A low-floor tram is a tram that has no stairsteps between one or more entrances and part or all of the passenger cabin. The low-floor design improves the accessibility of the tram for the public, and also may provide larger windows and more airspace. [1]
An accessible platform-level floor in a tram can be achieved either by using a high-floor vehicle serving high-platform tram stops, or with a true low-floor vehicle interfacing with curb level stops.
Currently both types are in use, depending on the station platform infrastructure in existing rail systems. Some systems may make use of former railway alignments where use of existing high platforms is desirable, while others, particularly new systems, may not have the space to site high-level stops in urban centres.
Trams traditionally had high floors, and these designs evolved into the tram with a low-floor centre section. Examples of this design are Amsterdam 11g/12g-trams and the Kusttrams in Belgium.
The most common design of 100% low floor vehicles uses short carbody sections for the wheels and longer suspended sections. Examples of this are the Alstom Citadis and Combino. A similar, but somewhat older technique is one that has been developed by MAN. In 1990, it was the first 100% low floor tram. These trams are found in ten German cities (such as Bremen and Munich) and in the Swedish city Norrköping. In many other German cities there are trams with low floor between the outer bogies and single axle bogies under the centre section.
"Light rail" type vehicles frequently have a similar configuration but with a centre bogie designed to accommodate a low floor situated under a short centre section. A more radical approach has been adopted for the City Class LRV (Citytram), where the main low floor section is only 300 mm (12 in) above the rail. The low floor runs right through the articulation of both the 29 m (95 ft) long and 38 m (125 ft) Super Citytram version. In both, the corridor through the articulation is wide enough for seated passengers and a wheelchair to pass through. The City Class has been designed to turn on 15 m (49 ft) radius curves and to climb 10% gradients.
In Austria, Porsche Design designed Ultra Low Floor (ULF) Trams can "kneel" at the curbside, reducing the height from the road to only 180 mm (7.1 in).
Some public transport companies have both low floor and high floor trams. They report that low floor trams have 15% higher maintenance costs for the rolling stock, and 20% higher maintenance costs for the infrastructure on average. [2] Among the problems observed is that the missing bogies result in a higher level of wear and tear.
Many low floor trams have fixed bogies [3] which increase track wear and tear, while decreasing the speed at which a tram can drive through a curve (usually 4–15 km/h (2.5–9.3 mph) in 20 m (66 ft) radius curve). [4] The Škoda ForCity and the newest Alstom Citadis X04 try to counter the effect with low floor pivoting bogies while maintaining 100% low floor design. Prior to the new design, pivoting bogies could only be used under high floors, hence such trams could only be part low-floor, with high-floor sections over the pivoting bogies.
The idea of a low-floor tram dates back to the early 20th century when a number of trolley systems began experimenting with various "stepless" designs. Perhaps the most notable is the Hedley-Doyle Stepless car introduced in 1912 for use on Broadway in Manhattan. [5] A number of other cities also purchased Hedley-Doyle Stepless trams after seeing their success in Manhattan. Since these cars had a unique appearance compared to any other trams running at the time, they earned a number of nicknames, including hobble skirt cars, public welfare cars, and sow bellies. [6]
To put things into perspective, here are some typical floor heights for public transport vehicles, old and new:
(low-floor middle section)
(reconstruction with low-floor middle section)
The Alstom Citadis is a family of low-floor trams and light rail vehicles built by Alstom. As of 2017, over 2,300 Citadis trams have been sold and 1,800 tramways are in revenue service throughout the world, with operations in all six inhabited continents. An evolution of Alstom's earlier TFS vehicle, most Citadis vehicles are made in Alstom's factories in La Rochelle, Reichshoffen and Valenciennes, France, and in Barcelona, Spain, and Annaba, Algeria.
The Bombardier Flexity Swift is a series of urban and inter-urban tram, light rail and light metro vehicles manufactured by Bombardier Transportation. It is part of the Bombardier Flexity family of rail vehicles, and like the others, Flexity Swift vehicles can be customized to suit the needs and requirements of customers including legacy designs from its acquisition of Adtranz.
The Bombardier Flexity Classic is a model of light-rail tram manufactured by Bombardier Transportation. Although it is marketed as the most traditionally designed member of the Flexity family, it is still a modern bi-directional articulated tram with a low-floor section allowing good accessibility, especially to passengers in wheelchairs. Flexity Classic trams run on 1,435 mmstandard gauge in Australia, 1,000 mmmetre gauge in Essen, 1,450 mm in Dresden, and 1,458 mm in Leipzig.
Silesian Trams is one of the largest tram systems in the world and the largest and longest tram system in Poland, located entirely within the Silesian Voivodeship. Started as a part of the German Empire in 1894, the system currently has 677 stops across 29 lines and serves the region’s population inhabited by more than two million people. Silesian Trams is at the heart of a region known for its dense historical and current industrialisation.
The West Midlands Metro is a passenger light rail line in the West Midlands conurbation in England, which opened in 1999. Its rolling stock consists of 21 CAF Urbos 3 trams which came into service in 2014/15, replacing the older T-69 trams which had operated the line since 1999.
The ADtranz low floor tram was introduced in the 1990s as the world's first tram with a completely low floor design. This tram was developed by MAN for the Bremen urban transport system. The prototype, tram number 3801, was first publicly introduced on 9 February 1990. From 1991 to 1993, it was being tested in many European cities. Ten German cities have purchased this type. Adtranz took over the rail division of MAN in 1990.
Germany has an extensive number of tramway networks. Some of these networks have been upgraded to light rail standards, called Stadtbahn in German. Straßenbahn and Stadtbahn schemes are usually operated on the legal foundation of the BOStrab, the Tramways Act of Germany.
The Nantes tramway is a tramway system operating in the city of Nantes in Pays de la Loire, France. The first tramway in Nantes opened in 1879 and closed in 1958 due to bombing damage during World War II, while the present tramway was re-introduced to the city in 1985.
The Tramway Français Standard (TFS) is a type of tram designed and manufactured by Alstom for use on various tramway systems in France. The TFS is no longer in production, having been superseded by the Alstom Citadis range of tramcars.
The Little Dancer is a low-floor tram brand built by Alna Sharyo, a Japanese manufacturer of trams and light rail vehicles.
The Karlsruhe Stadtbahn is a German tram-train system combining tram lines in the city of Karlsruhe with railway lines in the surrounding countryside, serving the entire region of the middle upper Rhine valley and creating connections to neighbouring regions. The Stadtbahn combines an efficient urban railway in the city with an S-Bahn, overcoming the boundary between trams and trains. Its logo does not include the green and white S-Bahn symbol used in other German suburban rail systems and the symbol is only used at stops and stations outside the inner-city tram-operation area.
The Istanbul Tram is a modern tram system on the European side of Istanbul. The first section, the T1 opened in 1992, followed by the T2, which opened in 2006. In 2011, the T1 and T2 merged, with the line retaining the T1 name. The T4, T5 and the T6 lines followed, opening in 2007, 2021 and 2024 respectively.
In 2012, Blackpool Council ordered 16 Bombardier Flexity 2 trams for the Blackpool Tramway, becoming the worldwide launch customer for Bombardier Transportation's new design. The modern 100% low-floor trams replaced the Blackpool Tramway's tourist-focused and high maintenance heritage fleet, some of which have been retained with modifications for use as a supplementary fleet alongside the Flexity 2 trams and some for tourist services on the promenade. Blackpool's Flexity 2 trams are intended to be suitable for daily commuters and to provide a service competitive with other modes of transport and comply with legislation on accessibility for disabled users.
The Kraków tram system is a tram system in Kraków, Poland. The tramway has been in operation since 1882, and is currently operated by Miejskie Przedsiębiorstwo Komunikacyjne w Krakowie. There are 22 ordinary, 2 fast, and 3 night tram lines with a total line length of 347 kilometres (216 mi). As of 2013, the total route length of the tramway was 90 kilometres (56 mi), including a 1.4-kilometre (0.87 mi) tram tunnel with two underground stops.
The CAF Urbos is a family of trams, streetcars, and light rail vehicles built by CAF. The Spanish manufacturer CAF previously made locomotives, passenger cars, regional, and underground trains. In 1993, CAF started building trams for Metrovalencia, with the delivery of 16 trams until 1999. This was a variant of a Siemens design and some components were delivered by Siemens, including bogies and traction motors. This design was also sold to Lisbon Trams in 1995; CAF then decided to design and build the Urbos in-house.
The Alstom Flexity is a family of trams, streetcars, and light rail vehicles manufactured by Bombardier Transportation, since 2021 a division of French company Alstom. As of 2015, more than 3,500 Flexity vehicles are in operation around the world in Europe, Asia, Oceania, and North America in 100 cities among 20 countries internationally. Production of the vehicles is done at Bombardier's global production plants and by local manufacturers worldwide through technology transfer agreements.
The Duewag GT8 Typ Freiburg is a three-part eight-axle articulated tram used on Freiburg im Breisgau's tram network. From 1971 to 1991, these trams were exclusively produced for the Freiburger Verkehrs by the Düsseldorfer Waggonfabrik in three series, which is why they are defined as the Freiburg type, Typ Freiburg. They are designed to be used uni-directionally.
Trams have been used since the 19th century, and since then, there have been various uses and designs for trams around the world. This article covers the many design types, most notably the articulated, double-decker, drop-centre, low-floor, single ended, double-ended, rubber -tired, and tram-train; and the various uses of trams, both historical and current, most notably cargo trams, a dog car, hearse tram, maintenance trams, a mobile library service, a nursery tram, a restaurant tram, a tourist tram, and as mobile offices.
HCP 115N – the first Polish prototype partially low-floor tram that was produced by H. Cegielski factory in Poznań. It was made in 1995 from two Konstal 105N cars used by MPK Poznań and in service until 2006. In 2011 the tram has been scrapped.
Konstal 114Na is an articulated low-floor tram, manufactured in 1997 by Konstal works in Chorzów, in a quantity of 2 units for the Gdańsk Municipal Transport Company. It is the second low-floor tram type produced in Poland after the 112N. A significant part of the solutions was taken from the previously produced single unit of the 112N type.
Eine weitere Erknenntnis der Unternehmem, die sowohl Hochflur-, als auch Niederflurfahrzeuge im Einsatz haben, ist der direkte Kostenvergleich beider Systeme. Für die Wartung und Instandhaltung der Fahrzeuge werden im Mittel Mehrkosten in Höhe von 20% genannt. Für die Wartung und Instandhaltung der Infrastruktur werden beim Einsatz von Niederflurfahrzeugen um 15% höhere Kosten ermittelt.