 in the urban ar ...
on three short stretches (se
map detail; this is known as interlaced or
gauntlet track
Gauntlet track or interlaced track (also gantlet track) is an arrangement in which railway tracks run parallel on a single track bed and are interlaced (i.e., overlapped) in such a way that only one pair of rails can be used at any time. Since th ...
. There is a UK example of interlaced track on the
Tramlink
London Trams, previously Tramlink and Croydon Tramlink, is a light rail tram system serving Croydon and surrounding areas in South London, England. It began operation in 2000, the first tram system in the London region since 1952. It is manage ...
, just west of Mitcham Station, where the formation is narrowed by an old landslip causing an obstruction. (See photo in
Tramlink
London Trams, previously Tramlink and Croydon Tramlink, is a light rail tram system serving Croydon and surrounding areas in South London, England. It began operation in 2000, the first tram system in the London region since 1952. It is manage ...
entry).
Track gauge
Historically, the
track gauge
In rail transport, track gauge (in American English, alternatively track gage) is the distance between the two rails of a railway track. All vehicles on a rail network must have wheelsets that are compatible with the track gauge. Since many ...
has had considerable variations, with
narrow gauge
A narrow-gauge railway (narrow-gauge railroad in the US) is a railway with a track gauge narrower than standard . Most narrow-gauge railways are between and .
Since narrow-gauge railways are usually built with tighter curves, smaller structu ...
common in many early systems. However, most light rail systems are now
standard gauge. An important advantage of standard gauge is that standard railway maintenance equipment can be used on it, rather than custom-built machinery. Using standard gauge also allows light rail vehicles to be delivered and relocated conveniently using freight railways and locomotives.
Another factor favoring standard gauge is that low-floor vehicles are becoming popular, and there is generally insufficient space for wheelchairs to move between the wheels in a narrow gauge layout. Standard gauge also enables – at least in theory – a larger choice of manufacturers and thus lower procurement costs for new vehicles. However, other factors such as electrification or
loading gauge for which there is more variation may require costly custom built units regardless.
Tram stop
Tram stops may be similar to
bus stops in design and use, particularly in street-running sections, where in some cases other vehicles are legally required to stop clear of the tram doors. Some stops may resemble to
railway platform
A railway platform is an area alongside a railway track providing convenient access to trains. Almost all stations have some form of platform, with larger stations having multiple platforms.
The world's longest station platform is at Hubbali ...
s, particularly in private right-of-way sections and where trams are boarded at standard
railway platform height
Railway platform height is the built height – ''above top of rail (ATR)'' – of passenger platforms at stations. A connected term is ''train floor height'', which refers to the ATR height of the floor of rail vehicles. Worldwide, there are m ...
, as opposed to using steps at the doorway or
low-floor tram
A low-floor tram is a tram that has no stairsteps between one or more entrances and part or all of the passenger cabin. The low-floor design improves the accessibility of the tram for the public, and also may provide larger windows and more airspac ...
s.
Manufacturing
Approximately 5,000 new trams are manufactured each year. As of February 2017, 4,478 new trams were on order from their makers, with options being open for a further 1,092.
The main manufacturers are:
Debate
Advantages
![V3A 175 on Timisoara Boulevard](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/ce/V3A_175_on_Timisoara_Boulevard.jpg)
* Trams (and road public transport in general) can be much more efficient in terms of road usage than cars – one vehicle replaces about 40 cars (which take up a far larger area of road space).
* Vehicles run more
efficiently compared to similar vehicles that use rubber tyres, since the
rolling resistance of steel on steel is lower than rubber on asphalt.
* Being guided by rails means that even very long tram units can navigate tight, winding city streets that are inaccessible to long buses.
* Tram vehicles are very durable, with some being in continuous revenue service for more than fifty years. This is especially true compared to internal combustion buses, which tend to require high amounts of maintenance and break down after less than 20 years, mostly due to the vibrations of the engine.
* In many cases tram networks have a higher capacity than similar buses. This has been cited as a reason for the replacement of one of Europe's busiest bus lines (with three-minute headways in peak times) with a tram by
Dresdner Verkehrsbetriebe
Dresdner Verkehrsbetriebe AG (DVB) is the municipal transport company of the city of Dresden in Germany. It is a member of the Verkehrsverbund Oberelbe transport association that manages a common public transport structure for Dresden and its su ...
.
* Due to the above-mentioned capacity advantage, labor costs (which form the biggest share of operating costs of many public transit systems) per passenger can be significantly lower compared to buses.
* Trams and light rail systems can be cheaper to install than subways or other forms of
heavy rail. In Berlin the commonly cited figure is that one kilometer of subway costs as much as ten kilometers of tramway.
* ULR Ultra Light Rail developments with prefabricated track and onboard power (no OHL Over Head Line) in the UK are aiming for £10 m per km as opposed to convention tram rail and OHL at £20-£30 m per km
* Tramways can take advantage of old
heavy rail alignments some examples include the
Manchester Metrolink
Manchester Metrolink (branded locally simply as Metrolink) is a tram/ light rail system in Greater Manchester, England. The network has 99 stops along of standard-gauge route, making it the most extensive light rail system in the United Ki ...
of which the
Bury Line
The Bury Line is a tram line of the Manchester Metrolink running from Manchester city centre to Bury in Greater Manchester. Originally a railway line, it was, along with the Altrincham Line, converted into a tram line during 1991–92, as pa ...
was part of the
East Lancashire Railway
East Lancashire Railway is a heritage railway line in North West England which runs between Heywood, Greater Manchester and Rawtenstall in Lancashire. There are intermediate stations at Bury Bolton Street, , Summerseat and Ramsbottom, with ...
. Other examples can be found in
Paris
Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), ma ...
,
London
London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...
,
Boston
Boston (), officially the City of Boston, is the state capital and most populous city of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, as well as the cultural and financial center of the New England region of the United States. It is the 24th- mo ...
,
Melbourne
Melbourne ( ; Boonwurrung/Woiwurrung: ''Narrm'' or ''Naarm'') is the capital and most populous city of the Australian state of Victoria, and the second-most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Its name generally refers to a met ...
and
Sydney. They hence sometimes take advantage of high speed track while on train tracks.
*As tram lines are permanent this allows local authorities to redevelop and revitalise their towns and cities provided suitable planning changes are made. Melbourne will allow higher buildings (5 to 6 story) along tram routes leaving the existing suburbs behind unchanged whilst doubling the cities density.
* The tram with its fixed route gives developers confidence to invest as opposed to a changeable bus route.
* Trams produce less air pollution than rubber tyred transport which produce tyre, asphalt and brake based pollutants. The use of regenerative electric motor braking in trams lowers mechanical brake use. Steel wheel and rail particulates are produced but regular wheel alignment and flexible track mounting can reduce emissions.
* Tram networks can link to other operational heavy rail and rapid transit systems, allowing vehicles to move directly from one to the other without passengers needing to alight. Trams that are compatible with heavy rail systems are called
tram-trains
A tram-train is a type of light rail vehicle that meets the standards of a light rail system (usually an urban street running tramway), but which also meets national mainline standards permitting operation alongside mainline trains. This all ...
, while those that can use subway tunnels are called
pre-metro or
Stadtbahn
' (; German for "city railway"; plural ') is a German word referring to various types of urban rail transport. One type of transport originated in the 19th century, firstly in Berlin and followed by Vienna, where rail routes were created that co ...
.
* Passengers can reach surface stations quicker than underground stations. Subjective safety at surface stations is often seen to be higher.
* Trams can be tourist attractions in ways buses usually aren't.
* Many modern tram systems plant low growing vegetation – mostly grasses – between the tracks which has a psychological effect on perceived noise levels and the benefits of
greenspace. This is not possible for buses as they deviate too much from an "ideal" track in daily operations
* There is a well studied effect that the installation of a tram service – even if service frequency, speed and price all remain constant – leads to higher ridership and mode shift away from cars compared to buses. Conversely, the abandonment of tram service leads to measurable declines in ridership.
Disadvantages
![Midland Metro - Cyclist dismount sign - Andy Mabbett](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/13/Midland_Metro_-_Cyclist_dismount_sign_-_Andy_Mabbett.jpg)
* Installing rails for tram tracks and overhead lines for power means a higher up-front cost than using buses which require no modifications to streets to begin operations.
* Tram tracks can be hazardous for cyclists, as bikes, particularly those with narrow tyres, may get their wheels caught in the track grooves.
It is possible to close the grooves of the tracks on critical sections by rubber profiles that are pressed down by the wheelflanges of the passing tram but that cannot be lowered by the weight of a cyclist. If not well-maintained, however, these lose their effectiveness over time.
* When wet, tram tracks tend to become slippery and thus dangerous for bicycles and motorcycles, especially in traffic.
In some cases, even cars can be affected.
* The opening of new tram and light rail systems has sometimes been accompanied by a marked increase in car accidents, as a result of drivers' unfamiliarity with the physics and
geometry
Geometry (; ) is, with arithmetic, one of the oldest branches of mathematics. It is concerned with properties of space such as the distance, shape, size, and relative position of figures. A mathematician who works in the field of geometry is ...
of trams. Though such increases may be temporary, long-term conflicts between motorists and light rail operations can be alleviated by segregating their respective rights-of-way and installing appropriate signage and warning systems.
* Rail transport can expose neighbouring populations to moderate levels of low-frequency noise. However, transportation planners use
noise mitigation
Noise control or noise mitigation is a set of strategies to reduce noise pollution or to reduce the impact of that noise, whether outdoors or indoors.
Overview
The main areas of noise mitigation or abatement are: transportation noise control, ...
strategies to minimise these effects. Most of all, the potential for decreased private motor vehicle operations along the tram's service line because of the service provision could result in lower
ambient noise levels than without.
By region
![World Tram Systems](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/93/World_Tram_Systems.png)
Trams are in a period of growth, with about 800 tram systems operating around the world, 10 or so new systems being opened each year, and many being gradually extended. Some of these systems date from the late 19th or early 20th centuries. In the past 20 years their numbers have been augmented by modern tramway or light rail systems in cities that had discarded this form of transport. There have also been some new tram systems in cities that never previously had them.
''Tramways with tramcars'' (
British English
British English (BrE, en-GB, or BE) is, according to Lexico, Oxford Dictionaries, "English language, English as used in Great Britain, as distinct from that used elsewhere". More narrowly, it can refer specifically to the English language in ...
) or ''street railways with streetcars'' (
North American English
North American English (NAmE, NAE) is the most generalized variety of the English language as spoken in the United States and Canada. Because of their related histories and cultures, plus the similarities between the pronunciations (accents), v ...
) were common throughout the industrialised world in the late 19th and early 20th centuries but they had disappeared from most British, Canadian, French and US cities by the mid-20th century.
By contrast,
trams in parts of continental Europe continued to be used by many cities, although there were contractions in some countries, including the Netherlands.
Since 1980 trams have returned to favour in many places, partly because their tendency to dominate the roadway, formerly seen as a disadvantage, is now considered to be a merit since it raises the visibility of public transport (encouraging car users to change their mode of travel), and enables streets to be reconfigured to give more space to pedestrians, making cites more pleasant places to live. New systems have been built in the United States, United Kingdom, Ireland, Italy, France, Australia and many other countries.
In Milan, Italy, the old "
Ventotto" trams are considered by its inhabitants a "symbol" of the city. The same can be said of
trams in Melbourne
Trams are a major form of public transport in Melbourne, the capital city of the state of Victoria, Australia. As of May 2017, the Melbourne tramway network consists of of double track, 493 trams, 24 routes, and 1,763 tram stops. The system ...
in general, but particularly the iconic
W class. The
Toronto streetcar system
The Toronto streetcar system is a network of nine streetcar routes in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, operated by the Toronto Transit Commission (TTC). It is the busiest light-rail system in North America. The network is concentrated primarily in D ...
had similarly become an iconic symbol of the city, operating the largest network in the Americas as well as the only large-scale tram system in Canada (not including light rail systems, or heritage lines).
Major tram and light rail systems
Current systems
![Melbourne tram extension proposals](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/f4/Melbourne_tram_extension_proposals.gif)
The largest tram (classic tram,
streetcar
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 a ...
, ''straßenbahn'') and
fast tram (
light rail,
stadtbahn
' (; German for "city railway"; plural ') is a German word referring to various types of urban rail transport. One type of transport originated in the 19th century, firstly in Berlin and followed by Vienna, where rail routes were created that co ...
) networks in the world by route length (as of 2016)
are:
*
Melbourne
Melbourne ( ; Boonwurrung/Woiwurrung: ''Narrm'' or ''Naarm'') is the capital and most populous city of the Australian state of Victoria, and the second-most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Its name generally refers to a met ...
()
*
Saint Petersburg
Saint Petersburg ( rus, links=no, Санкт-Петербург, a=Ru-Sankt Peterburg Leningrad Petrograd Piter.ogg, r=Sankt-Peterburg, p=ˈsankt pʲɪtʲɪrˈburk), formerly known as Petrograd (1914–1924) and later Leningrad (1924–1991), i ...
()
*
Cologne
Cologne ( ; german: Köln ; ksh, Kölle ) is the largest city of the German western state of North Rhine-Westphalia (NRW) and the fourth-most populous city of Germany with 1.1 million inhabitants in the city proper and 3.6 millio ...
()
*
Berlin
Berlin ( , ) is the capital and List of cities in Germany by population, largest city of Germany by both area and population. Its 3.7 million inhabitants make it the European Union's List of cities in the European Union by population within ci ...
()
*
Moscow
Moscow ( , US chiefly ; rus, links=no, Москва, r=Moskva, p=mɐskˈva, a=Москва.ogg) is the capital and largest city of Russia. The city stands on the Moskva River in Central Russia, with a population estimated at 13.0 millio ...
()
*
Milan
Milan ( , , Lombard: ; it, Milano ) is a city in northern Italy, capital of Lombardy, and the second-most populous city proper in Italy after Rome. The city proper has a population of about 1.4 million, while its metropolitan city h ...
()
*
Budapest
Budapest (, ; ) is the capital and most populous city of Hungary. It is the ninth-largest city in the European Union by population within city limits and the second-largest city on the Danube river; the city has an estimated population ...
()
*
Katowice agglomeration ()
*
Vienna
en, Viennese
, iso_code = AT-9
, registration_plate = W
, postal_code_type = Postal code
, postal_code =
, timezone = CET
, utc_offset = +1
, timezone_DST ...
().
Other large transit networks that operate streetcar and light rail systems include:
*
Dallas Light Rail,
modern streetcar and
heritage streetcar
Conservation and restoration of rail vehicles aims to preserve historic rail vehicles.
Trains
It may concern trains that have been removed from service and later restored to their past condition, or have never been removed from service, like UP ...
()
*
Sofia
Sofia ( ; bg, София, Sofiya, ) is the capital and largest city of Bulgaria. It is situated in the Sofia Valley at the foot of the Vitosha mountain in the western parts of the country. The city is built west of the Iskar river, and h ...
()
*
Warsaw
Warsaw ( pl, Warszawa, ), officially the Capital City of Warsaw,, abbreviation: ''m.st. Warszawa'' is the capital and largest city of Poland. The metropolis stands on the River Vistula in east-central Poland, and its population is officia ...
()
*
Leipzig
Leipzig ( , ; Upper Saxon: ) is the most populous city in the German state of Saxony. Leipzig's population of 605,407 inhabitants (1.1 million in the larger urban zone) as of 2021 places the city as Germany's eighth most populous, as ...
()
*
Brussels
Brussels (french: Bruxelles or ; nl, Brussel ), officially the Brussels-Capital Region (All text and all but one graphic show the English name as Brussels-Capital Region.) (french: link=no, Région de Bruxelles-Capitale; nl, link=no, Bruss ...
()
*
Łódź
Łódź, also rendered in English as Lodz, is a city in central Poland and a former industrial centre. It is the capital of Łódź Voivodeship, and is located approximately south-west of Warsaw. The city's coat of arms is an example of cant ...
()
*
Bucharest
Bucharest ( , ; ro, București ) is the capital and largest city of Romania, as well as its cultural, industrial, and financial centre. It is located in the southeast of the country, on the banks of the Dâmbovița River, less than north of ...
()
*
Prague
Prague ( ; cs, Praha ; german: Prag, ; la, Praga) is the capital and List of cities in the Czech Republic, largest city in the Czech Republic, and the historical capital of Bohemia. On the Vltava river, Prague is home to about 1.3 milli ...
()
*
Dresden
Dresden (, ; Upper Saxon: ''Dräsdn''; wen, label= Upper Sorbian, Drježdźany) is the capital city of the German state of Saxony and its second most populous city, after Leipzig. It is the 12th most populous city of Germany, the fourth ...
()
*
Los Angeles
Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, largest city in the U.S. state, state of California and the List of United States cities by population, sec ...
()
=Statistics
=
* Tram and light rail systems operate in 388 cities across the world, 206 of which are in Europe;
* The longest single tram line and route in the world is the interurban
Belgian Coast Tram (Kusttram), which runs almost the entire length of the Belgian coast. Another fairly long interurban line is the
Valley Metro Rail
Valley Metro Rail (styled as METRO) is a light rail line serving the cities of Phoenix, Tempe, and Mesa in Arizona, USA. The network, which is part of the Valley Metro public transit system, began operations on December 27, 2008. In , the sys ...
in agglomeration of
Phoenix, Arizona
Phoenix ( ; nv, Hoozdo; es, Fénix or , yuf-x-wal, Banyà:nyuwá) is the capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Arizona, with 1,608,139 residents as of 2020. It is the fifth-most populous city in the United States, and the on ...
, with its . World's longest urban (intracity) tram line is 33 km counter-ring routes 5/5a
in Kazan (
Tatarstan
The Republic of Tatarstan (russian: Республика Татарстан, Respublika Tatarstan, p=rʲɪsˈpublʲɪkə tətɐrˈstan; tt-Cyrl, Татарстан Республикасы), or simply Tatarstan (russian: Татарстан, tt ...
,
Russia
Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and Northern Asia. It is the largest country in the world, with its internationally recognised territory covering , and encompassing one-eig ...
).
![Kazan Circle Tram 2021](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/90/Kazan_Circle_Tram_2021.jpg)
* Since 1985, 120 light rail systems have opened;
* Since 2000, 78 systems have opened while 13 have closed. The countries that have opened the most systems since 2000 are the USA (23), France (20), Spain (16), and Turkey (8);
* of track is in operation, with in construction and a further planned;
* The longest systems are in Melbourne (), Saint Petersburg (), Katowice (Upper Silesian Industrial Region) (), Cologne (), Berlin (), Milan (), Budapest (), and Vienna ().
* These lines have 32,345 stops at an average spacing of 484 metres;
* They carry 13.5 billion passengers a year, 3% of all public transport passengers. The highest-volume systems are Budapest (396 million passengers a year), Prague (372 m),
Bucharest (322 m), Saint Petersburg (312 m), and Vienna (305 m);
* The most intensely used networks (passengers per km of, per year) are: Istanbul, Hong Kong, Tokyo and Sarajevo.
* Just over 36,000 trams and light rail vehicles are in operation. The largest fleets are in Moscow (919), Saint Petersburg (833), Prague (830),
Budapest (612) and Warsaw (526);
* Between 1997 and 2014, 400–450 vehicles have been built per year.
* As of October 2015, Hong Kong has the world's only exclusively double-decker tramway system.
* The most intensively used junction in any tram network is the Lazarská x Spálená junction in Prague with appx. 150 vehicles passing through per hour.
* World's longest 9-sectioned -meter articulated tram vehicle
CAF Urbos 3/9 started operation
in Budapest in 2016.
Škoda ForCity vehicles family allows expansion of length up to with 539 passengers.
Historical
![Cormault 136 - PARIS - Panorama du Carrefour du Chatelet et la Seine](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/2d/Cormault_136_-_PARIS_-_Panorama_du_Carrefour_du_Chatelet_et_la_Seine.JPG)
Historically, the
Paris Tram System was, at its peak, the world's largest system, with of track in 1925 (according to other sources, ca. of route length in 1930). However it was completely closed in 1938. The next largest system appears to have been , in
Buenos Aires
Buenos Aires ( or ; ), officially the Autonomous City of Buenos Aires ( es, link=no, Ciudad Autónoma de Buenos Aires), is the capital and primate city of Argentina. The city is located on the western shore of the Río de la Plata, on South ...
before 19 February 1963. The third largest was Chicago, with over of track, but it was all converted to
trolleybus
A trolleybus (also known as trolley bus, trolley coach, trackless trolley, trackless tramin the 1910s and 1920sJoyce, J.; King, J. S.; and Newman, A. G. (1986). ''British Trolleybus Systems'', pp. 9, 12. London: Ian Allan Publishing. .or trol ...
and bus services by 21 June 1958. Before its decline, the
BVG in Berlin operated a very large network with of route. Before its system started to be converted to trolleybus (and later bus) services in the 1930s (last tramway closed 6 July 1952), the first-generation London network had of route in 1931. In 1958 trams in Rio de Jainero were employed on () of track. The final line, the
Santa Teresa route was closed in 1968. During a period in the 1980s, the world's largest tram system was in
Leningrad
Saint Petersburg ( rus, links=no, Санкт-Петербург, a=Ru-Sankt Peterburg Leningrad Petrograd Piter.ogg, r=Sankt-Peterburg, p=ˈsankt pʲɪtʲɪrˈburk), formerly known as Petrograd (1914–1924) and later Leningrad (1924–1991), i ...
(now known as St. Petersburg) with , USSR, and was included as such in the
Guinness World Records
''Guinness World Records'', known from its inception in 1955 until 1999 as ''The Guinness Book of Records'' and in previous United States editions as ''The Guinness Book of World Records'', is a reference book published annually, listing world ...
; however Saint Petersburg's tram system has declined in size since the fall of the Soviet Union.
Vienna
en, Viennese
, iso_code = AT-9
, registration_plate = W
, postal_code_type = Postal code
, postal_code =
, timezone = CET
, utc_offset = +1
, timezone_DST ...
in 1960 had , before the expansion of bus services and the opening of a subway (1976). Substituting subway services for tram routes continues. was in
Minneapolis-Saint Paul in 1947: There streetcars ended 31 October 1953 in Minneapolis and 19 June 1954 in St. Paul. The
Sydney tram network, before it was closed on 25 February 1961, had of route, and was thus the largest in Australia. As from 1961, the Melbourne system (currently recognised as the world's largest) took over Sydney's title as the largest network in Australia.
Africa
Asia
* Tramway systems were well established in the Asian region at the start of the 20th century, but started a steady decline during the mid to late 1930s. The 1960s marked the end of its dominance in public transportation with most major systems closed and the equipment and rails sold for scrap; however, some extensive original systems still remain in service in Japan. In recent years there has been renewed interest in the tram with modern systems being built in Japan and China.
![Chengdu Tram Line 2 Train at Hexin Road Station](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/d5/Chengdu_Tram_Line_2_Train_at_Hexin_Road_Station.jpg)
* Several cities in
China had tram systems during the 20th century; however, by the end of the century, only the systems in
Dalian,
Hong Kong
Hong Kong ( (US) or (UK); , ), officially the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China (abbr. Hong Kong SAR or HKSAR), is a city and special administrative region of China on the eastern Pearl River Delta i ...
and
Changchun remained extant. However the 21st century has seen a resurgence in development of tram transport as China struggles with urban traffic congestion and pollution with at least 15 systems operating.
Hong Kong
Hong Kong ( (US) or (UK); , ), officially the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China (abbr. Hong Kong SAR or HKSAR), is a city and special administrative region of China on the eastern Pearl River Delta i ...
has an exclusive fleet of double-decker trams. As of 2019,
Wuyishan,
Baoshan,
Jiaxing
Jiaxing (), alternately romanized as Kashing, is a prefecture-level city in northern Zhejiang province, China. Lying on the Grand Canal of China, Jiaxing borders Hangzhou to the southwest, Huzhou to the west, Shanghai to the northeast, and the p ...
and
Haikou
Haikou (; ), also spelled as Hoikow is the capital and most populous city of the Chinese province of Hainan. Haikou city is situated on the northern coast of Hainan, by the mouth of the Nandu River. The northern part of the city is on the ...
have new tram systems under construction.
* The first Japanese tram line was inaugurated in 1895 as the
Kyoto Electric Railroad. The tram reached its zenith in 1932 when 82 rail companies operated 1,479 kilometers of track in 65 cities. The tram declined in popularity through the remaining years of the 1930s and during the 1960s many of the remaining operational tramways were shut down or converted into commuter railway lines.
* In India, trams are in operation only in
Kolkata
Kolkata (, or , ; also known as Calcutta , the official name until 2001) is the capital of the Indian state of West Bengal, on the eastern bank of the Hooghly River west of the border with Bangladesh. It is the primary business, comme ...
and gauge up to 30 km across the city. Trams were discontinued in
Chennai
Chennai (, ), formerly known as Madras ( the official name until 1996), is the capital city of Tamil Nadu, the southernmost Indian state. The largest city of the state in area and population, Chennai is located on the Coromandel Coast of th ...
in 1954 and in
Mumbai
Mumbai (, ; also known as Bombay — List of renamed Indian cities and states#Maharashtra, the official name until 1995) is the capital city of the Indian States and union territories of India, state of Maharashtra and the ''de facto'' fin ...
in 1960. Tram service was started in 1884 in
Karachi
Karachi (; ur, ; ; ) is the most populous city in Pakistan and 12th most populous city in the world, with a population of over 20 million. It is situated at the southern tip of the country along the Arabian Sea coast. It is the former c ...
but was closed in 1975.
* The Northern and Central areas of the City of
Colombo
Colombo ( ; si, කොළඹ, translit=Koḷam̆ba, ; ta, கொழும்பு, translit=Koḻumpu, ) is the executive and judicial capital and largest city of Sri Lanka by population. According to the Brookings Institution, Colombo m ...
in
Sri Lanka had an electric Tram Car system ( gauge). This system commenced operations about 1900 and was discontinued by 1960. However, a new tram system is in the process of being brought to Colombo as part of the plan of
Western Region Megapolis
The Western Region Megapolis is an urban planning, zoning, and development area stretching from Negombo in the north to Beruwala in the south. It is designed to create a megapolis in Sri Lanka's Western Province by 2030.
The plan was created by ...
.
* The 13-kilometre-long
Jerusalem Light Rail
Jerusalem Light Rail ( he, הרכבת הקלה בירושלים, ''HaRakevet HaKala Birushalayim'', ar, قطار القدس الخفيف, ''Qiṭār Al-Quds Al-Khafīf'') is a light rail system in Jerusalem. Currently, the Red Line is the o ...
system began operation in August 2011 and is currently being extended, with the full system expected to be in operation by 2023. A significant portion of it will be underground. A light rail system for
Beersheba
Beersheba or Beer Sheva, officially Be'er-Sheva ( he, בְּאֵר שֶׁבַע, ''Bəʾēr Ševaʿ'', ; ar, بئر السبع, Biʾr as-Sabʿ, Well of the Oath or Well of the Seven), is the largest city in the Negev desert of southern Israel. ...
is also currently planned.
*In
Thailand
Thailand ( ), historically known as Siam () and officially the Kingdom of Thailand, is a country in Southeast Asia, located at the centre of the Indochinese Peninsula, spanning , with a population of almost 70 million. The country is b ...
, an extensive
tram system
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 ...
ran in Bangkok from 1888, until it was suspended in 1968. A smaller single-route tram route tram in
Lopburi
Lopburi ( th, ลพบุรี, , ) is the capital city of Lopburi Province in Thailand. It is about northeast of Bangkok. It has a population of 58,000. The town (''thesaban mueang'') covers the whole ''tambon'' Tha Hin and parts of Th ...
was also suspended in the early 1960s.
* Other countries with discontinued tram systems include
Indonesia
Indonesia, officially the Republic of Indonesia, is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania between the Indian and Pacific oceans. It consists of over 17,000 islands, including Sumatra, Java, Sulawesi, and parts of Borneo and New Guine ...
,
Singapore
Singapore (), officially the Republic of Singapore, is a sovereign island country and city-state in maritime Southeast Asia. It lies about one degree of latitude () north of the equator, off the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula, bor ...
,
Malaysia
Malaysia ( ; ) is a country in Southeast Asia. The federation, federal constitutional monarchy consists of States and federal territories of Malaysia, thirteen states and three federal territories, separated by the South China Sea into two r ...
,
Pakistan
Pakistan ( ur, ), officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan ( ur, , label=none), is a country in South Asia. It is the world's fifth-most populous country, with a population of almost 243 million people, and has the world's second-lar ...
,
Philippines
The Philippines (; fil, Pilipinas, links=no), officially the Republic of the Philippines ( fil, Republika ng Pilipinas, links=no),
* bik, Republika kan Filipinas
* ceb, Republika sa Pilipinas
* cbk, República de Filipinas
* hil, Republ ...
, and
Vietnam
Vietnam or Viet Nam ( vi, Việt Nam, ), officially the Socialist Republic of Vietnam,., group="n" is a country in Southeast Asia, at the eastern edge of mainland Southeast Asia, with an area of and population of 96 million, making i ...
.
* However, a tram system is planned for construction in
Gwadar
Gwadar ( Balochi/ ur, ) is a port city with located on the southwestern coast of Balochistan, Pakistan. The city is located on the shores of the Arabian Sea opposite Oman. Gwadar is the 100th largest city of Pakistan, according to the 2017 ...
,
Pakistan
Pakistan ( ur, ), officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan ( ur, , label=none), is a country in South Asia. It is the world's fifth-most populous country, with a population of almost 243 million people, and has the world's second-lar ...
where construction started in late 2011.
* Trams are also under construction in
DHA City, Karachi.
*Several Tram systems are under construction and proposal in Taiwan, Mostly in
Kaohsiung (Phase III) and
Taipei
Taipei (), officially Taipei City, is the capital and a special municipality of the Republic of China (Taiwan). Located in Northern Taiwan, Taipei City is an enclave of the municipality of New Taipei City that sits about southwest of the ...
(New Taipei City). The First LRT system was established in
Kaohsiung (Circular LRT), followed by the
Danhai Light Rail Transit in Northern Taiwan.
Indonesia
* In Batavia (now Jakarta), the capital of the former Dutch colony of the Netherlands East Indies, a horse tram service started in 1869. A steam tram ran from 1881, and electrification followed in 1897. All Jakarta trams were discontinued in the 1960s by an independent Indonesia due to pressure from Sukarno, which saw tram network as "antiquated" and a "relic of
hecolonial era". The other cities in Indonesia who used to have urban tram network were Surabaya and Semarang.
* The Semarang tram network was constructed between 1882 and 1883, and it was essentially an inner suburb extension of the Samarang Joana Railway (SJS) network. The company already had an extensive rural tram network to the east of Semarang. Unfortunately, due to financial difficulties that hampered the SJS railway company, the Semarang tram network was closed down in 1940 (despite public protest in Semarang) and their rolling stock transferred to the Surabaya tram network.
* Surabaya's tram network was first built in 1886. Initially consisting of steam trams only, later electric trams were added in 1923. They served Surabaya commuters well into the independence era. The electric tram bowed out from service in 1968, while its steam counterpart outlived the electrics before they too bowed out from service in 1978, making it the very last urban steam tram service in the world to go out of service.
* In 2012, there was talk of reviving Surabaya's tram network as a part of Surabaya Mass Rapid Transit project, which will see parts of the old electric tram right of way reactivated, and it will be combined with the future monorail network. The project is aimed to alleviate Surabaya's traffic congestion and provide cheap public transportation for Surabaya commuters. In 2014, the project entered the tender phase.
Europe
![Chlodwigplatz Stadtbahnhaltestelle 2](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/de/Chlodwigplatz_Stadtbahnhaltestelle_2.jpg)
In many European cities, much tramway infrastructure was lost in the mid-20th century, though not always on the same scale as in other parts of the world such as North America. Most of Central and Eastern Europe retained the majority of its tramway systems and it is here that the largest and busiest tram systems in the world are found.
Urban public transportation has been experiencing a sustained revival since the 1990s. Many European cities are rehabilitating, upgrading, expanding and reconstructing their old tramway lines and building new tramway lines.
North America
In North America, these vehicles are called "streetcars" (or "trolleys" in parts of the United States); the term ''tram'' is more likely to be understood as an
aerial tramway
An aerial tramway, sky tram, cable car, ropeway, aerial tram, telepherique, or seilbahn is a type of aerial lift which uses one or two stationary ropes for support while a third moving rope provides propulsion. With this form of lift, the grip ...
or a
people-mover, though "tram" may be used colloquially in Canada. Streetcar systems were developed in late 19th to early 20th centuries in a number of cities throughout North America. However, most North American cities saw their streetcar lines removed in the mid-20th century for a variety of financial, technological and social reasons. Exceptions included
Boston
Boston (), officially the City of Boston, is the state capital and most populous city of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, as well as the cultural and financial center of the New England region of the United States. It is the 24th- mo ...
,
Cleveland
Cleveland ( ), officially the City of Cleveland, is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Cuyahoga County. Located in the northeastern part of the state, it is situated along the southern shore of Lake Erie, across the U.S. ...
,
Mexico City
Mexico City ( es, link=no, Ciudad de México, ; abbr.: CDMX; Nahuatl: ''Altepetl Mexico'') is the capital city, capital and primate city, largest city of Mexico, and the List of North American cities by population, most populous city in North Amer ...
,
,
Newark,
Philadelphia
Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the List of municipalities in Pennsylvania#Municipalities, largest city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the List of United States cities by population, sixth-largest city i ...
,
Pittsburgh
Pittsburgh ( ) is a city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, United States, and the county seat of Allegheny County. It is the most populous city in both Allegheny County and Western Pennsylvania, the second-most populous city in Pennsylva ...
,
San Francisco
San Francisco (; Spanish for " Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the fourth most populous in California and 17th ...
, and
Toronto
Toronto ( ; or ) is the capital city of the Canadian province of Ontario. With a recorded population of 2,794,356 in 2021, it is the most populous city in Canada and the fourth most populous city in North America. The city is the anch ...
.
Canada
Toronto
Toronto ( ; or ) is the capital city of the Canadian province of Ontario. With a recorded population of 2,794,356 in 2021, it is the most populous city in Canada and the fourth most populous city in North America. The city is the anch ...
currently operates the largest streetcar system in the
Americas
The Americas, which are sometimes collectively called America, are a landmass comprising the totality of North and South America. The Americas make up most of the land in Earth's Western Hemisphere and comprise the New World.
Along with th ...
in terms of track length and ridership. Operated by the
Toronto Transit Commission
The Toronto Transit Commission (TTC) is the public transport agency that operates bus, subway, streetcar, and paratransit services in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, some of which run into the Peel Region and York Region. It is the oldest and larges ...
, the system consists of both street-running and grade-separated tramways. The streetcar system was established in 1861, and used a variety of vehicles in its history, including horse-drawn streetcars,
Peter Witt streetcars, the PCC streetcar, and the
Canadian Light Rail Vehicle and its articulated counterpart, the
Articulated Light Rail Vehicle
The Canadian Light Rail Vehicle (CLRV) and Articulated Light Rail Vehicle (ALRV) were types of streetcars used by the Toronto Transit Commission (TTC) from the late 1970s until the late 2010s. They were built following the TTC's decision to r ...
. Since 29 December 2019, the system exclusively uses the
Flexity Outlook
The Bombardier Flexity Outlook is a series of low-floored, articulated light-rail trams manufactured by Bombardier Transportation. Part of the larger Bombardier Flexity product line (many of which are not low-floor), Flexity Outlook vehicles are ...
made by
Bombardier Transportation.
Streetcars once existed in the Canadian cities of
Calgary,
Edmonton
Edmonton ( ) is the capital city of the Canadian province of Alberta. Edmonton is situated on the North Saskatchewan River and is the centre of the Edmonton Metropolitan Region, which is surrounded by Alberta's central region. The city ancho ...
,
Halifax,
Hamilton Hamilton may refer to:
People
* Hamilton (name), a common British surname and occasional given name, usually of Scottish origin, including a list of persons with the surname
** The Duke of Hamilton, the premier peer of Scotland
** Lord Hamilt ...
,
Kingston,
Kitchener,
London
London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...
,
Montreal
Montreal ( ; officially Montréal, ) is the second-most populous city in Canada and most populous city in the Canadian province of Quebec. Founded in 1642 as '' Ville-Marie'', or "City of Mary", it is named after Mount Royal, the triple ...
,
Ottawa,
Peterborough
Peterborough () is a cathedral city in Cambridgeshire, east of England. It is the largest part of the City of Peterborough unitary authority district (which covers a larger area than Peterborough itself). It was part of Northamptonshire until ...
,
Quebec City
Quebec City ( or ; french: Ville de Québec), officially Québec (), is the capital city of the Canadian province of Quebec. As of July 2021, the city had a population of 549,459, and the metropolitan area had a population of 839,311. It is t ...
,
Regina,
Saskatoon
Saskatoon () is the largest city in the Canadian province of Saskatchewan. It straddles a bend in the South Saskatchewan River in the central region of the province. It is located along the Trans-Canada Yellowhead Highway, and has served as th ...
,
Windsor
Windsor may refer to:
Places Australia
* Windsor, New South Wales
** Municipality of Windsor, a former local government area
* Windsor, Queensland, a suburb of Brisbane, Queensland
**Shire of Windsor, a former local government authority around Wi ...
, Winnipeg, and
Vancouver
Vancouver ( ) is a major city in western Canada, located in the Lower Mainland region of British Columbia. As the List of cities in British Columbia, most populous city in the province, the 2021 Canadian census recorded 662,248 people in the ...
. However, Canadian cities excluding Toronto, removed their streetcar systems in the mid-20th century. In the late 1970s and early 1980s, light rail systems were introduced in Calgary and Edmonton; with another light rail system established in Ottawa in 2001. There is now something of a renaissance for light railways in mid-sized cities with
Waterloo, Ontario
Waterloo is a city in the Canadian province of Ontario. It is one of three cities in the Regional Municipality of Waterloo (formerly Waterloo County). Waterloo is situated about west-southwest of Toronto. Due to the close proximity of the ci ...
the first to come on line and construction underway in
Mississauga, Ontario and
Hamilton, Ontario
Hamilton is a port city in the Canadian Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Ontario. Hamilton has a Canada 2016 Census, population of 569,353, and its Census Metropolitan Area, census metropolitan area, which includes Burlington, ...
. In the late 20th century, several Canadian locales restored portions of their defunct streetcar lines, operating them as a heritage feature for tourists. Heritage streetcar lines in Canada include the
High Level Bridge Streetcar
The High Level Bridge Streetcar is a historic streetcar ride over the High Level Bridge in Edmonton, Alberta. It travels from the Strathcona Streetcar Barn & Museum, just north of the Strathcona Farmers Market, in Old Strathcona, to Jasper Pla ...
in Edmonton, the
Nelson Electric Tramway
The Nelson Electric Tramway is a heritage railway at Nelson in the Kootenay region of southeastern British Columbia. It is one of two operational historic tram systems in the province.
Former tramway
1899: Nelson Electric Tramway Co. Ltd. inaug ...
in
Nelson
Nelson may refer to:
Arts and entertainment
* ''Nelson'' (1918 film), a historical film directed by Maurice Elvey
* ''Nelson'' (1926 film), a historical film directed by Walter Summers
* ''Nelson'' (opera), an opera by Lennox Berkeley to a lib ...
, and the
Whitehorse Waterfront Trolley
The Whitehorse Waterfront Trolley was a heritage streetcar service in Whitehorse, Yukon, Whitehorse, Yukon, Canada.
The line used a single reconditioned Tram, trolley which carried tourists along Whitehorse's waterfront along the Yukon River. ...
in
Whitehorse
Whitehorse () is the capital of Yukon, and the largest city in Northern Canada. It was incorporated in 1950 and is located at kilometre 1426 (Historic Mile 918) on the Alaska Highway in southern Yukon. Whitehorse's downtown and Riverdale areas ...
.
United States
![Portland Streetcar B-Loop car on Broadway Bridge (2016)](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/43/Portland_Streetcar_B-Loop_car_on_Broadway_Bridge_%282016%29.jpg)
Pittsburgh had kept most of its streetcar system serving the city and many suburbs, making it the longest-lasting large-network streetcar system in the United States. However, most of the city's streetcar lines had been abandoned by the early 1970s, and the handful of surviving streetcar lines were converted to light rail in the 1980s. San Francisco's
Muni Metro
Muni Metro is a light rail system serving San Francisco, California, United States. Operated by the San Francisco Municipal Railway (Muni), a part of the San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency (SFMTA), Muni Metro served an average of 15 ...
system is the largest surviving streetcar system in the United States, and has even revived previously closed streetcar lines such as the
F Market & Wharves
The F Market & Wharves line is one of several light rail lines in San Francisco, California. Unlike most other lines in the system, the F line runs as a heritage streetcar service, almost exclusively using historic equipment both from San Franc ...
heritage streetcar line. In the late 20th century, several cities installed modern light rail systems, in part along the same corridors as their old streetcars systems, the first of these being the
San Diego Trolley
The San Diego Trolley is a light rail system operating in the metropolitan area of San Diego. It is known colloquially as "The Trolley". The Trolley's operator, San Diego Trolley, Inc. (SDTI), is a subsidiary of the San Diego Metropolitan Tra ...
in
San Diego
San Diego ( , ; ) is a city on the Pacific Ocean coast of Southern California located immediately adjacent to the Mexico–United States border. With a 2020 population of 1,386,932, it is the eighth most populous city in the United State ...
in 1981.
In the 1980s, some cities in the United States brought back streetcars lines, including
Memphis
Memphis most commonly refers to:
* Memphis, Egypt, a former capital of ancient Egypt
* Memphis, Tennessee, a major American city
Memphis may also refer to:
Places United States
* Memphis, Alabama
* Memphis, Florida
* Memphis, Indiana
* Memp ...
,
Tampa, and
Little Rock
( The "Little Rock")
, government_type = Council-manager
, leader_title = Mayor
, leader_name = Frank Scott Jr.
, leader_party = D
, leader_title2 = Council
, leader_name2 ...
; However, these streetcar systems were designed as heritage streetcar lines, and used vintage or replica-vintage vehicles. The first "second-generation streetcar systems" in North America was opened in
Portland in 2001.
The "second-generation streetcar system," utilizes modern vehicles – vehicles that feature low-floor streetcars. These newer streetcar systems were built in several American cities in the early 21st century including
Atlanta
Atlanta ( ) is the capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Georgia. It is the seat of Fulton County, the most populous county in Georgia, but its territory falls in both Fulton and DeKalb counties. With a population of 498,715 ...
, CityLynx Gold Line, Charlotte, Cincinnati Bell Connector, Cincinnati, Dallas Streetcar, Dallas, QLine, Detroit, KC Streetcar, Kansas City, The Hop (streetcar), Milwaukee, Oklahoma City Streetcar, Oklahoma City, Seattle Streetcar, Seattle, Sun Link, Tucson, and DC Streetcar, Washington, D.C.
Oceania
Australia
* Historically, there have been trams in the following Australian cities and towns: Adelaide,
Ballarat,
Bendigo,
Brisbane
Brisbane ( ) is the capital and most populous city of the Australian state of Queensland, and the third-most populous city in Australia and Oceania, with a population of approximately 2.6 million. Brisbane lies at the centre of the South ...
, Broken Hill, Derby,
Fremantle, Gawler,
Geelong,
Hobart,
Kalgoorlie,
Launceston,
Leonora, Maitland, New South Wales, Maitland,
Melbourne
Melbourne ( ; Boonwurrung/Woiwurrung: ''Narrm'' or ''Naarm'') is the capital and most populous city of the Australian state of Victoria, and the second-most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Its name generally refers to a met ...
, Moonta, South Australia, Moonta–Wallaroo, South Australia, Wallaroo,
Newcastle Newcastle usually refers to:
*Newcastle upon Tyne, a city and metropolitan borough in Tyne and Wear, England
*Newcastle-under-Lyme, a town in Staffordshire, England
*Newcastle, New South Wales, a metropolitan area in Australia, named after Newcastle ...
,
Perth
Perth is the capital and largest city of the Australian state of Western Australia. It is the fourth most populous city in Australia and Oceania, with a population of 2.1 million (80% of the state) living in Greater Perth in 2020. Perth i ...
,
Rockhampton, Sorrento, Victoria, Sorrento,
Sydney and Victor Harbor Horse Drawn Tram, Victor Harbor. They ranged from extensive systems to single lines. Virtually all known types of motive power have been utilised in Australia at some stage.
* The Sydney system, which closed in 1961, was the most extensive and the largest passenger carrier of any Australian public transport system then or since, moving over 400 million passengers per annum, at its peak. In 1997, Sydney reintroduced tram services on a modern Light rail in Sydney, light rail network; the 2010s saw a significant expansion of the network.
* Trams were retained in Melbourne (by length, the world's largest system) and, to a lesser extent, Adelaide. All other cities had largely dismantled their networks by the 1970s.
* Ballarat and Bendigo have retained some trams as heritage vehicles operating on limited trackage. In 2008 and 2009, Bendigo trialled using its heritage trams for regular public transport, but the service was too infrequent to be useful for that.
*
Portland, Victoria
Portland is a city in Victoria, Australia, and is the oldest European settlement in the state. It is also the main urban centre in the Shire of Glenelg and is located on Portland Bay. As of the 2021 census the population was 10,016, increasin ...
, introduced a tourist tram line in 1996, which uses two replicas of a Melbourne cable car (railway), cable tram cable grip, grip car or dummy, driven by a concealed diesel engine, diesel motor, and two restored trailer cars.
* A completely new tram system opened on the Gold Coast, Queensland, Gold Coast on 20 July 2014, with a major extension completed in December 2017. The new system is known as the
G:link and is the first tram/light rail system in the state of Queensland since Brisbane closed its tram network in 1969.
![Canberra Light Rail construction in Harrison 2](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/53/Canberra_Light_Rail_construction_in_Harrison_2.jpg)
* The construction of light rail in Canberra became the major issue of the 2016 ACT election, with the governing coalition supporting the project and the opposition against it. The government was returned and Stage 1 of the light rail launched in April 2019.
* The railway into the centre of Newcastle railway line, Newcastle was truncated at Wickham railway station, New South Wales, Wickham on 25 December 2014, and the railway line was replaced by the
Newcastle Light Rail
The Newcastle Light Rail is a light rail system in Newcastle, New South Wales, Australia, running from Newcastle Interchange through the central business district to Pacific Park. Major construction commenced in September 2017 and the line wa ...
line in February 2019.
* There are also tentative plans for new tram systems in Riverline (Hobart), Hobart and on the Sunshine Coast Light Rail, Sunshine Coast.
New Zealand
* New Zealand's last public transport tramway system, that of
Wellington
Wellington ( mi, Te Whanganui-a-Tara or ) is the capital city of New Zealand. It is located at the south-western tip of the North Island, between Cook Strait and the Remutaka Range. Wellington is the second-largest city in New Zealand by metr ...
, closed in 1966.
* Nevertheless, there had been tramways ranging from large, comprehensive systems to single lines, in Auckland,
Christchurch
Christchurch ( ; mi, Ōtautahi) is the largest city in the South Island of New Zealand and the seat of the Canterbury Region. Christchurch lies on the South Island's east coast, just north of Banks Peninsula on Pegasus Bay. The Avon Rive ...
, Dunedin, Gisborne, New Zealand, Gisborne, Invercargill, Napier, New Zealand, Napier, New Plymouth, Greymouth, Westport, New Zealand, Westport, Hokitika, Ross, New Zealand, Ross, Brighton, New Zealand, Brighton, Charleston, New Zealand, Charleston, Kamiere and Kamara.
* New Zealand's tram gauges were not standardised; the 15 systems used no less than five gauges, making swapping of rolling stock from system to system difficult.
* Christchurch has subsequently reintroduced heritage trams over a new CBD route, but the overhead wiring plus some track was damaged by the Christchurch earthquake, earthquake of 2011. In November 2013, a limited circuit was reopened.
* Auckland has recently introduced heritage trams into the Wynyard area, near the CBD, using former W-class Melbourne trams. On 9 May 2018, two modern tram/Light rail in Auckland, Light rail routes were announced from Wynyard Quarter, via Queen Street, Auckland, Queen Street to Auckland Airport via Dominion Road and Onehunga in the South and via Queen Street, Auckland, Queen Street and Great North Road, New Zealand, Great North Road, Point Chevalier and onto the Northwestern Motorway to Westgate, New Zealand, Westgate to be running in the early 2020s with a possible further extension to Kumeu/Huapai.
* Preserved Auckland trams from the Museum of Transport & Technology have made cameo appearances during Heritage Weeks.
* Heritage lines exist at Auckland's Museum of Transport & Technology, the Wellington Tramway Museum at Queen Elizabeth Park, Kapiti Coast, Queen Elizabeth Park on the Kapiti Coast, the Tramways Trust Wanganui and the Tramway Historical Society at Ferrymead in Christchurch, as well as the Christchurch tramway system, Christchurch Tramway Limited in the central city.
* Whangarei Steam and Model Railway Club also run two former Lisbon trams formally from Aspen, Colorado.
South America
![J31 441 Hp Presidente Illia, ET 13](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/00/J31_441_Hp_Presidente_Illia%2C_ET_13.jpg)
* Buenos Aires in Argentina once had one of the most extensive tramway networks in the world with over of track, most of it dismantled during the 1960s in favour of bus transportation. A new line, the PreMetro E2 (Buenos Aires), PreMetro line E2 system feeding the Line E (Buenos Aires), Line E of the Buenos Aires Underground has been operating since 1987 on the outskirts of Buenos Aires.
* In Cuenca, Ecuador, Cuenca, Ecuador, a tram line started operating since March 2019 as the main public transportation system in the city. The L1 of the Cuenca tram is 20.4 km long with 20 stops and uses
Alstom Citadis (302) trains.
* A historic tram line known as the Santa Teresa Tram operates in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. In 2016, a new tram line started operating in Rio de Janeiro, known as the Light rail transportation system.
* The Tranvía del Este in Puerto Madero, Buenos Aires, operated from 2007 to 2012, and it is now dismantled.
* Also in the city of Mendoza, Argentina, Mendoza, in Argentina, a new tramway system is currently on service since 2012, the Metrotranvía of Mendoza, which will have a route of and will link five districts of the Greater Mendoza conurbation.
["Mendoza light rail service begins" (December 2012). ''Tramways & Urban Transit'', p. 451. Light Rail Transit Association, LRTA Publishing. .]
* In Medellín, Colombia, a tram line began operation on 15 October 2015, as a revival of old Ayacucho Tram, Ayacucho tram.
* In Santiago, Chile there are plans for a tramway that will connect the comunes of Las Condes, Lo Barnechea y Vitacura. (tranvía de Las Condes)
Incidents
* In January 1864, well-known Anglo-Australian musician and composer Isaac Nathan was hit and killed by a Sydney horse tram when his clothing was caught in the door, whilst he was attempting to alight. Nathan is reputed to be one of the first tram fatalities in the Southern Hemisphere (many sources claim that it was the first such accident).
* On the morning of 18 August 1901, four masked men, described as "urban bushrangers", held up an eastbound horse tram in Riversdale Road,
Melbourne
Melbourne ( ; Boonwurrung/Woiwurrung: ''Narrm'' or ''Naarm'') is the capital and most populous city of the Australian state of Victoria, and the second-most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Its name generally refers to a met ...
, just past Power Street. For their trouble the men received Australian pound, £2 10/- in fares from driver Thomas Taylor, and £21 19/- from eight passengers. One passenger was injured. The bandits were never caught. Contemporary newspapers hypothesised that the bandits were after a specific commuter who travelled regularly on this particular tram and who was in the habit of carrying large amounts of cash.
* In the Tottenham Outrage in 1909, two armed robbers hijacked a tram and were chased by the police in another tram.
* On 7 June 1926 Catalan architect Antoni Gaudí was knocked down by a Barcelona tram and subsequently died.
* On 27 February 1930, Paul de Vivie (pen name Vélocio), godfather of the dérailleur was killed by a tram in St Étienne
* It is reputed that in the 1930s a murdered body was dragged out of the River Thames in London. The body had been stripped of anything that might have identified him. The only clue to the person's identity was a portion of a tram ticket hidden in the lining of his coat. The local police did not recognise the ticket but images in newspapers led to it being identified as a Melbourne tram ticket. Serendipitously, the serial number on the ticket was intact. Victoria Police in Melbourne, acting as agents for the Metropolitan Police in London, contacted the Melbourne & Metropolitan Tramways Board. From the serial number, the M&MTB were able to tell which tram depot had issued the ticket, on what day and on which specific tram, and in which section of a particular route (North Balwyn). Police then interviewed regular commuters and discovered the identity of a man whom, they believed, had recently travelled to London. This led to the arrest and conviction of the murderer. Decades after the event, the M&MTB were still citing the incident in training courses as a reason for tram conductors, etc., to keep proper and efficient records.
In popular culture
Tram modelling
![Blackburn and East Lancs MRS - 44th annual exhibition - DSC03803](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/72/Blackburn_and_East_Lancs_MRS_-_44th_annual_exhibition_-_DSC03803.JPG)
Model trams are popular in HO scale (1:87) and O scale (1:48 in the US and generally 1:43,5 and 1:45 in Europe and Asia). They are typically powered and will accept plastic figures inside. Common manufacturers are Roco and Lima (models), Lima, with many custom models being made as well. The German firm Hödl and the Austrian Halling specialise in 1:87 scale.
In the US, Bachmann Industries is a mass supplier of HO streetcars and kits. Bowser Manufacturing has produced white metal models for over 50 years. There are many boutique vendors offering limited run epoxy and wood models. At the high end are highly detailed brass models which are usually imported from Japan or Korea and can cost in excess of $500. Many of these run on gauge track, which is correct for the representation of (standard gauge) in HO scale as in US and Japan, but incorrect in 4 mm (1:76.2) scale, as it represents . This scale/gauge hybrid is called OO scale.
O scale trams are also very popular among tram modellers because the increased size allows for more detail and easier crafting of overhead wiring. In the US these models are usually purchased in epoxy or wood kits and some as brass models. The Saint Petersburg Tram Company produces highly detailed polyurethane non-powered O Scale models from around the world which can easily be powered by trucks from vendors like Q-Car.
In the US, one of the best resources for model tram enthusiasts is the East Penn Traction Club of Philadelphia and Trolleyville a website of the Southern California Traction Club.
It is thought that the first example of a working model tramcar in the UK built by an amateur for fun was in 1929, when Frank E. Wilson created a replica of London County Council Tramways E class car 444 in 1:16 scale, which he demonstrated at an early Model Engineer Exhibition. Another of his models was London E/1 1800, which was the only tramway exhibit in the Faraday Memorial Exhibition of 1931. Together with likeminded friends, Frank Wilson went on to found the Tramway & Light Railway Society in 1938, establishing tramway modelling as a hobby.
Etymology and terminology
The English terms ''tram'' and ''tramway'' are derived from the Scots language, Scots word , referring respectively to a type of truck (goods wagon or freight railroad car) used in coal mining, coal mines and the tracks on which they ran. The word ''tram'' probably derived from Middle Dutch, Middle Flemish ("beam, handle of a barrow, bar, rung"). The identical word with the meaning "crossbeam" is also used in the French language. Etymologists believe that the word ''tram'' refers to the wooden beams the railway tracks were initially made of before the railroad pioneers switched to the much more wear-resistant tracks made of iron and, later, steel. The word ''Tram-car'' is attested from 1873.
![Go by Streetcar sign - Portland Oregon](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/8e/Go_by_Streetcar_sign_-_Portland_Oregon.jpg)
Although the terms ''tram'' and ''tramway'' have been adopted by many languages, they are not used universally in English; North Americans prefer ''streetcar'', ''trolley'', or ''trolleycar''. The term ''streetcar'' is first recorded in 1840, and originally referred to horsecars. When electrification came, Americans began to speak of ''trolleycars'' or later, ''trolleys''. A widely held belief holds the word to derive from the ''troller'' (said to derive from the words ''traveler'' and ''roller''), a four-wheeled device that was dragged along dual overhead wires by a cable that connected the troller to the top of the car and collected electrical power from the
overhead wire
An overhead line or overhead wire is an electrical cable that is used to transmit electrical energy to electric locomotives, trolleybuses or trams. It is known variously as:
* Overhead catenary
* Overhead contact system (OCS)
* Overhead equipm ...
s; this portmanteau word, portmanteau derivation is, however, most likely folk etymology. "Trolley" and variants refer to the verb ''troll'', meaning "roll" and probably derived from Old French, and cognate uses of the word were well established for handcarts and horse drayage, as well as for nautical uses.
[William D. Middleton, Middleton, William D. (1967). ''The Time of the Trolley'', p. 60. Milwaukee: Kalmbach Publishing. .]
The alternative North American term 'trolley' may strictly speaking be considered incorrect, as the term can also be applied to cable cars, or conduit cars that instead draw power from an underground supply. Conventional diesel bus, tourist buses decorated to look like streetcars are sometimes called ''trolleys'' in the US (tourist trolley). Furthering confusion, the term ''tram'' has instead been applied to open-sided, low-speed trackless train, segmented vehicles on rubber tires generally used to ferry tourists short distances, for example on the Universal Studios Backlot Tour, Universal Studios backlot tour and, in many countries, as tourist transport to major destinations. The term may also apply to an aerial ropeway, e.g. the Roosevelt Island Tramway.
Although the use of the term ''trolley'' for tram was not adopted in Europe, the term was later associated with the ''
trolleybus
A trolleybus (also known as trolley bus, trolley coach, trackless trolley, trackless tramin the 1910s and 1920sJoyce, J.; King, J. S.; and Newman, A. G. (1986). ''British Trolleybus Systems'', pp. 9, 12. London: Ian Allan Publishing. .or trol ...
'', a rubber-tired vehicle running on hard pavement, which draws its power from pairs of overhead wires. These electric buses, which use twin trolley poles, are also called ''trackless trolleys'' (particularly in the northeastern US), or sometimes simply ''trolleys'' (in the UK, as well as the Pacific Northwest, including Seattle, and
Vancouver
Vancouver ( ) is a major city in western Canada, located in the Lower Mainland region of British Columbia. As the List of cities in British Columbia, most populous city in the province, the 2021 Canadian census recorded 662,248 people in the ...
).
The
New South Wales
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, nickname =
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, map_caption = Location of New South Wales in AustraliaCoordinates:
, subdivision_type = Country
, subdivision_name = Australia
, established_title = Before federation
, es ...
government in Australia has decided to use the term "light rail" for their trams.
See also
Tram models
See :Tram vehicles
Trams by region
* List of town tramway systems in Africa, Trams in Africa
* Trams in Australia
* Trams in New Zealand
* Streetcars in North America
* List of town tramway systems in South America, Trams in South America
Tram lists
* List of town tramway systems
* List of tram and light rail transit systems
* List of tram builders
* List of tram systems by gauge and electrification
* List of transport museums
* Tram and light rail transit systems
Other topics
* Armoured tram
* Capabus
* Cater MetroTrolley
* Dual-mode vehicle
* Light rail
* Minecart, also known as a Mine railway#Motive power, tram
* Premetro
* Rail transport in Walt Disney Parks and Resorts
* Railway electrification system
* Rubber-tyred tram
*
Stadtbahn
' (; German for "city railway"; plural ') is a German word referring to various types of urban rail transport. One type of transport originated in the 19th century, firstly in Berlin and followed by Vienna, where rail routes were created that co ...
* Streetcar suburb
* Traction current pylon
* Tram stop
* Roundabout#Trams, Trams and roundabouts
* Trams in popular culture
* Worldwide examples of gauntlet tracks
References
Citations
General and cited references
*
Further reading
*
*
*
* Arrivetz, Jean. 1956. ''Les Tramways Français'' (No ISBN). Lyon: Editions Omni-Presse.
* Bett, W. C., and J. C. Gillam. 1962. ''Great British Tramway Networks'' (4th Edition), . London: Light Rail Transit Association, Light Railway Transport League.
* Bigon, Liora. 2007, "Tracking Ethno-Cultural Differences: The Lagos Steam Tramway (1902–1933)" ''Journal of Historical Geography'', 33, 3
* Brimson, Samuel. 1983. ''The Tramways of Australia'' (). Sydney: Dreamweaver Books.
* Buckley, R. J. 1984. ''Tramways and Light Railways of Switzerland and Austria'' (). Milton Keynes, UK: Light Rail Transit Association.
* Chandler, Allison. 1963. ''Trolley Through the Countryside'' (No ISBN). Denver: Sage Books.
* Cheape, Charles W. ''Moving the masses: urban public transit in New York, Boston, and Philadelphia, 1880–1912'' (Harvard University Press, 1980)
* Davies, W. K. J. 1986. ''100 years of the Belgian vicinal: SNCV/NMVB, 1885–1985: a century of secondary rail transport in Belgium'' (). Broxbourne, UK: Light Rail Transit Association.
* Dunbar, Charles S. 1967. ''Buses, Trolleys & Trams'' Great Britain: Paul Hamlyn Ltd. [republished 2004 with or 9780753709702]
* Dyer, Peter, and Peter Hodge. 1988. ''Cane Train: The Sugar-Cane Railways of Fiji'' (). Wellington: New Zealand Railway and Locomotive Society Inc.
* Gragt, Frits van der. 1968. ''Europe's Greatest Tramway Network'' (No ISBN). Leiden, Netherlands: E.J. Brill.
* Hilton, George W. 1997. ''The Cable Car in America: A New Treatise upon Cable or Rope Traction As Applied to the Working of Street and Other Railways'', Revised Edition (). Stanford (CA), US: Stanford University Press.
* Howarth, W. Des. 1971. ''Tramway Systems of Southern Africa'' (No ISBN). Johannesburg: published by the author.
* King, B. R., and J. H. Price. 1995. ''The Tramways of Portugal'' (4th Edition) (). London: Light Rail Transit Association.
* McKay, John P. ''Tramways and Trolleys: The Rise of Urban Mass Transport in Europe'' (1976)
* William D. Middleton, Middleton, William D. 1967. ''The Time of the Trolley'' (). Milwaukee (WI), US: Kalmbach Publishing.
* Morrison, Allen. 1989
"The Tramways of Brazil: A 130-Year Survey"(). New York: Bonde Press.
* Morrison, Allen. 1992
(). New York: Bonde Press.
* Morrison, Allen. 1996. ''Latin America by Streetcar: A Pictorial Survey of Urban Rail Transport South of the U.S.A.'' (). New York: Bonde Press.
* Nye, David E.: ''Electrifying America : social meanings of a new technology, 1880–1940'', MIT Press, Cambridge, Massachusetts c1990.
* Pabst, Martin. 1989. ''Tram & Trolley in Africa'' (). Krefeld: Röhr Verlag GMBH.
* Peschkes, Robert. ''World Gazetteer of Tram, Trolleybus, and Rapid Transit Systems''.
:''Part One, Latin America'' (). 1980. Exeter, UK: Quail Map Company.
:''Part Two, Asia+USSR'' / Africa / Australia (). 1987. London: Rapid Transit Publications.
:''Part Three, Europe'' (). 1993. London: Rapid Transit Publications.
:''Part Four, North America'' (). 1998. London: Rapid Transit Publications.
*
* Röhr, Gustav. 1986. ''Schmalspurparadies Schweiz'', Band 1: Berner Oberland, Jura, Westschweiz, Genfer See, Wallis (). Aachen: Schweers + Wall.
* Rowsome, Frank; Stephan McGuire, tech. ed. (1956). A Trolley Car Treasury: A Century of American Streetcars—Horsecars, Cable Cars, Interurbans, and Trolleys. New York: McGraw-Hill.
* Schweers, Hans. 1988. ''Schmalspurparadies Schweiz'', Band 2: Nordostschweiz, Mittelland, Zentralschweiz, Graubünden, Tessin (). Aachen: Schweers + Wall.
* Stewart, Graham. 1985. ''When Trams Were Trumps in New Zealand'' (). Wellington: Grantham House Publishing.
* Stewart, Graham. 1993 ''The End of the Penny Section'' (revised and enlarged edition) (). Wellington: Grantham House Publishing.
* ''Straßenbahnatlas ehem. Sowjetunion / Tramway Atlas of the former USSR'' (). 1996. Berlin: Arbeitsgemeinschaft Blickpunkt Straßenbahn, in conjunction with Light Rail Transit Association, London.
* ''Straßenbahnatlas Rumänien'' (compiled by Andreas Günter, Sergei Tarknov and Christian Blank; ). 2004. Berlin: Arbeitsgemeinschaft Blickpunkt Straßenbahn.
* ''Tramway & Light Railway Atlas: Germany 1996'' (). 1995. Berlin: Arbeitsgemeinschaft Blickpunkt Straßenbahn, in conjunction with Light Rail Transit Association, London.
* Turner, Kevin. 1996. ''The Directory of British Tramways: Every Passenger-Carrying Tramway, Past and Present'' (). Somerset, UK: Haynes.
* Waller, Michael H., and Peter Walker. 1992. ''British & Irish Tramway Systems since 1945'' (). Shepperton (Surrey), UK: Ian Allan Publishing, Ian Allan Ltd.
External links
*
*
''The Elephant Will Never Forget''(British Transport Films, 1953) showing changeover from conduit to overhead power
Battery tram in Yucatan
{{Authority control
Tram transport,
Tram vehicles,
Public transport
Sustainable transport
Russian inventions
Railcars
Road hazards