Strasbourg tramway

On 5 April 1877 the Strasbourg Horse Railway Company ("Straßburger Pferde-Eisenbahngesellschaft") was founded, and the name changed on 25 April 1888 to the Strasbourg Tramway Company ("Straßburger Straßenbahngesellschaft").[5] Since May 1897, the AEG electrical manufacturing company was the main shareholder. In 1912 the company was transferred to the possession of the city of Strasbourg. When Alsace became part of France in November 1918, the name of the company was translated into French, "Compagnie des tramways strasbourgeois" (CTS). In this form it still exists today.

Public transport in Strasbourg had begun in 1848 with horse-drawn omnibuses and carriages. The first standard gauge tracks of the Horse/Railway Company were opened on 20 July 1878. These passed through the areas of "Hönheim" and "zur Kehler Brücke". In the inner city, horses were used. In the suburbs, small steam locomotives drew the carriages. By 1885 further lines to the suburbs of Königshofen, Robertsau, Neuhof and Wolfisheim were opened, and in 1886 the meter gauge was first used in extending the track to Grafenstaden.

The electric company of AEG was engaged to install electric traction of that line in December 1894. Though the contract between town and company had included the maintaining of standard gauge, since 1897, the standard gauge tracks were converted to one-meter gauge. New lines were built and run to Kronenburg, Lingolsheim and Breuschwickersheim. In addition to the network in town, an overland network was built, mainly worked with steam traction, extending from Strasbourg to the Vosges Mountains, Colmar and across the Rhine into Baden.

After in 1918 Strasbourg had become French, the 1920 all lines east of the Rhine (almost 50% of the overland network or 35% of the total network) were taken over at first by the shortly founded general German railway company of Deutsche Reichseisenbahnen, then in 1922 by the regional Mittelbadische Eisenbahnen (Central Baden Railways).

In 1930, the network comprised 234 km of track, about 100 km in town and 130 km overland lines, all in France. There were 55 million passengers in 1930 and 71.5 million passengers in 1943.

Last tram ride on 1 May 1960

In the 1950s, the tram, already weakened by World War II, faced competition from other modes of transport such as the bus, the bicycle and the private automobile. The tram system was abandoned in 1960 and replaced by buses; the last tram ran on 1 May 1960 and carried a black wreath to resemble a funeral procession.[6] Much of the traffic was absorbed by the private automobile.

Owing to increasing traffic and pollution, the Urban Community of Strasbourg considered building a Véhicule Automatique Léger network with two lines. The choice of rapid transit system became a major point of debate at the 1989 municipal elections, with the incumbent right-wing majority favouring the VAL, while the opposition Socialists campaigned for a modern tramway.[7][8]

Shopkeepers in the city centre were also in favour of the VAL, on the grounds that the construction of the tramway and subsequent loss of parking spaces would deter customers. Meanwhile, the opposition campaigning for the tramway emphasised its cost-efficiency relative to the VAL (1 kilometre of VAL track cost as much to build as 4 kilometres of tramway) and the revitalization and pedestrianization of the city centre that the construction of the tramway entailed.[9]

With Catherine Trautmann's election as mayor of Strasbourg, the VAL project was abandoned in favour of the tramway.[10]

The first line, line A, opened on 25 November 1994. At 9.8 kilometres long, it signalled the return of the tramway to Strasbourg. It was the fourth modern tram system in France.[6] The line ran from the western suburb of Hautepierre to Illkirch-Graffenstaden (Baggersee station). In order to cross the railway lines near the Strasbourg railway station, a 1 400 m long tunnel was dug with a tunnel boring machine between the Rotonde and Ancienne Synagogue/Les Halles stations. The Gare Centrale station, serving Strasbourg's railway station, is situated 17 m under ground in this tunnel.

Artists were commissioned to create artworks relating to the city. In particular, the Oulipo was responsible for writing short texts on the columns in the stations, but with the following four constraints:

• Homophonic variations: sentences formed from the syllables in the sentence ' Le tramway de Strasbourg ' (e.g. Les trois mouettes de Strauss: pour) form the basis of a short story ending with the aforementioned sentence.
• Toponymic inscriptions: written in the style of a dictionary entry, they present a fictional etymology for each station name.
• The récit au beau présent is a story written only with the letters present in the station name.
• Finally, there are proverbs which have been transformed by the addition of the word 'tram' or 'tramway'.[11]

The construction of the network was accompanied by town-planning operations, with the intention of promoting city-centre access by tram. Park and ride facilities were also built near suburban stations in order to encourage motorists to use the tram.[12] Indeed, the rationale behind the reintroduction of the tramway was the perceived negative effect of the automobile's omnipresence in the city (pollution, congestion, disorderly parking). With the construction of the tramway, the city centre was pedestrianised and parking in the city centre was reduced via out-of-town park and ride facilities. Access to the city centre was closed off to cars in 1992.[13]

In 1995, Trautmann was re-elected which gave a signal to other mayors of French cities that a opening a tram is beneficial for re-election.[6]

On 4 July 1998, a first extension began: line A was extended 2.8 km further south into Illkirch-Graffenstaden. Just under two months later, on 31 August 1998, line D (Rotonde - Étoile - Polygone) entered service thanks to a short branch near the Place de l'Étoile. This new line uses the line A track for most of its journey, enabling higher tram frequencies in the city centre.[14]

The network was further extended on 1 September 2000 as line B and C (total length: 11.9 km) entered service. They both originate from the same terminus, situated in Elsau, a residential area. They share a trunk line which leads to the city centre, crossing it from the south-east to the north-west. At the Homme de Fer station, the lines cross the track of lines A and D. This junction became the centre of the network. The two lines diverge at the République station: line C leads to the terminus in the Esplanade district via the university area, while line B heads north, serving the Wacken exhibition centre. It then passes through the communes of Schiltigheim and Bischheim before reaching the Hoenheim terminus, in the commune of Hoenheim.[15]

In September 2002, the Hoenheim terminus was linked to the Alsace regional train (TER) on the Strasbourg-Lauterbourg line. A year later, a new exchange was created at Krimmeri-Meinau: a railway station was built next to the eponymous tram stop, allowing transfers between line A (and line E in 2007) and regional trains running on the Strasbourg-Offenburg line.[16]

The tramway remained largely unchanged until 2007, when a new wave of extensions was completed. These extensions should have been finished in 2006, but were delayed by appeals lodged by several associations and three individuals (including two Green Party councillors)[17]

On 25 August 2007 lines C and D were extended, and line E entered service. Line D was extended to a new terminus (Aristide Briand), while line C was lengthened by 4.2 km, taking it into the heart of Neuhof, which had previously been enclaved in southern Strasbourg. The two lines share a common track for 600m between Landsberg and Jean Jaures stations. The extensions also created a new north–south route serving the eastern part of the city. Meanwhile, line E brought about a major change in the network, since it was the first branch line. Sharing track with the other lines between Wacken and Baggersee, one of its objectives was to reduce transfer traffic at Homme de Fer, a station not served by the line.[18]

Line E was extended by 2.5 km from Wacken to a new terminus, Robertsau Boecklin, on 23 November 2007, thus servicing buildings in the European district, such as the European Parliament.

Line B was extended in two phases in 2008. The first extension, shifting the southern terminus from Elsau to Ostwald Hotel de Ville, was completed on 30 January 2008. The second phase was completed on 22 May 2008, further extending this part of the line to Lingolsheim Tiergaertel. The total length of these two extensions is 4.9 km, and the entire 2007-2008 extension project was completed at a cost of €397.5m.[19]

These extensions transformed a cross-shaped network, centred on Homme de Fer, into a lattice shape, with two lines running in tandem along key routes in the city centre. This enabled more transfers and more direct links between stations, along with greater frequency in the city centre.[16][20] This scheme is unique in France, but similar to systems in Switzerland and Germany.[21]

On considerable sections of track, the current network retraces the old network: Porte de l’hopital - Campus d’Illkirch (line A); Etoile Polygone - Aristide Briand (line D); Graviere - Neuhof Rudolphe Reuss (line C); Montagne Verte - Homme de Fer - Gallia (line F); place de Bordeaux - Wacken and Droits de l’Homme - Robertsau Boecklin (line E); Gare centrale - Pont de Saverne (line C) and Pont de Saverne - Homme de Fer (line A) - around 14.4 km in total. The Homme de Fer station did not exist on the old network: there was a station nearby in the Rue de la Haute Montée, currently crossed by lines B, C and F, while the Place Kléber was the main hub. Place de la République and place du Polygone were important nodes in the old network. Trams crossed the city centre from north to south via the Rue des Grandes Arcades and the Rue du Vieux Marché aux Poissons: otherwise, the current line A is a reconstitution of the old line 6/16, taken out of service on 1 January 1960.

Two new sections were finished in 2010: Gare Centrale - Homme de Fer via Faubourg de Saverne, and Observatoire - Place d’Islande. The latter was built in anticipation of the (now abandoned) tram-train line project and entered service on 27 November 2010. Line C abandoned the Homme de Fer-Elsau section, taking the Homme de Fer - Faubourg de Saverne - Gare Centrale route instead. The next day, a citizen's initiative prompted Line F's introduction, serving the Elsau-Place d’Islande route, which included the Homme de Fer - Elsau section that line C had abandoned.[22]

In 2013, both line A and line D were extended in the northwest. New tracks were built for both lines on 1 kilometre (0.62 mi) for each. Line D saw the opening of three new stations (Paul Éluard, Marcel Rudloff and Poteries) and line A, of two new stations (Le Galet and Parc des Sports). The name of Hautepierre Maillon station on line A was changed to Cervantès.[23][24]

In late 2013, work started on a further extension of line A, from Illkirch-Lixenbuhl to the town centre of Illkirch-Graffenstaden. The extension opened on 23 April 2016, providing 1.8 kilometres (1.1 mi) of extra route and three extra stops. It cost €37m, of which the Strasbourg Eurométropole provided €29m, the French government contributed €5·3m, and €1·5m came from the Bas-Rhin département.[25][26][27]

Construction of the bridge across the Rhine to Kehl

An extension of line D from the former terminus at Aristide Briand to Kehl in Germany is now in operation, since 28 April 2017. Construction on this extension involved the building of a new bridge across the Rhine, which started in February 2014. This extension travels the distance from the former terminus through the rest of Strasbourg, to the bridge over the Rhine terminating at Kehl station. A further extension to Kehl Rathaus was planned to open by the end of 2017. The extension as of 2018 included three new stops in France and one in Germany; two more were added in Germany with the subsequent extension opening in 2018.[28][29][30] According to early reports, within the first month of operation, the new extension to Kehl's main railway station saw around 10,000 daily users.[31] The extension now serves de:Hochschule Kehl and Kehl City Hall, allowing easier access to the city center.

When the new network was first built in 1994, new rolling stock was designed. The city wanted fully low-floor trams with a novel design. A partnership called Eurotram was formed between CTS and Socimi, an Italian company. Stringent standards were set on ergonomics and aesthetics: the city insisted on a fully low-floor design, with wide doors and electric wheelchair ramps in order to facilitate access and cater for the elderly and the disabled. Air conditioning was installed, despite advice from the manufacturers that it was unnecessary. The curved front windscreen covers the entire front of the tram, giving it a futuristic appearance. Similarly, large windows were included on the sides of the tram, with the aim of giving passengers the impression of travelling on a ‘moving pavement’. Eurotram also had a modular construction, with the head units being connected to passenger units, linked to each other by power units resting on their own axles. Another notable feature is that there is no separation between passenger cars; the inside of the tram is one continuous space.[10]

Twenty-six Eurotrams, built by Socimi, were delivered for service on line A between 1994 and 1995. These trams are 33.1m long, have 8 axles and a maximum capacity of 210 passengers. Each tram consists of 3 passenger cars and twelve motors, developing a total of 336 kW. The CTS placed a second order, this time for twenty-seven units, which were delivered between 1998 and 2000. The order included ten 8-axle trams and seventeen 10-axle trams. These ten-axle trams, nicknamed ‘jumbos’, are 43.05 m long, weigh 51 t and can carry up to 270 passengers in their 4-passenger cars. Total power is 424 kW, produced by sixteen motors.[19][39]

Although the Eurotram's design has generally been applauded for its user-friendliness, it has also received some criticism. For instance, the doors have been criticised for being too slow to open/close (they are single doors), lengthening the time spent in stations. Additionally, the large window over and around the driver's cabin can result in the cabin becoming too hot, a problem that was remedied with sun blinds.[10]

New rolling stock was required to operate on the 2005 extensions, so the city launched a call for bids in 2003 for new tram units. On 15 July 2003, Alstom was announced as the winner with its Citadis tram. Forty-one Citadis 403 trams were delivered from 2005 onwards. These units are 43.05 m long, carry 288 passengers and have ten axles. They weigh 53.2 t and are powered by three motor units, delivering a total of 720 kW.[40]

At CTS's request, the trams were restyled to look like the Eurotrams.[19] The axle distribution is different on the Citadis, and the Citadis has an additional bogie under the driver's cab. One of the Citadis’ advantages over the Eurotram is the inclusion of double doors which allow faster opening and closure, minimising time spent in stations.[41]

In 2014, CTS signed a framework agreement with Alstom for the supply of a further 50 Citadis trams. An initial 12 trams, worth €41 000 000, entered service by the end of 2016. The trams met BOStrab standards for operation into Germany, and are used on the cross-border line D extension to Kehl, as well as line A.[42]