The Oranjestad Streetcar () and (

Papiamento Papiamento () or Papiamentu (; ) is a Portuguese-based creole language spoken in the Dutch Caribbean. It is the most widely spoken language on Aruba, Bonaire, and Curaçao ( ABC Islands). The language, spelled in Aruba and in Bonaire and ...

: ''Tranvia Oranjestad)'' is a single-track

tram A tram (also known as a streetcar or trolley in Canada and the United States) is an urban rail transit in which Rolling stock, vehicles, whether individual railcars or multiple-unit trains, run on tramway tracks on urban public streets; some ...

line in Oranjestad, the capital city of

Aruba Aruba, officially the Country of Aruba, is a constituent island country within the Kingdom of the Netherlands, in the southern Caribbean Sea north of the Venezuelan peninsula of Paraguaná Peninsula, Paraguaná and northwest of Curaçao. In 19 ...

. It is owned and operated by Arubus, the national public transportation company.Morrison, Alle
"The Streetcars of Oranjestad, Aruba" (tramz.com)
/ref> It was built as a key component of a larger project to upgrade the main retail areas of the town, other aspects of which included pedestrianization of streets, planting of trees, installation of ornamental street lighting and resurfacing of streets and sidewalks."Aruba tramway drives major street redevelopment" (July 2013). ''

Tramways & Urban Transit ''Tramways & Urban Transit'' ''(TAUT'' or ''T&UT)'', also known as ''Modern Tramway'', is a British monthly magazine about tramways and light rail transport, published continuously since 1938. Its content is orientated both to tramway enthusi ...

'', p. 279. UK: LRTA Publishing. .

History

The line is the first and so far the only

passenger rail A passenger train is a train used to transport people along a railroad line, as opposed to a freight train that carries goods. These trains may consist of unpowered passenger railroad cars (also known as coaches or carriages) push-pull train, ...

service on the island and the rest of the

Dutch Caribbean The Dutch Caribbean (historically known as the Dutch West Indies) are the New World territories, colonies, and countries (former and current) of the Dutch Empire and the Kingdom of the Netherlands located in the Caribbean Sea, mainly the norther ...

. Three

industrial railway An industrial railway is a type of railway (usually private) that is not available for public transportation and is used exclusively to serve a particular industrial, logistics, or military site. In regions of the world influenced by British r ...

s had been constructed on the island, but have all closed. It was inaugurated on 22 December 2012, seven days after the arrival of the first single-deck car. Regular service started on 19 February 2013. The second car, an open-top double-decker, was delivered in June 2013. The heritage style streetcars were designed and manufactured by TIG/m Modern Street Railways in California, USA. The line operates daily. , service was operating from 9:00 to 17:00, with two cars in service after 11:00."Worldwide Review" egular monthly news section(May 2016). ''

'', p. 190. UK: LRTA Publishing.

Route

The line starts from a

balloon loop A balloon loop, turning loop, or reversing loop ( North American Terminology) allows a rail vehicle or train to reverse direction without having to shunt or stop. Balloon loops can be useful for passenger trains and unit freight trains. Bal ...

near the Port of Call Marketplace and serves the downtown area with a route along Schelpstraat, Havenstraat and Caya

Betico Croes Gilberto François "Betico" Croes (; 25 January 1938 – 26 November 1986) was an Aruban political activist who was a proponent for Aruba's separation from the Netherlands Antilles. This eventually occurred in 1986, but following a car accident ...

, the

main road A "main road" may refer to: * A major road in a town or village, or in a country area. * A highway * A trunk road, especially in British English Main Road may refer to: * Main Road, Hobart, Australia * Main Road, Cox's Bazar, Bangladesh * Main ...

, which is open to

pedestrians A pedestrian is a person traveling on foot, by wheelchair or with other mobility aids. Streets and roads often have a designated footpath for pedestrian traffic, called the ''sidewalk'' in North American English, the ''pavement'' in British Eng ...

only. Between Rancho and Plaza Chipi Chipi, eastbound trams (towards Plaza Nicky) run via Schelpstraat, and westbound ones (towards Welcome Plaza), run via Havenstraat. It ends at Plaza Nicky, with a stop also located on a loop.Oranjestad Tramway map (tramz.com)
/ref> Oranjestadtram

There are a total of 9 stops situated approximately apart from each other. The depot is located between the stops at Port of Call and Rancho. :

^N1Eastbound trams "Port–Plaza Nicky" only

^N2Westbound trams "Plaza Nicky–Port" only

Rolling stock

The fleet comprises four streetcars () or trams (), of which two are single-deck (green and orange) and two are open-top double-deck (blue and red). They were designed and built by TIG/m Modern Street Railways in Chatsworth, USA, to use hybrid/electric technology: they do not take their power from external sources such as overhead wires when running but are self-powered by

lithium batteries Lithium battery may refer to: * Lithium metal battery, a non-rechargeable battery with lithium as an anode ** Lithium–air battery ** Lithium–iron disulfide battery ** Lithium–sulfur battery ** Nickel–lithium battery ** Rechargeable l ...

augmented by

hydrogen Hydrogen is a chemical element; it has chemical symbol, symbol H and atomic number 1. It is the lightest and abundance of the chemical elements, most abundant chemical element in the universe, constituting about 75% of all baryon, normal matter ...

fuel cell A fuel cell is an electrochemical cell that converts the chemical energy of a fuel (often hydrogen fuel, hydrogen) and an oxidizing agent (often oxygen) into electricity through a pair of redox reactions. Fuel cells are different from most bat ...

s. Power consumption is reduced by

regenerative braking Regenerative braking is an energy recovery mechanism that slows down a moving vehicle or object by converting its kinetic energy or potential energy into a form that can be either used immediately or stored until needed. Typically, regenerativ ...

Gallery

References

External links

Arubus official website
*
TIG/m LLC Modern Street Railways official website
{{Coord, 12, 31, 12.3, N, 70, 02, 13.2, W, display=title 2010s establishments in Aruba

Tram A tram (also known as a streetcar or trolley in Canada and the United States) is an urban rail transit in which Rolling stock, vehicles, whether individual railcars or multiple-unit trains, run on tramway tracks on urban public streets; some ...