Tramway de Reims

Infobox Public transit
name = Tramway de Reims


imagesize = 280px
locale = Reims
transit_type = Tram
began_operation = Planned for March, 2011
ended_operation =
system_length = km to mi|11|abbr=yes
lines = 2
vehicles = 18
stations = 23
ridership =
track_gauge = RailGauge|sg
reporting marks =
operator = TUR/MARS/Transdev
owner =

The tramway de Reims is a French transportation system planned for opening in mid-March 2011. It is going to travel through the town North to South, along a 11-km-long track. The project costs 342.78 millions euro - i.e. 504.12 millions US dollars or 255.36 millions pounds.

Routes

The track will have 23 stops, plus 2 which may be added afterwhile.

Two types of services will run on it :
* A : omnibus running over the whole track, between the Northern quarters of "Orgeval", then along the shopping quarter of "Avenue de Laon". It stops at the main railway station, deserving the business center of "Clairmairais", then pass through the city-center to go in the populous quarter "Croix-Rouge". Meanwhile, it deserves a theater, a large public square and a private clinic. It finishes it route near the general hospital.

* B : special service that begins at the central railway station and has the same route than the A. A small while before the terminus of the "Hôpitaux" it turns 90 degrees and speeds up to reach the TGV station of Bezannes.

Unlike the A services that will be regular, with a frequency varying from 4 to 10 minutes, the incoming of B services from the TGV station will be syncronized with the stops of bullet trains.

Utility of the tramway

* The tramway will take part in the urban renewal project of the popular "faubourgs".
* It will deserve many places of high attractivity like the main university.
* A great part of the population will have a faster link to other places in town, especially to the shopping streets of the city center.
* It will replace a heavily charged bus line.

It is planned that the tramway will transport around 45 000 people a day.

Exploitation

The project for the tramway is very special because the organizing authority has delegated the management of the project to a private concessionary consortium, called MARS ("Mobility in the Agglomeration of ReimS") which is unique in France. This consortium is composed of the vehicles builder "Alstom", the network exploiter "Transdev", five roadwork enterprises and three pension funds.

Vehicles

The 18 tramway vehicles will be Alstom Citadis, type 302. They will be constituted of 5 elements and their capacity will be 205 passengers, including 56 sitting. It will be compatible with the APS-system: like in Bordeaux, the vehicle will be powered by a third rail on the ground where the aerial powering lines are undesired regarding to the patrimony.

The hood has been specially designed for the project. It may remind of the shape of a champagne glass. The livery is a work of famous designer Ruedi Baur, which is based around the concept of colors. Each vehicle will have its own pastel color from a selection of 8 ones. The inside of the vehicles will be treated the same way as the outside.

History

What's done yet

* September 2003: first studies
* October 2004: project is presented to population
* February 2005: project is voted by town council
* July 2005: livery is chosen by population
* October 2005: French Government allows a 5-millions-euro subvention
* January 2006: candidate consortia present their projects
* April 2006: beginning of the archaeological studies
* July 2006: the agglomeration council defines the budget (75 millions euro) and choses the concessionary consortium
* October 2006: the contract with MARS is signed
* December 2006: the administrative tribunal rejects several plaints of concurrent consortia and opponents associations
* January 2007: the hood design is chosen by population
* June - July 2007: public inquest (the technical aspects of the project are presented to the population, which can express its commentaries to a special commission.)
* July 2007: beginning of archaeological inquiries
* September 2007: a replica is presented to the population (see picture above)
* December 2007: the agglomeration council transfers the grounds to be occupied to MARS. This one gets a favorable result of the public inquest.
* January 2008: Transdev begins the exploitation of current bus network.
* March 2008: "déclaration d'intérêt public": official autorisation to begin the works. (The project is delayed of some weeks because of polemics during municipal elections.)
* May 2008: beginning of the roadworks (underground network deviations).

What's incoming (provisional calendar)

* 2009 : delivery of vehicles.
* March 2010 : essays and opening of the line.

Future

There are several orientation projects and studies that may, in the future, define new network extensions. It is likely to be first an extension of the line, then there may be a second East-West line. The junctions for this one will be build in the first line project: construction of the future lines will not need interruptions of traffic on this one.

Past

There has been a previous project in the mid-80's. Everything was ready for the beginning of the construction in 1991 but the project has been suddenly interrupted. This contemporary project is very likely to this former one as it takes back almost exactly the same route at South of the central railway station.

Sources (in French)

On the Web

* [http://www.tramwaydereims.fr/ Official project website]
* [http://www.mobilite-agglomeration-remoise.fr/ MARS' website]
* [http://www.ville-reims.fr/ Ville de Reims' website]

Books and magazines

*Local papers: "Ville de Reims Information" (official magazine of Ville de Reims), "Reims Métropole Magazine" (official magazine of the agglomeration), " [http://www.lhebdoduvendredi.com L'Hebdo du Vendredi] " (free private weekly), " [http://lunion.presse.fr L'Union] " (private daily)
*Documents of the public inquest
*"Connaissance du Rail" (bimonthly specialized magazine), special tramways number of October - November 2007
*"Plus d'un siècle de transports en commun à Reims", Marcel Chenu & Michel Jailliard, 1990, ISBN 2-9505172-0-X