Marseille tram

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tram
Marseille tram
image
Basic information
Country France
city Marseille
opening January 23, 1876
electrification 1900
operator RTM
Infrastructure
Route length 13 km
Formerly the largest
route 		178 km
Gauge 1435 mm ( standard gauge )
Power system 750 V DC overhead line
Stops 40
business
Lines 3
Line length 15.5 km
Clock in the peak hours 5 min
Clock in the SVZ 12.5 min
vehicles 26 Bombardier Flexity Outlook C
Top speed 70 km / h
Network plan
Network plan 2015

The Marseille tram ( French Tramway de Marseille ) is one of the few tram companies in France that was not completely shut down in the second half of the 20th century. Today the tram is part of the Régie des Transports de Marseille (RTM). The new construction lines T1 and T2 went into operation in 2007; The T3 line was added in 2015.

history

Trams on the Canebière before the First World War
Marseille tram cars in the Musée des transports urbains, interurbains et ruraux (AMTUIR)

As in many larger cities, Marseille also received a horse-drawn tram in the late 19th century .

In 1872 the city announced a "chemin de fer américain", better known in Europe as the Hippomobile . The first lines were put into operation on January 23, 1876, by the “Compagnie générale française de tramways” (CGFT), consisting of around 140 buses and 10 kilometers of steam service from La Joliette to L'Estaque.

The first electric machine went into operation in 1892, the “tramway à câble aérien”, fed by the Arenc plant. From 1900 onwards, the entire network was electrified. From 1905, bogie wagons were gradually acquired and the suburbs were also connected to the network. In 1903 the line to Aix-en-Provence was put into operation, the line to Aubagne followed in 1905.

Many vehicles were modernized during the 1920s. In 1939, 430 railcars and 350 sidecars were in operation, including 33 sidecars that had been taken over by the Parisian tram the year before . In 1948, the 21 km long line to Aix-en-Provence was switched to bus routes. In 1950, the “Régie Autonome des Transports de la Ville de Marseille” (RATVM) still operated 20 tram lines. In February 1955, line 41, which operated on the Canebière, was shut down. As early as 1960, all lines except the 68 were shut down. A total of 71 lines were served.

Line 68

Four-axle PCC car on line 68, 1979
Modernized four-axle PCC wagons in double traction , 1984
Route plan for line 68 up to 2004

As in almost all French cities, in the second half of the 20th century the tram was more an obstacle than a desirable means of transport. From an extensive tram network with a maximum length of 178 km, which also extended into the surrounding area of ​​the city, only a 3 km long section remained. It was the remainder of line 68, which began operating in December 1893.

The short line only survived until 2004 because it ran in a 635-meter-long tunnel that was not suitable for buses. The winding tunnel was originally designed for a narrow gauge steam tram in miners' built construction. It ran on a single track with a steep gradient down into the old town to the fully enclosed terminus (“Gare de l'Est”) at the Marché des Capucins, where for many years an overland line from Aubagne ended. After ten years, the track was converted to the standard gauge and the line electrified. In 1904 it was incorporated into the tram network and expanded to double tracks in 1945. In the late 1960s, the tunnel was renovated, in 1984 was the construction of the metro line 2 , a new three-pronged underground terminus at underground station Noailles.

In 1968/69, La Brugeoise et Nivelles (BN) delivered 16 new trams that corresponded to the PCC concept and were only 2.02 m wide due to the restricted clearance profile in the tunnel. They resembled the vehicles running in Saint-Étienne , but were different from those bidirectional vehicles with two-sided operator positions and had three symmetrically arranged double doors on each side. The four-axle wagons originally given the numbers 2001 to 2016 were modernized in 1984. They were upgraded for double traction and were given the new company numbers TA01 to TA16.

Since the increasing number of passengers made it necessary to enlarge the vehicle fleet, Marseille received three six-axle articulated cars in PCC design in 1984 . The vehicles designated as TB17 to TB19, also capable of double traction, were the last PCCs built in Europe. When line 68 was discontinued in 2004, all railcars were retired.

Until 1968 the trams operated with pantographs , in the same year extensive modernization took place and since then bow-type pantographs have been used.

Shutdown

In 2000 it was decided to expand the tram network, initially on two lines. In 2003, the target was expanded to three lines. On January 8, 2004, the last old line was temporarily set to allow a fundamental renewal of the line.

The new tram

Exit the tunnel at Eugène Pierre station
Line 1 vehicle at Les Caillols terminus
Tram line 2 at the Sadi-Carnot stop (2012)
Network plan (as of 2013)

In the Plan de déplacements urbains (PDU) from 2003, the construction of three tram lines was specified. The Déclaration d'utilité publique of the 468 million euro project took place on June 29, 2004. Due to financial difficulties, the expansion had to be divided into phases.

The first stage was the T2 line ( Euroméditerranée Gantès – La Blancarde) and the La Blancarde – Les Caillols section of the T1 on July 3, 2007. The eastern part of the former line 68 from La Blancarde to Saint Pierre was continued to be used for 800 meters and extended to Les Caillols. At the same time, a 4.7 kilometer long new line from La Blancarde to Euroméditerranée Gantès went into operation, completely re-routed on dedicated traffic areas. In this way, the T2 could then reach the Noailles area without the old tunnel, and from then on the T2 traveled the entire length of this 8.8 km long line.

The second phase consisted of the commissioning of the 1.5-kilometer-long section Eugène-Pierre-La Blancarde of the old line 68 on November 8, 2007. From this point on, two tram lines operated again in Marseille. The T1 drove from Eugène-Pierre to Les Caillols and the T2 from Euromediterranée Gantès to La Blancarde. The La Blancarde SNCF train station thus became a transport hub for local and regional public transport. Because this is where the transfer station between the two tram lines was built, an underground station was also added in 2010, and there is also a connection to the local trains.

The third stage was the commissioning of the T1 tunnel from Eugène-Pierre to Noailles. This section could not be opened until September 27, 2008 due to delays in the renewal of the tunnel. Due to the greater width of the new tram vehicles, the tunnel should first be extended. In order to avoid the high costs of a tunnel expansion, it was finally decided instead to use a single-track route in the tunnel, which at best allows a 4-minute train sequence.

On March 27, 2010, the T2 was extended in a northerly direction by one stop (0.7 km) from Euromediterranée Gantès to Arenc.

The fourth phase originally envisaged the commissioning of the T3 (La Blancarde – Quatre-Septembre) in 2010. The T2 should have gone to Castellane. After planning changes, the T3 was allowed to drive to Castellane instead; The 1.2 km long new line Belsunce Alcazar - Castellane was put into operation at the end of May 2015. At the same time as the introduction of line T3, another stop called Canebière Capucins was opened on line T2 between Belsunce Alcazar and Canebière-Garibaldi .

Route network

Since the beginning of June 2015, 13 km of tram lines have been in operation.

The following lines operate in Marseille:

  • T1: Noailles ↔ Les Caillols via the Blancarde train station (corresponds to the former 68 to Saint Pierre) with 14 stops
  • T2: Arenc le Silo ↔ La Blancarde station via Canebière and Cinq-Avenues with 15 stops
  • T3: Arenc le Silo ↔ Castellane via Belsunce Alcazar with 11 stops. The route Arenc le Silo - Belsunce Alcazar is served by lines T1 and T3. The Belsunce Alcazar - Castellane section is a new line with 5 new stops.

The T1 line runs every 5 to 6 minutes during the day from Monday to Friday, and the T2 and T3 lines every 5 minutes. On Sundays there is a train every 12 to 15 minutes on all lines. Since the route Arenc le Silo - Belsunce Alcazar is used by two lines, the distance between two successive tracks is on average only half as large.

Up to 4000 passengers per hour can be carried in each direction.

expansion

The route from the Cours Saint-Louis stop south through the city center along Rue de Rome to the Castellane station had been under construction since October 2012 and went into operation in June 2015. It is served by the T3 Arenc le Silo ↔ Castellane line. Five new stops were created on the 1.2 km long new route: Cours Saint Louis, Davso, Place de Rome, Dragon and Castellane.

When all lines are completed, the route network is to grow by a further 15 km by around 2020: namely by seven km in the direction of the Hôpitaux Sud clinics and by the same distance in a northerly direction to the Capitaine Gèse local transport hub , the future terminus of metro line 2 .

In addition, 2000 trees will be planted along the tram lines. A connection with the Aubagne tram is planned.

Rolling stock

Tram for Marseille in Vienna during commissioning on the test track of the Vienna tram

The Flexity Outlook vehicles for Marseille have been produced by Bombardier Transportation in Vienna since 2006 . The trams were put into operation on the test track of the Vienna tram . By July 2007, 26 of the five-part multiple units had been delivered at a price of 2.1 million euros each. They were 32.5 meters long and 2.4 meters wide when they were delivered. The front section of the railcars is supposed to be reminiscent of a ship, an indication of the importance of Marseilles as the largest seaport in France. The maximum speed is 70 km / h and the 32.5 m long vehicle can accommodate 204 passengers, 44 of which are seated. In 2012, all cars were lengthened to 42.5 meters by installing two additional modules, while the interior was renewed. This conversion cost around 23 million euros.

In addition, in May 2012, six additional cars were ordered from Bombardier for the route under construction on Rue de Rome. The first vehicle arrived in Marseille on November 2, 2013. The plan is to purchase a total of 40 railcars, 36 will be required for normal operation once the network has been fully expanded, and 4 will be available as a reserve.

Depot

The tram depot is located near the Saint-Pierre station on a former military site. The tram vehicles are serviced, parked and cleaned on the 32,000 m² site. There are 14 sidings, a car wash and a workshop available. The control center is also located here.

Web links

Commons : Marseille Tram  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c d e f g Jean Tricoire: Le tramway en France . La Vie du Rail, Paris 2007, ISBN 978-2-915034-73-8 , p. 71-74 .
  2. ↑ Description in Frédéric Denizet, "Note sur les tramways électriques de Marseille et base d'une comparaisonles different systèmes de traction mécanique des tramways." Librairie Polytechnique Baudry, Paris, 1893, 64 pages
  3. ^ A b Christoph Groneck: Metros in France . 1st edition. Robert Schwandl, Berlin 2006, ISBN 3-936573-13-1 , p. 90 .
  4. ↑ PCC car for the old world in: Straßenbahn Magazin 9/2019, p. 48 ff.
  5. ↑ a b c d e f g Jean Tricoire: Le tramway en France . La Vie du Rail, Paris 2007, ISBN 978-2-915034-73-8 , p. 77-81 .
  6. ↑ a b c Ligne T3 - MES en 2014 on marseilletransports.com
  7. ↑ a b LE TRAMWAY on rtm.fr
  8. ↑ RTM timetable for 2015 (French) accessed on June 2, 2016
  9. ↑ a b Ph.-E. Attal: De nouvelles rames de tram à Marseille . In: Rail Passion . No. 195 , 2014, p. 12 .
  10. ↑ Mobilicités of May 29, 2015 Marseille étend son tramway sur 1.2 kilomètre (French) accessed on June 2, 2016
  11. ↑ TRAMWAY DE MARSEILLE: ALLONGEMENT DES 26 RAMES ( Memento of the original of July 7, 2012 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. (PDF; 628 kB) on marseille-provence.com @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.marseille-provence.com
  12. ↑ World rolling stock market May 2012 ( en ) May 23, 2012. Accessed July 12, 2013.