List of trams with express service
This list shows trams that operate or have operated special lines which, in contrast to the regular lines that stop everywhere, do not serve all stops , but only stop at selected and more frequented stations. The purpose of such lines is to save time.
background
In this way, some transport companies offer their passengers shorter travel times on certain, usually particularly popular, connections - analogous to the express trains or express trains on the railways . These arise because there are no braking and acceleration processes or passenger switching times at the stops traveled through . However, the relative savings potential in dense urban surface traffic is significantly lower than in the case of railways. This applies in particular if the bus stops at less frequented stops only when required and if no public transport priority has been set up at traffic lights .
Many accelerated tram courses only run as an amplifier during rush hour or in school traffic , in some cases they are only to be found on sections of a regular line and / or only in the load direction .
High- speed tram lines are not to be confused with the so-called express tram , which usually serves all stops and owes its shorter travel times to the generous routing on its own track.
Timetable design
As a rule, the accelerated course departs from its start stop shortly before a slow normal course and then moves closer and closer to the previous normal course as the journey continues. The timetable is usually designed in such a way that the crash course does not catch up with the normal course or only catches up shortly before the end of the line. The problem here are delays in standard courses, which have the consequence that the crash course has to follow slowly, which can also lead to irritation for the passengers waiting on the platforms . The tram route selected for an accelerated line must also not be too heavily used. In four or five lines, it is in this case already complicated, because each new incident on the track line come from their own line way with potential irregularities in the operation.
Only in exceptional cases overtake crash courses regular courses, this is only possible if the rail infrastructure, that is dodging , passing tracks or four tracks sections.
Existing offers
The following list gives examples of quick courses in tram networks, first for current offers, then for previous ones. In many places the express lines were marked with a red line number before the introduction of electronic displays .
Alicante
In the Alicante light rail line, line L1 acts as a high-speed line, while the stations not served by this line are taken over by line L3.
Bern
On the Bern tram, line 6 , which emerged in 2010 from the former line G of Regionalverkehr Bern – Solothurn (RBS), does not serve the Luisenstrasse, Thunplatz and Universal Postal Union stations. Before that, the Bern Municipal Transport Authority (SVB) was already offering express courses on the railway station - military area and railway station - Ostring routes from November 1958. Later they also ran on line 1 to Bremgarten without stopping to Felsenau .
Bremen
In the tram Bremen the quick lines 1 S, 4S and 5S are operated. They are a few minutes faster than their trunk lines. Another express line, the 3S, was discontinued in 2014. It was replaced in 2019 by line 5, which runs between Waller Ring and Gröpelingen as line 5S with only one stop at the Use Akschen stop, while line 3 serves all stations in this section.
Darmstadt
On the Darmstadt tram , line 6, advertised by the operator as “Schnell 6”, is one such connection. It runs parallel to line 8, but passes nine of 36 intermediate stops without stopping. The all-day connection was initially put into operation in 1991 between Merck and Eberstadt and was later extended at both ends. New signal systems equipped with infrared technology ensured that the express line was the first tram in Darmstadt to have priority at traffic lights . In addition, the 6 was the first line on which tickets could no longer be bought from the driver. The travel time on the route was reduced from 35 to 24 minutes. The second express line 10, put into operation in November 1993 according to the same pattern between Böllenfalltor and Griesheim , however, proved to be a failure. Despite the significant reduction in travel time from 32 to 20 minutes - among other things, the train between Griesheim and Mozart Tower reached 70 km / h for the first time - the public did not accept the new connection; It was discontinued at the end of 1995.
Dusseldorf
The U70 line of the Düsseldorf Stadtbahn has been strengthening the U76 since 1988 during the rush hour between Düsseldorf Central Station and Krefeld, but in contrast to it, it omits ten of the 25 intermediate stops. Until 1988 there were still two express lines departing from Düsseldorf, these were line 76 to Krefeld (until 1980 line K) and line 79 to Duisburg (until 1980 line D).
Freiburg
On the Freiburg im Breisgau tram, additional express trains run on the route of line 1 on the occasion of SC Freiburg football matches in the Black Forest Stadium . Before the game, they drive from the Bertoldsbrunnen stop without any further stop to Römerhof, on the return journey after the game they stop for the first time at the Oberlinden stop .
Hanover
On the Hanover Stadtbahn , three so-called express trains or express journeys as electric cars go into town on the route 10 in the morning from Monday to Friday . In earlier years there was also a high-speed tram service on the overland route to Hildesheim from May 18, 1937, the express train took 59 minutes for the 30-kilometer route.
Karlsruhe
On the Karlsruhe Stadtbahn , which is operationally closely linked to the Karlsruhe tram network, so-called express trains run on lines S1, S2, S4, S5, S11 and S52 , which also skip certain stops in the BOStrab area of the network.
Coast tram
The Belgian Kusttram has been offering so-called Sneltrams with the product name X-tra on the Oostende - Nieuwpoort section since 2007 .
Mannheim / Ludwigshafen
On the Mannheim / Ludwigshafen tram, express line 8 links the Mannheim-Rheinau terminus of line 1 with the Ludwigshafen-Oppau terminus of line 7, omitting ten stops. Similarly, the 4X express line runs, only in the morning and only in the load direction, leaving out a few stations from Bad Dürkheim station to Oppau. Line 9 also runs on Sundays and public holidays as a so-called RNV -Express from Heidelberg via Mannheim and Ludwigshafen am Rhein to Bad Dürkheim . The express line 28 from Mundenheim to Ludwigshafen-Oppau , introduced in the 1970s, also existed until 1985 . It had the same route as line 8, with only line 8 running during rush hour and serving all stops, while outside rush hour only line 28 ran and went through individual stops without stopping.
Wurzburg
For the Würzburg tram, lines 504 and 505 supplement the regular services on lines 4 and 5 on school days. These high-speed trams only stop at the Reuterstraße transfer station between the Sanderring and Berner Straße stops. In 2019 there are four trains in the morning and two at noon.
Zurich
In the Zurich tram network , the S 18 line of Forchbahn AG functions as a high-speed line, it runs through the stops Signaustrasse, Hedwigsteig, Wetlistrasse, Burgwies and Friedhof Enzenbühl without stopping.
Former offers
Aachen
After the success of corresponding express courses on line 22 between Aachen and Eschweiler , which were designated as S / 22, the Aachen tram introduced high-speed lines on other external routes from 1951. These were the lines A to Eschweiler, B to Sief and C to Merkstein . However, due to the predominantly single-track cross-country routes, they only proved their worth to a limited extent, whereupon line A was discontinued in 1953. The increasing reduction of the overall network also led to the shortening of lines B (from 1956 as line W only to Walheim ) and C (from 1956 as line H only to Herzogenrath ). After the Herzogenrath route was closed in 1959, only line W existed, which in turn was replaced in 1960 by individual high-speed journeys on line 35. These existed until the Walheim route was closed in January 1967.
Basel
In the case of the Basel tram , there used to be express trains on line 11 from Aeschenplatz to Surbaum and on line 14 to Aesch during rush hour ; these operations ended in July 1970.
Dresden
On the Dresden tram , the express line 30, which was subject to a surcharge, connected the city center with Freital from February to October 1927 , but it did not prove itself. In 1930, the E15 express line from Coswig to the main train station existed for only a few weeks and supplemented the regular line 15. From December 12, 1994, the so-called “CitySprinter” with line number 51 initially ran between Bühlau and Plauen . From October 29, 1995, it drove from Bühlau to Gorbitz before the service was discontinued in 1999.
eat
The Essen tram and the Mülheim tram operated from May 18, 1952 on weekdays between Essen main train station or Porscheplatz and Mülheim Stadtmitte / Bahnstraße on line D, which did not serve all stops and therefore required a shorter journey time. However, the surcharge to be paid did not bring the desired passenger demand, so that this line ran for the last time on April 7, 1958. Prior to this, there was already from 1924 to 1928 in the form of the tram line 58 from Essen- Steele via Kupferdreh to Wuppertal, a high-speed service from Essen's Porscheplatz, which, however, did not prove itself due to the competition from the railroad.
Goerlitz
On the Görlitz tram , from February 1, 1946 until at least 1955, an “S” express line ran between the electrical switchgear factory, today Rosa-Luxemburg-Straße, in Rauschwalde and Demianiplatz . From June 1, 1987, a rapid line 4 ran from Königshufen to Demianiplatz for a few years, again only during rush hour.
kassel
On the Kassel tram, two high-speed lines previously supplemented the regular lines 4 and 5. Line 4S was two express trips from Hessisch Lichtenau to Mattenberg that were set up on August 20, 2007 to replace the discontinued RegioTram line RT2 , which are the stops Helsa-Waldhof, Oberkaufungen Mitte, Rieckswiesen, Niederkaufungen Mitte, Industriestraße, Am Kupferhammer and Forstfeldstraße are not served. Line 5S from Baunatal to Holländische Straße left out the Altenbaunaer Straße, Keilsbergstraße, Brüder-Grimm-Straße, Niederzwehren train station and Park Schönfeld stops in Kassel and the Hünstein and Albert-Einstein-Straße stops in Baunatal.
Munich
On the Munich tram , the first "express line" went into operation for the 1930 summer timetable with line 29 between Pasing and the main train station. Their courses overtook those of line 19 halfway, which reduced travel time by ten to twenty minutes. Just four years later, the express line was discontinued due to the hindrances caused by increasing car traffic.
Nuremberg – Fürth
The Nuremberg-Fürth tram operated from 1927 to 1939 on express line 31, which ran from Nuremberg to Fürth . It only stopped three times between the two cities, the regular line with stops everywhere was line 1.
Potsdam
The tram Potsdam led in 2000 under the new timetable concept "Clock 2000" the first time two express lines with the names X93 and X98, which reinforced the regular lines at peak times. As early as 2001, the X93 line was replaced by a new X91 line, which was again discontinued in 2003. In 2010, the Potsdam transport company also converted the only remaining express line X98 into line 98, which stops everywhere. The express trains themselves were only marked with a white X on a red background, and the associated line number was omitted.
Saarbrücken
The Saarbrücken tram introduced express service to Spiesen in October 1949 . Line 9S traveled the route three times in the morning and evening in 43 minutes instead of the usual 68 minutes with the regular line 9. In addition to omitting stops, the reduction in travel time made it possible to overtake normal traffic at passing points. Both lines were replaced by the Saarbrücken trolleybus in November 1958 .
See also
literature
- Potsdam Express Tram: Review of a failed experiment in: Signal, issue 09–10 / 2000 (January / February 2001), pages 25–26, online at https://signalarchiv.de, accessed on June 16, 2019
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b Potsdamer Express-Tram: Review of a failed experiment in: Signal, issue 09-10 / 2000 (January / February 2001), pages 25-26, online at https://signalarchiv.de, accessed on June 16 2019
- ↑ Alexandra Welsch: “Fast 6” is slowed down , article in the Darmstädter Echo from January 3, 2019, online at echo-online.de, accessed on May 29, 2019
- ↑ BSAG: route network map with high-speed tram lines. Bremer Straßenbahn AG, accessed on January 18, 2020 .
- ↑ 100 Years HEAG - Chronicle 1912–2012 , online at heag.de, accessed on June 5, 2019
- ↑ Think tactically - by bus and train to the MAGE SOLAR stadium ( Memento of the original from February 3, 2014 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link has been inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , accessed February 17, 2014.
- ↑ Die Stadtbahn , brochure on uestra.de, accessed on May 29, 2019
- ↑ kreibaum.de
- ↑ Information on the RNV-Express on the website of Rhein-Neckar-Verkehr GmbH
- ↑ VBL 152 on rnlf.ticse.net
- ↑ Stop Eschenbachstraße on rnlf.ticse.net
- ↑ Reiner Bimmermann: Aachener streetcar. Volume 1: History . Schweers + Wall, Aachen 1999, ISBN 3-89494-116-2 , p. 188
- ↑ tramoldtimer-basel.ch
- ↑ EVAG historical: 100 years of the Essen-Mülheim joint line on eisenbahnwelt.com, accessed on May 31, 2019
- ↑ The tram in downtown Steeler on media.essen.de, accessed on May 31, 2019
- ↑ stadtnahverkehr-goerlitz.de
- ↑ bus-tram.de
- ↑ strassenbahn-muenchen.de
- ↑ Vom Adler zur U3 , article from the news portal nordbayern.de from April 2, 2010
- ^ Express tram in Potsdam at potsdam-straba.de, accessed on June 26, 2016
- ↑ The Saarbrücken tram on saar-nostalgie.de, accessed on May 31, 2019
