The Rouen tramway () branded as the Rouen Metro () is a

semi-metro The term semi-metro refers to a category of urban rail transport in which trams run partly on grade separation, separate tracks to avoid conflicts with other traffic, by using tunnels and elevated railway, viaducts. This type of transit is also ...

network in the city of

Rouen Rouen (, ; or ) is a city on the River Seine, in northwestern France. It is in the prefecture of Regions of France, region of Normandy (administrative region), Normandy and the Departments of France, department of Seine-Maritime. Formerly one ...

Normandy Normandy (; or ) is a geographical and cultural region in northwestern Europe, roughly coextensive with the historical Duchy of Normandy. Normandy comprises Normandy (administrative region), mainland Normandy (a part of France) and insular N ...

France France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...

. The semi-metro network (a type of

light rail Light rail (or light rail transit, abbreviated to LRT) is a form of passenger urban rail transit that uses rolling stock derived from tram technology National Conference of the Transportation Research Board while also having some features from ...

or tramway) runs

low-floor tram A low-floor tram is a tram that has no steps between one or more entrances and part or all of the passenger cabin. The low-floor design improves the accessibility of the tram for the public, and also may provide larger windows and more airspace. ...

s since its inception. Construction began in 1991 and the network opened for service on 17 December 1994. The network includes an underground tunneled section running 1.8 km beneath the city centre, before splitting into two street-level branches south of the

Seine River The Seine ( , ) is a river in northern France. Its drainage basin is in the Paris Basin (a geological relative lowland) covering most of northern France. It rises at Source-Seine, northwest of Dijon in northeastern France in the Langres p ...

Modern network

The tramway consists of two lines that share a common route in the north in and diverting into two southern branches to

Saint-Étienne-du-Rouvray Saint-Étienne-du-Rouvray () is a commune in the Seine-Maritime department in the Normandy region in northern France. History Evidence of ancient habitation has been found on and around the site of modern-day Saint-Étienne-du-Rouvray including ...

and

Le Grand-Quevilly Le Grand-Quevilly is a commune in the Seine-Maritime department in the Normandy region in north-western France. Geography The town is third largest suburb of Rouen, a port with considerable light industry situated just southwest of the centre ...

. The northernmost section of the line within Rouen city centre runs through a underground (subway) section in the Rouen city centre encompassing stations Joffre–Mutualité through Bouvoisine. At the Théâtre des Arts station, transfers between the tramway and Rouen's three bus rapid transit lines (T1-T3) can take place; while transfers between the tramway and the

SNCF The Société nationale des chemins de fer français (, , SNCF ) is France's national State-owned enterprise, state-owned railway company. Founded in 1938, it operates the Rail transport in France, country's national rail traffic along with th ...

railway line take place at Gare–Rue Verte station. The remainder of the tramway to the south of the underground portion runs on the road surface and on

reserved track Reserved track, in tram transport terminology, is track on ground exclusively for 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 individ ...

. Although the system is technically a tramway, it is commercially branded and commonly called the ''"métro"'' by both the operator ( TCAR) and the inhabitants of Rouen and its suburbs. In September 1997 the tramway was extended to the '' Technopôle du Madrillet''.

Technical data

* Length of the network : * Number of stops : 31 * Number of tramcars : 27 * Average commercial speed : * Maximum speed: * Daily traffic: 65,000 journeys * Opening hours: 5:00am to 11:30pm * Frequency of service: every 3 minutes (peak); every 20 minutes (off peak)

Rolling stock

The original rolling stock used by the system until 2012 was the

GEC Alsthom GEC or Gec may refer to: Education * Gedo Education Committee, in Somalia * Glen Eira College, in Caulfield East, Victoria, Australia * Goa Engineering College, India * Government Engineering College (disambiguation) * Guild for Exceptiona ...

Tramway Français Standard The Tramway Français Standard (TFS) is a type of tram designed and manufactured by Alstom for use on various tramway systems in France. The TFS is no longer in production, having been superseded by the Alstom Citadis range of tramcars. Two di ...

'' (TFS), identical to those used on the

Grenoble tramway The Grenoble tramway () is the tram system in the city of Grenoble in the Rhône-Alpes region of France. In 1987, Grenoble became the second French city to reintroduce trams, the first being the Nantes tramway. The current network is long, and ...

(1987) and

Paris Tramway Line 1 Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...

. In January 2010,

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 ...

was awarded a €90m contract to supply 27

Citadis 402 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 ...

trams in 2011–2012 to replace the TFS cars. All TFS trams were removed from service in 2012 and were subsequently shipped to

Gaziantep Gaziantep, historically Aintab and still informally called Antep, is a major city in south-central Turkey. It is the capital of the Gaziantep Province, in the westernmost part of Turkey's Southeastern Anatolia Region and partially in the Medi ...

, Turkey as an expansion fleet for a newly built tram line in that city.

Network Map

Former tram system

Rouen's first-generation tram network operated from 1877 to 1953. Horse-drawn carriages and omnibuses were introduced in the late 18th century but proved insufficient for the growing city. Steam trams followed, with the first line authorised to use steam power from

Maromme Maromme () is a commune in the Seine-Maritime department in the Normandy region in northern France. Geography A suburban town of forestry and light industry situated by the banks of the Cailly, just northwest of Rouen city centre, at the junct ...

from 29 December 1877 and full electrification by Thomson Houston in 1896,. Map of the network. resulting in 15 million passengers carried that same year. The network expanded to 70 km (43 mi) in 1915, the longest electric network in France at the time. Despite a record year in 1928 with over 30 million journeys,. the rise of private motoring,

bus A bus (contracted from omnibus, with variants multibus, motorbus, autobus, etc.) is a motor vehicle that carries significantly more passengers than an average car or van, but fewer than the average rail transport. It is most commonly used ...

es,

trolleybus A trolleybus (also known as trolley bus, trolley coach, trackless trolley, trackless tramin the 1910s and 1920sJoyce, J.; King, J. S.; and Newman, A. G. (1986). ''British Trolleybus Systems'', pp. 9, 12. London: Ian Allan Publishing. .or troll ...

es, the

Great Depression The Great Depression was a severe global economic downturn from 1929 to 1939. The period was characterized by high rates of unemployment and poverty, drastic reductions in industrial production and international trade, and widespread bank and ...

, and

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

led to the tramway's decline. In March 1950 the municipality decided to close the tramway, and the last trams of this system ran in 1953..

References

Sources

* *

External links

*
Rouen on ''UrbanRail.net''

Rouen Seine valley Tourist Board's Website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Tramway De Rouen

Transport in Rouen