List of largest tram and light rail transit systems ever

This is a list of the largest town tramway systems that have ever operated. Town tramway systems include all light rail, tram, interurban, streetcar, or other comparable modes of public transport which uses rails while mainly traveling among other traffic. All figures reflect the system at its height. To keep the list manageable, only systems with over 90km of track are included.

List

[edit]
System Country Length (km) Notes Closed
Vicinal tramway Belgium 4,095[1] Networks between towns ceased in the 1970s, but one line (the Coast Tram) remains in operation.
Streetcars in Los Angeles USA 1,770+[2] Composed of Los Angeles Railway and Pacific Electric. 1963[2]
Chicago Surface Lines USA 1,600+[3] 1958[3]
Trams in Paris France 1,111[4] Original network stopped service in 1938. Since then, a new 186.6 km network has been built.[5]
Trams in Buenos Aires Argentina 875[6][7] Still operating some lines
Trams in Saint Petersburg Russia 700+[8] 205 km of lines remain.
Detroit United Railway USA 640 1956
Trams in Berlin Germany 624[9] 194 km of lines remain.
Tram in Moscow Russia 560[10] 208[Note 1]
Trams in London UK 523[11] 1952
SFMTA USA 304 miles (489 km)[12] Length in 1921
Manchester Corporation Tramways UK 470[13] Length could relate to all track in current Greater Manchester including neighbouring operators (but with much inter-running/shared routes).[14] Others suggest about 430 track miles.[15] All trams removed by 1950s, but modern light rail, Manchester Metrolink introduced 1992. 1949
Market Street Railway USA 457[16] 1944
Trams in Rio de Janeiro Brazil 433[17]
Streetcars in Washington, D.C. USA 320[18] 1962[18]
Trams in Vienna Austria 318[19] Today 172 km remain.[20]
Sacramento Northern USA 295 1941
Trams in Sydney Australia 291[21] 1961[21]
San Diego Electric Railway USA 165 miles (266 km) 1949
Trams in Melbourne Australia 256 Current largest tram system by route length
Glasgow Corporation Tramways UK 227.51 1962
Trams in Brisbane Australia 199 1969
Cologne Stadtbahn Germany 194.8
Trams in Milan Italy 181.8 km (113.0 mi)[22] Data as of 2017. The network was longer in the past.
Silesian Tramways Poland 178
Tidewater Southern Railway USA 85 miles (137 km)
Trams in Geneva Switzerland 170[23] The network was reduced to only one surviving line in the 1960s. It has been re-expanding since then, back to over 40 km.
Trams in Budapest Hungary 158
Trams in Sofia Bulgaria 154
Trams in Leipzig Germany 148
Peninsular Railway USA 91.1 miles (146.6 km)
Trams in Prague Czech Rep. 145,7 As of 2019, the Prague tram network operates 882 tram vehicles
Trams in Bucharest Romania 144
Liverpool Corporation Tramways UK 140 1957
Trams in Kyiv Ukraine 139.9
Trams in Brussels Belgium 139
Trams in Dresden Germany 134.3
Trams in Warsaw Poland 132
Trams in Stuttgart Germany 131
Trams in Hanover Germany 127
Birmingham Corporation Tramways UK 129.6[24] 1953
Central California Traction Company USA 78 miles (126 km)[25]
Trams in Lodz Poland 124.1
Tram in Zürich Switzerland 122
Trams in Greater Cairo Egypt 120[26] 2019[27]
Trams in Zagreb Croatia 116
Trams in Adelaide Australia 113[28] As of 2024, only 15km remain
Visalia Electric Railroad USA 68 miles (109 km)
Key System USA 66 miles (106 km) 1959
Dublin tramways Ireland 97 No original tramways still exist, but modern light rail, the Luas, was introduced in 2004 and operates 42km of track. 1959
Trams in Gothenburg Sweden 95
Trams in Kraków Poland 97
Trams in Christchurch New Zealand 86.1 A new heritage loop was built totalling 3.9km 1954
  1. ^ This reference ("Евгений Михайлов: Обособление трамвайных путей положительно сказывается на регулярности движения наземного городского транспорта" [Yevgeny Mikhailov: The separation of tramways' positive impact on the reliability of urban transport traffic] (in Russian). Мосгортранс [Mosgortrans]. 17 March 2014. Retrieved 6 March 2015.) quotes the 2014 single track length of Moscow's tram network to be 416 kilometres (258 mi) – for the purposes of this table, the double track system length of Moscow's tram network is assumed to be roughly half that figure, or approximately 208 kilometres (129 mi).

See also

[edit]

References

[edit]
  1. ^ Instappen a.u.b.! Honderd jaar buurtspoorwegen in België. NMVB. 1985.
  2. ^ a b "From the Archives: Did Auto, Oil Conspiracy Put the Brakes on Trolleys?". Los Angeles Times. 23 March 2003. Retrieved 27 December 2019.
  3. ^ a b "Ask Geoffrey: A Look Back at Chicago's Streetcar Era". WTTW News. Retrieved 27 December 2019.
  4. ^ KONOPACKI-MACIUK, ZBIGNIEW (2014). "TRAMS AS TOOLS OF URBAN TRANSFORMATION IN FRENCH CITIES". Technical Transactions Architecture. 10: 63.
  5. ^ "ratp.fr - Le réseau Tramway RATP en Île-de-France". 26 April 2014. Archived from the original on 26 April 2014. Retrieved 28 December 2019.
  6. ^ Historia del tranvía en Buenos Aires Archived 2015-04-10 at archive.today - Revista Digital ead
  7. ^ Un viaje por la historia de la ciudad en el viejo Tramway - ElDiario.es, 21 March 2015.
  8. ^ "Monument to the Blockade Tram MC-29". www.visit-petersburg.ru. Retrieved 28 December 2019.
  9. ^ "150 years of trams in Berlin – International Association for the History of Transport, Traffic and Mobility". Retrieved 28 December 2019.
  10. ^ "Konka horse-drawn trams, Lunar Rovers and electric buses: three centuries' history of Moscow transport". moscowseasons.com. Retrieved 29 September 2020.
  11. ^ "London 1934". www.tundria.com. Retrieved 27 December 2019.
  12. ^ O'Shaughnessy, M.M. (1921). The municipal railway of San Francisco, 1912–1921. San Francisco, California: J.A. Prudhomme Composition Co. p. 5. Retrieved 17 January 2017.
  13. ^ Transport Department, Manchester Corporation (1949). A History of Manchester's Tramways : a Souvenir brochure on the occasion of the abandonment of the last tram service in Manchester on the 10th January 1949. Manchester: Manchester Corporation.
  14. ^ Yearsley, Ian. (1962) The Manchester Tram. Huddersfield: The Advertiser Press. p.21.
  15. ^ Bett, Wingate H; Gillham, John C, The Tramways of South-East Lancashire (1972). London: Light Railway Transport League.
  16. ^ Vielbaum, Walt; Hoffman, Philip; Ute, Grant; Townley, Robert (2005). San Francisco's Market Street Railway. Arcadia Publishing. p. 4. ISBN 9780738529677.
  17. ^ "Rio de Janeiro 1958". www.tundria.com. Retrieved 28 December 2019.
  18. ^ a b "History". DC Streetcar. Retrieved 27 December 2019.
  19. ^ Czeike, Felix. (1997). Historisches Lexikon Wien : in 5 Bänden. Wien: Kremayr & Scheriau. p. 362. ISBN 3-218-00543-4. OCLC 27458914.
  20. ^ "Zahlen Daten Fakten" (PDF). Retrieved 28 December 2022.
  21. ^ a b "The map which shows how Sydney is going backwards". NewsComAu. 12 April 2018. Retrieved 27 December 2019.
  22. ^ "Carta della mobilità ATM 2017" [ATM Mobility Charter 2017] (PDF) (in Italian). Azienda Trasporti Milanesi S.p.A. 2017. Retrieved 5 June 2019.
  23. ^ "Le tram 12, un vénérable genevois". Le Temps (in French). 9 August 2009. Retrieved 24 March 2021.
  24. ^ Birmingham City Transport, Malcolm, etc. Keeley, Transport Pub. Co 1978 ISBN 0-903839-18-0
  25. ^ Demoro, Harre W. (1986). California's Electric Railways. Glendale, California: Interurban Press. p. 202. ISBN 0-916374-74-2.
  26. ^ "Cairobserver — On Cairo's dying trams". cairobserver.com. Retrieved 27 December 2019.
  27. ^ EJOLT. "Heliopolis Municipality Completely Removes Tram Line, Egypt | EJAtlas". Environmental Justice Atlas. Retrieved 27 December 2019.
  28. ^ "Adelaide's electric tram system builds on horse-drawn network as most complete of any city in southern hemisphere". Adelaide AZ. Retrieved 3 November 2024.
Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=List_of_largest_tram_and_light_rail_transit_systems_ever&oldid=1255139175"