The Angers tramway () is the
tram
A tram (also known as a streetcar or trolley in Canada and the United States) is an urban rail transit in which Rolling stock, vehicles, whether individual railcars or multiple-unit trains, run on tramway tracks on urban public streets; some ...
way network in the
French city of
Angers
Angers (, , ;) is a city in western France, about southwest of Paris. It is the Prefectures of France, prefecture of the Maine-et-Loire department and was the capital of the province of Duchy of Anjou, Anjou until the French Revolution. The i ...
in
Pays de la Loire
Pays de la Loire (; but can also mean 'Lower Loire') is one of the eighteen administrative regions of France, located on the country's Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic coast. It was created in the 1950s to serve as a zone of influence for its capital an ...
.
Opened on 25 June 2011,
the system is operated by
RATP Dev
The RATP Group () is a French state-owned enterprise (Établissement public à caractère industriel et commercial, EPIC) that operates public transport systems primarily in Paris, France. Headquartered in Paris, it originally operated under th ...
and replaced some bus lines, with the buses redeployed throughout the rest of the metropolitan area. The
Alstom APS ground-level power supply
Ground-level power supply, also known as surface current collection or, in French, ''alimentation par le sol'' ("feeding via the ground"), is a concept and group of technologies that enable electric vehicles to collect electric power at ground lev ...
has been used on two parts of the line totalling
in order to avoid
overhead lines
An overhead line or overhead wire is an electrical cable that is used to transmit electrical energy to electric locomotives, Electric multiple unit, electric multiple units, trolleybuses or trams. The generic term used by the International Union ...
in the centre of
Angers
Angers (, , ;) is a city in western France, about southwest of Paris. It is the Prefectures of France, prefecture of the Maine-et-Loire department and was the capital of the province of Duchy of Anjou, Anjou until the French Revolution. The i ...
and
Avrillé. Angers is the third city using such system, after
Bordeaux
Bordeaux ( ; ; Gascon language, Gascon ; ) is a city on the river Garonne in the Gironde Departments of France, department, southwestern France. A port city, it is the capital of the Nouvelle-Aquitaine region, as well as the Prefectures in F ...
and
Reims
Reims ( ; ; also spelled Rheims in English) is the most populous city in the French Departments of France, department of Marne (department), Marne, and the List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, 12th most populous city in Fran ...
.
Timeline
* April 2007: Works officially started.
* April 2010: Delivery of the
Alstom Citadis
The Alstom Citadis is a family of low-floor trams and light rail vehicles built by Alstom. , over 2,300 Citadis trams have been sold and 1,800 tramways are in revenue service throughout the world, with operations in all six inhabited continents ...
302 trams
* December 2010: Testing
* January 2011: Operation of shadow service without passengers
* 25 June 2011: Line A in service
* 8 July 2023: Line B and C in service
Current Service
The total budget for the first line, re-evaluated in 2008, is around €350m (€47m for the trams), up from the 2004 estimate of €250m.
Main features for Line A:
* North-South connection across the metropolitan area, connecting
Avrillé (third most populous town ) to
La Roseraie (most populous district in
Angers
Angers (, , ;) is a city in western France, about southwest of Paris. It is the Prefectures of France, prefecture of the Maine-et-Loire department and was the capital of the province of Duchy of Anjou, Anjou until the French Revolution. The i ...
).
* Non-stop service from 5.30 AM until 0.30 AM (19 hours a day)
*
* 25 stations
* End to end journey time of 37 minutes;
* Average speed of 20 km/h (13 mph)
* 6 minute headways during peak hours.
* an estimated 35,000 passengers expected daily.
As the line goes on both banks of the
Maine
Maine ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the New England region of the United States, and the northeasternmost state in the Contiguous United States. It borders New Hampshire to the west, the Gulf of Maine to the southeast, and the Provinces and ...
, a new bridge was built to allow the trams to cross the river. It connects Angers' University Hospital Centre to
Saint-Serge. This 270m bridge is accessible to bicycles and pedestrians as well as emergency vehicles.
Stations
*Angers-Roseraie
*Jean Vilar
*Jean XXIII
*Bamako
*Strasbourg
*Place Lafayette
*Les Gares
*Foch-Haras
*Foch-Maison Bleue
*Ralliement
*Molière
*Saint-Serge Université
*Berges de Maine
*C.H.U-Hôpital
*Capucins
*Jean Moulin
*Les Hauts De Saint Aubin
*Verneau
*Terra Botanica
*Plateau Mayenne
*Bois du Roy
*Acacias
*Saint Gilles
*Bascule
*Avrillé-Ardenne
Advantages
* Good public transport system for
Avrillé (third town in the metropolitan area after
Angers
Angers (, , ;) is a city in western France, about southwest of Paris. It is the Prefectures of France, prefecture of the Maine-et-Loire department and was the capital of the province of Duchy of Anjou, Anjou until the French Revolution. The i ...
and
Trélazé
Trélazé () is a commune in the Maine-et-Loire department in western France.
Population
See also
*Communes of the Maine-et-Loire department
The following is a list of the 176 communes of the Maine-et-Loire department of France
F ...
), bringing more life to the city centre and assisting with the development of new neighbourhoods
* Connecting new districts:
Plateaux de la Mayenne and
des Capucins
* Tram station close to
Terra Botanica
* Connecting important facilities such as the University Hospital Centre (4,500 employees and 3,000 visitors a day),
Angers Saint-Laud railway station and the administrative city
* The new bridge on the
Maine
Maine ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the New England region of the United States, and the northeasternmost state in the Contiguous United States. It borders New Hampshire to the west, the Gulf of Maine to the southeast, and the Provinces and ...
is used by trams, bicycles and pedestrians between the hospital and the
Gaumont Film Company
Gaumont SA () is a French film and television production and distribution company headquartered in Neuilly-sur-Seine, France. Founded by the engineer-turned-inventor Léon Gaumont (1864–1946) in 1895, it is the oldest extant film company in ...
studios.
* A better connections to the
Angers
Angers (, , ;) is a city in western France, about southwest of Paris. It is the Prefectures of France, prefecture of the Maine-et-Loire department and was the capital of the province of Duchy of Anjou, Anjou until the French Revolution. The i ...
city centre and improved traffic flows
* A more attractive city centre (including a larger pedestrian area)
* Complementarity of different transport types around the central connection point,
Angers Saint-Laud railway station and bus station
* Connecting
La Roseraie as part of the urban renovation of the district.
Drawbacks
*Line A passes through
place du Ralliement, which will still be accessible for pedestrians, emergency and delivery vehicles as well as bicycles, but buses will not have access to it, nor will other tram lines.
Rolling stock
Angers Loire Métropole awarded
Alstom
Alstom SA () is a French multinational rolling stock manufacturer which operates worldwide in rail transport markets. It is active in the fields of passenger transportation, signaling, and locomotives, producing high-speed, suburban, regional ...
a €47m contract to supply 17
Citadis 302 trams on 15 November 2006.
A further 20 units were supplied for the expansion of the network.
Design of rolling stock
Design
A design is the concept or proposal for an object, process, or system. The word ''design'' refers to something that is or has been intentionally created by a thinking agent, and is sometimes used to refer to the inherent nature of something ...
and
personalization
Personalization (broadly known as customization) consists of tailoring a service or product to accommodate specific individuals. It is sometimes tied to groups or segments of individuals. Personalization involves collecting data on individuals, ...
of the
rolling stock
The term rolling stock in the rail transport industry refers to railway vehicles, including both powered and unpowered vehicles: for example, locomotives, Railroad car#Freight cars, freight and Passenger railroad car, passenger cars (or coaches) ...
is characterized by the front end "convergence" V-shape similar in form to a shield. The other major feature is the ubiquity of a
rainbow
A rainbow is an optical phenomenon caused by refraction, internal reflection and dispersion of light in water droplets resulting in a continuous spectrum of light appearing in the sky. The rainbow takes the form of a multicoloured circular ...
, designed by the French agency
RCP Design Global is found in the color scheme and interior design of the trams and other transportation in the city.
The interior of the trams is marked by
floral
Flowers, also known as blooms and blossoms, are the reproductive structures of flowering plants (Flowering plant, angiosperms). Typically, they are structured in four circular levels, called whorls, around the end of a stalk. These whorls in ...
figures in different colors on the ceiling, white walls and green seats to reflect the
geological layers of
Anjou.
Image:Tramway-Angers-Maquette-extérieur.jpg , External design - by RCP Design Global
Image:Tramway-Angers-Maquette-extérieur2.jpg , The rainbow
A rainbow is an optical phenomenon caused by refraction, internal reflection and dispersion of light in water droplets resulting in a continuous spectrum of light appearing in the sky. The rainbow takes the form of a multicoloured circular ...
Image:Tramway-Angers-Maquette-plafond2.jpg , Ceiling view with the floral figures
Image:Tramway-Angers-Maquette-plafond.jpg , Ceiling view
Image:Tramway-Angers-Maquette-siège.jpg , Seat of the Angers
Angers (, , ;) is a city in western France, about southwest of Paris. It is the Prefectures of France, prefecture of the Maine-et-Loire department and was the capital of the province of Duchy of Anjou, Anjou until the French Revolution. The i ...
tramway
Image:Tramway-Angers-Maquette-siège2.jpg , Seat view - design by RCP Design Global
Future services
The Line B was expected to be opened by 2020. It was planned to run from
Beaucouzé
Beaucouzé () is a commune in the Maine-et-Loire department in western France.
Population
Climate
See also
*Communes of the Maine-et-Loire department
The following is a list of the 176 communes of the Maine-et-Loire department of F ...
, via the Atoll shopping centre via the Campus Belle-Beille -
Université Angers to the main railway station and Parc des Expositions (
Saint-Sylvain-d'Anjou) through Monplaisir district. However, in 2016 the city presented a revised proposal for the future Line B. Stopping at the
Technopole Angers at the Universities Belle-Beille Campus, the lines length is stripped to . Due to financial reasons, the start of construction has been postponed for 2019, so that a start of passenger transport can not be expected until 2022. The line, along with Line C, finally opened on 8 July 2023.
It has been announced
that the Line A will be rerouted from January 2021 via Centre de Congrès, avoiding Place du Railiement, using new tracks, a new junction south of ''Saint-Serge - Université'' and an existing junction immediately north of ''Foch-Maison Bleue'' that was built with the original line to facilitate a future expansion. The new route will serve two new stops at ''Centre de Congrès'' and ''Hôtel de Ville''. The existing route between ''Molière'' and ''Foch-Maison Bleue'' will be retained as part of Line C that will run between Line B's western terminus at ''Belle-Beille - Campus'' and Line A's southern terminus at ''Angers - Roseraie'' allowing a direct connection between Belle Beille and
Angers-Saint-Laud station.
Network Map
See also
*
Trams in France
*
List of town tramway systems in France
References
External links
Angers Loire métropole tram website
{{coord, display=title
Angers
Keolis
Tram transport in France
Transport in Pays de la Loire
Angers
Angers (, , ;) is a city in western France, about southwest of Paris. It is the Prefectures of France, prefecture of the Maine-et-Loire department and was the capital of the province of Duchy of Anjou, Anjou until the French Revolution. The i ...