Plauen tram

Plauen tram
Railcar 302 ( articulated railcar NGT6DE ) at the central "Tunnel" stop
Basic information
Country	Germany
city	Plauen
opening	1894
operator	Plauener Straßenbahn GmbH
Transport network	Vogtland Transport Association (VVV)
Infrastructure
Route length	16.4 km
Track length	37.6 km
Gauge	1000 mm ( meter gauge )
Power system	600 volt DC overhead line
business
Lines	6th
Line length	35.8 km
Clock in the peak hours	12 min
Clock in the SVZ	30 min
vehicles	9 NGT6 , 14 KT4D-M
statistics
Mileage	1.3 million usable kilometers 22.7 million passenger kilometers 116.7 million square kilometers
Route network as of 2007

The Plauen tram is the tram system of the Saxon city ​​of Plauen . Its beginnings go back to May 29, 1893, when the contract for the construction of an electric tram was signed between the Allgemeine Elektricitäts-Gesellschaft ( AEG ) and the city of Plauen. Today it consists of six lines , the responsible transport company is the Plauener Straßenbahn GmbH .

history

prehistory

Since the town of Plauen grew rapidly in the middle of the 19th century due to the flourishing of the textile industry and because the upper train station was built outside of the town at that time, ways had to be found to transport people with their luggage. For the time being, the transport services were provided with cabs and other (horse) carts.

As early as 1885, negotiations were held for the first time about the construction of a tram. On October 20, 1885, a contract was signed with a Mr. Otto Peine from Leipzig, in which he was given permission to build and operate a tram. A connection between the upper and lower train stations was planned . Among other things, the construction of a cable tram similar to the San Francisco Cable Cars was considered. The reasons why the railway was never built can no longer be determined.

Construction of the tram

On May 29, 1893, another contract for the construction of a tram was signed, this time with AEG in Berlin. On February 5, 1894, construction of the carriage hall in Theaterstrasse began. On March 13th, catenary rosettes for the contact wire tensioning were installed on the houses, while on March 27th construction began on the “Theaterstrasse power station”. The rail-laying work began on the same day and lasted until June 5th. The laying of the contact wire began on June 8 and was completed by early September. The first railcars arrived at the lower station on July 13th. Finally, on October 11th, the first test drives began with unloaded railcars and then on November 6th with loaded railcars. On November 13th, a test drive took place with members of the Plauen city council and on November 15th and 16th the route was approved by the Royal Commissioner from Dresden and the director of the AEG. On November 17, 1894, the first section of the Oberer Bahnhof – Neustadtplatz was opened. On December 3, the second section followed from Neustadtplatz to the lower station.

1895-1914

Postcard from the tram accident in 1905

Share over 1000 marks in the Saxon Tram Company on March 18, 1911

In the first few months, the Plauen tram was operated by the “General Local and Tram Company ” in Berlin . On May 28, 1895, however, the operation was handed over to the "Sächsische Straßenbahn-Gesellschaft (SSG)", with the stipulation that operations should take place from January 1, 1895 on account of the SSG. At the beginning the operation took place on two lines: Yellow Line (Oberer Bahnhof – Tunnel – Neustadtplatz) and Blue Line (Oberer Bahnhof – Tunnel – Neustadtplatz – Unterer Bahnhof). The route of the yellow line was double-tracked from the start (with a break in Klosterstraße due to the narrow street width), while the Neustadtplatz – Unterer Bahnhof route was only single-tracked (with a passing point at Tivoli). After several renovation and expansion work on the old routes (e.g. introduction of a further passing point / introduction of a second track in Klosterstrasse), construction of a new route from the Syrabrücke to the “Grüner Kranz” (Neundorf) began in August 1899. On October 21, 1899 this line was put into operation. Another newly built line was inaugurated on May 17, 1902. It led from Wettiner Hof (Oberer Bahnhof) to Parkstrasse (Haselbrunn, this Morgenbergstrasse). On December 6, 1903, through traffic on the lines “Oberer Bahnhof – Unterer Bahnhof” and “Haselbrunn – Neundorf” was introduced. On January 1, 1905, the extension of the line in Neundorf from the "Green Wreath" to the barracks was put into operation. A tram accident on June 27, 1905 was marketed by postcard manufacturers. When the König-Friedrich-August-Brücke was handed over to traffic on August 24, 1905, the “Dittrichplatz - Friedhof” line began operations. On the same day, the marking of the lines using colored discs was introduced:

line	route
Yellow line	Haselbrunn - Neundorf
Blue line	Upper station - lower station
Red line	Dittrichplatz - cemetery

On June 1, 1906, the extension of the red line from cemetery 1 to Mendelssohnplatz (Preißelpöhl) went into operation. On September 5, 1909, the extension in Haselbrunn from Parkstrasse to “Waldschlösschen” (now Wartburgplatz) was opened. On December 2, 1909, a new "white line" was introduced. It ran from Tivoli to Reinsdorf (Südvorstadt).

1914-1948

Share over 1000 marks in the Saxon Electricity Works and Tram Company from February 1923

Since almost 80 percent of the driving personnel were drafted after the outbreak of the First World War , regular services suffered from severe restrictions until 1919. The white line was completely discontinued several times, while the red line had to be shortened in part to the Preißelpöhl – Albertplatz route. Further expansion and reconstruction also stalled during the war due to a lack of materials and a lack of workers. But even after the war, the tram traffic was partially idle. In 1919 the railroad stopped because there was an interruption in the supply of electricity by the municipal power station due to a lack of coal. On February 12, 1920 there was a strike against the occupation of the city by Reichswehr soldiers . From March 15 to 19, there was a strike against the Kapp Putsch and from October 12 to 16, community workers went on strike to improve the social situation. On August 1st, the section of the red line between Dittrichplatz and Albertplatz was discontinued.

On April 23, 1921, the operating company was renamed from "SSG" (Saxon Tram Company) to "SESAG" (Saxon Electricity and Tram Company), as the main focus was now on the operation of electricity plants . On June 11, 1921, a new line, the "green line" was opened. The first section led from the King Albert Bridge ( Old Elster Bridge ) to Reusa Castle. The second section from Reusa Castle to the Reusa exit (today Suttenwiese) was opened to traffic on December 5, 1921. On July 13, 1922, the last section from the Reusa exit to the entrance to the main cemetery was finally opened.

Since the income from tram traffic could not cover the expenses, the supervisory board of the operating company decided on November 7, 1922 to cease operations at the end of the year. After negotiations with the city of Plauen, which among other things assured the assumption of the costs for track renewals, traffic was resumed on April 16, 1924. Some renovation work was carried out until 1931 (e.g. further expansion to double-track lines). From October 19, 1931, the green line ran to the tunnel instead of the Albertbrücke. On April 4, 1939, the marking of the lines was changed from line colors to numbers as follows:

Old line	route	New line
Yellow line	Haselbrunn – Neundorf	line 1
Blue and white line	Upper station – lower station / Südvorstadt	Line 2
Red line	Dittrichplatz – Preißelpöhl	Line 3
Green line	Tunnel main cemetery	Line 4
In 1944, line 2 was split up
	Upper station – lower station	Line 2
	Upper station – Südvorstadt	Line 5

The outbreak of the Second World War initially did not result in any restrictions on tram traffic. At times, goods were also transported by tram. From February 11, 1945, traffic was stopped on Sundays and public holidays in order to save electricity. During the air raids in March 1945, the entire city center was badly damaged, so that tram traffic also came to a standstill.

After the war, a replacement tram service with buses was started on May 24, 1945 , which lasted until October 19, 1945. On November 12, 1945, operations on the Haselbrunn – Tunnel section could be resumed. From December 3, line 1 again ran the entire route to Neundorf. From February 18, 1946, another line could be put back into operation. Line 2 went from Tivoli to a replacement stop on Friedensstrasse (the terminus at Oberer Bahnhof was too badly damaged). On April 3, line 4 on the section between Neustadtbrücke and Reusa Castle was put back into operation, and from September 2, line 2 returned to the lower station. Line 5 (Südvorstadt – Friedensstraße) was reopened on the same day. On November 1, 1947, the single-track restart of line 3 between Preißelpöhl and Albertplatz. From November 27th, line 4 went back to the main cemetery. On October 1, 1948, the last section of track for the time being was put back into operation and line 4 ran again between the tunnel and the main cemetery. The line over the Ebertbrücke (Friedensbrücke) was not rebuilt, but the tracks laid there were used to rebuild the other lines.

1949-1990

On February 22, 1951, the Saxon state parliament approved the transfer of the SESAG shares held by the state of Saxony to the city of Plauen, with effect from January 1, 1951. The city of Plauen was required to dissolve SESAG. The general meeting of SESAG on June 29, 1951 decided to delete the stock corporation , which was carried out on March 7, 1952 in the Plauen District Court . Since January 1, 1951, the company has now been known as “ VEB Verkehrsbetrieb der Stadt Plauen”. After some reconstruction work had been carried out in the previous years, the newly built terminus at the upper station was opened to traffic on October 17, 1954. From that day on, lines 2 and 5 went back to the station. In the initial phase, extensions to the track systems were limited to the reconstruction of double-track lines. On May 28, 1957, the first extension in a long time went into operation. Line 1 now ran in Haselbrunn to Straße am Stadtwald. This construction phase was part of the extension of the line to Plamag (Plauener Maschinenbau AG), the second and last construction phase of which was put into operation on December 30, 1957. During various renovation work in the following years, the focus was on further double-track expansion of the track network. On August 12, 1965, the last double-track section was handed over on Line 1 between Plamag and Essigsteigbrücke (today “Am Vogtlandstadion”). This meant that there were no longer any single-track lines in the entire network. Reversing loops were also increasingly installed in order to be able to accommodate the increased number of passengers with sidecar operation (from November 1960).

On January 3, 1966, line 6 was set up, which ran from the upper station to the newly established hospital terminus (today Vogtlandklinikum). This line was only operated on working days and was discontinued on September 29, 1967, as line 4 now also operated with a sidecar. On December 22nd, 1966, the extension of line 4 to Reusa (Rotdornwerg) was put into operation. In 1969, 1973 and 1975 several changes to the route were made due to construction work (installation of triangular tracks at the Elsterbrücke and at "Otto-Grotewohl-Platz" (today tunnel), new construction of the line on Bahnhofstrasse). In 1982 the company was incorporated into the Karl-Marx-Stadt transport company. On October 5, 1983, the new line from the hit (hospital) to Waldfrieden was opened. Line 7 was also introduced. The lines were now operated as follows:

line	route
line 1	Plamag - Neundorf
Line 2	Upper station - lower station
Line 3	Waldfrieden - Neundorf
Line 4	Plamag - Reusa
Line 5	Preißelpöhl - Südvorstadt
Line 6	Waldfrieden - Upper Station
Line 7	Reusa - Lower train station

Line 7 was closed again in 1987.

From 1991

Gothawagen 72 at the lower station, 1991. This vehicle belonged to a series of four railcars and four trailer cars that came to Plauen in 1964 from the DR narrow-gauge railway Klingenthal-Sachsenberg-Georgenthal .

In the 1990s, extensive track reconstruction work was carried out on almost all lines. Four new city bus routes have been operating since April 2, 2007, but the old city bus route A and tram route 2 have been discontinued. From September 2008 the trams were equipped with LED displays at the front and sides . However, this meant that the stop displays in the tram were no longer necessary, which is why additional LED displays were installed inside the car from June 2009. The number displays have also been switched to LEDs. There are now 20 cars in Plauen with this technology. From April 2008 to October 2009 Neundorfer Straße was completely reconstructed. As a result, lines 1 and 3 did not go to Neundorf, but were replaced by buses. After the construction work was completed on October 1, 2009, the street width was adjusted so that the tracks are now directly on the footpath. This enables barrier-free entry and exit. Furthermore, it is no longer necessary to cross the street. In addition, the “Marienstraße” stop was renamed “Hans-Löwel-Platz”. In addition, a new stop with this name was built in front of the New Town Hall.

In the course of the district reform in 2008 , the city of Plauen no longer receives any direct financial subsidies from the state of Saxony for local transport. However, the district council of the Vogtlandkreis decided unanimously that the responsibility for local public transport should remain with the city of Plauen. The necessary funds of 1.4 million euros have been secured for 2009 and 2010. The grant will continue to be paid until 2013, if possible.

The route network was changed on August 8, 2020. One end point of the ring traffic was moved to Preißelpöhl, the branch to the upper station was taken over by line 4. Line 2 (new: Preißelpöhl - Waldfrieden) was also reintroduced. Line 6 now only runs early Saturdays between Plamag and Reusa and replaces lines 4 and 5 at this time. In addition, the ring traffic (new: lines 1, 2 and 3) is now operated all day in one direction. Lines 3 and 5 remain unchanged.

vehicles

Tram car number 29 of the Gera tram, formerly number 25 of the Plauen tram

Two vehicle types are currently in use on the Plauen tram. On the one hand, there are articulated railcars of the type KT4D from the Czechoslovak manufacturer ČKD Tatra . The KT4D were extensively modernized between 1992 and 1999 in three expansion stages.

At the end of 2011, two articulated multiple units NGT6DE ( Bombardier Flexity Classic ) vehicles were ordered from Bombardier Transportation . These first two railcars were delivered in August 2013. There is also an option for eight more vehicles. Four of these vehicles, which were delivered in 2014, have already been called. At the end of June 2014, all six railcars were in passenger service. At the end of 2017, three more railcars were delivered, these were then put into operation at the beginning of 2018, now there are nine NGT6 in Plauen. Whether more will be delivered is still pending.

A historic vehicle of the Plauen tram, a railcar built by MAN and Siemens-Schuckert-Werke Berlin in 1911, is now restored as railcar 2 (formerly Plauen, railcar 40) in the Halle Tram Museum in Halle (Saale) . The former car 25 (MAN T2, year of construction 1905) is located as car 29 in Gera .

Lines

Out of scale track plan from 1995 (alignment of the tracks of the final stops Neundorf and Reusa as well as alignment of the large workshop hall of the depot incorrect)

The following line network has been in operation since August 8, 2020:

line	Walkway	length	Travel time
1	Neundorf - Dittrichplatz - Tunnel - Am Albertplatz - Preißelpöhl	4.8 km	18-20 minutes
2	Preißelpöhl - Am Albertplatz - Tunnel - New Elster Bridge - Vogtland Clinic - Waldfrieden	5.9 km	21-23 minutes
3	Waldfrieden - Vogtland Clinic - New Elster Bridge - Tunnel - Dittrichplatz - Neundorf	6.4 km	22-24 minutes
4th	Upper train station - Am Albertplatz - Tunnel - New Elster Bridge - Vogtland Clinic - Reusa	5.2 km	19-21 minutes
5	Südvorstadt - New Elster Bridge - Tunnel - Am Albertplatz - Plamag	5.9 km	19-21 minutes
6th	Plamag - Am Albertplatz - Tunnel - New Elster Bridge - Vogtland Clinic - Reusa	7.6 km	26-27 minutes

Lines 1, 2 and 3 form a closed ring traffic, with the lines only going in one direction and changing to the next line at the end stations. Line 6 only runs early on Saturdays and replaces lines 4 and 5 during this time. The tram lines run all day on weekdays at twelve-minute intervals. On Saturday the trains run every 15 minutes; on Sunday there is a 30-minute cycle. Since November 5, 2007, due to the low passenger numbers at this time, tram traffic has been handled by buses and minibuses (regular taxis) from 8:30 p.m. These run every 30 minutes on the respective line until midnight or on Friday and Saturday until 1:30 a.m.

When the timetable changed on April 2, 2007, line 2 (lower station - upper station) was discontinued due to insufficient profitability and the regular taxi service (tunnel - lower station) was discontinued. Three city bus routes B, C and D have been introduced for this purpose. The previously existing route A now runs on the Wartberg - Tunnel route, partly via Chrieschwitz. Line B runs from the tunnel to Ostvorstadt, with connections to the suburb of Stöckigt three times a day from Monday to Friday in the form of a regular taxi. Line C runs from the tunnel to the lower station and thus replaces tram line 2 and the previous regular taxi. Line D runs from the tunnel to the city park. Double tractions (KT4D-M in combination with KT4D-M) are only used at Plauener Straßenbahn GmbH for home football games of VFC Plauen and on New Year's Eve - the (almost) daily use of double traction ended in Plauen with the timetable change on November 5, 2007. There is another special feature of traction missions in Plauen: in winter these drive with two pantographs on the overhead line, in summer, on the other hand, only the pantograph of the front railcar is attached. On February 24, 2012, because of the closure of Pausaer Straße in the area of ​​the bridge at the upper station, line 5 was shortened under the line identification E7 to the section from Südvorstadt to Morgenbergstraße. The blockage has been lifted since December 2012, so that line 5 runs back to Plamag.

literature

110 years of the Plauen tram. Festschrift for the 110th anniversary of the Plauen tram

Web links

Commons : Trams in Plauen  - Collection of pictures, videos and audio files

• Plauener Straßenbahn GmbH
• Traditional association of the Plauener Tram e. V.
• Plauen tram website (private homepage)
• City traffic in Plauen (private homepage)
• Die Elektro in Plauen (private homepage)
• Tram pictures Plauen (private homepage)

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Partial successes after tough struggle in the district council. (No longer available online.) In: Kreis Freiheit-plauen.blog.de. November 28, 2008, archived from the original on August 2, 2014 ; Retrieved February 18, 2009 . 
2. ↑ The first pictures: This is what Plauen's new trams look like . In: Free Press . December 20, 2011 ( online (paid) [accessed May 2, 2014]).
3. ↑ New railways for Plauen. (No longer available online.) Vogtland Transport Association, August 29, 2013, archived from the original on May 3, 2014 ; accessed on May 2, 2014 . 
4. ↑ "How Halle got rolling - 125 years of local transport in the Saale city", publisher: Hallesche Verkehrs-AG, Fly Head Publishing, Halle, 2007.