Oranjestad streetcar | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Overview | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Owner | Arubus | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Locale | Oranjestad, Aruba | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Termini | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Stations | 8 (regular service) 10 (total) [1] | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Service | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Type | Tramway | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Operator(s) | Arubus | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Rolling stock | 4 trams | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
History | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Opened | 22 December 2012 [2] | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Technical | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Line length | 1.9 km (1.2 mi) | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Number of tracks | Single track | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Track gauge | 1,435 mm (4 ft 8+1⁄2 in) standard gauge [2] | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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The Oranjestad Streetcar (Dutch : Tram van Oranjestad) and (Papiamento: Tranvia Oranjestad) is a single-track tram line in Oranjestad, the capital city of Aruba. It is owned and operated by Arubus, the national public transportation company. [2] [3] It was built as a key component of a larger project to upgrade the main retail areas of the town, other aspects of which included pedestrianization of streets, planting of trees, installation of ornamental street lighting and resurfacing of streets and sidewalks. [4]
The line is the first and so far the only passenger rail service on the island and the rest of the Dutch Caribbean. Three industrial railways had been constructed on the island, but have all closed. [5] It was inaugurated on 22 December 2012, seven days after the arrival of the first single-deck car. Regular service started on 19 February 2013. [2] The second car, an open-top double-decker, was delivered in June 2013. [2] The heritage style streetcars were designed and manufactured by TIG/m Modern Street Railways in California, USA.
The line operates daily. [2] As of early 2016 [update] , service was operating from 9:00 to 17:00, with two cars in service after 11:00. [6]
The line starts from a balloon loop near the Port of Call Marketplace and serves the downtown area with a route along Schelpstraat, Havenstraat and Caya Betico Croes, the main road, which is open to pedestrians only. Between Rancho and Plaza Chipi Chipi, eastbound trams (towards Plaza Nicky) run via Schelpstraat, and westbound ones (towards Welcome Plaza), run via Havenstraat. It ends at Plaza Nicky, with a stop also located on a loop. [1] [7]
There are a total of 9 stops situated approximately 200 metres (660 ft) apart from each other. The depot is located between the stops at Port of Call and Rancho.
Station | Notes |
---|---|
Welcome Plaza | Port |
Port of Call | Morning service stop, touring bus station |
Rancho | Oranjestad Bus Terminal, tram depot |
Plaza Museo | Eastbound service, N1 Archaeological Museum |
Royal Plaza | Westbound service N2 |
Renaissance Mall | Westbound service N2 Renaissance Mall |
Plaza Chipi Chipi/Mango Plaza | Also named "Mango Plaza" |
Caya Betico Croes/Watertoren | Near Aruba Bank, additional stop, name not yet defined, sometimes called Watertoren |
Plaza Bon Bini | 2 rail tracks before the station |
Plaza Nicky/Plaza Comercio | Also named "Plaza Comercio", loop |
The fleet comprises four streetcars (AE) or trams (CE), of which two are single-deck (green and orange) and two are open-top double-deck (blue and red). They were designed and built by TIG/m Modern Street Railways in Chatsworth, USA, [8] to use hybrid/electric technology: they do not take their power from external sources such as overhead wires when running but are self-powered by lithium batteries augmented by hydrogen fuel cells. Power consumption is reduced by regenerative braking. [2] [9]
Double-deck tram in 2016 | Single-deck tram in 2014 |
A tram is a type of urban rail transit consisting of either individual railcars or self-propelled multiple unit trains that run on tramway tracks on urban public streets; some include segments on segregated right-of-way. The tramlines or tram networks operated as public transport are called tramways or simply trams/streetcars. Because of their close similarities, trams are commonly included in the wider term light rail, which also includes systems separated from other traffic.
Transport in Aruba is facilitated by road, air, and rail. Aruba features a well-established road network, with the majority of the roads being paved. However, as one ventures towards the interior of the island, the prevalence of paved roads decreases, giving way to more rugged terrain. Conversely, coastal areas typically offer-well maintained paved roads. Aruba's road network covers a total distance of about 998 kilometres (620 mi), with 361 kilometres (220 mi) remaining unpaved.
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A double-decker tram or double-deck tram is a tram that has two levels or decks. Some double-decker trams have open tops. Double-deck trams were once popular in some European cities, like Berlin and London, throughout the British Empire countries in the early half of the 20th century including Auckland, Christchurch and Wellington in New Zealand; Hobart, Tasmania in Australia, and in parts of Asia. They are still in service or even newly introduced in Hong Kong, Alexandria, Oranjestad, Blackpool, Birkenhead, Franschhoek, Auckland and Douglas, mostly as heritage or tourist trams.
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Streetcars or trolley(car)s were once the chief mode of public transit in hundreds of North American cities and towns. Most of the original urban streetcar systems were either dismantled in the mid-20th century or converted to other modes of operation, such as light rail. Today, only Toronto still operates a streetcar network essentially unchanged in layout and mode of operation.
The Dearne District Light Railway was a tramway linking Barnsley with the towns of Wombwell, Wath, Bolton on Dearne and Thurnscoe. Opened on 14 July 1924, it was the last street tramway to be built in the UK before the modern era and one of the first to shut. It was granted a Light Railway order in 1915, but World War I delayed its opening.
Although tram and Heritage streetcar systems date to the late 19th and early 20th centuries, many old systems were closed during the mid-20th century because of the advent of automobile travel. This was especially the case in North America, but postwar reductions and shutdowns also occurred on British, French and other Western European urban rail networks. However, traditional tramway systems survived, and eventually even began to thrive from the late 20th century onward, some eventually operating as much as when they were first built over a century ago. Their numbers have been augmented by modern tramway or light rail systems in cities which had discarded this form of transport.
The Santa Teresa Tram, or Tramway, is a historic tram line in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. It connects the city's centre with the primarily residential, inner-city neighbourhood of Santa Teresa, in the hills immediately southwest of downtown. It is mainly maintained as a tourist attraction and is nowadays considered a heritage tramway system, having been designated a national historic monument in 1985. The line has a very unusual gauge: 1,100 mm. The main line is 6.0 kilometres long.
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Arubus, officially known as Arubus N.V. is the public transport agency, located on the island of Aruba, Netherlands. It operates 15 regular service bus routes and 22 school service bus routes; with nine morning routes and 11 afternoon routes. It is owned by the government of Aruba. It also co-operates a tram line servicing downtown Oranjestad, the capital of Aruba. Service hours operate from 3:30 a.m. until 12:30 a.m. Arubus also owns two bus terminals in Oranjestad, and San Nicolas.