Zwickau tram

Zwickau tram
Center stop with standard-gauge RegioSprinter and meter-gauge GT6M
Basic information
Country	Germany
city	Zwickau
opening	May 6, 1894
electrification	since opening
operator	SVZ
Transport network	VMS
Infrastructure
Route length	19.5 km
Track length	approx. 39.0 km
Gauge	1000 mm ( meter gauge )
Power system	600 volts = overhead line
Operating mode	Furnishing operation
Stops	37
Tunnel stations	---
Depots	1 (Schlachthofstrasse)
business
Lines	2
Line length	18.4
Clock in the peak hours	10 min
Clock in the SVZ	30 min
vehicles	12 GT6M , 19 Tatra KT4D , 1 work car, 2 historical trains (multiple units and side cars)
Top speed	50 km / h
statistics
Reference year	2020
Passengers	36,000 a day
Residents in the catchment area	90 thousand
Mileage	1.1 million km per year
Network plan since December 15, 2019

Gotha-TW with two sidecars (1991)

Gotha train towards the clinic (1993)

KT4D double traction in 1993 at Georgenplatz

KT4D No. 929 at the "Eckersbach" stop

The Zwickau tram has been the backbone of local public transport in the Saxon city ​​of Zwickau since 1894 . On the route network currently 19.5 kilometers long run two tram lines with a line length of 18.4 kilometers. A total of 37 stops are served. 19 high-floor and 12 low-floor trams are available for this. The Zwickau tram is operated by the Städtische Verkehrsbetriebe Zwickau GmbH (SVZ), and it is integrated into the central Saxony transport association (VMS).

Since 1999, the railroad's diesel multiple units have been running on a 1.5-kilometer section together with trams (the so-called “ Zwickau model ”). In December 2005, a new tram line of around four kilometers to Neuplanitz was opened.

history

Structure of the network

Tram in Bahnhofstrasse (1915)

The history of the Zwickau tram goes back to an initiative of the consortium Schuckert & Co. , limited partnership in Nuremberg , and Leo Arnoldi , Mainz . In February 1892 they approached the city council of Zwickau to obtain permission to build an electric tram. On December 1, 1892, the contract for the construction of the tram and a power station was signed. After the power station was able to start operating in December 1893, the test drives of the tram began on April 12, 1894. On May 6, 1894, tram operation could begin on the first route between the station and the main market . In the following years the tram network grew steadily:

• October 16, 1897: western route to Marienthal (Schröderscher Gasthof)
• April 3, 1900: Opening of the southern route Hauptmarkt - Cainsdorf, Muldenbrücke
• June 2, 1900: Extension of the southern route from Cainsdorf, Muldenbrücke to Wilkau-Haßlau
• November 29, 1900: northern route to Pölbitz (Gasthof Pölbitz)
• October 7, 1904: Extension of the western route to the Marienthal Inn
• November 6, 1924: Extension of the western route to the district hospital (today: Municipal Clinic)

From 1925 until the end of World War II

The Schlachthofstrasse depot was built between 1926 and 1928 . In 1926 the line identification was changed from colors to numbers. The following lines operated:

colour	number	route
White	1	Railway station ↔ Schedewitz
red	2	Pölbitz ↔ Marienthal
green	3	Railway station ↔ Wilkau
blue	4th	Pölbitz ↔ sick pen

From 1925 on, buses ran in Zwickau to supplement the tram network. In 1929 the operation of the tram was transferred to the Energie- und Verkehrs-Aktiengesellschaft Westsachsen (Evawe) , in which the city held half. On December 1, 1938, the Zwickau trolleybus was put into operation as an additional means of transport , which ran until 1977. As a result of the Second World War , traffic on tram lines 1 and 2 was discontinued on July 6, 1943 and instead the frequency on lines 3 and 4, which continued to serve the entire network. Towards the end of the war, on April 13, 1945, traffic on line 4 was stopped and all tram traffic ended two days later. Tram traffic could already be resumed on May 5, 1945, but line 3 had to end temporarily at the Zwickauer Mulde in Schedewitz , since the border between the American and Soviet occupation zones ran there until July 1 .

GDR time

With the establishment of the German Democratic Republic , the economic conditions in the former Soviet occupation zone were redesigned, so that after an intermediate step in 1951, the management of the Zwickau tram was transferred to the VEB (K) Verkehrsbetrieb der Stadt Zwickau . In the years 1958 and 1959 there were small changes in the route: on September 29, 1959, the new Schedewitz Bridge was opened, over which Line 3 was now led instead of the Bockwaer Bridge. On July 27, 1959, the track in Antonstrasse was opened, with which the construction of the Wendeschleife Paulusstrasse was connected.

The first route extension after the war happened in connection with the construction of the Wendeschleife Pölbitz , whereby the northern route was extended by 1.1 kilometers from the previous terminus Neue Welt on November 1, 1962 . On September 2, 1963, the new line 2 Pölbitz ↔ Paulusstraße was set up. From May 3, 1965, the Zwickau tram did not use conductors . The western route to the hospital in Marienthal was double-tracked in 1966 and 1967.

In 1975 there was a significant cut in the Zwickau tram network: On February 14, 1975, the southern route between Wildenfelser Straße and Wilkau-Haßlau was closed due to permanent track damage caused by mountain subsidence , and on November 16, line 3 was completely closed Until 1989 only line 4 operated as the only remaining line in the Zwickau tram network.

In 1982 the management changed again to VEB Städtischer Nahverkehr Zwickau . In 1986 work began on the new tram route to Eckersbach . Trial operation of the articulated railcars of the Tatra KT4D type began on June 29, 1987 . Zwickau took over a car built in 1983 from the Plauen tram . The new central stop was inaugurated on the eve of the GDR's national holiday , October 6, 1988. By 1989, Zwickau received 27 new vehicles from Czechoslovakia , of which ten were handed over to Plauen. On January 2, 1989, the new line 1 Pölbitz ↔ Hauptbahnhof was set up. On it were only KT4 - tractions employed.

After 1990

New construction of the tram line at the Gewandhaus (1999)

GT6M-NF 903 in the Schlachthofstrasse depot

Turf track at Schumannplatz

In 1991, the operation of the tram was transferred to the newly founded Städtische Verkehrsbetriebe Zwickau GmbH (SVZ). On August 19, 1992, a new line was opened for the first time since 1962: the eastern line to Eckersbach. Line 1 thus changed its route to Eckersbach ↔ Hauptbahnhof. Barrier-free access to the tram began on May 28, 1993 : the first low-floor multiple unit from MAN / AEG from Nuremberg arrived in Zwickau. A total of twelve GT6M-NF cars were procured by 1994. As a result, from October 28, 1995, the 35-year-old Gothawagen could no longer be used.

In the second half of the 1990s there were two major expansion projects for the Zwickau tram: on the one hand, the reconstruction of the tram line through the city center, which had been closed since 1975, and, on the other hand, the management of railcars over the tram network to the city center. For this purpose, three- rail tracks were installed directly during the construction of the new line . On May 28, 1998, for the first time, a diesel railcar on the Klingenthal - Zwickau route ran from the town hall for 1.5 kilometers on the tram route to the Zwickau Zentrum stop . What is special about the so-called “Zwickau Model” is that there are no trams going over to railway lines (as with the Karlsruhe model ), but trains run on tram lines. On October 1, 1999, tram traffic in the city center from Neumarkt to the town hall was resumed. On December 11, 2005, the last extension to date was the route from the town hall to Neuplanitz. This route does not follow the historical route to Wilkau-Haßlau, but runs further west.

With the timetable change on December 13, 2009, the route network was adjusted again. Since then, the Eckersbach district has been used less frequently due to the decline in population and passengers, but the connection to the main train station has been improved.

Former tram lines

• Line 1: Hauptbahnhof - Georgenplatz - Neumarkt (Bosestraße) - Hauptmarkt - Schedewitz (until 1943)
• Line 1: Eckersbach - Neumarkt (Bosestraße) - Georgenplatz - central stop - main train station (until the beginning of the 1990s and from December 2005 to December 2009)
• Line 2: Pölbitz - Neumarkt (Bosestraße) - Georgenplatz - Marienthal / Paulusstraße (until 1969; in the 1990s the entry journeys were signposted with "2 Schlachthofstraße")
• Line 3: Hauptbahnhof - Georgenplatz - Neumarkt (Bosestraße) - Hauptmarkt - Wilkau-Haßlau (until 1975)
• Line 6: Eckersbach - Neumarkt (Bosestraße) - Georgenplatz - Marienthal / Paulusstraße - Municipal Clinic (until December 2005)
• Line 61: Eckersbach - Neumarkt (Bosestraße) - Georgenplatz - Marienthal / Paulusstraße (mid 1990s)
• Line 8: Pölbitz - Neumarkt (Leipziger Straße) - Hauptmarkt - Zentrum - Stadthalle (until December 2005 and during construction work in summer 2011, 2012 and 2015)
• Line 47: Pölbitz - Georgenplatz - central stop - main train station - central stop - Georgenplatz - Marienthal / Paulusstraße - Städtisches Klinikum (during a construction site on Georgenplatz from June 20, 2011 to July 10, 2011)
• Line 5: Municipal Clinic - Marienthal / Paulusstraße - Georgenplatz - Central Station (December 2009 - December 13, 2019)
• Line 7: Pölbitz - Neumarkt (Bosestrasse) - Georgenplatz - Hauptbahnhof (until December 2005 and December 2009 - December 13, 2019)

vehicles

19 articulated railcars of the Czech type Tatra KT4D are used on the Zwickau tram network . The GT6M low-floor cars are also used on all tram lines . Of these, twelve vehicles are in Zwickau.

The GT6M are to be modernized by the end of 2020.

The Zwickau public transport company is planning to purchase new trams by 2023 to replace the Tatra KT4D.

The majority of the trams were equipped with video surveillance in 2018 .

Route extension

• Eckersbach - Neuplanitz: 10.2 km
• Municipal Clinic - Pölbitz: 8.2 km
• Georgenplatz - main station: 1.4 km (currently without line traffic)
• Operational route Schlachthofstraße: approx. 0.3 km (release and entry drives)

Line network

The current line network comprises two lines.

line	Line route	length	Hold	Remarks
3	Eckersbach - Neumarkt (Leipziger Strasse) - Main Market - City Hall - Neuplanitz	10.2	20th	1999–2005 Eckersbach – Stadthalle; since December 2005 to Neuplanitz
4th	Pölbitz - Neumarkt (Bosestraße) - Georgenplatz - Marienthal / Paulusstraße - Municipal Clinic	8.2	17th	at times Zwickau's only tram line; in operation again since December 2005

This line network was implemented for the timetable change on December 15, 2019.

The connection to the main train station was suspended on December 13, 2019 until further notice. The reason for this is the ailing condition of the turning loop at the main station. The route is not expected to be operational again before 2023. Bus line 10 is to serve as a replacement, since then it has been running every 10 minutes (between 9 a.m. and 12 noon from the main station every 6/14 minutes).

Reversible grinding

Reversing loop of the tram in Neuplanitz (2016)

• Pölbitz
• Eckersbach
• Central station (currently not used)
• Paulusstrasse
• Municipal Clinic
• Schedewitz (town hall)
• Neuplanitz (Findeisenweg)
• Schlachthofstrasse depot
• Neumarkt (Gleiskreuz)
• Georgenplatz (Gleisdreieck)

Possible projects

• From the early years of the Zwickau tram, there were never implemented plans for a connection between Werdau and Reinsdorf , a ring line from the train station via Georgenplatz, Plauensche Straße, Hauptmarkt, Neumarkt and Bosestraße back to the train station, a line over the Kornmarkt through Marienstraße and a rapid transit train to Crimmitschau . After reunification , plans for a tram to the VW plant in Zwickau-Mosel and for the reconstruction of the route to Wilkau-Haßlau disappeared back into the drawer. A tram connection from Meerane was recently discussed.
• A track curve to the south was also discussed for Neumarkt. Had it been built, passengers would have been able to travel from the west of the city towards the center and the town hall without having to change trains, and in the event of operational disruptions, the trams could have been redirected more flexibly. There is still the possibility of such a curved track, as the necessary free space is to be created or left when the former Pushkin School is converted into a medical center.
• There are redesign plans for the station forecourt , where the tram will again stop right in front of the entrance hall. Together with the idea, initially only discussed in professional circles, to connect the branch line to the main train station to the important Marienthaler line and to give up the route through the lower Werlänge road, this became part of the new public transport concept in December 2012 by a city council resolution.
• In 1898 the idea of ​​a tram connection from Oberplanitz was born. The option of an extension from Neu- to Oberplanitz was last envisaged in the Zwickau local transport plan 2006-2010 as a "long-term". The last plans from the 1990s envisaged the new stops “Strandbad”, “Ober-Planitzer Markt”, “Damaschkestrasse”, “Lengenfelder Strasse” and “Wende Ober-Planitz” (near Sonnenleite / Friedrich-Naumann-Strasse).

Web links

Commons : Straßenbahn Zwickau  - Collection of pictures, videos and audio files

• Official website of the operator Städtische Verkehrsbetriebe Zwickau
• The history of the SVZ (PDF, 144 kB)
• Friends of Nahverkehr Zwickau eV

Individual evidence

1. ↑ ^{a b c} Städtische Verkehrsbetriebe Zwickau: Numbers and facts. In: www.nahverkehr-zwickau.de. 2016, accessed November 22, 2017 . 
2. ↑ Tram advertises anniversary
3. ↑ Friends of Local Transport: History , p. 135 (PP presentation)
4. ↑ Friends of Local Transport: History , p. 146 (PP presentation)
5. ↑ Friends of Local Transport: History , p. 147 (PP presentation)
6. ↑ Tram lines: one goes, two come in: Freie Presse , local edition Zwickau of October 2, 2009
7. ↑ Verkehrsbetriebe establishes a new route network in: Freie Presse, local edition Zwickau of October 6, 2009
8. ↑ 125 years of the Zwickau tram / information about the Tatra Mountains. In: nahverkehr-zwickau.de. SVZ Zwickau, 2016, accessed on October 13, 2016 . 
9. ↑ ^{a b} Trams are made fit for 8.5 million euros. In: Free Press. March 3, 2018, accessed March 21, 2018 . 
10. ↑ Vehicles are equipped with video technology. In: nahverkehr-zwickau.de. Retrieved June 22, 2018 . 
11. ↑ timetable change on December 15, 2019. Retrieved December 13, 2019 . 
12. ↑ The tram line to the Zwickau main station will be closed for the time being. In: Free Press. Retrieved October 17, 2019 . 
13. ↑ Zwickau closes half of its tram lines. In: Mitteldeutscher Rundfunk. Retrieved December 13, 2019 . 
14. ↑ Michael Stellner: Old school gives way to medical center. In: Freiepresse.de. June 24, 2017. Retrieved April 23, 2019 . 
15. ↑ Public transport concept on Zwickau.de