Perpignan tram

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The Perpignan tram was a tram system that existed from 1900 to 1955 and was operated by the Compagnie Centrale de Tramways Électriques - Réseau Perpignan - (TEP) . The Angoulême tram also belonged to the same company .

history

An electric tram opened on May 7, 1900 in the city of Perpignan , which is now in the Pyrénées-Orientales department in the Occitania region near the Mediterranean coast and had more than 36,000 inhabitants at the beginning of the 20th century.

Initially, it was a 13-kilometer connection from the Promenade des Platanes in the city center to the seaside resort of Canet-en-Roussillon , which usually ran every hour.

The inner-city routes followed in 1901. Line 1 ran from the south station to the market (Loge) with the town hall (Hotel de Ville) and line 2 from Saint-Martin to the Octroi Notre Dame. Trains that also led to the suburb of La Vernet, where the depot was located , were designated as line 3. This line had been extended to the neighboring town of Rivesaltes in 1909 , but had to be shortened again in 1935.

network

  • Perpignan - Canet-en-Roussillon (beach); May 7, 1900 - January 1, 1954
  • South Station - Place de la Loge (City Hall) (Line 1); February 1, 1901 - October 1955
  • Saint-Martin (Octroi) - Notre Dame (Octroi) - La Vernet (line 2 to Notre Dame, line 3 to Le Vernet); April 2, 1901 - September 21, 1952
  • Le Vernet - Rivesaltes (line 3); August 7, 1909-1935

In total, the meter-gauge network covered a maximum route length of 27 kilometers. In 1912 there were a total of 16  railcars and 20  sidecars in use. Because of the increasing number of passengers - more than four million in 1923 - the fleet had to be increased to 24 railcars and 32 sidecars in 1920. These included five four-axle railcars for the line to Canet.

Operation on the route of lines 2 and 3 ended on September 21, 1952 and was replaced by a trolleybus line on the same day. At the end of 1953, the tram service to Canet-en-Roussillon also ended. On the remaining city line 1, trains still ran until October 1955. The trolleybus network was therefore initially enlarged in the following years, but closed again in 1968.

literature

  • Jean Robert: Histoire des transports dans les Villes de France . Neuilly-sur-Seine 1974.