| Singapore tramway networks | |||||||||||
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 A Singapore electric tram, Upper Serangoon Road, 1900. | |||||||||||
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| Locale | Singapore | ||||||||||
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Singapore has had two tramway networks forming part of its public transport arrangements. Both networks were relatively unsuccessful and short lived.
A steam tram service by the Singapore Tramways Company operated with limited success from 3 May 1886 to 1894. After the implementation of the Tramways Ordinance, No. XII of 1882, which regulated the construction, maintenance and working of tramways in Singapore, planning and specification of the steam tram service commenced. By October 1884 the delivery of materials from England and Scotland for the rail construction had started. [1]
It was planned to lay a double line of rails along Anson Road, Robinson Quay, Collyer Quay, Market Street and Boat Quay and a single line along Tanjong Pagar Road, South Bridge Road, North Bridge Road, Middle Road and Serangoon Road. The manufacture of 14 tram cars, each with 32 second-class seats and six first-class seats, was also planned. Each car would be open at the sides and have transverse seats, with waterproof curtains suspended from longitudinal brass rods. For the transportation of goods, 40 wagons, made entirely of malleable iron and steel, were planned to be used. [1]
The laying of the first rails started on 7 April 1885. The first regular steam tram service from Tanjong Pagar to Johnston's Pier began on 3 May 1886. The trams were in competition with the cheaper rickshaws, and passengers were reluctant to pay tram fares of 10 cents or 6 cents for the first- and second-class seats respectively. The fuel for the steam locomotives had to be imported. After just three years of operation, Singapore Tramways Company offered themselves to be bought by the Tanjong Pagar Dock Company, but the sale wasn't closed. [1]
In December 1889, a public auction was held by Messrs. Crane Brothers to find a buyer for the Singapore Tramways Company. The company was sold for $186,000 to the New Harbour Dock Company Limited, a sum probably below the scrap value. Under the new management, the tram line from Tanjong Pagar to Rochor was decommissioned, and in 1892 only the line from Borneo Wharf down Anson Road to Collyer Quay was kept in use for transporting goods. On 1 June 1894, tram service between New Harbour Dock, Tanjong Pagar and Collyer Quay was also discontinued due to the financial losses, bringing to an end the era of steam trams in Singapore. [1]
On 24 July 1905 the first electric trams in Singapore were inaugurated. When the Municipal Authorities in Singapore implemented the Tramways Ordinance in 1902, the company Singapore Tramways Ltd was registered in London to build and operate a tramway system. On 29 March 1905, Singapore Electric Tramways Ltd took over the management. [2]
The public did not like to use the trams because of high fares in comparison with those of London and a complicated payment structure as well as infrastructural deficiencies and technical issues. Tram rides were initially charged by the number of sections in a route or by the full distance of the route, with fares in the range between 10 and 20 cents which was more expensive than well established modes of transport such as rickshaws or horse-drawn carriages. The price for a ride was finally reduced to 3 Cents per section, so that by 1909 an average of 32,000 paying passengers a day used the trams. [2]
After obtaining consultancy by the Shanghai Electric Construction Company, tram operations were upgraded in 1922, including refurbishment of the tramcars and revised fares. In 1923, the Singapore Traction Ordinance was proposed. It was implemented in October 1925. As a consequence, the trams were replaced by trolleybuses on 4 September 1927. [2]
There were 6 tramway lines with a similar track layout to that of the former steam trams. The routes connected Telok Blangah Road to Keppel Road, Tanjong Pagar Road to Geylang Road, Anson Road to Johnston's Pier, Bras Basah Road to Serangoon Road, Serangoon Road to Kallang Road, and High Street to Tank Road. [2]
Tanjong Pagar is a historic district located within the Central Business District in Singapore, straddling the Outram Planning Area and the Downtown Core under the Urban Redevelopment Authority's urban planning zones.
Trams in India were established in the late-19th century. Horse-drawn trams were introduced in Kolkata in 1873; electric trams began in Chennai in 1895, and trams were also introduced in Mumbai, Kanpur, and Delhi. They were discontinued in all Indian cities between 1933 and 1964, except for Kolkata.
Rail transport in Singapore mainly consists of a passenger urban rail transit system spanning the entire city-state: a rapid transit system collectively known as the Mass Rapid Transit (MRT) system operated by the two biggest public transport operators SMRT Trains and SBS Transit, as well as several Light Rail Transit (LRT) rubber-tyred automated guideway transit lines also operated by both companies. In addition, local specialised light rail lines are in operation in places such as the Singapore Changi Airport and Sentosa.
The Wellington tramway system (1878–1964) operated in Wellington, the capital of New Zealand. The tramways were originally owned by a private company, but were purchased by the city and formed a major part of the city's transport system.
The Sydney tramway network served the inner suburbs of Sydney, Australia from 1879 until 1961. In its heyday, it was the largest in Australia, the second largest in the Commonwealth of Nations, and one of the largest in the world. The network was heavily worked, with about 1,600 cars in service at any one time at its peak during the 1930s . Patronage peaked in 1945 at 405 million passenger journeys. Its maximum street trackage totalled 291 km in 1923.
The transport system of Kolkata is a mix of modern mass rapid transport and old transport modalities like the rickshaws. Kolkata is connected to the rest of India by the National Highways, the extensive network of the Indian Railways, and by air. Most traffic to North-East India routes via Kolkata.
South Bridge Road is a major road in Singapore, running south of the Singapore River in Chinatown. It starts at Elgin Bridge and ends at the junction of Neil Road, Tanjong Pagar Road and Maxwell Road.
The Kingston upon Hull tramway network was a network of 4 ft 8 1⁄2 instandard gauge tram lines following the five main roads radially out of the city centre of Kingston upon Hull, East Riding of Yorkshire, England. Two of these lines went west, and two east. The fifth went to the north, and branched to include extra lines serving suburban areas. Additionally a short line linked the city centre to the Corporation Pier where a ferry crossed the Humber Estuary to New Holland, Lincolnshire.
Collyer Quay is a road in Downtown Core, Singapore that starts after Fullerton Road and ends at the junction of Raffles Quay, Finlayson Green and Marina Boulevard. The road houses several landmarks namely, Clifford Pier, Change Alley, Hitachi Tower, Ocean Towers and Ocean Financial Centre.
Trams in New Zealand were a major form of transport from the 19th century into the mid-20th century. New Zealand's first (horse) tramway was established in 1862 (Nelson), followed by a steam tramway in 1871 (Thames), and the first electric tramway in 1900. The tram systems in the main centres, and in some smaller towns, were soon electrified. By the 1950s, all systems were in the process of being replaced by trolley-buses or buses. The last tram service closed in 1964, in Wellington. A tram running parallel with a public road opened in Western Springs, Auckland, in 1980 and a central city loop line in Christchurch in 1995. Both are heritage lines.
Dundee Corporation Tramways formerly served the City of Dundee in Scotland. The Corporation had financed the construction of a horse tramway in 1877, but had then leased it to the Dundee and District Tramways Company. They had replaced most of the horse trams with steam tram locomotives pulling trailer cars from 1884, but in 1897 the Corporation decided that it would run the tramway system itself. After some negotiation and the payment of compensation, they took over the system in 1899, with a view to electrifying it. Electric trams started running in 1900, and the changeover was completed in 1902.
Between 1901 and 1949 Manchester Corporation Tramways was the municipal operator of electric tram services in Manchester, England. At its peak in 1928, the organisation carried 328 million passengers on 953 trams, via 46 routes, along 292 miles (470 km) of track.
Cardiff Corporation Tramways was a company that operated an electric tramway service in Cardiff between 1902 and 1950.
The Singapore trolleybus system formed part of the transportation network of Singapore from 1926 to 1962. The system was constructed between 1926 and 1927 as a replacement to the Singapore tramway network with the old tram routes converted to trolleybus routes. The network became one of the world's largest in the 1930s, with a total network length of 24.96 miles (40.17 km) and fleet of 108 trolleybuses.
Wigan Corporation Tramways operated a tramway service in Wigan, England, between 1901 and 1931. The first tramway service in the town was run by the Wigan Tramways Company, whose horse trams began carrying passengers in 1880. They began replacing horses with steam tram locomotives from 1882, but the company failed in 1890 when a Receiver was appointed to manage it. The Wigan & District Tramways Company took over the system in 1893 and ran it until 1902. Meanwhile, Wigan Corporation were planning their own tramway system, obtaining an authorising Act of Parliament in 1893, and a second one in 1898. This enabled them to build electric tramways, and in 1902, they took over the lines of the Wigan & District Tramways Company.
Llanelly and District Electric Tramways operated a standard gauge tramway service in Llanelli, Wales, between 1908 and 1933. It was the successor to a 3 ft gauge horse tramway, which ran from 1882 until 1908. A complex series of negotiations took place in the early 1900s, resulting in the horse tramway being converted to an electric tramway. Standard gauge horse trams were run initially, until the company completed North Dock power station, which supplied electricity to the tramway. Two of the employees who worked on the construction went on to found Balfour Beatty.
The Great Grimsby Street Tramways Company was a tramway serving Grimsby and Cleethorpes in Lincolnshire, England. It was a subsidiary of The Provincial Tramways Company. They opened a horse tramway in 1881, running from the Wheatsheaf Inn in Bargate to the border with Cleethorpes, with a branch along Freeman Street, and extended the line into Cleethorpes in 1887. It followed the trend of many British systems, and was converted to an electric tramway in December 1901. Small extensions were made to the system at both ends, but the basic plan of the system remained the same throughout its life.
Finlayson Green (Chinese:芬礼逊埔) is a street and a traffic island in Downtown Core, Singapore, connecting the junctions of Robinson Road, Cecil Street and Collyer Quay and the junctions of Raffles Quay and Marina Boulevard. The traffic island is located between Collyer Quay, Raffles Quay and the street Finlayson Green. It was named after John Finlayson, the Chairman of the Tanjong Pagar Dock Company between 1883 and 1895.
Bradford Corporation Tramways were a tramway network in the city of Bradford, West Riding of Yorkshire, England which operated trams from 1882 until 1950 and trolleybuses from 1911 until 1972. The track gauge of the tramways was 4 ft.
Media related to Trams in Singapore at Wikimedia Commons
