Ghent trolleybus
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| Route length: | 8.5 km | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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The trolleybus Gent was a trolleybus operator in Belgium . It existed from March 24, 1989 to June 14, 2009 and was operated by the De Lijn transport company. During this time it was the only Belgian trolleybus operation, the three remaining networks in Antwerp (1929 to 1964), Brussels (1939 to 1964) and Liège (1930 to 1971) were closed significantly earlier.
history
The former trolleybus operation in Ghent consisted of a single 8.5 kilometers long route, it was served by the heavily frequented line 3. Among other things, this led through narrow streets in the city center. This was originally a tram line, the trolleybus line largely corresponded to the route of the earlier tram line 3 Mariakerke - St. Amandsberg, Scheldebrug (Meersendries) . This was converted to bus operation on November 30, 1969.
On April 9, 2004 the trolleybus operation in Ghent was temporarily stopped due to construction work, even then there was speculation about a possible imminent cessation of operations. However, electrical traffic was resumed on October 15, 2005.
For many years, trolleybus line 3 ran every 7½ minutes; when the timetable changed in December 2007, it was finally switched to a six-minute cycle. Also in 2007, De Lijn decided to purchase 21 new articulated trolleybuses to replace the vehicles from the opening year. The corresponding specifications had already been completed, and two manufacturers sent test vehicles to Ghent in August 2007. On January 9, 2008, the De Lijn board of directors decided to purchase alternate duo buses , but that never happened.
In the course of 2008 the Ghent trolleybus system declined; in June 2008, for example, only seven trolleybuses were used on the sixteen routes on Line 3. On December 23, 2008, three trolleybuses were used for the last time, after which the car exit was completely covered with newly purchased diesel buses. Only on March 11, 2009, a trolleybus had to help out for the last time.
The official farewell trip finally took place on June 14, 2009. The conversion of the former trolleybus line 3 to tram operation, which has been discussed for decades, is to take place by 2018.
vehicles
When the Ghent trolleybus opened, it had 20 articulated vehicles from the local manufacturer Van Hool . The type designation was AG 280 T , the series had, among other things, a powerful diesel auxiliary drive . Before that, a prototype had already been built in early 1985; it was located in the Solingen trolleybus for test purposes . From March to August 1985, it was temporarily added to the inventory under road number 83. The vehicle itself never came into operation in Ghent and later served the manufacturer as a test vehicle before it was dismantled and scrapped. The production cars were finally built in 1987 and 1988.
O-Bus 04 was the first car to be taken out of service in 2001, followed in December 2003 by Car 18. In May 2007, the vehicle with the number 16 was finally parked as a spare parts donor. After three more trolleybuses were parked in May and June 2008 (after difficulties with the auxiliary drive), only eleven cars were available in the final phase of Ghent trolleybus operations. As a result, from summer 2008, not all routes on line 3 could be operated electrically. After the end of operations, 15 of the former 20 articulated vehicles were sold to the Bulgarian city of Plovdiv , where they are still in use. Car 08 remained in Ghent as a museum car, car 11 was sold to a private collector.
A special feature of the company in Ghent was a decommissioned Van Hool diesel bus that was fitted with special pantographs for de-icing overhead lines .
Picture gallery
Museum trolleybus 7408 in the original livery
Use on line 3
The trolleybus overhead line crossed that of the tram at Kornmarkt with the help of an elaborate construction.
Cars parked in the depot
Former car from Ghent in Plovdiv
