[PRCo] French Light Rail / Subway #2

Sun Mar 13 23:10:06 EDT 2011

Sent by blind carbon to prevent a rehash like we had of what is light rail.   Some people were annoyed.   If you think something needs discussion, send it to me.
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Several people have commented about my preamble to France in installment 1.   One was British, several came from our shores.    The one I thought best deserved being shared came from Phil Craig and I am doing so below with his permission.   I think it illustrates that we do not understand how people feel about the intrusion of soldiers in one's country is perceived unless it is in "our country."   Phil wrote:  

"I am reminded of a comment made to me by the father of a French girl whom I dated while stationed in Verdun.  He asked me at dinner how I felt about the local people.  I replied "They are nice but seem to resent many of us soldiers."  His answer was "Do not take that too seriously.  They are simply tired of having foreign soldiers in la ville.  Remember that La Bosche occupied us for almost five years but the Americans have been liberating us for the last 13 years.  It's time for you to go home."

A few years later, in 1967, we did go home.   The French had enough of being liberated and sent us home.  
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Some general links for reference.   The first two are links to all the tramways:

     http://www.trams-in-france.net/

     http://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Liste_des_tramways_de_France

The third will translate words or whole paragraphs from French to English

     http://www.translation.langenberg.com/ 

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I wish to thank Peter Folger for suggesting some of the links which have been provided for Lyon and Bordeaux.   It takes a lot of work to look at hundreds of videos and find those that illustrate what one wishes to show without including those the cinetographer used as a test of his abilities to push the zoom button or his inability to hold the camera steady.   I appreciate it Peter.  

LET'S NOW TRY TO COVER THE REMAINING NEW LINES SINCE I WAS LAST IN FRANCE IN 2002.    THEY ARE IN ALPHABETICAL ORDER.   I SHOW NO PREFERENCE FOR ANY ONE SYSTEM BECAUSE I KNOW NOTHING.   I'VE SEEN NOTHING.   I ONLY MARVEL AT THE FRENCH FOR CREATING SO MANY SYSTEMS WITH SUCH RAPIDITY. 

TO MAKE IT EASIER TO MAKE A REGIONAL SORT ... THOSE IN THE EAST AND NORTH EAST WILL BE COLOR CODED RED; THOSE IN THE SOUTH WILL BE MAGENTA; CENTRAL FRANCE IS GREEN; NORMANDY AND BRITTANY ARE BROWN.

ANGERS

ANGERS IS LOCATED IN THE DEPARTMENT OF MAINE-ET-LOIRE IN WESTERN FRANCE, 300 KM. SOUTHWEST OF PARIS.   Located on the Maine River, it is home to 157,000 people.  Tramway d'Angers, 12 km. in length,  is expected to open in June 2011.   Some of this will use an underground power collection system,  the Alstom system that was developed for Bordeaux.  

      http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Angers_tramway    

      http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=35-YCzAUy1E

BORDEAUX

BORDEAUX IN AQUITAINE IS FRANCE'S 9TH LARGEST CITY.  IT IS HOME TO ABOUT 250,000 PEOPLE.  The principal economic item listed in the Wikipedia story is Bordeaux wine.   The three line system which opened since 2003 uses Alstom's APC imbedded power supply system which was specifically designed for Bordeaux.    One of the readers of this indicates he has been unable to get past Alstom's advertising and find anything that critically explains how well this imbedded power system works; I think my old friend is suggesting we need to go look at it.    

     http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bordeaux

     http://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fichier:Tramway_Bordeaux.svg

     http://onlinepubs.trb.org/onlinepubs/circulars/ec058/15_02_Swanson.pdf

     http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YgXkxB-9CWY

     http://english.ntdtv.com/ntdtv_en/ns_europe/2011-01-03/497454329080.html

     http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pnEoBncCf8o&feature=related

BREST

BREST IS AS FAR WEST AS YOU CAN GET IN BRITTANY WITHOUT FALLING INTO THE ATLANTIC OCEAN.  If you can picture Lands End out in Cornwall, England, look south to Brest.   It's a city of 150,000, four and a half hours from Paris by TGV train service.   One of the more significant statements in Wikipedia is that only three buildings were left standing after World War II.   The first line is scheduled to open this month (March 2011).

     http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brest,_France

     http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oCjAyz-IGuo

LE HAVRE  (The Harbor)

LE HAVRE IS A CITY OF ABOUT 180,000 IN HAUTE-NORMANDIE WHERE THE SEINE RIVER FLOWS INTO THE ENGLISH CHANNEL.   This was the port city for the French Liners (The Normandie, the Liberté, the Isle de France for example) that corresponded to Southampton on the English side of the Channel.   A 13-km light rail line with two branches is expected to open in 2014.

LE MANS

LE MANS IS ONE HOUR OUT OF PARIS ON TGV ATLANTIQUE.  A small city, it is home to slightly fewer than 150,000.   It is best known for its connection with motor racing.  The line with 15.4 route miles opened in November 2007.  Several concepts deserve introduction for the uninitiated ... the ticket cancelers on the posts next to the doors on the cars are common all over Europe.  About 50 seconds into the film you see a downtown street scene with a sidewalk cafe to the right of the streetcar ... those cafes are common all over Europe ... a great way to dine, enjoy people, watch people.   Riding is given as 48,000 a day on this two-pronged network.  

     http://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tramway_du_Mans 

     http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QXq6KCBrWuk

LILLE

LILLE IS RIGHT ON THE BELGIAN BORDER IN FLANDERS.   It is France's 10th largest city with 226,000 people and it contains one of the two surviving tramways that was never dismantled.   It was simply kept in operation while modernized as a rubber-tired, automated, fixed-guideway, two-line system in 1983 and 1989.   The third link tells how it was done. 

     http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lille

     The Lille operation in 1983 was the first in France to use the VAL or Véhicule Automatique Léger (Automatic Light Vehicle) technology using rubber tires and platform doors to prevent people from falling onto the right-of-way.   Additional VAL systems in France include the Paris Orly Airport line (1991), the Toulouse Metro (1993), the Rennes Metro (2002) and the Charles de Gaule Airport line in Paris (2007).  

     http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Véhicule_Automatique_Léger#List_of_VAL_systems

     http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lille_tramway

     http://tramways.awardspace.com/Lille/Lille.htm

     http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/f6/Plan_Metro_Tramway_Lille.png

     Tram video:    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VkSC4yYk_5o

     VAL Metro video:   http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VZdEv1oiTws

LYON

LYON IS FRANCE'S NUMBER THREE CITY WITH A POPULATION OF JUST UNDER A HALF MILLION.  The metro area is home to 1.4 million.   It is on the southern TGV line 470 km. south of Paris and 320 km. north of Marseilles.   It is the capital of French gastronomy, the second richest city in France and a UNESCO heritage site based largely on Gallo-Roman ruins.   This looks like a city that deserves a visit:  9 trolleybus lines (three modernized), 4 tramway lines, 2 funiculars and 4 metro routes.  They seem to have a thing for non-polluting electric transportation!

      http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lyon

      http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lyon_tramway     

      http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/43/Lyon_-_transports_en_commun_-_Farben_nach_Transportmittel.png

   The Rhônexpress runs from Lyon to the airport.   It opened in January 2010.

      http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9SYKJOCUnTc

      http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uzXMI_2gM-E&feature=related

   Four other tram lines are local and were opened in 2001, 2003, 2005 and 2009.   

        http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Py8Q4JFFDg0        

        http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6wXL6iADJbo&NR=1

        http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q0gJ8LXpuYg&NR=1

        http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X2ZMy_fu-k4&NR=1

   Metro Lines A and B are rubber tired metros.   C is a rack railway.   D is fully automated.

       http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7TDRDCmVTXU&feature=related

       http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-q_q9bTrgeA&NR=1

    And the trolley buses:

       http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AdYEgi09lm8

MARSEILLE

MARSEILLE IS THE NATION'S SECOND LARGEST CITY (852,000) IN THE THIRD LARGEST METROPOLITAN AREA (1.60 million).  It is down in southeastern France.   Marseilles was running PCC cars into a subway until it rebuilt the line.  The original subway portion of the old route 68 survived to be incorporated and reopened as part of the 8.8 km route T1 in 2007.   However, it was not continuously in service.  Tram route 3 opens in 2011.    Marseille also has a 2 line, 21.5 km rubber-tired metro.   (One must support Michelin, n'est pas?)

     http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marseille

     Tramway:   http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B3UCDUUl4cY

                  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5Z3CPl7A5EA&feature=related

                  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bJLi1wMn3n0&NR=1

                  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aw5-PJrnItU&feature=related

                  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aw5-PJrnItU&feature=related

     Metro:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UAzu1FcNXZs&NR=1

MODOC

MEDOC APPEARS ON SOME LISTS - it is not independent but the proposed extension of the C line out of Bordeaux.

MONTPELLIER

MONTPELLIER IS DOWN ON THE MEDITERRANEAN SEA, A CITY OF 265,000.   The city has two tram lines.   The first opened in 2000, and is 15.2 km. in length.   Line 2 is 19.8 km. long.   Line 3 is expected in 2012.

     http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Montpellier

     http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I47fjmS7DK0&NR=1&feature=fvwp

     If you are in Montpellier, this area is filled with great Roman artifacts.  Drive northeast about 40 kilometers to Nimes and look at the Roman Amphitheater or the Maison Carrie from the 1st century BCE.   Even better, drive another 20 kilomters north of Nîmes and stand in awe before the Pont du Gard.  Imagine that the Romans had the civil engineering talent to build a covered aqueduct 50 kilometers long to supply water to their city with a drop of only 9 inches in every mile!   I had a jerk put in the sewer line from my house who could get a 1/4 inch to foot drop straight in his brain  ... 9 inches to mile is 1/1000th of an inch to the foot.  (If the aqueduct isn't enough, those French maidens swimming in the river under it on a summer afternoon should turn you on.)   

     http://www.youtube.com/ricksteves#p/c/AF8618AFFCFBCF3E/16/Q0VWKGgbTs0

     http://www.youtube.com/ricksteves#p/c/AF8618AFFCFBCF3E/16/Q0VWKGgbTs0

      http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pont_du_Gard

MULHOUSE

MULHOUSE IS IN ALSACE SOUTH OF STRASBOURG AND NORTHWEST OF BASEL,SWITZERLAND.  It is a small city of 110,000 people.   The three line, 13.2 km. network opened between 2006 and 2008 moves 60,000 daily riders according to the French language Wikipedia write up.   In addition, Mulhouse operates "tram-trains" following the Karlsruhe / Saarbrucken model using 36 km. of SNCF tracks and 4 km. of route 3 tram tracks within the city for distribution.      

     http://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tramway_de_Mulhouse       (in French)

     The map          http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/9f/Reseau_tram-train_mulhouse2011.png

     The city tramway videos

          http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xnD1n9ekeMk&feature=related

          http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vfYlHdoppaQ

    The tram - trains:

          http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JHfH7Ylk0jY&feature=related

          http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wk7dKlNJWAg

          http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LxYBu8fj6Yo&NR=1

NICE

NICE IS THE THIRD FRENCH TRAM CITY ON THE MEDITERRANEAN COAST.  The 350,000 population city can be reached from Paris by TGV in less than six hours.   Wikipedia claims this was planned, like Bordeaux, to use buried a buried power system but was replaced with overhead trolley and batteries when crossing two open plazas where trolley wire would be considered undesirable.   Patronage of the 8.7 km like is a whopping 70,000 daily riders!

     http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Main_Page

     http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nice_tramway

     http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/25/Nice_tramway_place_Garibaldi.jpg

     http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lTL7arPZjOU&NR=1&feature=fvwp

     http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zizUC9fwt8o

     http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V9XE1QFMHPc

ORLÉANS

ORLÉANS IS 130 KM. FROM PARIS IN NORTH-CENTRAL FRANCE ON THE LOIRE RIVER.  Population is given as 116,000.  If you are going to Bordaux or Nantes, get off the train in route and ride this line. Trams were introduced in 2000.  Orleans uses the Alstom contact system downtown that was developed for Bordeaux.   Ridership is about 45,000 a day on the 17.9 kilometer-long line.  

     http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4oERa-cyxqE&feature=fvsr

     http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YP0yUbU0bco&NR=1

REIMS

REIMS IS IN THE CHAMPAGNE-ARDENNE REGION IN EASTERN FRANCE, 129 KM EAST-NORTHEAST OF PARIS. Population is listed as 188,000.   This is a city of important antiquities.   Don't miss that cathedral ... one of the most magnificent in France.   The north-south 11-kilometer-long line is scheduled to open in March 2011.   The Wikipedia article discloses that "it is planned that the tramway will transport around 45,000 people a day."   I wonder if that means if riders do not choose to ride, that they will be forced to?    Reims is also supposed to use the Alstom underground power system.    

      http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reims

      http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iAz3YY8vhgk

      http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LqBrzEX3wDk&feature=related

             The Ardennes Region to the northeast of Reims figured heavily in both of our world wars and there are monuments of interest to many Americans throughout the region including, but far from limited to the Meuse-Argone American Cemetery and the Pennsylvania Monument in Varennes.   I would also suggest the German military cemetery in Epionville for they too had young men just as convinced their cause was right as ours were by government issued propaganda. 

     The Pennsylvania memorial from 1925:  http://www.webmatters.net/france/ww1_usa_varennes.htm

     Meuse-Argone Cemetery:   http://www.abmc.gov/cemeteries/cemeteries/ma.php

     German cemeteries:   http://www.meuse-argonne.com/Randys%20Webpages/features_cemeteries.htm

RENNES       

RENNES, IN BRITTANY, WITH A POPULATION OF 270,000, IS ONE OF THE SMALLEST CITIES IN THE WORLD TO HAVE A METRO.  The first line opened in 2002 using the VAL technology.   A second line was opened in 2010.  A third line is to open in 2018.  See Lille for explanation of VAL technology.

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tyiRxADS54M&feature=related

SAINT ÉTIENNE (St. Stephen)

SAINT ÉTIENNE IS IN THE RHONE-ALPS REGION IN EAST CENTRAL, FRANCE.    It has around 180,000 people.   The PCCs are gone but the two line tramway has been upgraded and hauls over 50,000 people a day.     

     http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/St._Etienne

     http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tramway_de_Saint_Etienne

TOULON

TOULON IS THE FOURTH CITY ON THIS LIST ON THE MEDITERRANEAN COAST.  Population is about 170,000.
This city has been mentioned in some sources.  A project was proposed in 2000 but appears to have been dropped.

TOULOUSE

TOULOUSE IS THE FOURTH LARGEST CITY IN FRANCE, FOLLOWING PARIS, MARSEILLES AND LYON.   It lies midway between the Atlantic Ocean and the Mediterranean coast and about half way between the tramways in Bordeaux and Montpelier.   This is France's Seattle; it's home to Airbus.    The first route a VAL line 10.9 kilometers in length, went into service in December 2010.   It is probably two early to determine its success.   Daily passenger numbers are around 30,000.

     http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Toulouse

     http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rs7JGTlYCUo&feature=related

     http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fw1F__Iu7IE&feature=related

     If you are driving between Toulouse and Bordeaux, one great place to spend a day or an afternoon is the medieval walled city of Carcassonne.   http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carcassonne    

TOURS

TOURS IS A CITY OF 142,000 PEOPLE IN THE LOIRE RIVER VALLEY.    Alsthom is scheduled to deliver 21 Citidas trams in 2012 for a 2013 line opening.    It is in the heart of the French chateau region.   It is where you go to see those fabulous old country mansions.  Châteaux de Cambord and Chenonceau are personal favorites in the region around Tours.  The auto drive up to visit the fabulous cathedral in Chartres will only consume a day.   A vacation isn't just based on tramways!    :<)  
     http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LLbd55t2eTw&feature=related
     http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kpuAPizvBQI

VALENCIENNES

VALENCIENNES IS THE SMALLEST CITY IN FRANCE WITH A NEW TRAMWAY.   IT IS SITUATED ALONG THE NORTHEAST BORDER OF FRANCE NEXT TO BELGIUM.   POPULATION IS UNDER 50,000.  THE LINE OPENED IN 2006.   The Harold A. Jahn video is one of the finest I've seen on the internet for free!   

     http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Valenciennes

     http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HKywpU4ANVo

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FRANCE ALSO HAS SEVERAL; RUBBER-TIRED (for the British readers, rubber-tyred) TRAMWAYS, WHICH USE A GUIDE RAIL.   Two use the guide rail for power return; Nancy uses double overhead.   Included are in Nancy, Caen, Clemont-Ferrand (21 km Translohr opened 2005).  Why?   I suspect that Michelin has a strong lobbying force in France just like our drug companies and petroleum marketers do here.   It's their country and their system.  

     Caen tramway by Bombardier.   Caen is in Normandie, 50 kilometers west southwest of Le Havre.  
     It is also 50 kilometers east southeast of Vierville sur Mer, site of Omaha Beach.   I've used Caen as a base 
     to drive to the World War II and other sites in Normandy. 

         http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TUSEqi3x8HMh

     Clermont-Ferrand system.   This city is south of Paris ... half-way to Montpelier, west of Lyon 
     and east of Limoges.   

           http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0WrAS3UtqVs&feature=related

           http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5LVgiaNl8CA&feature=related

     Nancy uses a guided two-pole trolley bus train.   Nancy is situated east of Paris, south of Luxembourg, 
     west of Strasbourg, northwest of Basel.  

          http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Us2MWYCMzmQ