Talk:Trams in Europe

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[edit] Bergen plans tram line

Bergen is planning a tram line which is to be called "Bybanen". It may be an idea to add a note about this under "Norway".

Also noteworthy is that Bergen once had a tram line, which was shut down in '65. More here (unfortunately in Norwegian): http://no.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trikk. Bergen should thus probably be added to the "Cities that have abolished their trams".

88.91.167.62 20:48, 30 December 2006 (UTC)Øyvind W.

[edit] removed list of selected cities

i don't believe there is a point to having this list on this page when there is already an fully inclusive list.

[edit] Selected cities and towns with first generation tramway networks

Amsterdam
Antwerp
Basel
Belgrade
Bern
Berlin (closed in West Berlin during the division of Germany)
Bielefeld (Stadtbahn)
Blackpool
Bochum (Stadtbahn)
Bremen
Brussels (partly Pre-metro)
Budapest
Cologne (Stadtbahn)
Darmstadt
De Lijn
Düsseldorf (Stadtbahn)
Erfurt
Essen (Stadtbahn)
Geneva
Gelsenkirchen (Stadtbahn)
Gera
Gotha
Gothenburg
Grenoble
The Hague
Hanover
Helsinki
Jena
Krefeld
Milan
Munich
Nordhausen
Oslo
Poznań (see also PST)
Prague
Rotterdam
Vienna
Zagreb
Zürich

This section is a stub. You can help by expanding it.

[edit] Selected cities that have abolished their trams

Altenburg
Belfast (1955)
Copenhagen
Eisenach
Hamburg
Paris (1930s, first European capital to do so, trams have returned to the Northern and Western Suburbs since, and return in the city in December 2006)
London (some new Tramlink service south of the River Thames)
Mühlhausen
West Berlin (1967)
Turku
Viipuri
Weimar

edit: L blue l 01:51, 21 December 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Backup of section Europe in Trams

Needs syncing with main article

[edit] Western Europe

The German-speaking countries, Germany, Austria, and Switzerland (where the word for tramway is "Straßenbahn", although "Tram" is also used) are notable for their large numbers of extensive tram systems, although even in these countries, many systems were closed after the Second World War. In divided Berlin, for example, the West Berlin tramway was closed in 1967 in favour of the city's metro and bus systems, while the tram system in East Berlin was retained. Today, Berlin enjoys one of the largest tram systems in Germany, but it is confined almost entirely to the eastern part of the city.

In the Benelux countries, tram networks exist in Amsterdam, Rotterdam, The Hague, Utrecht, Antwerp, Ghent and Brussels, and are gradually being extended. Additionaly, there are museum tramlines in Arnhem (Open Air Museum) and Katwijk (narrow gauge museum).

In Italy, Milan boasts one of the largest and most interesting tramway systems in Europe. The network reached its peak in the 1940s, with 310 km of tracks. Despite subsequent retrenchment and extensive metro construction, there are still 170 km of tramway today, supporting about 20 tram lines and covering virtually the entire city. In addition to several kinds of modern trams, ATM, the city's mass-transit authority, runs the most numerous and efficient Peter Witt fleet in the world. Over 150 of these reliable street cars, out of 250 rebuilt around 1990, operate daily on the streets of Milan. The original fleet of 502 was built between the late 1920s and the early 1930s. 11 Peter Witts from the Milan fleet, repainted in their original liveries, are currently operated on San Francisco's heavily crowded F-line. In addition to Milan, tram ways exist in other Italian cities including Rome, Turin, Naples, Florence, Palermo and others.

A rapidly growing number of France's major cities boast new tram or light rail networks, including Paris, Lyon, Marseille and Nantes. Recently the tram has seen a huge revival in France.

In the UK, tram systems were widely dismantled in the 1950s, only Blackpool's survived (see Blackpool tramway). However in recent years new light rail lines have been opened (for example the Croydon Tramlink, Manchester Metrolink, Sheffield Supertram and Nottingham Express Transit), with several others under consideration and extensions planned for many existing systems. The Light Rail Transit Association campaigns for the opening of new systems.

Gothenburg's popular trams travel the wide streets (the one shown here is a vintage tram, in the far back a more modern version is visible)

The city of Gothenburg, Sweden, has the most extensive network in Scandinavia (190 km on a total track length of 80 km; see Gothenburg tram), followed by the Norwegian capital Oslo. Within the inner city of Helsinki in Finland, trams have established a position as the main form of public transport.

In Spain modern tram networks have been opened in Barcelona (Trambaix and Trambesòs), Valencia, Bilbao, Alicante and Parla.

In Portugal trams were very usual between the end of the 19th century and 1960s, especially in the capital Lisbon, where the trams covered all the city. Since then, they have been replaced by modern buses and nowadays only five routes still operate (only in the historic downtown).

The Greek capital Athens opened a modern tramline in time for the 2004 Summer Olympics reintroducing the tram into the city after 41 years of absence. Plans are to be build three more lines.

In Dublin, Ireland a new tram system opened in 2004. The Luas has two unconnected on-street lines.

Trondheim, Norway has the worlds most northern tramline.

Tram in Stuttgart, Germany

A Peter Witt tram in Milan

A double-decker balloon tram in Blackpool, England

[edit] Central and Eastern Europe

All countries of the former Soviet Bloc, excluding Lithuania and Moldova, have extensive tram infrastructures. The Czech ČKD Tatra was, until the mid-1990s, the biggest producer of trams in the world. The Hungarian Ganz factory was also a notable manufacturer of trams.

The busiest traditional city tram line in the world is in Budapest, Hungary, where 50-meter long trains run at 60 to 90 second intervals at peak time and are usually packed with people.

In many cities of Russia and Ukraine, as well as in Armenia, Georgia, and Azerbaijan, tramways are facing difficulties. Some tramway systems have suffered extensive closures of vital parts of their networks (Saint Petersburg, Moscow, Kiev) and some are facing threats of closures (Nizhniy Novgorod, Tver) or even total abandonment (Voronezh, Tbilisi). Nevertheless, Saint Petersburg's tramway network still is the largest in the world.