Native name Tramway de Caen Number of lines 2 Daily ridership 42,000 (2008) | Locale Caen, Normandy, France Number of stations 34 | |
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Transit type GLT/TVR, a type of guided bus | ||
The Caen guided light transit or Caen TVR, locally known as "the Tram", is an electrically powered guided bus system in Caen, France, which uses Bombardier Guided Light Transit (TVR in French) technology.
Contents
After a construction time lasting three years, the system opened on 18 November 2002 at a total cost of 227 million euros. The Caen transport company, Twisto (CTAC), is the current operator of the TVR system and calls the system the "Tram".
Service is provide by 24 three-section articulated vehicles, guided by a central non-supporting rail. The entire passenger line is guided, and in normal service the vehicles are powered by electricity drawn from an overhead wire through a pantograph. The vehicles have auxiliary diesel engines and steering wheels and are able to operate away from the guide rail, but only in diesel mode, and under normal operating conditions they run only in electric mode when carrying passengers along the route, using their diesel engines only when travelling to and from the depot (garage). The use of pantographs for current collection means the Caen vehicles cannot move laterally away from the overhead wire when operating in electric mode, and for this reason they are not considered to be trolleybuses, under the English language meaning of that word, and the system is sometimes referred to as a "rubber-tyred tramway".
History
It was in 1988 that the SMTCAC (Syndicat Mixte des Transports en Commun de l'Agglomération Caennaise) first considered developing public transport on a large-scale. However, the opening of the bus system was not without problems as well as lack of interest in the system by the population with only 23% backing the project, in 1994, Viacités, one of the guided bus' network partners closed a contract with the consortium STVR (Société the transport sur Voie Réservée), existing construction company Spie Batignolles and Bombardier Transportation proceeded with infrastructure and vehicle construction. Due to financial contracts the municipality had no other choice but to push the project forward despite a relative lobby against the tram.
Network
The total network is 15.7 kilometres long and comprises two lines, A and B, with a 5.7-kilometre (3.5 mi) common section running north–south in central Caen. The central section, between Copernic and Poincaré, encompasses 15 stops. The entire network serves a total of 34 stops. There are plans for a second line running from east to west.
The tram current serves 40% of the public transport trips, 70 000 inhabitants and 60 000 jobs situated within 400m of the line.
Service frequency is high (3.5 to 7 minutes between vehicles) and operates between 05:30 and 00:30. Speed is 30% higher than conventional buses and stops are never more than 450 m apart.
Construction
Safety
The system has been plagued with faults, due to design and operation; on 21 October 2004 a young boy named Nathan was run over and killed by a TVR vehicle in Rue Roger-Bastion. The vehicle, being bus-based, restricted to its guiding rail and lacking grip to brake in time, could not avoid the infant.
Rolling stock
Service is provided by Bombardier GLT guided buses, each 24.5m long and 3.40m high, and weighing 38 tons. Their top speed is 70 km/h.
Replacement with light rail
Viacités confirmed on 14 December 2011 its plans to abandon the TVR in favour of light rail by 2018, due to its unreliability.
The light rail is set take 18 months to construct and has an approximately €170 million price tag. The conversion to light rail will also mean the termination of two concession contracts that Keolis and Bombardier-Spie Batignolles consortium STVR hold. In late 2014, the French government pledged €23.3 million towards Caen's light rail conversion project, which is now expected to cost approximately €230 million.
It is believed that the replacement rail line will follow the TVR's original route.