Germany has an extensive number oftramway networks (Straßenbahn in German (German:[ˈʃtʁaːsn̩ˌbaːn]ⓘ)). Some of these networks have been upgraded tolight rail standards, calledStadtbahn inGerman. Straßenbahn and Stadtbahn schemes are usually operated on the legal foundation of theBOStrab, the Tramways Act of 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]
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TheStadtbahn is a concept that dates as far back as the late 1940s, when city councils were consideringUnterpflasterstraßenbahn (lit. below-pavement tramways) as part of rebuilding the city centres devastated byWorld War II. Some cities, likeHanover, reserved extra wide medians in their ring roads, though in most cities these plans never progressed past the planning stage. The success of theBerlin andHamburg U-Bahn systems prompted cities to begin considering such schemes again in the 1960s and 1970s.Munich andNuremberg decided to fully abolish their trams and started constructing full-scale U-Bahn systems, though to date both cities have retained and subsequently expanded their tram networks. Other cities, such asHanover andStuttgart, went for a scheme of city centre tunnels and special right-of-way arrangements with the prospect ofconverting their tramway networks to a full-fledged U-Bahn over several decades. By the 1980s, virtually all cities had abolished these plans due to the high costs involved with converting the tramways to U-Bahn systems. The most common Stadtbahn systems today 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 theS-Bahn, which commonly is asuburban railway operating under theRailways Act, while the Stadtbahn typically is anurban railway operating under theTramways Act.
This list also includes cities that have beenPolish orUSSR territory since 1945.
The most common vehicle type currently in use in Germany is thearticulated tram, either in its high floor orlow floor variant. Articulated trams aretram cars that consist of several sections held together by flexiblejoints. Likearticulated 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.
From 1918 on, a few prototypes were built inGermany, for example atrailer car forDresden in 1918 and two tramcars withJacobs bogies forDuisburg in 1926. However, interest for these cars was low and the concept of articulation fell into obscurity.
It was only afterWorld War II that articulated cars were manufactured again; the first, small series ofGT4 cars was deployed forStuttgart in 1953 byMaschinenfabrik 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 andHansawaggon, the latter mainly inBremen and inMunich, tried to get into the market with theirKurzgelenkwagen construction — however, inWest Germany their market share remained small compared to the Jacobs bogie cars made by Düwag.The Hansawaggon design was copied later byCKD Tatra, which manufactured large numbers ofKT4D tram cars based on this design for use in theGDR.
Apart from the larger series, small numbers of cars were rebuilt for operators with odd requirements, for example theBremer Straßenbahn AG received a series of 3-axled andAugsburg 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 theADtranz low floor tram, is theFlexity 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 is a German term meaningshort-articulated tramcar. These articulated cars require olnly one bogie per carbody. Initially, they were mostly of theGT4 type; aGerman acronym for an articulated (G forGelenk = "joint") motorized (T forTriebwagen)tramcar with 4 axles. Two different models of these have been deployed:Type Stuttgart andType Bremen.This concept found another use in three- and four-partlow 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 andAdtranz delivered these vehicles toBremen,Berlin,Munich andNuremberg;Duewag built a series of 40 forFrankfurt am Main (Type R).
TheGT4, developed byMaschinenfabrik Esslingen in 1959 for theStuttgart tramways' steep lines connects the two bogies with agirder. 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 inFreiburg im Breisgau,Reutlingen,Neunkirchen as well asUlm andAugsburg (which bought them used from Stuttgart), afterGerman reunification used GT4 vehicles were also used inNordhausen,Halberstadt andHalle.
TheHansa Waggonbau [de]GT4 cars, designed and built forBremer 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 ofBremen andBremerhaven, theMunich-based manufacturerRathgeber bought these cars under licence for theMunich tramways.
TheCzechoslovak companyČKD Tatra developed theKT4D tram car based on the same joint and bogie concept as theType Bremen and delivered it in large numbers to theGDR from 1975. These cars, used inEast Berlin and a number of other cities, were only manufactured as power cars, however they can run as multiple units.
Media related toTrams in Germany at Wikimedia Commons
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