The earliest

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

(有轨电车) service in Beijing dates back to 1899, and trams were the main form of public transit from 1924 to the late 1950s before they were replaced by trolleybuses that follow the tram routes they replaced. However new tram services are being introduced in Beijing's suburbs.

History of old trams

The oldest municipal trolley service in Beijing dates to 1899 when foreign interests built and operated a 7.5-km tram service between Majiapu and

Yongdingmen Yongdingmen (), literally meaning “Gate of Perpetual Peace”, was the former front gate of the outer city of Beijing's old city wall. Originally built in 1553 during Ming Dynasty, it was torn down in the 1950s to make way for the new road syst ...

. The track was destroyed during the

Boxer Rebellion The Boxer Rebellion, also known as the Boxer Uprising, the Boxer Insurrection, or the Yihetuan Movement, was an anti-foreign, anti-colonial, and anti-Christian uprising in China between 1899 and 1901, towards the end of the Qing dynasty, by ...

in 1900.

In June 1921, the city government established the Peking Electric Tramway Co., Ltd. and used company shares to secure a 2 million dollar loan from the

Franco-Chinese Bank The Franco-Chinese Bank, in French Banque Franco-Chinoise (BFC), full name Banque Franco-Chinoise pour le Commerce et l’Industrie ( zh, 中法工商银行), was a French bank with operations in China and French Indochina, and later in the Ind ...

to fund the enterprise.(Chinese
You Long, "北京有轨电车史话" 《前线》
2008-03-06 Virtually all equipment were imported – the tram tracks from France, street car from Japan, power generation equipment from Sweden and Germany, and repair facilities from Britain. Tram service commenced three years later on December 17, 1924. Several hundred guests, foreigners among them, attended the inauguration at the southern end of Tiananmen Square. A dozen street cars paraded along the 9-km initial tram route from Qianmen to Xizhimen.(Chinese
"北京公交车发展史"
2009-09-17 City residents crowded along route to see the new vehicles. Five years later, the number of routes grew to five, which were distinguished by the colors red, yellow, blue, white and green. The street cars were for the most part well received by city residents, except

rickshaw A rickshaw originally denoted a two- or three-wheeled passenger cart, now known as a pulled rickshaw, which is generally pulled by one person carrying one passenger. The first known use of the term was in 1879. Over time, cycle rickshaws (also ...

drivers whose business diminished considerably. On October 22, 1929, the rickshaw driver's union clashed with the Trolley Company and rickshaw drivers swarmed into the Tram depot, and destroyed 63 trams, halting service for 18 days. In July 1930, the 6th Route, began service from

Chongwenmen Chongwenmen (; Manchu: ; Möllendorff: šu be wesihulere duka) was a gate that was part of Beijing's city wall in what is now Dongcheng District. The gate stood in the southeastern part of Beijing's inner city, immediately south of the old Beij ...

to East Zhushikou. The outbreak of the Second Sino-Japanese War following the

Marco Polo Bridge Incident The Marco Polo Bridge Incident, also known as the Lugou Bridge Incident () or the July 7 Incident (), was a July 1937 battle between China's National Revolutionary Army and the Imperial Japanese Army. Since the Japanese invasion of Manchuria ...

ceased tram service temporarily. On January 1, 1938, the 6th Route Branch Line began operating on the newly built tracks between Tianqiao and

. Ridership averaged 129,000 per day in June 1942. By 1943, the city had seven tram routes with a combined length of 46.65 km and 144 trams in operation. During the Chinese Civil War, tram service diminished. Ridership had fallen to 60,000 to 70,000 per day. In March 1950, the tramline's ring route from Pinganli through Xisi, Xidan, Tiananmen, Dongdan and Dongsi was restored. An eighth route from Hongqiao to Tianqiao was added in 1955. By 1957, the tram service had 250 trams in operation, reaching an all-time high. Yet, trams by then were considered slow and noisy compared to other motor vehicles and was more expensive and cumbersome to expand service into newly developed areas of the city because they required the laying of track. City planners looked to trolleybuses, which do not need tracks and do not require

diesel Diesel may refer to: * Diesel engine, an internal combustion engine where ignition is caused by compression * Diesel fuel, a liquid fuel used in diesel engines * Diesel locomotive, a railway locomotive in which the prime mover is a diesel engin ...

fuel to operate. In the 1950s,

Chinese Chinese can refer to: * Something related to China * Chinese people, people of Chinese nationality, citizenship, and/or ethnicity **''Zhonghua minzu'', the supra-ethnic concept of the Chinese nation ** List of ethnic groups in China, people of va ...

petroleum production was limited and trolleybuses like trams could be powered from electricity generated sources other than oil. On October 17, 1956, Beijing's first trolleybus made a successful trial run from Xisi to Fuchengmen. On February 26, 1957, the city's first trolleybus began commercial operation from Beichizi and Fuchengmen. On August 22, 1958, the Beijing People's Congress voted to replace tram service inside the old city with trolleybuses and regular buses by October 1959, in time for the 10th anniversary celebrations of the founding of the People's Republic. On March 9, 1959, workers removed tram tracks and power lines between Xizhimen and Xidan and installed trolleybus lines. The next day, Trolleybus Line No. 5 began operation from Qianmen to Xidan, Xinjiekou and Xizhimen. Tram service from Qianmen to Dongdan, Beixinqiao and Dongzhimen was replaced by Bus No. 24. Tram service was rapidly phased out of the old city. On May 6, 1966, the last car on the tram line between Yongdingmen and Beijing Gymnasium ceased operations, ending tram service in the city until the Qianmen Avenue Street Car began running 42 years later.

In operation

Qianmen tourist tram

In 2008, tram service returned to Beijing with the introduction of a tourist tram on Qianmen Avenue. There are two battery-powered retro-styled trams running on two separate tracks. Usually, only one tram runs.

Xijiao line of Beijing Subway

In December 2017, the first true public transit tram line, Xijiao line was opened.

Line T1 of Beijing Yizhuang Tram

Yizhuang New Town Modern Tram () is a tram system in Beijing Economic-Technological Development Area (Yizhuang Development Area). Line T1 opened on 31 December 2020.

Planned

Yizhuang New Town Modern Tram

A further three lines, Lines T2, T3 and T4 are under planning.

Shunyi Modern Tram

Shunyi Modern Tram is a tram system in

Shunyi District Shunyi District () is an administrative district of Beijing, located to the northeast of the city's urban core. As of 2014, the population of the district is around 983,000, of which approximately 601,000 have local residency permits. The Beiji ...

. Line T2 is a 19.84 km, 22 station tram line.(Chinese
"顺义区现代有轨电车T2线正式开工" ''bjsubway''
2017-07-14 Accessed 2017-07-16 The line has been put on hold as of 2019. A further two lines, Lines T1 and T3 are under planning.

Fengtai Hexi Modern Tram

A tram network in

Fengtai District Fengtai District () is a district of the municipality of Beijing. It lies mostly to the southwest of the city center, extending into the city's southwestern suburbs beyond the 6th Ring Road, Sixth Ring Road, but also to the south and, to a smaller ...

consisting of two lines, Lines T1 and T2, is currently under planning.

References

External links

8864.cn bus route and schedule guide

Official Website of Beijing Public Transport Holdings, Ltd.
{{Urban rail transit in China Transport in Beijing Beijing Beijing