The Potsdam tramway network () is a

network Network, networking and networked may refer to: Science and technology * Network theory, the study of graphs as a representation of relations between discrete objects * Network science, an academic field that studies complex networks Mathematics ...

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 ...

ways forming part of the

public transport Public transport (also known as public transit, mass transit, or simply transit) are forms of transport available to the general public. It typically uses a fixed schedule, route and charges a fixed fare. There is no rigid definition of whic ...

system in

Potsdam Potsdam () is the capital and largest city of the Germany, German States of Germany, state of Brandenburg. It is part of the Berlin/Brandenburg Metropolitan Region. Potsdam sits on the Havel, River Havel, a tributary of the Elbe, downstream of B ...

, the

capital city A capital city, or just capital, is the municipality holding primary status in a country, state (polity), state, province, department (administrative division), department, or other administrative division, subnational division, usually as its ...

of the

federal state A federation (also called a federal state) is an entity characterized by a union of partially self-governing provinces, states, or other regions under a federal government (federalism). In a federation, the self-governing status of the c ...

Brandenburg Brandenburg, officially the State of Brandenburg, is a States of Germany, state in northeastern Germany. Brandenburg borders Poland and the states of Berlin, Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Lower Saxony, Saxony-Anhalt, and Saxony. It is the List of Ger ...

, Germany. The network is owned and operated by the public citizen company (ViP), and included in the "Berlin C" fare zone (''Tarifbereich Berlin C'') of the

Verkehrsverbund Berlin-Brandenburg The Verkehrsverbund Berlin-Brandenburg (VBB) is a transport association run by public transport providers in the German states of Berlin and Brandenburg. It is a private limited company owned jointly by the states of Berlin and Brandenburg (w ...

History

The network opened on 12 May 1880: It was a

horsecar A horsecar, horse-drawn tram, horse-drawn streetcar (U.S.), or horse-drawn railway (historical), is a tram or streetcar pulled by a horse. Summary The horse-drawn tram (horsecar) was an early form of public transport, public rail transport, ...

system owned by the society Reymer & Masch, named ''Potsdamer Straßenbahn-Gesellschaft'' and consisted of a pair of lines. Günther Wolf-Dietger, Michael Wolf-Dietger, Machel Wolf-Dietger: "''Potsdamer Nahverkehr: Straßenbahn und Obus in Brandenburgs Landeshauptstadt''". Geramond-Verlag GmbH,

Munich Munich is the capital and most populous city of Bavaria, Germany. As of 30 November 2024, its population was 1,604,384, making it the third-largest city in Germany after Berlin and Hamburg. Munich is the largest city in Germany that is no ...

1999 - 1907 saw the introduction of electric trams which ran on a new line of . In 1908 the network consisted of 4 lines (named from A to D) and in 1949 of 5 lines (named from 1 to 5). At the end of the 1950s, new streetcar models were introduced (typical during the DDR era), the Gothawagen (

T57 T57 may refer to: * T57 (album), ''T57'' (album), a 2007 album by American gospel group Trin-i-tee 5:7 * T57 (classification), a disability sport classification * Cooper T57, a British sports racing car * Garland/DFW Heloplex, a heliport in Garland ...

, G4-61, G4-65 and T2-62), produced in the

Thuringia Thuringia (; officially the Free State of Thuringia, ) is one of Germany, Germany's 16 States of Germany, states. With 2.1 million people, it is 12th-largest by population, and with 16,171 square kilometers, it is 11th-largest in area. Er ...

n town of

Gotha Gotha () is the fifth-largest city in Thuringia, Germany, west of Erfurt and east of Eisenach with a population of 44,000. The city is the capital of the district of Gotha and was also a residence of the Ernestine Wettins from 1640 until the ...

by the

Gothaer Waggonfabrik ''Gothaer Waggonfabrik'' (''Gotha'', GWF) was a German manufacturer of rolling stock established in the late nineteenth century at Gotha. During the two world wars, the company expanded into aircraft building. World War I In World War I, Go ...

. In the 1980s, a pair of new routes were built: in 1984 through the new residential center in

Babelsberg Babelsberg () is the largest quarter of Potsdam, the capital city of the German state of Brandenburg. The neighbourhood is named after a small hill on the Havel river. It is the location of Babelsberg Palace and Park, part of the Palaces and Park ...

and in 1988 from ''Am Stern'' stop to the new south-eastern residential area in Drewitz. The

Czech Czech may refer to: * Anything from or related to the Czech Republic, a country in Europe ** Czech language ** Czechs, the people of the area ** Czech culture ** Czech cuisine * One of three mythical brothers, Lech, Czech, and Rus *Czech (surnam ...

trams

Tatra KT4 Tatra KT4 is the name of a GT4 (tram), four-axle type articulated tramcar developed by the Czech firm ČKD Tatra. The first pre-production vehicles entered service in Potsdam in 1975, with the first production vehicles in 1977. A total of 1,747 uni ...

were introduced in 1993, and the modern

Combino The Siemens Combino is a low-floor tram produced by Siemens Mobility (formerly Duewag). The first prototype was produced in 1996 at the Duewag works in Düsseldorf; the trams were later built in Krefeld- Uerdingen. Due to its modular design u ...

and

Variotram The Stadler Variobahn (formerly sold as the ABB Variotram, Adtranz Variotram and Bombardier Variotram) is a German-designed model of articulated tram, articulated low-floor tram and Light rail, light rail vehicle. Since its introduction in 1993, ...

in the 2000s. Some of the Tatra KT4D were given to Ploiești, an industrial city in Romania. Delivery of the Stadler

Tramlink Tramlink, previously Croydon Tramlink and currently branded as London Trams, is a light rail tram system serving Croydon and surrounding areas in South London, England. It is the first operational tram system serving the London region since 195 ...

started in 2025.

Network

The Potsdam route network is a standard-gauge railway. It is long and has 63 stops. The track length is . It is served by five main and two amplifier lines. It is almost continuously double tracked, only the

Nauener Tor Nauener Tor (Nauen Gate) is one of the three preserved gates of Potsdam, Germany. It was built in 1755 and is the first example of the influence of English Gothic Revival architecture in Continental Europe. History The first Nauener Tor was buil ...

is crossed by means of a

gauntlet track Gauntlet track or interlaced track, also gantlet track () is an arrangement in which Rail tracks, railway tracks run parallel on a single track bed and are interlaced (i.e., overlapped) in such a way that only one pair of rails can be used at any ...

. The network consists, as of June 2022, of 7 lines: The tram lines 91 to 96 operate on all days according to a uniform timetable scheme. The basic scheme of the tram lines is a 20-minute- cyclic schedule. The timetable of the tram lines are coordinated at the interchange points ''

Potsdam Hauptbahnhof Potsdam Hauptbahnhof is the main station in the German city of Potsdam, capital of the state of Brandenburg. It lies on the Berlin–Magdeburg railway and was founded in 1838. However, it has had this name only since 1999. It was originally calle ...

'' and '' Babelsberg station'' with the

Berlin S-Bahn The Berlin S-Bahn () is a rapid transit railway system that services the reigon in and around Berlin, the capital city of Germany. It has been in operation under the name since December 1930, having been previously called the special tariff are ...

. Lines 98 is a peak-only line, which operates on school days. On Line 92, extra rides are offered throughout the route in the

rush hour A rush hour (American English, British English) or peak hour (Australian English, Indian English) is a part of the day during which traffic congestion on roads and crowding on public transport is at its highest. Normally, this happens twice e ...

. As a result, lines 92 (with 2 courses) and 96 (with one course) run at 6/7/7-minute intervals, which in turn means that line 91 and 92 as well as 96 and 93 serve the transit network at intervals shorter than 10 minutes. The network is navigated with

uni-directional vehicle A uni-directional vehicle is a vehicle that is normally designed to operate only in the forward direction. While the vast majority of road vehicles are like this, the term generally refers to a train or tram with a distinguishable front and rea ...

s. There are

turning loop A balloon loop, turning loop, or reversing loop (Glossary of North American railway terms, North American Terminology) allows a rail vehicle or train to reverse direction without having to Shunting (rail), shunt or stop. Balloon loops can be u ...

s at all terminal stops. Exceptions are '' Glienicker Brücke'', which is crossed by a

triangular junction In railroad structures and rail terminology, a wye (like the'' 'Y' ''glyph) or triangular junction (often shortened to just triangle) is a triangular joining arrangement of three rail lines with a railroad switch (set of points) at each corner ...

, as well as '' Schloss Charlottenhof'', where the tramcars are turned around by a block bypass.

Photogallery

File:Bundesarchiv Bild 183-B0407-0029-001, Potsdam, Neubauten am Platz der Einheit (cropped).jpg, A " Gothawagen" at Platz der Einheit in 1965 File:Lindner-TW-Potsdam.jpg, Historical 1907 ''Triebwagen Nr. 9'' in 2006 File:Potsdam KT4Dm am Schragen 22-05-2005.JPG, A "

" at Schragen KT4D 001 (Prototyp).jpg, A "Tatra KT4" at

File:Potsdam Combino 411 als SL 94 am Rathaus Babelsberg.JPG, A "

" at Rathaus

File:Potsdam Variobahn am Platz der Einheit.JPG, A "

" used in

Duisburg Duisburg (; , ) is a city in the Ruhr metropolitan area of the western States of Germany, German state of North Rhine-Westphalia. Lying on the confluence of the Rhine (Lower Rhine) and the Ruhr (river), Ruhr rivers in the center of the Rhine-Ruh ...

Note the DVG

logo A logo (abbreviation of logotype; ) is a graphic mark, emblem, or symbol used to aid and promote public identification and recognition. It may be of an abstract or figurative design or include the text of the name that it represents, as in ...

on the vehicle at Platz der Einheit File:ViP-Variobahn 2011.jpg, The final Potsdam version of the new "

" File:Potsdam Schienenpflegefahrzeug 303 12-12-2007.jpg, A rail maintenance vehicle at Platz der Einheit

References

Notes

Bibliography

* *

External links

Stadtwerke (and Verkehrsbetrieb) Potsdam

Tram Travels: Verkehrsbetrieb Potsdam (ViP)Article about Potsdam Tramway at railway-technology.com
* * {{Urban public transport in Germany Transport in Potsdam

600 V DC railway electrification