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Trams in Germany

April 10, 2024

Germany has an extensive number of tramway networks (Straßenbahn in German (German: [ˈʃtʁaːsn̩ˌbaːn] ⓘ)). Some of these networks have been upgraded to light rail standards, called Stadtbahn in German. Straßenbahn and Stadtbahn schemes are usually operated on the legal foundation of the BOStrab, the Tramways Act of Germany.

Tram, Stadtbahn, U-Bahn and S-Bahn schemes in Germany

Tramways served as the primary means of urban transport in Germany until the early 1960s when they were systematically replaced by buses. However, in the 1980s tramways began to reappear; experts spoke of the 'renaissance of the tramway'. In the 1990s tramways had again become a modern means of public transport. Popular notions of fashion have been used by scholars to explain this cycle of acceptance rejection and restoration. Tramways were a highly visible manifestation of commodity culture and people projected onto them not just travel destinations but more broadly their desires, ideas and beliefs.[1]

Stadtbahn edit

 
Tram in Munich
Main article: Stadtbahn
 
Trams in Berlin

The Stadtbahn is a concept dating back as far as the late 1940s, when city councils were considering Unterpflasterstraßenbahn (lit. below-pavement tramways) as part of rebuilding the city centres devastated by World War II. Some cities, like Hanover, reserved extra wide medians in their city's ring roads, though in most cities these plans never made it past the planning stage. However, seeing the success of the Berlin and Hamburg U-Bahn systems, cities started considering such schemes again in the 1960s and 1970s. Munich and Nuremberg decided to fully abolish their trams and started constructing a full-scale U-Bahn system (although to date, neither of these has abolished their tram system and likely never will - both are in fact re-expanding their tram systems) whilst other cities, like Hanover or Stuttgart, went for a scheme of city centre tunnels and special right-of-way arrangements with the prospect of converting their tramway networks to a full-fledged U-Bahn over several decades. By the 1980s, however, virtually all cities had abolished these plans due to the high costs involved with converting the tramways, and the most common Stadtbahn systems now are a mixture of tramway-like operations in suburban and peripheral areas, and a more U-Bahn like mode of operation, featuring tunnel stations, in the city centres.

The Stadtbahn scheme is not to be confused with the S-Bahn, which commonly is a suburban railway operating under the Railways Act, while the Stadtbahn typically is an urban railway operating under the Tramways Act.

Cities and towns with tramway networks edit

Main article: List of town tramway systems in Germany
 
Tram in Cologne

Cities that have abolished their trams edit

Abolished due to World War II damage edit

This list also includes cities that have been Polish or USSR territory since 1945.

Post-1945 edit

Vehicles edit

 
Historic 6-axle Duewag articulated tram car

The most common vehicle type currently in use in Germany is the articulated tram, either in its high floor or low floor variant. Articulated trams are tram cars that consist of several sections held together by flexible joints. Like articulated buses, they have an increased passenger capacity. These trams can be up to forty metres in length, while a regular tram has to be much shorter.

Articulated trams edit

History edit

 
1926 prototype from Duisburg

From 1918 on, a few prototypes were built in Germany, for example a trailer car for Dresden in 1918 and two tramcars with Jacobs bogies for Duisburg in 1926. However, interest for these cars was low and the concept of articulation fell into obscurity.

It was only after World War II that articulated cars were manufactured again; the first, small series of GT4 Jacobs bogie cars was deployed for Stuttgart in 1953 by Maschinenfabrik Esslingen. From 1956 on, Duewag manufactured large numbers of articulated tram cars for operators in Germany and abroad to replace old pre-war models.

Starting in 1959, Maschinenfabrik Esslingen and Hansawaggon, the latter mainly in Bremen and in Munich, tried to get into the market with their Kurzgelenkwagen construction — however, in West Germany their market share remained small compared to the Jacobs bogie cars made by Düwag. The Hansawaggon design was copied later by CKD Tatra, which manufactured large numbers of KT4D tram cars based on this design for use in the GDR.

Apart from the larger series, small numbers of cars were rebuilt for operators with odd requirements, for example the Bremer Straßenbahn AG received a series of 3-axled and Augsburg bought several 5-axled cars.

In the 1970s, the first urban railway cars were developed in the Federal territory. In some cases, tried and tested tram types were modified in such a way that they were also suitable for elevated platforms; While long-distance articulated wagons with a trajectory of curves were built for Frankfurt and Hanover, the Stuttgart tram was followed by the opposite route, although a number of Stuttgart lines were also used as a conventional tram. In their first versions, the new Stuttgart double-wagon consisted of two four-axle single-wagons without a transition, and their bogies were much further apart than with classic streetcar trucks.

In the 1990s, high-pressure low-floor trains were developed. In part, considerable changes were noticeable after large numbers of units were already in use. Also some older articulated cars were improved after 1990 with a low-floor segment. In order to avoid problems with low-floor technology, there are also new designs that are not completely low-floor, such as the Flexity Swift, developed for Cologne since 1995, whose axle distribution with four wheels is firmly developed underneath a short middle segment from a conventional articulated carriage type of the Zurich tram, the middle segment of which, however, has an exterior door. A pioneer in the development of Regiotram is Karlsruhe.

Since 2000, the low-floor technology have been increasingly improved. Since 2001, the market leader Bombardier has been producing eight-axle three-piece rather than six-axle single-axle engines. And as successor model of the ADtranz low floor tram, is the Flexity Berlin. Particularly long-range low-floor articulation trains are built for the Dresden transport companies. At a time when low-floor technology is already almost standard, on the other hand the railways as RegioTrams also use railways, tramway vehicles (increasingly known as tramway vehicles) have to fulfill contradictory requirements.

Kurzgelenkwagen edit

Kurzgelenkwagen is a German term for articulated cars that require exactly one bogie per carbody. These are mostly of the GT4 type; a German acronym for an articulated (G for Gelenk = "joint") motorized (T for Triebwagen) tramcar with 4 axles. Two different models of these have been deployed:

Type Stuttgart edit
See also: Maschinenfabrik Esslingen GT4
 
GT4 in Stuttgart

The GT4, developed by Maschinenfabrik Esslingen in 1959 for the Stuttgart tramways' steep lines connects the two bogies with a girder. The car bodies support themselves by resting on their bogie and on the girder.[1] It therefore is not possible to separate the vehicle's individual cars. 380 cars were built in total, of which 350 were delivered to Stuttgart. Further cars were in use in Freiburg im Breisgau, Reutlingen, Neunkirchen as well as Ulm and Augsburg (which bought them used from Stuttgart), after German reunification used GT4 vehicles were also used in Nordhausen, Halberstadt and Halle.

Type Bremen edit
See also: Hansa Waggonbau GT4
 
BSAG cars

The Hansa Waggonbau [de] GT4 cars, designed and built for Bremer Straßenbahn AG, rest on the individual carbody's bogie only. The joint is not supported, and sections can be added and removed in the workshop. Hansawaggon delivered articulated power cars and trailers to the tramways of Bremen and Bremerhaven, the Munich-based manufacturer Rathgeber bought these cars under licence for the Munich tramways.

Tatra KT4 edit
See also: Tatra KT4

The Czechoslovakian company CKD Tatra developed the KT4D tram car based on the same joint and bogie concept and delivered it in large numbers to the GDR from 1976. These cars, used in East Berlin and a number of other cities, were only manufactured as power cars, however they can run as multiple units.

This concept found another use in three- and four-part low floor trams built since 1989, however a special track layout is necessary for these trams, as they have the tendency to swerve in curves. MAN and Adtranz delivered these vehicles to Bremen, Berlin, Munich and Nuremberg; Duewag built a series of 40 for Frankfurt am Main (Type R).

See also edit

References edit

  1. ^ Barbara Schmucki, "Fashion and technological change: Tramways in Germany after 1945." The Journal of Transport History 31.1 (2010): 1-24.

External links edit

  •   Media related to Trams in Germany at Wikimedia Commons
  • Tram Metro Bus Airplane Strassenbahn (in German)
  • Strassenbahn-Online (in German)

April 10, 2024
trams, germany, germany, extensive, number, tramway, networks, straßenbahn, german, german, ˈʃtʁaːsn, ˌbaːn, some, these, networks, have, been, upgraded, light, rail, standards, called, stadtbahn, german, straßenbahn, stadtbahn, schemes, usually, operated, leg. Germany has an extensive number of tramway networks Strassenbahn in German German ˈʃtʁaːsn ˌbaːn Some of these networks have been upgraded to light rail standards called Stadtbahn in German Strassenbahn and Stadtbahn schemes are usually operated on the legal foundation of the BOStrab the Tramways Act of Germany Tram Stadtbahn U Bahn and S Bahn schemes in GermanyTramways served as the primary means of urban transport in Germany until the early 1960s when they were systematically replaced by buses However in the 1980s tramways began to reappear experts spoke of the renaissance of the tramway In the 1990s tramways had again become a modern means of public transport Popular notions of fashion have been used by scholars to explain this cycle of acceptance rejection and restoration Tramways were a highly visible manifestation of commodity culture and people projected onto them not just travel destinations but more broadly their desires ideas and beliefs 1 Contents 1 Stadtbahn 2 Cities and towns with tramway networks 3 Cities that have abolished their trams 3 1 Abolished due to World War II damage 3 2 Post 1945 4 Vehicles 4 1 Articulated trams 4 1 1 History 4 1 2 Kurzgelenkwagen 4 1 2 1 Type Stuttgart 4 1 2 2 Type Bremen 4 1 2 3 Tatra KT4 5 See also 6 References 7 External linksStadtbahn edit nbsp Tram in MunichMain article Stadtbahn nbsp Trams in BerlinThe Stadtbahn is a concept dating back as far as the late 1940s when city councils were considering Unterpflasterstrassenbahn lit below pavement tramways as part of rebuilding the city centres devastated by World War II Some cities like Hanover reserved extra wide medians in their city s ring roads though in most cities these plans never made it past the planning stage However seeing the success of the Berlin and Hamburg U Bahn systems cities started considering such schemes again in the 1960s and 1970s Munich and Nuremberg decided to fully abolish their trams and started constructing a full scale U Bahn system although to date neither of these has abolished their tram system and likely never will both are in fact re expanding their tram systems whilst other cities like Hanover or Stuttgart went for a scheme of city centre tunnels and special right of way arrangements with the prospect of converting their tramway networks to a full fledged U Bahn over several decades By the 1980s however virtually all cities had abolished these plans due to the high costs involved with converting the tramways and the most common Stadtbahn systems now are a mixture of tramway like operations in suburban and peripheral areas and a more U Bahn like mode of operation featuring tunnel stations in the city centres The Stadtbahn scheme is not to be confused with the S Bahn which commonly is a suburban railway operating under the Railways Act while the Stadtbahn typically is an urban railway operating under the Tramways Act Cities and towns with tramway networks editMain article List of town tramway systems in Germany nbsp Tram in CologneAugsburg Bad Schandau Berlin Bielefeld Stadtbahn Bochum Stadtbahn and Tram Bonn Stadtbahn Brandenburg an der Havel Bremen Braunschweig Chemnitz Cologne Stadtbahn Cottbus Darmstadt Dresden Dortmund Stadtbahn Duisburg Stadtbahn and Tram Dusseldorf Stadtbahn and Tram Erfurt Essen Stadtbahn and Tram Frankfurt am Main Stadtbahn and Tram Frankfurt Oder Freiburg im Breisgau Gelsenkirchen Gera Gorlitz Gotha Halberstadt Halle Saale Hanover Stadtbahn Hattingen Heidelberg Herne Jena Karlsruhe Tram and Tram Train Kassel Krefeld Leipzig Ludwigshafen Magdeburg Mainz Mannheim Mulheim an der Ruhr Munich Naumburg Nordhausen Nurnberg Oberhausen Plauen Potsdam Rostock Saarbrucken Stadtbahn Schwerin Stuttgart Stadtbahn Ulm Waltershausen Witten Wurzburg ZwickauCities that have abolished their trams editAbolished due to World War II damage edit This list also includes cities that have been Polish or USSR territory since 1945 Emmerich 1903 1944 Hanau 1908 1945 Hildesheim 1905 1945 Kustrin 1903 1923 1925 1945 Landshut 1913 1945 Tilsit 1900 1944 Warnemunde 1910 1944 Wilhelmshaven 1913 1945 Post 1945 edit Aachen September 29 1974 Baden Baden February 28 1951 Badenweiler May 22 1955 Bad Kreuznach January 5 1953 Berlin West June 22 1865 October 2 1967 reintroduced post reunification on a few lines from the East Bingen October 20 1955 Breckerfeld November 2 1963 Bremerhaven July 30 1982 Buckeburg May 21 1966 Castrop Rauxel September 30 1959 Celle June 2 1956 Detmold August 15 1954 Dillingen Saar May 31 1957 Duren April 30 1963 Eisenach August 1 1897 December 31 1975 Emden April 30 1953 Strassenbahn Esslingen Nellingen Denkendorf February 28 1978 Flensburg June 2 1973 Furth June 21 1981 replaced by a Subway line Gevelsberg March 31 1956 Giessen March 31 1953 Gummersbach October 4 1953 Hagen May 29 1976 Hamburg October 1 1978 currently the largest city without trams Hamm April 2 1961 Hattingen June 30 1969 Heilbronn April 1 1955 reopened July 21 2001 Herford April 22 1966 Herne September 30 1959 Hohenstein Ernstthal Oelsnitz Erzg February 15 1913 March 26 1960 Idar Oberstein July 29 1956 Iserlohn December 31 1959 Kassel Herkulesbahn April 12 1966 Kiel May 4 1985 Kleve March 31 1962 Klingenthal May 27 1917 April 4 1964 Koblenz July 19 1967 Kreischa October 18 1977 Kreuztal May 29 1952 Lorrach August 31 1967 Lubeck November 15 1959 Marburg May 17 1951 Mettmann May 17 1952 Minden December 29 1959 Moers September 25 1954 Monchengladbach March 15 1969 Muhlhausen December 21 1898 June 27 1969 Mullheim May 22 1955 Munster November 25 1954 Neunkirchen Saar June 10 1978 Neuss independent operation on August 7 1971 city s territory still served by Rheinbahn lines Neuwied October 31 1950 Niedersedlitz October 18 1977 Oberhausen October 13 1968 last line of Vestische Strassenbahnen to Bottrop out of service in 1974 reintroduced tramway service to Mulheim in 1996 Offenbach am Main May 27 1967 one line remained part of the Frankfurt network until 1996 Opladen Lutzenkirchen July 11 1955 Opladen Ohligs Hohscheid July 10 1955 Osnabruck May 29 1960 Paderborn September 27 1963 Pforzheim October 10 1964 Plettenberg Dampfstrassenbahn January 1 1959 freight traffic until 1962 Ravensburg Weingarten Baienfurt February 23 1959 Recklinghausen December 30 1982 Rees April 30 1966 Regensburg August 1 1964 Remscheid April 10 1969 Reutlingen October 19 1974 Rheydt January 31 1959 freight traffic until 1964 Saarbrucken May 22 1965 Saarlouis February 28 1961 Schwelm March 31 1956 Schwetzingen 1974 Siegen August 31 1958 Siegburg Troisdorf Zundorf August 31 1965 Solingen November 15 1959 Stassfurt April 10 1900 December 31 1957 Stralsund March 25 1900 April 7 1966 Sylt December 29 1970 Teltow 1891 November 1 1961 Trier July 27 1890 October 14 1905 September 14 1951 Unna Kamen Werne December 15 1950 Volklingen September 3 1909 April 18 1959 Wahn May 6 1917 October 1 1961 Walldorf February 22 1902 February 22 1907 August 1 1954 Wesel April 30 1966 Wiesbaden April 30 1955 Elektrische Strassenbahn Heidelberg Wiesloch 1973 Worms December 6 22 1906 January 29 1956 Wuppertal May 30 1987 1 435 mm 4 ft 8 1 2 in gauge July 31 1970 1 000 mm 3 ft 3 3 8 in gauge Vehicles edit nbsp Historic 6 axle Duewag articulated tram carThe most common vehicle type currently in use in Germany is the articulated tram either in its high floor or low floor variant Articulated trams are tram cars that consist of several sections held together by flexible joints Like articulated buses they have an increased passenger capacity These trams can be up to forty metres in length while a regular tram has to be much shorter Articulated trams edit History edit nbsp 1926 prototype from DuisburgFrom 1918 on a few prototypes were built in Germany for example a trailer car for Dresden in 1918 and two tramcars with Jacobs bogies for Duisburg in 1926 However interest for these cars was low and the concept of articulation fell into obscurity It was only after World War II that articulated cars were manufactured again the first small series of GT4 Jacobs bogie cars was deployed for Stuttgart in 1953 by Maschinenfabrik Esslingen From 1956 on Duewag manufactured large numbers of articulated tram cars for operators in Germany and abroad to replace old pre war models Starting in 1959 Maschinenfabrik Esslingen and Hansawaggon the latter mainly in Bremen and in Munich tried to get into the market with their Kurzgelenkwagen construction however in West Germany their market share remained small compared to the Jacobs bogie cars made by Duwag The Hansawaggon design was copied later by CKD Tatra which manufactured large numbers of KT4D tram cars based on this design for use in the GDR Apart from the larger series small numbers of cars were rebuilt for operators with odd requirements for example the Bremer Strassenbahn AG received a series of 3 axled and Augsburg bought several 5 axled cars In the 1970s the first urban railway cars were developed in the Federal territory In some cases tried and tested tram types were modified in such a way that they were also suitable for elevated platforms While long distance articulated wagons with a trajectory of curves were built for Frankfurt and Hanover the Stuttgart tram was followed by the opposite route although a number of Stuttgart lines were also used as a conventional tram In their first versions the new Stuttgart double wagon consisted of two four axle single wagons without a transition and their bogies were much further apart than with classic streetcar trucks In the 1990s high pressure low floor trains were developed In part considerable changes were noticeable after large numbers of units were already in use Also some older articulated cars were improved after 1990 with a low floor segment In order to avoid problems with low floor technology there are also new designs that are not completely low floor such as the Flexity Swift developed for Cologne since 1995 whose axle distribution with four wheels is firmly developed underneath a short middle segment from a conventional articulated carriage type of the Zurich tram the middle segment of which however has an exterior door A pioneer in the development of Regiotram is Karlsruhe Since 2000 the low floor technology have been increasingly improved Since 2001 the market leader Bombardier has been producing eight axle three piece rather than six axle single axle engines And as successor model of the ADtranz low floor tram is the Flexity Berlin Particularly long range low floor articulation trains are built for the Dresden transport companies At a time when low floor technology is already almost standard on the other hand the railways as RegioTrams also use railways tramway vehicles increasingly known as tramway vehicles have to fulfill contradictory requirements Kurzgelenkwagen edit Kurzgelenkwagen is a German term for articulated cars that require exactly one bogie per carbody These are mostly of the GT4 type a German acronym for an articulated G for Gelenk joint motorized T for Triebwagen tramcar with 4 axles Two different models of these have been deployed Type Stuttgart edit See also Maschinenfabrik Esslingen GT4 nbsp GT4 in StuttgartThe GT4 developed by Maschinenfabrik Esslingen in 1959 for the Stuttgart tramways steep lines connects the two bogies with a girder The car bodies support themselves by resting on their bogie and on the girder 1 It therefore is not possible to separate the vehicle s individual cars 380 cars were built in total of which 350 were delivered to Stuttgart Further cars were in use in Freiburg im Breisgau Reutlingen Neunkirchen as well as Ulm and Augsburg which bought them used from Stuttgart after German reunification used GT4 vehicles were also used in Nordhausen Halberstadt and Halle Type Bremen edit See also Hansa Waggonbau GT4 nbsp BSAG carsThe Hansa Waggonbau de GT4 cars designed and built for Bremer Strassenbahn AG rest on the individual carbody s bogie only The joint is not supported and sections can be added and removed in the workshop Hansawaggon delivered articulated power cars and trailers to the tramways of Bremen and Bremerhaven the Munich based manufacturer Rathgeber bought these cars under licence for the Munich tramways Tatra KT4 edit See also Tatra KT4 The Czechoslovakian company CKD Tatra developed the KT4D tram car based on the same joint and bogie concept and delivered it in large numbers to the GDR from 1976 These cars used in East Berlin and a number of other cities were only manufactured as power cars however they can run as multiple units This concept found another use in three and four part low floor trams built since 1989 however a special track layout is necessary for these trams as they have the tendency to swerve in curves MAN and Adtranz delivered these vehicles to Bremen Berlin Munich and Nuremberg Duewag built a series of 40 for Frankfurt am Main Type R See also edit nbsp Transport portal nbsp Germany portalTransportation in Germany Rail transport in Germany Stadtbahn U Bahn Tram List of town tramway systems in GermanyReferences edit Barbara Schmucki Fashion and technological change Tramways in Germany after 1945 The Journal of Transport History 31 1 2010 1 24 External links edit nbsp Media related to Trams in Germany at Wikimedia Commons Tram Metro Bus Airplane Strassenbahn in German Strassenbahn Online in German Retrieved from https en wikipedia org w index php title Trams in Germany amp oldid 1208659269 Kurzgelenkwagen, wikipedia, wiki, book, books, library,

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