Vienna
The Austrian capital has the fifth-largest tramway network of the world with a length of approx. 180 km beside a U-Bahn (underground) network with five lines and approx. 75 km length. Four U-Bahn lines are operated with classic underground train cars and lateral live rail, one (line U6) with low floor cars and overhead wires.
Operator of the tramway, underground and the municipal busses is → "Wiener Linien" (= Viennese lines). Additionaly, there's a interurban tram line to the city of Baden some 30 kilometres south of Vienna, which is operated by a full subsidary company (Wiener Lokalbahnen AG, abbrev. WLB)
25 photos
Graz
The city of Graz is the capital of the Austrian federal state of Styria and has a population of approx. 250,000. It has an some 70 kilometre-long tram network as well as a funicular, which is integrated into the transport network.
Both means of transport and the city buses are operated by a municipal company, which bears the strange-'germerican' name → 'Holding Graz Linien'.
11 photos
Linz
Linz, the capital of the Austrian federal state of Upper Austria, has almost 200,000 inhabitants. It has a tram network of almost 30 kilometres length served by three lines, which run on the unusual gauge of 900 millimetres and share a central route in the inner city.
In 2009, the Pöstlingbergbahn, one of the steepest adhesion mountain railways in the world, was integrated into the tram network as a line 50. The originally metre-gauge track was rebuilt with 900 millimetres and a short connecting route to the tram network was built. However, due to its steep gradients of up to 11.6%, must continue be operated with specially equipped vehicles. These are based on the Cityrunner type of the Linz tram, but differ also visually clearly from the "normal" trams and are sometimes called 'mountain runner'.
All means of urban Transport are operated by → Linz AG.
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Gmunden
Gmunden is a small town with approx. 13,000 inhabitants in Upper Austria. Since 1894, it has had an approx. 3 kilometre long, metre-gauge tram line that connected the railway station with the city centre. In September 2018, the tramway was connected to the narrow-gauge local railway Gmunden - Vorchdorf by a 700-metre-long new section. The "Traunseetram" is now running with low-floor vehicles between Gmunden railway station and Vorchdorf.
The tram is operated by → Stern & Hafferl Verkehrsgesellschaft.
10 photos
Salzburg
The "Salzburger Lokalbahn" is a former railway line from the city of Salzburg to its northern suburbs, which was rebuilt to a modern light rail. It has two branches with a total length of 35 kilometres.
In addition, the city of Salzburg has a 100-kilometer trolleybus network. Both modes of transport are operated by → Salzburg AG.
13 photos
Innsbruck
The capital of the Austrian federal state of Tyrol has a tram network, with consists of 4 routes and has a system length of about 40 kilometres. More than half of this represent the two interurban lines No. 6 and the Stubai Valley Railway, both lead far out of the city. The Stubai Valley Railway surmounts a height difference of more than 400 metres up to its peak near Telfes.
Another public transport system in Innsbruck is a funicular called Hungerburgbahn, which climbs almost 300 metres within a distance of some 1.8 kilometres.
The trams and most bus lines are operated by → IVB (Innsbrucker Verkehrsbetriebe und Stubaitalbahn GmbH).
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Zurich
Zurich is the largest city in Switzerland with a population of 400,000. It has a tram network with a system length of almost 75 kilometres. The tram runs on metre-gauge tracks and is operated by → VBZ (Verkehrsbetriebe Zürich).
The tram is exceeding from the urban area to the northern suburbs since 2006. For this extension, some Cobra trams were obtained by Verkehrsbetriebe Glattal (VBG), which are serviced and operated by VBZ, but wear the colour scheme of VBG.
There are also several trolley bus lines and three mountain railways in Zurich. The tram route from Stadelhofen to Rehalp is also used by the Forchbahn, a railway also running on metre-gauge tracks. It connects the village of Forch with Zurich on a 16 kilometre route and is called S-Bahn S18.
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Bern
Bern, the capital of Switzerland (which is referred to as "Bundesstadt" = federal city) has approx. 150,000 inhabitants. It has a tram network with a length of about 30 kilometers. The outer branch of line 6 from Egghölzli to Worb Dorf is dedicated as a railway and belongs to the RBS (Regionalverkehr = Regional Traffic Bern-Solothurn). Therefore, on the line 6 also vehicles of this operator are used in addition to the normal Bern tram vehicles.
The inner city tram and bus network as well as the trolley bus routes are operated by the municipal transport company Bern under the brand name → Bernmobil.
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Basel
Basel has some 200,000 inhabitants and approx. 500,000 inclusive the surrounding countryside ("Baselbiet"). It is situated in the northwest of Switzerland directly at the German and French border. The tram network of the → BVB (Basler Verkehrsbetriebe) and → BLT (Baselland Transport) also passes to Germany and France. Altogether, the tram routes have a length of approx. 75 kilometres.
The outer branches to Aesch, Dornach, Pratteln and Rodersdorf are dedicated as railways and are operated by the BLT. As a compensation for the BLT-kilometrage in the city with its yellow tramway cars on the lines 10, 11 and 17 the line 14 is operated by BVB with its green vehicles.
14 photos
Lausanne
The city of Lausanne (about 150,000 inhabitants) in the French-speaking part of Switzerland on Lake Geneva has two metrolines besides the largest trolleybus network in Switzerland.
The M1 is a conventional light rail line, which runs completely aboveground except for three underground stations. The M2 is a driverless underground line, which originated from a former cogwheel railway and was extended by 8 stations in north-west direction. Due to the gradients, only a French rubber tyre metro was considered. The Metro climbs up a height difference of 336 metres over a distance of only 6 kilometres with a maximum gradient of 12%. The trains of the M2 correspond to those of the line M14 in Paris, but every unit consists of only two cars. Both lines are overrun by their own success, they are often overfilled.
Operator of the network is → TL (Transports publics de la Région Lausannoise S.A.).
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Genève (Genf/Geneva)
Geneva (Genève, situated in the French-speaking part of Switzerland) is located in the west of Switzerland, directly on the border with France. The city with about 200,000 inhabitants has a tram network with a length of almost 40 kilometres.
The tram network as well as buses and trolley buses are operated by → TPG (Transports publics genevois).
11 photos