San Diego Tram

Network map

Blue line in the city center, 2009

The San Diego tram (English: San Diego Trolley ) is a means of public transport in the Californian city of San Diego and its surrounding area. The tram started service on July 26, 1981 and today (2017) it operates three main lines, the blue, the orange and the green line . In addition, there is the silver line in the city center on weekends. As rolling stock were initially in Canada ( Edmonton , Calgary ) and 2016 in Frankfurt used railcars of type Siemens-Duewag U2 in use, more recently, the successor come SD-100 and low-floor - vehicles of the type Siemens Avanto / S70 used .

history

On July 3, 1886, the first horse-drawn tram ran, and in 1887 the first electric streetcar in San Diego. From 1892 the entrepreneur John D. Spreckels, son of Claus Spreckels , invested significantly in the transport network of San Diego. Numerous Interurban Lines went back to him, which opened up the entire surrounding area. The first buses were running as early as 1922. The replacement of the tram began in 1946 and in the context of the Great American Tram Scandal (on July 26, 1948, the tram service was sold to Western Transit , a company indirectly held by General Motors ), all tram lines were converted to bus services in 1948 and 1949 . On April 24, 1949, the last tram rolled into the remaining depot.

But in the 1950s and 1960s the bus system became increasingly uneconomical and it was finally transferred to the public sector in 1966. From the late 1960s and until around 1976, a rail-guided public system was discussed in countless variants (improved bus system, reactivation of the old tram network, elevated railway system with automatic control, transfer of the Bay Area Rapid Transit to San Diego, etc.).

Reintroduction in 1981 and further expansion

Senator John R. Mills was one of the pioneers of the project to reintroduce the streetcar in San Diego, followed by Mayor Pete Wilson, which was finally passed on October 25, 1978 after controversial debates by the city council. The decisive factor was that the San Diego & Arizona Eastern Railway (at that time a subsidiary of the Southern Pacific ) offered the rights of way of its southern line, which was to be closed after Hurricane "Kathleen" in 1976, for sale. This provided the prerequisite for serving the city center again with a tram and for rebuilding overland traffic to San Ysidro , right on the border with Mexico .

The first line, today's Blue Line (at that time from Santa Fe Depot and not just like today (as of 2017) from the Civic Center ) was inaugurated on July 19, 1981 with a week of festivities; scheduled operation began on July 26, 1981 and Exceeded all expectations from the start, both in terms of transport numbers and financial results: the success not only led to further expansions in San Diego, but is also considered to be the decisive impetus for the reintroduction of the streetcar in the United States.

There are currently plans to expand the system further: the focus is primarily on the north line. The blue line is to be extended by 17.5 km, the expansion is to be completed by 2021.

Line inventory 2017

	opening	Stations	length	Terminals	business
Blue line	1981	18th	18.8 miles	America Plaza San Ysidro Transit Center	Every day
Orange line	1986	27	20.7 miles	Santa Fe Depot El Cajon Transit Center	Every day
Green Line	2005	19th	19.3 miles	12th & Imperial Transit Center Santee Town Center	Every day
Silver Line	2011	9	2.7 miles	12th & Imperial Transit Center	Open for lunch on special days

literature

Gena Holle: The San Diego Trolley . Interurban Press, Glendale (CA) 1990, ISBN 0-916374-92-0 .

Web links

Commons : San Diego Trolley - collection of pictures, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

↑ San Diego selects Siemens S700 light rail vehicles on metro-report.com from August 1, 2019, accessed on August 8, 2019

[1] San Diego selects Siemens S700 light rail vehicles on metro-report.com from August 1, 2019, accessed on August 8, 2019