The Zaragoza Tram () is a tram system in the Spanish city of

Zaragoza Zaragoza (), traditionally known in English as Saragossa ( ), is the capital city of the province of Zaragoza and of the autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Aragon, Spain. It lies by the Ebro river and its tributaries, the ...

, capital of the

autonomous community The autonomous communities () are the first-level administrative divisions of Spain, created in accordance with the Spanish Constitution of 1978, with the aim of guaranteeing limited autonomy to the nationalities and regions that make up Sp ...

Aragon Aragon ( , ; Spanish and ; ) is an autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community in Spain, coextensive with the medieval Kingdom of Aragon. In northeastern Spain, the Aragonese autonomous community comprises three provinces of Spain, ...

. The first generation network ran from 1885 to 1976. The second generation has one line called Line 1 of which the first phase opened in 2011. The network was expected to be expanded with a second and third line but the project was cancelled but plans to recover it are being made.

History

In 1885, the first animal traction tram line was established. In 1902, Zaragoza had five main lines and one secondary line. In the same year, one of the lines were electrified. The network was expanding quickly in a radial form across the city, with the present Spain square as the center. The 1950s was the heyday of the Zaragoza Tram. From the 1960s, the tram system declined, with little or no investment and was gradually converted to bus operation. On 23 January 1976, the last Zaragoza tram line (Parque-San José) disappeared and the company changed its name to ''Transportes Urbanos de Zaragoza'' (Urban Transport Company of Zaragoza). In 1982 a report was published with plans to reinstall the tram as part of the pre-metro concept, along with alternative plans for a metro and

monorail A monorail is a Rail transport, railway in which the track consists of a single rail or beam. Colloquially, the term "monorail" is often used to describe any form of elevated rail or people mover. More accurately, the term refers to the style ...

system. On 10 June 2009, the Traza consortium of Tuzsa, CAF, FCC Construcción, Acciona, Ibercaja and Concessia selected to build new tramway. On 19 April 2011, Phase 1 of Line 1 opened. Phase 2 of the work of the new tram line 1 began for completion in mid-2013. Two more lines are proposed: * Line 2 ( Las Fuentes- Delicias) * Line 3 ( La Jota- Torrero)

Network

Line 1 (Valdespartera-Parque Goya)

The initial north–south line has 25 stops with mostly side platforms except in two cases. The average distance between consecutive stops is about 500 m, adding to a total length of 12.8 km line. The average commercial

speed In kinematics, the speed (commonly referred to as ''v'') of an object is the magnitude of the change of its position over time or the magnitude of the change of its position per unit of time; it is thus a non-negative scalar quantity. Intro ...

is 19 km/h, with an end-to-end journey time of 40 minutes; 19 minutes for the journey Academia General Militar-Plaza de España (Spain Square) and 21 minutes from Plaza de España to Plaza Cinema Paradiso ( Valdespartera). Construction work started on August 18, 2009, and was projected to last four years in two phases: * Phase 1 (2009–2011): Section between the Valdespartera neighbourhood and Plaza de Basilio Paraiso. Opened 19 April 2011. * Phase 2: (2011–2013): Section between the Plaza de Basilio Paraiso and Academia General Militar. The estimated investment is 400 million euros: * Construction of the track and electrical system 202 million * Purchase of rolling stock: 82 million * Construction of the depot: 37 million * Private investment due to works' enhancing "private" facilities: 55 million * Traffic light system integration and other expenses: 25 million The expected traffic in the project is around 100,000 passengers per day, with an average rate of 0.75 euros per passenger. In 2018, the line served 27.8 million passengers.

Rolling stock

The 21 CAF Urbos 3 trams are long, extendable to , a width of and a height of . They have a capacity of 200 people, 54 seated and 146 standing (at 3.5 persons per m²).

Electricity

The trams mostly use conventional

catenary In physics and geometry, a catenary ( , ) is the curve that an idealized hanging chain or wire rope, cable assumes under its own weight when supported only at its ends in a uniform gravitational field. The catenary curve has a U-like shape, ...

, but in the historical city centre (between Plaza Paraíso and the Roman wall) they use stored braking energy and, additionally, receive power during stops, thanks to the ACR system. Thus no overhead wires are present in the historic area.

Future expansion

A second line is planned, utilising existing Cercanías Zaragoza track for tram train operation to Villanueva de Gállego.

Network Map

References

External links

Project web, Zaragoza town hall
(in Spanish) * * * {{Rail transport in Spain Tram transport in Spain Transport in Zaragoza