The Mulhouse tramway (french: Tramway de Mulhouse; gsw-FR, D'Strossabàhn Milhüsa) is a

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 in the French city of

Mulhouse Mulhouse (; Alsatian language, Alsatian: or , ; ; meaning ''Mill (grinding), mill house'') is a city of the Haut-Rhin Departments of France, department, in the Grand Est Regions of France, region, eastern France, close to the France–Switzerl ...

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 ...

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...

. It commenced service in 2006, and now comprises three purely tram lines, plus one hybrid

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.

Tram services

The three pure tram lines intersect at Porte Jeune stop in central Mulhouse, and comprise: * Line Logo tram 1 Mulhouse

from Gare Centrale to Châtaignier * Line Logo tram 2

from

Nouveau Bassin A ''nouveau'' ( ), or ''vin (de) primeur'', is a wine which may be sold in the same year in which it was harvested. The most widely exported ''nouveau'' wine is French wine Beaujolais ''nouveau'' which is released on the third Thursday of N ...

to Coteaux * Line Logo tram 3

from Gare Central to

Lutterbach Lutterbach () is a commune in the Haut-Rhin department in Alsace in north-eastern France. It forms part of the Mulhouse Alsace Agglomération, the inter-communal local government body for the Mulhouse conurbation. Lutterbach is served by the , ...

Lines 1 and 2 were put into service in 2006, whilst line 3 is a short working of the tram-train line and opened in December 2010 with that line. Extensions are planned for line 1, from Châtaignier to

Bosquets du Roy In the French formal garden, a ''bosquet'' (French, from Italian ''bosco'', "grove, wood") is a formal plantation of trees in a wide variety of forms, some open at the bottom and others not. At a minimum a bosquet can be five trees of identical s ...

, and for line 2, from Nouveau Bassin to Jonquilles. The network is electrified at using overhead power collection. Services are provided by a fleet of twenty-two long Alstom Citadis 302 trams. Both the network and the trams are operated by

Soléa Soléa is a public transport operator in the French city of Mulhouse. Under contract to the Mulhouse Alsace Agglomération, it operates the city's bus network and three of the lines of the city's tram network. It also jointly operates, with the ...

, who also operate the city's bus network, on behalf of the

Mulhouse Alsace Agglomération The Mulhouse Alsace Agglomération is the ''Communauté d'agglomération'', a type of local government structure, covering the metropolitan area of the city of Mulhouse in the department of Haut-Rhin and the region of Grand Est, northeastern Fra ...

(MAA).

Tram-train services

The tram-train line runs from Gare Central to Thann, with a proposed extension to Kruth. The line follows the existing tracks of lines 1 from Gare Central to Porte Jeune, and line 2 from there to

Daguerre Louis-Jacques-Mandé Daguerre ( , ; 18 November 1787 – 10 July 1851) was a French artist and photographer, recognized for his invention of the eponymous daguerreotype process of photography. He became known as one of the fathers of photo ...

. Here it diverges onto a section of new tram track built parallel to the Paris–Mulhouse main line railway as far as Lutterbach. This line, which is a mixture of single and double track, and electrified at 750 V DC, is used by both the tram-train service and the purely tram line 3. At Lutterbach, a connection is made to the existing railway line to Thann and Kruth. This line is electrified at between Lutterbach and Thann St Jacques (the former Thann Nord), and is single track with passing loops. It carries both the tram-train service and an

SNCF The Société nationale des chemins de fer français (; abbreviated as SNCF ; French for "National society of French railroads") is France's national state-owned railway company. Founded in 1938, it operates the country's national rail traffi ...

diesel railcar service to Kruth, which uses the main railway line between Lutterbach and Gare Central. Freight trains also run at night. A second phase of the line will involve extending the electrification as far as Kruth, allowing tram-trains to run through to there, and also allowing the SNCF to replace the diesel railcar service with an electric unit. However no timescales are in place for this. The tram-train service uses 12 long

Siemens Avanto The Siemens S70, its successor the S700 and European variant, the Avanto, are a series of low-floor light-rail vehicles (LRV) and streetcars manufactured by Siemens Mobility, a division of German conglomerate Siemens AG. The S70 and S700 are ...

tram-trains. These units were financed, and are owned, jointly by the

region and the MAA. The drivers come from SNCF (75%) and Soléa (25%). The line as far as Lutterbach is Soléa's responsibility, with the SNCF taking responsibility from there to Thann and Kruth.

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Mulhouse Tramway Mulhouse Tram transport in France Transport in Grand Est 750 V DC railway electrification 25 kV AC railway electrification

Tram services

Tram-train services

See also

References

External links