List of largest tram and light rail transit systems ever
This is a list of the largest town tramway systems that have ever operated . Town tramway systems include all light rail , tram , interurban , streetcar, or other comparable modes of public transport which uses rails while mainly traveling among other traffic . All figures reflect the system at its height. To keep the list manageable, only systems with over 90km of track are included.
List
System
Country
Length (km)
Notes
Closed
Vicinal tramway
Belgium
4,095[ 1]
Networks between towns ceased in the 1970s, but one line (the Coast Tram ) remains in operation.
Streetcars in Los Angeles
USA
1,770+[ 2]
Composed of Los Angeles Railway and Pacific Electric .
1963[ 2]
Chicago Surface Lines
1,600+[ 3]
1958[ 3]
Trams in Paris
France
1,111[ 4]
Original network stopped service in 1938. Since then, a new 196.6 km network has been built.[ 5]
Trams in Buenos Aires
Argentina
875[ 6] [ 7]
Still operating some lines.
Trams in Saint Petersburg
Russia
700+[ 8]
205 km of lines remain.
Detroit United Railway
USA
640
1956
Trams in Berlin
Germany
624[ 9]
194 km of lines remain.
Tram in Moscow
Russia
560[ 10]
208[ Note 1]
Trams in London
UK
523[ 11]
All trams removed by 1952, but a much smaller modern tramway network, London Tram , reintroduced in 2000.
1952
SFMTA
USA
489[ 12]
Length in 1921.
Manchester Corporation Tramways
UK
470[ 13]
Length could relate to all track in current Greater Manchester including neighbouring operators (but with much inter-running/shared routes).[ 14] Others suggest about 470 km.[ 15] All trams removed by 1950s, but modern light rail , Manchester Metrolink introduced 1992.
1949
Market Street Railway
USA
457[ 16]
1944
Trams in Rio de Janeiro
Brazil
433[ 17]
Streetcars in Washington, D.C.
USA
320[ 18]
1962[ 18]
Trams in Vienna
Austria
318[ 19]
Today 172 km remain.[ 20]
Sacramento Northern
USA
295
1941
Trams in Sydney
Australia
291[ 21]
1961[ 21]
San Diego Electric Railway
USA
266
1949
Trams in Melbourne
Australia
256
Current largest tram system by route length.
Glasgow Corporation Tramways
UK
227.51
1962
Trams in Brisbane
Australia
199
1969
Cologne Stadtbahn
Germany
194.8
Trams in Milan
Italy
181.8[ 22]
Data as of 2017. The network was longer in the past.
Silesian Tramways
Poland
178
Tidewater Southern Railway
USA
137
Trams in Geneva
Switzerland
170[ 23]
The network was reduced to only one surviving line in the 1960s. It has been re-expanding since then, back to over 40 km.
Trams in Budapest
Hungary
158
Trams in Sofia
Bulgaria
154
Trams in Leipzig
Germany
148
Peninsular Railway
USA
146.6
Trams in Prague
Czech Rep.
145,7
As of 2019, the Prague tram network operates 882 tram vehicles.
Trams in Bucharest
Romania
144
Liverpool Corporation Tramways
UK
140
1957
Trams in Kyiv
Ukraine
139.9
Trams in Brussels
Belgium
139
Trams in Dresden
Germany
134.3
Trams in Warsaw
Poland
132
Trams in Stuttgart
Germany
131
Trams in Hanover
127
Birmingham Corporation Tramways
UK
129.6[ 24]
1953
Central California Traction Company
USA
126[ 25]
Trams in Lodz
Poland
124.1
Tram in Zürich
Switzerland
122
Trams in Greater Cairo
Egypt
120[ 26]
2019[ 27]
Trams in Zagreb
Croatia
116
Trams in Adelaide
Australia
113[ 28]
As of 2024, only 15 km remain.
Visalia Electric Railroad
USA
109
Key System
106
1959
Dublin tramways
Ireland
97
No original tramways still exist, but modern light rail, the Luas , was introduced in 2004 and operates 42 km of track.
1959
Trams in Gothenburg
Sweden
95
Trams in Kraków
Poland
97
Trams in Christchurch
New Zealand
86.1
A new heritage loop was built totalling 3.9 km.
1954
See also
References
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^ KONOPACKI-MACIUK, ZBIGNIEW (2014). "TRAMS AS TOOLS OF URBAN TRANSFORMATION IN FRENCH CITIES" . Technical Transactions Architecture . 10 : 63.
^ "ratp.fr - Le réseau Tramway RATP en Île-de-France" . 26 April 2014. Archived from the original on 26 April 2014. Retrieved 28 December 2019 .
^ Historia del tranvía en Buenos Aires Archived 2015-04-10 at archive.today - Revista Digital ead
^ Un viaje por la historia de la ciudad en el viejo Tramway - ElDiario.es, 21 March 2015.
^ "Monument to the Blockade Tram MC-29" . www.visit-petersburg.ru . Retrieved 28 December 2019 .
^ "150 years of trams in Berlin – International Association for the History of Transport, Traffic and Mobility" . Retrieved 28 December 2019 .
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^ "London 1934" . www.tundria.com . Retrieved 27 December 2019 .
^ O'Shaughnessy, M.M. (1921). The municipal railway of San Francisco, 1912–1921 . San Francisco, California: J.A. Prudhomme Composition Co. p. 5. Retrieved 17 January 2017 .
^ Transport Department, Manchester Corporation (1949). A History of Manchester's Tramways : a Souvenir brochure on the occasion of the abandonment of the last tram service in Manchester on the 10th January 1949 . Manchester: Manchester Corporation.
^ Yearsley, Ian. (1962) The Manchester Tram. Huddersfield: The Advertiser Press. p.21.
^ Bett, Wingate H; Gillham, John C, The Tramways of South-East Lancashire (1972). London: Light Railway Transport League.
^ Vielbaum, Walt; Hoffman, Philip; Ute, Grant; Townley, Robert (2005). San Francisco's Market Street Railway . Arcadia Publishing . p. 4. ISBN 9780738529677 .
^ "Rio de Janeiro 1958" . www.tundria.com . Retrieved 28 December 2019 .
^ a b "History" . DC Streetcar . Retrieved 27 December 2019 .
^ Czeike, Felix. (1997). Historisches Lexikon Wien : in 5 Bänden . Wien: Kremayr & Scheriau. p. 362. ISBN 3-218-00543-4 . OCLC 27458914 .
^ "Zahlen Daten Fakten" (PDF) . Retrieved 28 December 2022 .
^ a b "The map which shows how Sydney is going backwards" . NewsComAu . 12 April 2018. Retrieved 27 December 2019 .
^ "Carta della mobilità ATM 2017" [ATM Mobility Charter 2017] (PDF) (in Italian). Azienda Trasporti Milanesi S.p.A. 2017. Retrieved 5 June 2019 .
^ "Le tram 12, un vénérable genevois" . Le Temps (in French). 9 August 2009. Retrieved 24 March 2021 .
^ Birmingham City Transport, Malcolm, etc. Keeley, Transport Pub. Co 1978 ISBN 0-903839-18-0
^ Demoro, Harre W. (1986). California's Electric Railways . Glendale, California : Interurban Press . p. 202. ISBN 0-916374-74-2 .
^ "Cairobserver — On Cairo's dying trams" . cairobserver.com . Retrieved 27 December 2019 .
^ EJOLT. "Heliopolis Municipality Completely Removes Tram Line, Egypt | EJAtlas" . Environmental Justice Atlas . Retrieved 27 December 2019 .
^ "Adelaide's electric tram system builds on horse-drawn network as most complete of any city in southern hemisphere" . Adelaide AZ . Retrieved 3 November 2024 .