Trams in France date from 1837 when a 15 km steam tram line connected
Montrond-les-Bains
Montrond-les-Bains () is a Communes of France, commune in the Loire (department), Loire Departments of France, department in central France.
Population
See also
*Communes of the Loire department
References
Communes of Loire (depart ...
and
Montbrison in the
Loire
The Loire (, also ; ; oc, Léger, ; la, Liger) is the longest river in France and the 171st longest in the world. With a length of , it drains , more than a fifth of France's land, while its average discharge is only half that of the Rhône ...
. With the development of
electric 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 ...
s at the end of the 19th century, networks proliferated in French cities over a period of 15 years. Although nearly all of the country's tram systems were replaced by bus services in the 1930s or shortly after the Second World War, France is now in the forefront of the revival of tramways and
light rail systems around the globe. Only tram lines in Lille and Saint-Étienne have operated continuously since the 19th century; the
Marseille tramway
The Marseille tramway (french: Tramway de Marseille) is a tramway system in Marseille, France. The city's modern tram network now consists of three lines, serving 32 stations and operating over of route. The current, modern Marseille tram networ ...
system ran continuously until 2004 and only closed then for 3 years (until 2007) for extensive refurbishment into a modern tram network. Since the opening of the Nantes tramway in 1985, more than twenty towns and cities across France have built new tram lines. As of 2020, there are 29 operational tram networks in France, with 3 more planned. France is also home to
Alstom
Alstom SA is a French multinational rolling stock manufacturer operating worldwide in rail transport markets, active in the fields of passenger transportation, signalling, and locomotives, with products including the AGV, TGV, Eurostar, Avelia ...
, a leading tram manufacturer.
History
The girder rail
One of the key inventions in the world history of trams was that of the
girder rail developed in 1852 by Frenchman
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 ...
. It brought the tram track down to road level, avoiding accidents with pedestrians and other vehicles caused by the standard protruding rail used until then. Inspired by
John Stephenson of
New York City
New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...
, it was in Paris that Loubat built the first line of this type, for
horse trams, which was inaugurated on 21 November 1853 in connection with the
1855 World Fair. On a trial basis, it ran along the banks of the
Seine
)
, mouth_location = Le Havre/Honfleur
, mouth_coordinates =
, mouth_elevation =
, progression =
, river_system = Seine basin
, basin_size =
, tributaries_left = Yonne, Loing, Eure, Risle
, tributarie ...
from the
Place de la Concorde
The Place de la Concorde () is one of the major public squares in Paris, France. Measuring in area, it is the largest square in the French capital. It is located in the city's eighth arrondissement, at the eastern end of the Champs-Élysées.
...
to the Pont de Sèvres in the village of
Boulogne
Boulogne-sur-Mer (; pcd, Boulonne-su-Mér; nl, Bonen; la, Gesoriacum or ''Bononia''), often called just Boulogne (, ), is a coastal city in Northern France. It is a sub-prefecture of the department of Pas-de-Calais. Boulogne lies on the ...
.
Horse trams
Several French cities were equipped with
horse-tram networks towards the end of the 19th century. In Paris, Tramways Sud operated horse trams from 1875 to 1901. In
Marseille
Marseille ( , , ; also spelled in English as Marseilles; oc, Marselha ) is the prefecture of the French department of Bouches-du-Rhône and capital of the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region. Situated in the camargue region of southern Franc ...
, horse trams operated by Compagnie Générale Française de Tramways entered service in 1876 on a number of routes including the
Canebière
La Canebière is a historic high street in the old quarter of Marseille, France.
Location
About a kilometre long, it runs from the ''Old Port of Marseille'' to the ''Réformés'' quarter.Dana Facaros, Michael Pauls, ''Provence'', New Holland Publ ...
. In
Strasbourg
Strasbourg (, , ; german: Straßburg ; gsw, label=Bas Rhin Alsatian, Strossburi , gsw, label=Haut Rhin Alsatian, Strossburig ) is the prefecture and largest city of the Grand Est region of eastern France and the official seat of the Eu ...
, horse tram services began in 1877.
Mechanical traction
As horse trams presented a number of disadvantages (need for several teams of horses per vehicle per day, relatively slow speed, droppings on the roadway), it was not long before various mechanical traction systems came into use. These included:
*Compressed air systems, first introduced in
Nantes
Nantes (, , ; Gallo: or ; ) is a city in Loire-Atlantique on the Loire, from the Atlantic coast. The city is the sixth largest in France, with a population of 314,138 in Nantes proper and a metropolitan area of nearly 1 million inhabita ...
in 1879 with
Mékarski compressed air cars operating between Doulon and the Gare Maritime. Initially there was a fleet of 22 trams, two locos and four open-topped double-deck trailers. The first line was just over 6 km long, built to
standard gauge
A standard-gauge railway is a railway with a track gauge of . The standard gauge is also called Stephenson gauge (after George Stephenson), International gauge, UIC gauge, uniform gauge, normal gauge and European gauge in Europe, and SGR in Ea ...
and was mostly level, running along the quays of the
Loire
The Loire (, also ; ; oc, Léger, ; la, Liger) is the longest river in France and the 171st longest in the world. With a length of , it drains , more than a fifth of France's land, while its average discharge is only half that of the Rhône ...
. Mekarski trams were also operated in Paris (1887),
Vichy
Vichy (, ; ; oc, Vichèi, link=no, ) is a city in the Allier Departments of France, department in the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region of central France, in the historic province of Bourbonnais.
It is a Spa town, spa and resort town and in World ...
(1895),
Aix-les-Bains
Aix-les-Bains (, ; frp, Èx-los-Bens; la, Aquae Gratianae), locally simply Aix, is a commune in the southeastern French department of Savoie. (1897),
Saint-Quentin (1899), and
La Rochelle
La Rochelle (, , ; Poitevin-Saintongeais: ''La Rochéle''; oc, La Rochèla ) is a city on the west coast of France and a seaport on the Bay of Biscay, a part of the Atlantic Ocean. It is the capital of the Charente-Maritime department. With ...
(1901).
*Steam traction was introduced fairly widely in the 1880s and 1890s, in most cases for relatively short periods as electric trams were soon to follow. For example, the
Versaille Tramway started using steam trams for the stretch to
Saint-Cyr in 1889 before electrification in 1895. In
Strasbourg
Strasbourg (, , ; german: Straßburg ; gsw, label=Bas Rhin Alsatian, Strossburi , gsw, label=Haut Rhin Alsatian, Strossburig ) is the prefecture and largest city of the Grand Est region of eastern France and the official seat of the Eu ...
, there were steam trams from 1879 to 1899 although electrification began in 1895.
Marseille
Marseille ( , , ; also spelled in English as Marseilles; oc, Marselha ) is the prefecture of the French department of Bouches-du-Rhône and capital of the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region. Situated in the camargue region of southern Franc ...
's steam trams came in 1892, shortly before their electric counterparts in 1900.
Electrification
Although
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 ...
demonstrated the electric tram in 1881 at the International Electrical Exhibition in Paris, it was not until 1890 that the first électric tram was opened in
Clermont-Ferrand
Clermont-Ferrand (, ; ; oc, label=Auvergnat (dialect), Auvergnat, Clarmont-Ferrand or Clharmou ; la, Augustonemetum) is a city and Communes of France, commune of France, in the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes regions of France, region, with a population ...
, and in 1895 the
Tramway de Versailles was converted from steam power to electric power. While electricity offered considerable benefits including ease of operation, many municipalities were reluctant to bring overhead cabling into their city centres. Nevertheless, over the next 15 years, well over 100 standard and small
gauge
Gauge ( or ) may refer to:
Measurement
* Gauge (instrument), any of a variety of measuring instruments
* Gauge (firearms)
* Wire gauge, a measure of the size of a wire
** American wire gauge, a common measure of nonferrous wire diameter, es ...
electric tram networks came into operation.
[French Tramway Systems Gauges and Dates from Tramway Information](_blank)
Retrieved 16 February 2009.
Post-war closures
Most of France's tram systems closed during the 1930s or in the post-war years. The only systems which have remained in continuous use are those in
Lille
Lille ( , ; nl, Rijsel ; pcd, Lile; vls, Rysel) is a city in the northern part of France, in French Flanders. On the river Deûle, near France's border with Belgium, it is the capital of the Hauts-de-France Regions of France, region, the Pref ...
,
Marseille
Marseille ( , , ; also spelled in English as Marseilles; oc, Marselha ) is the prefecture of the French department of Bouches-du-Rhône and capital of the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region. Situated in the camargue region of southern Franc ...
and
Saint-Étienne
Saint-Étienne (; frp, Sant-Etiève; oc, Sant Estève, ) is a city and the prefecture of the Loire department in eastern-central France, in the Massif Central, southwest of Lyon in the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region.
Saint-Étienne is the t ...
but even these were extensively reduced in size before the recent revival.
Today's tram networks
Over the past 35 years, a rapidly growing number of France's cities have developed modern tramways or light rail networks. In 2020, there are 27 modern tram systems spread right across the country (excluding the two trams-on-tyres services). Many of these are being extended while at least seven other municipalities are in the process of planning or acquiring new tram networks.
Rolling stock
* The most popular rolling stock is the
Alstom Citadis
The Alstom Citadis is a family of low-floor trams and light rail vehicles built by Alstom. , over 2,300 Citadis trams have been sold and 1,800 tramways are in revenue service throughout the world, with operations in all six inhabited continents ...
tram from
Alstom
Alstom SA is a French multinational rolling stock manufacturer operating worldwide in rail transport markets, active in the fields of passenger transportation, signalling, and locomotives, with products including the AGV, TGV, Eurostar, Avelia ...
, designed by
RCP Design Global
RCP Design Global or RCP is an independent design agency based in Tours and Paris (France) founded by Régine Charvet-Pello in 1986. RCP is predominantly based in the transport and mobility design, and specialises in urban transport, High-speed ...
agency. This model serves 10 of the current networks. In many cases, the vehicles have been restyled or customised: for example the transport authority for the
Nice
Nice ( , ; Niçard: , classical norm, or , nonstandard, ; it, Nizza ; lij, Nissa; grc, Νίκαια; la, Nicaea) is the prefecture of the Alpes-Maritimes department in France. The Nice agglomeration extends far beyond the administrative c ...
area required special external styling, greater passenger accessibility and battery support for travelling though the city centre without the need for overhead cables.
* Alstom also produced the earlier
Tramway Français Standard
The Tramway Français Standard (TFS) is a type of tram designed and manufactured by Alstom for use on various trams in France, tramway systems in France. The TFS is no longer in production, having been superseded by the Alstom Citadis range of t ...
or TFS which continues to run in five networks including
Grenoble
lat, Gratianopolis
, commune status = Prefecture and commune
, image = Panorama grenoble.png
, image size =
, caption = From upper left: Panorama of the city, Grenoble’s cable cars, place Saint- ...
and
Nantes
Nantes (, , ; Gallo: or ; ) is a city in Loire-Atlantique on the Loire, from the Atlantic coast. The city is the sixth largest in France, with a population of 314,138 in Nantes proper and a metropolitan area of nearly 1 million inhabita ...
where it has been specially adapted to provide accessibility.
* The Canadian manufacturer
Bombardier has delivered a variant of its
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 ...
series to Marseille with special styling from MBD Design giving the front of the tram the appearance of the bow of a ship. The Eurotram, initially developed by
Socimi
Società Costruzioni Industriali Milano, better known as Socimi, was an Italian manufacturing company based in Milan. It was a manufacturer of trams, metro trains; traction motors for these and for trolleybuses; and bodies for motorbuses and trol ...
of Italy. It is used in the extensive
Strasbourg tram network with innovations including a powered wheelchair ramp, wide internal gangways and provision for wheelchairs and pushchairs.
* The trams for the revamped
Lille network were supplied in the early 1990s by the Italian company
Breda
Breda () is a city and municipality in the southern part of the Netherlands, located in the province of North Brabant. The name derived from ''brede Aa'' ('wide Aa' or 'broad Aa') and refers to the confluence of the rivers Mark and Aa. Breda has ...
with styling by
Pininfarina
Pininfarina S.p.A. (short for Carrozzeria Pininfarina) is an Italian car design firm and coachbuilder, with headquarters in Cambiano, Turin, Italy. The company was founded by Battista "Pinin" Farina in 1930.
On 14 December 2015, the Indian mu ...
. The
Paris region
Paris () is the capital and 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), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. S ...
recently opted for
Avanto rolling stock on its
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 ...
line from
Aulnay-sous-Bois
Aulnay-sous-Bois () is a commune in the Seine-Saint-Denis department in the Île-de-France region in the north-eastern suburbs of Paris, France. It is located from the Kilometre zero.
The inhabitants of the commune are known as ''Aulnaysiens'' o ...
to
Bondy
Bondy () is a commune in the northeastern suburbs of Paris, France. It is located from the centre of Paris, in the Seine-Saint-Denis department. In 2019, it had a population of 54,587.
Name
The name Bondy was recorded for the first time around ...
.
Interesting details
* The most extensive tram systems in France today are those in
Lyon
Lyon,, ; Occitan: ''Lion'', hist. ''Lionés'' also spelled in English as Lyons, is the third-largest city and second-largest metropolitan area of France. It is located at the confluence of the rivers Rhône and Saône, to the northwest of t ...
(6 lines, 78 km),
Paris/Île-de-France (9 lines, 104.7 km),
Montpellier
Montpellier (, , ; oc, Montpelhièr ) is a city in southern France near the Mediterranean Sea. One of the largest urban centres in the region of Occitania (administrative region), Occitania, Montpellier is the prefecture of the Departments of ...
(4 lines, 60 km),
Strasbourg
Strasbourg (, , ; german: Straßburg ; gsw, label=Bas Rhin Alsatian, Strossburi , gsw, label=Haut Rhin Alsatian, Strossburig ) is the prefecture and largest city of the Grand Est region of eastern France and the official seat of the Eu ...
(6 lines, 55 km),
Nantes
Nantes (, , ; Gallo: or ; ) is a city in Loire-Atlantique on the Loire, from the Atlantic coast. The city is the sixth largest in France, with a population of 314,138 in Nantes proper and a metropolitan area of nearly 1 million inhabita ...
(3 lines, 44 km) and
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 prefectur ...
(3 lines, 66 km).
* Most modern trams are designed to travel at up to 80 km per hour while tram-trains may have a top speed of 100 km per hour.
* While most cities discontinued the use of trams in favour of buses in the middle of the last century, a few of the original lines have survived without interruption. These include the 3 km line through the tunnel at the centre of
Marseille
Marseille ( , , ; also spelled in English as Marseilles; oc, Marselha ) is the prefecture of the French department of Bouches-du-Rhône and capital of the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region. Situated in the camargue region of southern Franc ...
, the two lines in
Lille
Lille ( , ; nl, Rijsel ; pcd, Lile; vls, Rysel) is a city in the northern part of France, in French Flanders. On the river Deûle, near France's border with Belgium, it is the capital of the Hauts-de-France Regions of France, region, the Pref ...
which go back to 1909 and the line in
Saint-Étienne
Saint-Étienne (; frp, Sant-Etiève; oc, Sant Estève, ) is a city and the prefecture of the Loire department in eastern-central France, in the Massif Central, southwest of Lyon in the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region.
Saint-Étienne is the t ...
which has been operating ever since 1881.
Key developments
There has also been a strong emphasis on tramway innovations such as
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 fr ...
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 prefectur ...
and trams on tyres in
Nancy. The French government reports no electrocutions or electrification accidents on any tramway in France from as early as 2003
until as recently as December 31, 2020.
Current tramway systems
The following French towns and cities now have light rail or tram systems:
In addition to the above French tram systems, two tramways cross the border into France from neighbouring countries, although in both cases the proportion of the system in France is quite small:
*
Baselland Transport
Baselland Transport AG (BLT) is a Swiss public transport operator in the cantons of Basel-Land, Basel-Stadt, Solothurn and in France. The BLT was founded in 1974, and is owned by the Canton of Basel-Land, located to the south of the city. It ...
route 10 connects
Leymen
Leymen (; german: Leimen) is a commune in the Haut-Rhin department in Alsace in north-eastern France. The commune is served by Leymen station, on line 10 of the Basel tramway between Rodersdorf and Flüh, and until December 2017 was the onl ...
in
Alsace
Alsace (, ; ; Low Alemannic German/ gsw-FR, Elsàss ; german: Elsass ; la, Alsatia) is a cultural region and a territorial collectivity in eastern France, on the west bank of the upper Rhine next to Germany and Switzerland. In 2020, it had ...
with
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 ...
in
Switzerland
). Swiss law does not designate a ''capital'' as such, but the federal parliament and government are installed in Bern, while other federal institutions, such as the federal courts, are in other cities (Bellinzona, Lausanne, Luzern, Neuchâtel ...
- since 1910
* The
Saarbahn
The Saarbahn is a regional Stadtbahn operating on the tram-train principle in the German state of the Saarland. It consists of a core line in Saarbrücken and Riegelsberg operating under tram operating procedures ( BOStrab), connected to two lin ...
connects
Sarreguemines
Sarreguemines (; German: ''Saargemünd'' , Lorraine Franconian: ''Saargemìnn'') is a commune in the Moselle department of the Grand Est administrative region in north-eastern France.
It is the seat of an arrondissement and a canton. As of t ...
with
Saarbrücken
Saarbrücken (; french: link=no, Sarrebruck ; Rhine Franconian: ''Saarbrigge'' ; lb, Saarbrécken ; lat, Saravipons, lit=The Bridge(s) across the Saar river) is the capital and largest city of the state of Saarland, Germany. Saarbrücken is S ...
in
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 ...
*The
Transports public de geneve of
Geneva
Geneva ( ; french: Genève ) frp, Genèva ; german: link=no, Genf ; it, Ginevra ; rm, Genevra is the List of cities in Switzerland, second-most populous city in Switzerland (after Zürich) and the most populous city of Romandy, the French-speaki ...
operates tram line 17 to
Annemasse
Annemasse (; Arpitan: ''Anemâsse'') is a commune in the Haute-Savoie department in the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region in Eastern France. Even though it covers a relatively small territory (4.98 km2 or 1.92 sq mi), it is Haute-Savoie's second ...
. Further lines are planned to cross the Franco-Swiss border.
Future lines
One line is planned to open in
Annecy
Annecy ( , ; frp, Èneci or ) is the prefecture and largest city of the Haute-Savoie department in the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region of Southeastern France. It lies on the northern tip of Lake Annecy, south of Geneva, Switzerland. Nicknamed ...
. Plans of converting the Nancy GLT into a proper tramway, as in
Caen
Caen (, ; nrf, Kaem) is a commune in northwestern France. It is the prefecture of the department of Calvados. The city proper has 105,512 inhabitants (), while its functional urban area has 470,000,[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 troll ...]
.
Recent technical developments
The revival of tram networks in France has brought about a number of technical developments both in the traction systems and in the styling of the vehicles.
Trams on tyres
A recent development of tramway technology has been the
guided bus (or tram on tyres), a rubber-tyred vehicle guided by a fixed rail in the ground, which draws current from overhead electric wires like a conventional
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 ...
.
Two incompatible systems exist:
*The
Guided Light Transit designed by
Bombardier Transportation
Bombardier Transportation was a Canadian-German rolling stock and rail transport manufacturer, headquartered in Berlin, Germany.
It was one of the world's largest companies in the rail vehicle and equipment manufacturing and servicing industry ...
which has been adopted in
Nancy and
Caen
Caen (, ; nrf, Kaem) is a commune in northwestern France. It is the prefecture of the department of Calvados. The city proper has 105,512 inhabitants (), while its functional urban area has 470,000,[flange
A flange is a protruded ridge, lip or rim (wheel), rim, either external or internal, that serves to increase shear strength, strength (as the flange of an iron beam (structure), beam such as an I-beam or a T-beam); for easy attachment/transfer of ...]
d wheel between the rubber tyres follows the
guidance rail.
*The
Translohr system, used along a 14-km line at
Clermont-Ferrand
Clermont-Ferrand (, ; ; oc, label=Auvergnat (dialect), Auvergnat, Clarmont-Ferrand or Clharmou ; la, Augustonemetum) is a city and Communes of France, commune of France, in the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes regions of France, region, with a population ...
, where a
special rail is grasped by a pair of metal guide wheels set at 45° to the road and at 90° to each other.
In both cases the weight of the vehicle is borne by rubber tyres on
bogie
A bogie ( ) (in some senses called a truck in North American English) is a chassis or framework that carries a wheelset, attached to a vehicle—a modular subassembly of wheels and axles. Bogies take various forms in various modes of transp ...
s to which the guide wheels are attached. Power is supplied by
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 equipmen ...
s, or on the Caen tramway until 31 December 2017, (when it was closed to be converted to a conventional steel wheel tramway now in operation since 27 July 2019), and the Nancy tramway by onboard diesel engines in areas where there are no overhead wires.
The Translohr system is intended for guidance-only operation, whereas the Bombardier system can be driven as a normal bus as requirements dictate, such as journeys to the depot. Unlike rail trams, the vehicles have a
steering wheel
A steering wheel (also called a driving wheel (UK), a hand wheel, or simply wheel) is a type of steering control in vehicles.
Steering wheels are used in most modern land vehicles, including all mass-production automobiles, buses, light and ...
, though it is not used when following the guidance rail. Because the Translohr tram cannot move without guidance, it is not classified as a
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 ...
. Hence the Translohr
vehicle
A vehicle (from la, vehiculum) is a machine that transports people or cargo. Vehicles include wagons, bicycles, motor vehicles (motorcycles, cars, trucks, buses, mobility scooters for disabled people), railed vehicles (trains, trams), wa ...
s in Clermont-Ferrand are not equipped with
licence plate
A vehicle registration plate, also known as a number plate (British English), license plate (American English), or licence plate (Canadian English), is a metal or plastic plate attached to a motor vehicle or trailer for official identificatio ...
s.
APS third rail
The ground-level power supply system known as APS or
Alimentation par le sol uses 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 t ...
placed between the running rails, divided electrically into eight-metre segments with three-metre neutral sections in between. Each tram has two power collection skates, next to which are antennas that send radio signals to energise the power rail segments as the tram passes over them. At any one time, no more than two consecutive segments under the tram should actually be live. Alstrom developed the system primarily to avoid intrusive power supply cables in the sensitive area of the old city of
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 prefectur ...
.
Modern styling
The
Eurotram
The Socimi Eurotram (later sold as the Bombardier Flexity Outlook (E)) was an electric tramcar designed for the tram system of Compagnie de Transports Strasbourgeois (CTS). Initially produced by Socimi, after the company became bankrupt Eurotrams ...
used in Strasbourg, Milan and Porto was developed by
Socimi
Società Costruzioni Industriali Milano, better known as Socimi, was an Italian manufacturing company based in Milan. It was a manufacturer of trams, metro trains; traction motors for these and for trolleybuses; and bodies for motorbuses and trol ...
of Italy. The Eurotram has a modern design that makes it look almost as much like a train as a tram, and has large windows along its entire length.
Modular design
The
Alstom Citadis
The Alstom Citadis is a family of low-floor trams and light rail vehicles built by Alstom. , over 2,300 Citadis trams have been sold and 1,800 tramways are in revenue service throughout the world, with operations in all six inhabited continents ...
tram, flagship of the French manufacturer Alstom, enjoys an innovative design combining lighter bogies with a modular concept for carriages offering more choices in the types of windows and the number of cars and doors. The recent Citadis-Dualis, intended to run at up to 100 km/h, is suitable for stop spacings ranging from 500 m to 5 km. Dualis is a strictly modular partial low-floor car, with all doors in the low-floor sections.
Tramway museum lines
In addition to recent developments in France's urban areas, the Deûle Valley tram museum line operates near
Lille
Lille ( , ; nl, Rijsel ; pcd, Lile; vls, Rysel) is a city in the northern part of France, in French Flanders. On the river Deûle, near France's border with Belgium, it is the capital of the Hauts-de-France Regions of France, region, the Pref ...
. It runs along a 3 km track from
Marquette-lez-Lille
Marquette-lez-Lille (, literally ''Marquette near Lille''; Dutch: ''Market(t)e'') is a commune in the Nord department in northern France. It is part of the Métropole Européenne de Lille.
Population
Monuments
* Grands Moulins de Paris
Her ...
to
Wambrechies
Wambrechies (; vls, Wemmersijs; pcd, Vamberchi) is a commune in the Nord department, in the region Hauts-de-France, in northern France. It is part of the European Metropolis of Lille. It has a population of around 10,600 (2019).
Geography
Wa ...
and features several tram vehicles dating back to the beginning of the 20th century.
La vallée de la Deûle en tramway from Linternaute (in French).
Retrieved 19 February 2009.
See also
* Trams in Europe
Europe has an extensive number of tramway networks. Some of these networks have been upgraded to light rail standards, called ''Stadtbahn'' in Germany, premetros in Belgium, '' sneltram'' in the Netherlands, '' elétrico'' in Portugal and f ...
* List of town tramway systems in France
This is a list of town tramway systems in France by ''région''. It includes all tram systems, past and present. Cities with currently operating systems, and those systems themselves, are indicated in bold and blue background colored rows. Those ...
Further reading
* Arrivetz, Jean. 1956. "Les Tramways Français" (No ISBN). Lyon: Editions Omni-Presse.
* Clark, Daniel Kinnear: ''Tramways, construction et exploitation'', ouvrage traduit de l'anglais et augmenté d'un appendice sur les tramways français par M. O. Chemin. Paris, Dunod, 1880
* Courant, René: ''Le Temps des Tramways'', Menton : Éditions du Cabri, 1982,
* Lamboley, Christian: ''Strasbourg tramway'', Contades, 1989,
* Laupiès, Jacques; Martin, Roland: ''Les tramways de Marseille ont cent ans'', Marseille P. Tacussel, 1990,
* Robert, J.: ''Les Tramways Parisiens'', 1992
* Robert, J.: ''Histoire des Transports dans les Villes de France'', 1974
* Renoy, G.: ''Paris Nuagère Transport Public'', 1978
References
External links
{{DEFAULTSORT:Trams In France