Trams in Ghent

The Ghent tram is one of five street railway companies in Belgium. The plant in Ghent, the capital of East Flanders, as the tram Antwerp and the coastal tram from the Flemish public transport company De Lijn operates. The tram network consists of three lines that run partially in neighboring municipalities. The network length is about 30 km. The track width of the tram operation is, as in the two other farms of the company, 1000 mm ( meter gauge ). The top line voltage is 600 volts ( DC ).

Until 1991 the tram from the regional traffic operation Maatschappij voor intercommunaal Vervoer te Gent ( MIVG, Society for inter-municipal transport in Ghent ) was operated. From MIVG, the Antwerp MIVA and the National Maatschappij van Buurtspoorwegen ( NMVB / SNCV ) then the new company De Lijn was born.

Apart from the tram had Gent long time the only trolleybus operation in the country, but consisted only of a line and was discontinued in 2009.

History

Pferdebahn

In 1875 the Tramways de ville de Gand opened ( trams of the city of Ghent ) a horse track operation in the Flemish city. There were 43 vehicles, including 14 open and 29 closed cars, and around 100 horses.

Akkumulatorbahn

On 13 August 1897, the concession was awarded to two companies about: Société Anonyme des Railways Economiques de Liège- Seraing et Extensions ( RELSE, " Aktiengesellschaft in train to Liège- Seraing and Extensions" ) and Compagnie Générale des Railways à voie étroide ( General society for " narrow Gauge Railways "). On January 4, 1898, the two companies founded the Société Anonyme des Tramways de Gand the Electricity (TEG, " Genter Electric trams AG ") to train horses to retool the city network from battery mode. Battery trams were in 1900 as an alternative to conventional electric tram today, as they were indeed driven electrically, but no overhead line had to be laid.

The battery tramcar had a power of 25 hp and wrong on the seven former horse tram lines. Each car had 45 seats, the maximum speed was 12 km / h - not because a higher speed would not have been technically possible, but because the licensing authorities such is not allowed. To charge the batteries, a small power plant was built with a capacity of 600 kilowatts.

Electric tram

The Akkumulatortechnik could in Ghent nor prevail as in other cities. The prone technique was inferior to the pantograph. Therefore, it was decided in 1903 to equip the Ghent network with overhead lines. Opened in 1904, the TEG, the first powered catenary voltage electric tram line.

1961 sparked the Maatschappij voor intercommunaal vervoer te Gent TEG as operator from, followed in 1991, as described, the new company De Lijn. On 12 September 2004, Ghent ( electric ) trams celebrated her 100th birthday.

In 1993 the line was extended 21 to the southeastern suburb of Melle, 1999, the line 21/22 from St Pieters Station to Zwijnaardebrug. In 2005, the southern extension of the line was taken 1 to the Flanders Expo in operation.

Rolling stock

The Ghent tram used 54 four-axle PCC railcars ( 6200 ), which were produced from 1971 at La Brugeoise et Nivelles (BN ) in Bruges and modernized at the time. In addition, there are 14 low-floor tramcars of type Hermelijn ( 6300 Series ). On line 1, only low-floor vehicles are used. The remaining vehicles of the 6300 Series are used on the line 21/22, which is further operated with cars of 6200. Line 4 is operated exclusively with the PCC cars of 6200.

Line network

There are three tram lines that intersect at several points in the city. At Gent- Sint -Pieters railway station (Sint Pieter station ), the main railway station of the city, all the lines meet together. The second line branches off just before its eastern end and leads to the distinction between the endpoints, the line numbers 21 and 22 on lines 1 and 4 amplification drives are used with a shortened line path in the rush hour.