The Darmstadt

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 ...

network is a light rail system and the backbone of public transport within

Darmstadt Darmstadt () is a city in the States of Germany, state of Hesse in Germany, located in the southern part of the Frankfurt Rhine Main Area, Rhine-Main-Area (Frankfurt Metropolitan Region). Darmstadt has around 160,000 inhabitants, making it th ...

, a city in the

federal state A federation (also known as a federal state) is a political entity characterized by a union of partially self-governing provinces, states, or other regions under a central federal government ( federalism). In a federation, the self-governi ...

Hesse Hesse (, , ) or Hessia (, ; german: Hessen ), officially the State of Hessen (german: links=no, Land Hessen), is a States of Germany, state in Germany. Its capital city is Wiesbaden, and the largest urban area is Frankfurt. Two other major histor ...

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...

. As of 2014, nine lines on four main routes () serve 162 stops, including 92 low-floor stops. The system is operated by , and is an integral part of the

Rhein-Main-Verkehrsverbund The Rhein-Main-Verkehrsverbund (RMV) is a transport association that covers the public transport network of the Frankfurt Rhine-Main area in Germany. Its head office is located in Hofheim im Taunus. Organisation and area covered The RMV ...

(RMV), the public transit authority of the Rhein-Main-Area.

History

Trams have operated continuously in Darmstadt since 1886, with the opening of a steam tram line. The network has been operated since 1912 by Hessische Eisenbahn-Aktiengesellschaft (HEAG) either directly, or, more recently, through one of its subsidiaries. Since then the trams have become a distinctive part of Darmstadt's character and are widely used by people from all walks of life as a safe and fast means of transportation within Darmstadt and its suburbs. At the

Hauptbahnhof Central stations or central railway stations emerged in the second half of the nineteenth century as railway stations that had initially been built on the edge of city centres were enveloped by urban expansion and became an integral part of the ...

station (HBF) the tram system and the

Rhine-Main S-Bahn The Rhine-Main S-Bahn system is an integrated rapid transit and commuter train system for the Frankfurt/Rhine-Main region, which includes the cities Frankfurt am Main, Wiesbaden, Mainz, Offenbach am Main, Hanau and Darmstadt. The network compris ...

meet. While some older lines like the Oberwaldhaus-/Martinsviertel-/and Ostbahnhof lines were closed, new sections were built, following the development of new residential areas, e.g. the new lines to

Kranichstein Kranichstein is a district in the city of Darmstadt. The town started with housing construction in the 1960s and now also has a number of residential high-rises. Often referred to as Darmstadt-Kranichstein. Geographical location Kranichstein is ...

Arheilgen Arheilgen is a district in the north of the city of Darmstadt in Hesse, Germany, incorporated in 1937. Arheilgen borders the Darmstadt district of Wixhausen to the North, to the West is the city Weiterstadt, to the East is the Darmstadt district ...

north and Alsbach south. Since the 1990s the tram system has gradually been modernised. All lines (except for line 3) have since been less of a classical tram system and more of a light rail system (''

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 ...

'') with a private right-of-way and separate stations with "same-level-platforms".

Lines

The central hub of the Darmstadt tram network is the "Luisenplatz", at which eight of Darmstadt's nine tram lines stop. On the main routes the hours of operation are usually from around 5:00 am until 1:00 am. The network is currently made up of the following lines: All lines run – unless otherwise stated – at 15-minute intervals (at night and on Sunday mornings at 30-minute intervals). On the southern route between Eberstadt and Alsbach, service intervals are 15 minutes during peak hours and 30 minutes in the evenings. Since many stations are being served by more than one line, service intervals are 3 to 7 minutes at the central stations, especially in the city centre.

Rolling stock

The fleet consists of 48 trams and 30 trailers. 14 new Stadler-built low-floor trams are scheduled to enter service in 2022. A follow-on order for a further 11 trams was announced in June 2021. The five-section unidirectional Stadler ST15 trams are due to enter service between mid-2023 and mid-2024, allowing the ST12 vehicles to be withdrawn. File:ST12 - Tw 9118.JPG, High-floor ST12 tram File:SB9 - Bw 9433.JPG, SB9 trailer File:HEAG 0777 am Schloss 101 2987.jpg, ST14 tram Innenraum ST14.jpg, ST14 interior

Bibliography

*Bürnheim, Hermann; Burmeister, Jürgen (1997). Bahnen und Busse rund um den langen Ludwig. (Engl.: Railways and Buses around the long Ludwig) (4th ed.). Düsseldorf: Alba Publikation. . (German) * *Schwandl, Robert (2012). Schwandl's Tram Atlas Deutschland (3rd ed.). Berlin: Robert Schwandl Verlag. .

References

External links

HEAG mobilo - official website
* * {{coord, 49, 52, , N, 08, 39, , E, region:DE-HE_type:railwaystation_source:enwiki, display=title Darmstadt