A low-floor tram is a tram that has no steps 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.
A tram-train is a type of light rail vehicle that both meets the standards of a light rail system, and also national mainline standards. Tramcars are adapted to be capable of running on streets like an urban tramway but also be permitted operation alongside mainline trains. This allows services that can utilise both existing urban light rail systems and mainline railway networks and stations. It combines the urban accessibility of a tram or light rail with a mainline train's greater speed in the suburbs.
Adtranz was a multi-national rail transportation equipment manufacturer with facilities concentrated in Europe and the US. The company, legally known as ABB Daimler-Benz Transportation, was created in 1996 as a joint venture between ABB and Daimler-Benz to combine their rail equipment manufacturing operations. In 1999, DaimlerChrysler bought ABB's shares and changed the company's official name to DaimlerChrysler Rail Systems. The company was acquired by Bombardier in 2001, which merged it into its Bombardier Transportation division, which became the largest rail equipment manufacturer in the world at the time, and was ultimately acquired by Alstom in 2021.
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 Outlook is a series of low-floored, articulated light-rail trams manufactured by Bombardier Transportation. Part of the larger Bombardier Flexity product line, Flexity Outlook vehicles are modular in design and commonly used throughout Europe.
Bombardier Transportation was a Canadian-German rolling stock and rail transport manufacturer, with headquarters in Berlin, Germany. It was one of the world's largest companies in the rail vehicle and equipment manufacturing and servicing industry. Bombardier Transportation had many regional offices, production and development facilities worldwide. It produced a wide range of products including passenger rail vehicles, locomotives, bogies, propulsion and controls. In February 2020, the company had 36,000 employees, and 63 manufacturing and engineering locations around the world. Formerly a division of Bombardier Inc., the company was acquired by French manufacturer Alstom on 29 January 2021.
Guided Light Transit was the name of guided bus technology and associated infrastructure designed and manufactured by Bombardier Transportation. It was installed in two French cities: Nancy and Caen. The Caen system was closed in 2017 and replaced by conventional trams, while the Nancy system was closed in March 2023 and is to be replaced by trolleybuses.
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.
The Strasbourg tramway, run by the CTS, is a network of six tramlines, A, B, C, D, E and F that operate in the cities of Strasbourg in Alsace, France, and Kehl in Baden-Württemberg, Germany. It is one of the few tram networks to cross an international border, along with the trams of Basel and Geneva. The first tramline in Strasbourg, which was originally horse-drawn, opened in 1878. After 1894, when an electric-powered tram system was introduced, a widespread network of tramways was built, including several longer-distance lines on both sides of the Rhine.
The Bombardier Incentro is a model of tram manufactured initially by Adtranz and later by Bombardier Transportation. It is a five-section, low-floor articulated tram, built for bi-directional operation and capable of speeds up to 80 km/h. Incentro trams are used on the Nantes tramway and fifteen of the AT6/5 variants are used on the Nottingham Express Transit.
The Stadler Variobahn is a German-designed model of articulated low-floor tram and light rail vehicle. Since its introduction in 1993, the Variobahn has been manufactured variously by ABB, Adtranz, Bombardier Transportation, and since 2001 by Stadler Rail. As of 2009, 254 trams have been ordered, with an additional 110 on option. A unit costs about €2.5 million.
The Bombardier Flexity Berlin is a tram type constructed for the Berlin tramway network. It was developed by Bombardier Transportation during the late 2000s and is based on the Bombardier Flexity family of 100% low-floor trams.
Trams in France date from 1837 when a 15 km steam tram line connected Montrond-les-Bains and Montbrison in the Loire. With the development of electric trams at the end of the 19th century, networks proliferated in French cities over a period of 15 years. Although nearly all of the country's tram systems were replaced by bus services in the 1930s or shortly after the Second World War, France is now in the forefront of the revival of tramways and light rail systems around the globe. Only tram lines in Lille and Saint-Étienne have operated continuously since the 19th century; the Marseille tramway system ran continuously until 2004 and only closed then for 3 years for extensive refurbishment into a modern tram network. Since the opening of the Nantes tramway in 1985, more than twenty towns and cities across France have built new tram lines. As of 2024, there are 28 operational tram networks in France, with 3 more planned. France is also home to Alstom, a leading tram manufacturer.
128 001, as registered at Deutsche Bahn, or 12X, as named by its manufacturer AEG Schienenfahrzeuge and its successive owners ADtranz and Bombardier Transportation, is an experimental high-performance electric locomotive built in 1994, which was operated as testbed and test locomotive until 2010. The design of the locomotive featured several technological innovations, including power electronics using new types of semiconductors and water cooling, a new final drive concept, a new bogie concept, and protruding windflaps for improved aerodynamics that gave the locomotive a unique look.
The Compagnie des Transports Strasbourgeois is the company responsible for the comprehensive public transport network of the Eurométropole de Strasbourg, the urban community of the French city of Strasbourg.
The Bombardier Incentro AT6/5 is a 100% low floor tram used by Nottingham Express Transit (NET) in Nottingham, England. It is a variant of Bombardier Transportation's Incentro design.
Società Costruzioni Industriali Milano, better known as Socimi, was an Italian manufacturing company based in Milan. It was a manufacturer of trams, metro trains; traction motors for these and for trolleybuses; and bodies for motorbuses and trolleybuses. It also manufactured weapons, such as rifles. The company was founded by engineer Alessandro Marzocco in 1969 and was declared insolvent in 1994 due to its involvement in the Mani pulite scandal in 1992. The remains of said company were subsequently placed into receivership in 2002, and in 2014 an arrangement proposal to settle the company's remaining liabilities was made by the company Assuntore San Tommaso Uno, controlled by the US investment company Värde Partners.
The Alstom Flexity is a family of trams, streetcars, and light rail vehicles manufactured by Bombardier Transportation until 2021, when French company Alstom took over Bombardier. 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 Dandenong rolling stock factory in the Melbourne suburb of Dandenong South was opened in 1954 by Commonwealth Engineering. It has since been operated in succession by ABB, Adtranz and Bombardier and Alstom.
ATM 7005, Milan (2009)
Porto Eurotram (2012)
Porto Eurotram interior (2012)
33m and 43m Strasbourg Eurotrams (2006)
Interior of an Eurotram in Strasbourg, in a non-refurbished version
Interior of an Eurotram in Strasbourg, after their refurbishement in 2019
