Oslotrikken
Encyclopedia
The Oslo Tramway is a 131.4 kilometres (81.6 mi) tram
way in Oslo
, Norway which consists of six lines with 99 stops and has a daily ridership of 110,000. It is operated by Oslo Sporvognsdrift
, a subsidiary of the municipal owned Kollektivtransportproduksjon who maintain the track and 72 tram vehicles on contracts with the public transport authority Ruter
. The system operates on standard gauge
and uses 750 overhead V
DC
. Depot, workshops and headquarters are at Grefsen
(at the terminus of lines 13 and 17). There is also a depot at Holtet
(along lines 18 and 19) that is home to the technical company InfraPartner, which maintains the track for the tram and metro systems in Oslo, and a small Office building for Oslo Sporveier
.
west of the city centre, Oslo West Railway Station
and a sideline to Grønland, east of the city centre. The first "trams" were in fact horse
drawn vehicles on flanged steel wheels. The first expansion of the line came in 1878 with a line to the Grünerløkka
neighborhood to the north.
Electric tram service was initiated in 1894 with a line over Briskeby to Majorstuen
, a route south of the original Homansbyen line. Horsedrawn service was entirely replaced with electric service in 1900. For a long time, there were two tram companies operating in Oslo, "Grønntrikken" ("The Green Trams" with a green and yellow livery
) and "Blåtrikken" ("The Blue Trams" with a blue livery). These companies were merged together in 1924. The Norwegian word trikk (tram) derives from the English
word electric. During the 1910s, 1920s and 1930s, the network continued to expand, with the most notable addition being the construction of Ekebergbanen, a line up along the hill along the east side of the Oslo Fjord, south of the city. It was operated by a separate company. It was originally built to Sæter in 1917, the line was completed to Ljabru in 1941. The tram network reached its greatest extent in 1939 with the opening of the northeastern line to Sinsen.
After World War II
, the tram network started being gradually being replaced with diesel bus
es, closures started in 1947, and in 1960, the city council decided to aim for a complete dismantlement of the entire tram system. A number of lines had been replaced with the T-bane
subway
system, and the versatility of buses was attractive to the local politicians. However in 1977, the city council rescinded its decision to close the tram system. An order was made for a set of new articulated trams to supplement the aging fleet. The first of these trams, the SL79 was delivered in 1982.
The tram network was expanded slightly in the 1990s. A line over Aker Brygge
was added in 1995, and in 1999 an extension of the northwestern Ullevål line was extended past the University of Oslo
campus, to the new Rikshospitalet
national hospital. A further renewal of the tram fleet by the addition of Italian double-articulated SL95 cars was also started. In 2002 the tram appeared to fall on hard times again. Oslo Sporveier was strapped for cash, and the board passed a decision to close down much of the tram system and replace it with buses. However, such a drastic change of operations forced a general assembly to meet, and most of the closures were cancelled. Finally, only the northernmost line to Kjelsås was closed in November 2002. In 2003, the tram system which had been part of Oslo Sporveier, was fissioned out to a separate company, Oslotrikken. However, Oslotrikken was instructed to drop the "Oslo" prefix in their name shortly after, making Trikken their official name. The line to Kjelsås was reopened in 2004, exactly two years after it was first closed.
The tram network has had a considerable expansion in passenger figures since 2003, but the number of tram departures has only increased by 22.7%. Lack of vehicles is a hindrance for further expansion of the tram service, and although orders for more vehicles are being planned, Ruter
have said it will take years before the tram service can be expanded.
Among the more notable stretches are:
Destinations in brackets are only served during off-peak hours except for Jar which is served every 20 minutes as opposed to every 10 minutes. Lines 11 and 12 are run jointly. A line 11 tram arriving at Majorstuen continues as a line 12 and vice versa. The same applies to the lines 13 and 17 at their terminus Grefsen.
Since lines 11, 12 and 19 run over Majorstuen, where several turns are too sharp for the newer SL-95 trams, they are operated with the lighter SL-79 trams. Lines 17 and 18 run to Rikshospitalet, which need to be operated by the bidirectional SL-95 trams. Both tram types are operating on line 13 but SL79 turns at Lilleaker instead of Jar, where there is no loop.
There are also some old trams which are brought out on special occasions. During the summer, tram no. 70 together with trailer no. 647 operates scheduled trips on Sundays. It was built by Falkenried in Hamburg, Germany in 1913 for Grønntrikken. It remained in regular passenger service until 1968 and continued to serve as a maintenance vehicle. For the tram's 100 year jubilee, the no. 70 tram was restored in 1994. Trailer no. 647, complete with the classical open platforms, is a replica of an old trailer, built from parts from tram no. 71.
Tram
A tram is a passenger rail vehicle which runs on tracks along public urban streets and also sometimes on separate rights of way. It may also run between cities and/or towns , and/or partially grade separated even in the cities...
way in Oslo
Oslo
Oslo is a municipality, as well as the capital and most populous city in Norway. As a municipality , it was established on 1 January 1838. Founded around 1048 by King Harald III of Norway, the city was largely destroyed by fire in 1624. The city was moved under the reign of Denmark–Norway's King...
, Norway which consists of six lines with 99 stops and has a daily ridership of 110,000. It is operated by Oslo Sporvognsdrift
Oslo Sporvognsdrift
Oslotrikken AS, formerly Oslo Sporvognsdrift AS, is the company that operates the Oslo Tramway in Oslo, Norway. Oslotrikken is owned by Kollektivtransportproduksjon, which is again owned by the city council and has an operating contract with Ruter. The company operates 72 trams , has 374 employees...
, a subsidiary of the municipal owned Kollektivtransportproduksjon who maintain the track and 72 tram vehicles on contracts with the public transport authority Ruter
Ruter
Ruter As is the public transport authority for Oslo and Akershus, Norway. The company, organized as a limited company is responsible for managing, but not operating, public transport in the two counties, including bus, the Oslo Metro, the Oslo Tramway and ferries...
. The system operates on standard gauge
Standard gauge
The standard gauge is a widely-used track gauge . Approximately 60% of the world's existing railway lines are built to this gauge...
and uses 750 overhead V
Volt
The volt is the SI derived unit for electric potential, electric potential difference, and electromotive force. The volt is named in honor of the Italian physicist Alessandro Volta , who invented the voltaic pile, possibly the first chemical battery.- Definition :A single volt is defined as the...
DC
Direct current
Direct current is the unidirectional flow of electric charge. Direct current is produced by such sources as batteries, thermocouples, solar cells, and commutator-type electric machines of the dynamo type. Direct current may flow in a conductor such as a wire, but can also flow through...
. Depot, workshops and headquarters are at Grefsen
Grefsen
right|thumbnail|300px|Grefsen ChurchGrefsen is a neighbourhood of the city of Oslo, Norway.Together with Kjelsås, Grefsen was part of the borough Grefsen-Kjelsås until January 1, 2004, when they became part of the new borough of Nordre Aker....
(at the terminus of lines 13 and 17). There is also a depot at Holtet
Holtet
-Places:Norway* Holtet, Østfold, a village in Halden municipality, Østfold county* Holtet, Oslo, a village in Oslo municipality**Holtet , a rail station in Oslo* Holtet, Troms, a village in Harstad municipality, Troms countyDenmark...
(along lines 18 and 19) that is home to the technical company InfraPartner, which maintains the track for the tram and metro systems in Oslo, and a small Office building for Oslo Sporveier
Oslo Sporveier
Kollektivtransportproduksjon AS is a municipal owned public transport operator of Oslo, Norway, the name meaning simply "public transportation producer". It operates the trackage and maintains the stock of the Oslo Metro and Oslo Tramway, as well as owning eight operating subsidiaries...
.
History
The first tram in Oslo was opened in 1875 with a short line between HomansbyenHomansbyen
Homansbyen is a neighborhood in Frogner borough in Oslo, Norway. The area is named for the lawyer brothers Jacob and Henrik Homan .-Area:...
west of the city centre, Oslo West Railway Station
Oslo Vestbanestasjon
Oslo West Station or Oslo V, is a former railway station located in Vika in Oslo, Norway. It was the terminus of the Drammen Line between 1872 and 1980, until the Oslo Tunnel opened. The station remained in use until 1989, when all traffic was moved to the new Oslo Central Station...
and a sideline to Grønland, east of the city centre. The first "trams" were in fact horse
Horse
The horse is one of two extant subspecies of Equus ferus, or the wild horse. It is a single-hooved mammal belonging to the taxonomic family Equidae. The horse has evolved over the past 45 to 55 million years from a small multi-toed creature into the large, single-toed animal of today...
drawn vehicles on flanged steel wheels. The first expansion of the line came in 1878 with a line to the Grünerløkka
Grünerløkka
Grünerløkka is a borough of the city of Oslo, Norway. Grünerløkka became part of the city of Oslo in 1858.Grünerløkka was named after Friedrich Grüner who bought a mill in the area from king Christian V of Denmark in 1672 . During the 19th century, Grünerløkka became a working class area...
neighborhood to the north.
Majorstuen
Majorstuen is a neighbourhood in the Frogner borough in the western part of Oslo, Norway.Majorstuen is known for its vibrant downtown, especially its shopping area. The area has several elegant townhouses circa 1880-1890. The area is also an important public transport junction in Oslo, where all...
, a route south of the original Homansbyen line. Horsedrawn service was entirely replaced with electric service in 1900. For a long time, there were two tram companies operating in Oslo, "Grønntrikken" ("The Green Trams" with a green and yellow livery
Livery
A livery is a uniform, insignia or symbol adorning, in a non-military context, a person, an object or a vehicle that denotes a relationship between the wearer of the livery and an individual or corporate body. Often, elements of the heraldry relating to the individual or corporate body feature in...
) and "Blåtrikken" ("The Blue Trams" with a blue livery). These companies were merged together in 1924. The Norwegian word trikk (tram) derives from the English
English language
English is a West Germanic language that arose in the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of England and spread into what was to become south-east Scotland under the influence of the Anglian medieval kingdom of Northumbria...
word electric. During the 1910s, 1920s and 1930s, the network continued to expand, with the most notable addition being the construction of Ekebergbanen, a line up along the hill along the east side of the Oslo Fjord, south of the city. It was operated by a separate company. It was originally built to Sæter in 1917, the line was completed to Ljabru in 1941. The tram network reached its greatest extent in 1939 with the opening of the northeastern line to Sinsen.
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
, the tram network started being gradually being replaced with diesel bus
Bus
A bus is a road vehicle designed to carry passengers. Buses can have a capacity as high as 300 passengers. The most common type of bus is the single-decker bus, with larger loads carried by double-decker buses and articulated buses, and smaller loads carried by midibuses and minibuses; coaches are...
es, closures started in 1947, and in 1960, the city council decided to aim for a complete dismantlement of the entire tram system. A number of lines had been replaced with the T-bane
Oslo T-bane
The Oslo Metro is the rapid transit system of Oslo, Norway, operated by Oslo T-banedrift on contract from the transit authority Ruter. The network consists of six lines that all run through the city centre, with a total length of . It has a daily ridership of 268,000 with 105 stations of which 16...
subway
Rapid transit
A rapid transit, underground, subway, elevated railway, metro or metropolitan railway system is an electric passenger railway in an urban area with a high capacity and frequency, and grade separation from other traffic. Rapid transit systems are typically located either in underground tunnels or on...
system, and the versatility of buses was attractive to the local politicians. However in 1977, the city council rescinded its decision to close the tram system. An order was made for a set of new articulated trams to supplement the aging fleet. The first of these trams, the SL79 was delivered in 1982.
The tram network was expanded slightly in the 1990s. A line over Aker Brygge
Aker Brygge
Aker Brygge is an area in Oslo, Norway. It is a popular meeting place for shopping, dining, and entertainment. Oslo residents, tourists from all over the world, business people on the move, as well as musicians, artists, actors, A-, B- and C-celebrities find Aker Brygge their favourite place to...
was added in 1995, and in 1999 an extension of the northwestern Ullevål line was extended past the University of Oslo
University of Oslo
The University of Oslo , formerly The Royal Frederick University , is the oldest and largest university in Norway, situated in the Norwegian capital of Oslo. The university was founded in 1811 and was modelled after the recently established University of Berlin...
campus, to the new Rikshospitalet
Rikshospitalet
Rikshospitalet is located in Oslo, Norway. From January 1, 2009, the hospital is part of Oslo University Hospital....
national hospital. A further renewal of the tram fleet by the addition of Italian double-articulated SL95 cars was also started. In 2002 the tram appeared to fall on hard times again. Oslo Sporveier was strapped for cash, and the board passed a decision to close down much of the tram system and replace it with buses. However, such a drastic change of operations forced a general assembly to meet, and most of the closures were cancelled. Finally, only the northernmost line to Kjelsås was closed in November 2002. In 2003, the tram system which had been part of Oslo Sporveier, was fissioned out to a separate company, Oslotrikken. However, Oslotrikken was instructed to drop the "Oslo" prefix in their name shortly after, making Trikken their official name. The line to Kjelsås was reopened in 2004, exactly two years after it was first closed.
The tram network has had a considerable expansion in passenger figures since 2003, but the number of tram departures has only increased by 22.7%. Lack of vehicles is a hindrance for further expansion of the tram service, and although orders for more vehicles are being planned, Ruter
Ruter
Ruter As is the public transport authority for Oslo and Akershus, Norway. The company, organized as a limited company is responsible for managing, but not operating, public transport in the two counties, including bus, the Oslo Metro, the Oslo Tramway and ferries...
have said it will take years before the tram service can be expanded.
Line network
Most of the tram lines in Oslo go near the downtown area, and all the lines on the system go either through downtown, or, more rarely, terminate there. As of 2005 there are six lines, all of which operate daily, usually on a schedule with a 10-minute headway, or 20-minute schedule during late evenings and weekends. The entire network is 131.4 km long. Many stretches are operated by two or more lines. In central areas, served by more than one line, there is a maximum of 5-minute headway between trams, a concept named "Rullende fortau" (rolling sidewalk) by the tram company.Among the more notable stretches are:
- The Ekeberg LineEkeberg LineThe Ekeberg Line is a long light rail line of the Oslo Tramway which runs from Gamlebyen to Ljabru in Oslo, Norway. Operated by lines 18 and 19, it serves the area of Nordstarand and the neighborhoods of Ekeberg, Jomfrubråten, Bekkelaget and Ljan. The line is operated by Oslo Sporvognsdrift using...
(Ekebergbanen) is the southernmost route, which runs up the hillside along the east coast of the Oslo Fjord, finally ending at Ljabru. It was one of the lines proposed axed in 2002, but spared at the general assembly. The line is more a light railLight railLight rail or light rail transit is a form of urban rail public transportation that generally has a lower capacity and lower speed than heavy rail and metro systems, but higher capacity and higher speed than traditional street-running tram systems...
than a tram, as it runs on a separate track, and not in the street. It is served fully by line 19 and partially by line 18. - The Lilleaker Line, also more like a light railLight railLight rail or light rail transit is a form of urban rail public transportation that generally has a lower capacity and lower speed than heavy rail and metro systems, but higher capacity and higher speed than traditional street-running tram systems...
, is the most western route, and the only tram line which does not stay within the city limits of Oslo. The last station on the line, JarJar (station)-External links:*...
, lies in BærumBærumis a municipality in Akershus county, Norway. The administrative centre of the municipality is the town of Sandvika. Bærum was established as a municipality on 1 January 1838. A suburb of Oslo, Bærum is located on the west coast of the city....
. The tram line actually joins with Kolsås Line of the subway systemOslo T-baneThe Oslo Metro is the rapid transit system of Oslo, Norway, operated by Oslo T-banedrift on contract from the transit authority Ruter. The network consists of six lines that all run through the city centre, with a total length of . It has a daily ridership of 268,000 with 105 stations of which 16...
for the last stretch. Formerly, trams would run late night passenger services on Kolsås Line, but this has been discontinued, although there are tram sheds on the Kolsås Line beyond Jar. The line is served by line 13. Between 2 December 2007 and February 15 2009, tram operations returned on this line from Jar to Bekkestua, this part of the Kolsås Line had been closed for several years pending upgrading. Due to track upgrades, the line now runs only to Jar.
Lines
The lines are color coded, and the colors appear on the line map as well as destination signs (but not any more on the SL-79 trams since they have digital destination displays). Line 11 and 13 share colors, as do lines 18 and 19. Up until the 2005 restructuring of the tram system there was also a line 10 (Jar-Skøyen-Aker Brygge-Jernbanetorget-Ullevål-Rikshospitalet), color coded blue and a line 15 (Grefsen-Trondheimsveien-Nationaltheateret-Majorstuen), color coded red.| No. | Service |
|---|---|
| 11 | Majorstuen Majorstuen (station) Majorstuen is a subway station on the Oslo Metro and a light rail station on the Briskeby Line of the Oslo Tramway. It is located in the Majorstuen neighborhood in the Frogner borough.... –Homansbyen–Torshov–Storo–Disen–Kjelsås |
| 12 | Majorstuen–Frogner–Aker Brygge–Jernbanetorget–Torshov–Storo–Disen–(Kjelsås) |
| 13 | (Jar Jar (station) -External links:*... )-Lilleaker Lilleaker (station) Lilleaker is a light rail station on the Oslo Tramway.Located at Lilleaker in Ullern, it was the terminus of the Lilleaker Line when it was opened in 1919 by Kristiania Elektriske Sporvei as an extension of the Skøyen Line... –Skøyen–Nationaltheateret–Jernbanetorget–Torshov–Storo–Grefsen |
| 17 | Rikshospitalet–Ullevål–Stortorvet–Carl Berners Plass–Sinsen–Grefsen |
| 18 | Rikshospitalet–Ullevål–Stortorvet–Jernbanetorget–Holtet–(Ljabru) |
| 19 | Majorstuen–Briskeby–Nationaltheateret–Jernbanetorget–Holtet–Ljabru |
Destinations in brackets are only served during off-peak hours except for Jar which is served every 20 minutes as opposed to every 10 minutes. Lines 11 and 12 are run jointly. A line 11 tram arriving at Majorstuen continues as a line 12 and vice versa. The same applies to the lines 13 and 17 at their terminus Grefsen.
Since lines 11, 12 and 19 run over Majorstuen, where several turns are too sharp for the newer SL-95 trams, they are operated with the lighter SL-79 trams. Lines 17 and 18 run to Rikshospitalet, which need to be operated by the bidirectional SL-95 trams. Both tram types are operating on line 13 but SL79 turns at Lilleaker instead of Jar, where there is no loop.
Rolling stock
Current rolling stock
The Oslo tram system has 72 trams.- 40 six-axle trams of type SL79SL79SL79 is a class of 40 articulated trams operated by the Oslo Tramway of Norway. The trams were a variation of the Duewag trams that had been developed by the German manufacturer since the 1950s. The six-axle vehicles are unidirectional with four doors on the right side. The trams can seat 77...
, numbered 101-140. These are single-articulated, and operate in one direction only. They were delivered in two batches, the first batch, with 25 trams, started arriving in 1982, the second batch of 15 trams arrived in 1989. The two batches are fairly similar, but with different interiors, and the rear door of the second batch is double. The first ten trams were produced by DuewagDUEWAGThe DUEWAG AG was one of Germany's major manufacturers for rail vehicles. The business was sold in 1999 to Siemens transportation.- History :The company was founded in 1898 as Waggonfabrik Uerdingen AG in Uerdingen...
of Germany, the rest were produced by ABBAsea Brown BoveriABB is a Swiss-Swedish multinational corporation headquartered in Zürich, Switzerland, and best known for its robotics. ABB operates mainly in the power and automation technology areas. It ranked 143rd in Forbes Ranking ....
at StrømmenStrømmenStrømmen is a town in Skedsmo, Akershus, Norway. It is about twenty kilometers east of Oslo, and considered part of Greater Oslo. It has around 8,000 residents....
, east of Oslo. The trams are 22.18 metres long, 2.50 metres wide, 3,41 metres tall and weigh 32.8 tons. The tram can take 163 passengers, 71 of which are seated.
- 32 eight-axle trams of type SL95SL95SL95 is a series of 32 low-floor, articulated trams operated on the Oslo Tramway. The series is built by Ansaldo/Firema of Italy and delivered between 1999 and 2004. Capacity for the eight-axle, three-section vehicles is 212 passengers, of which 88 can be seated. The name derives from being ordered...
, numbered 141-172 and delivered in 1998-2006. These double-articulated, partly low-floor tramLow-floor tramA low-floor tram is a tram that has no stair 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 can go backwards as well as forward due to the presence of driver cabs at either end and doors on both sides. They can therefore operate on the Ullevål line to Rikshospitalet which does not have a turning circle at the end of the line. However, the large turning radiusTurning radiusThe turning radius or turning circle of a vehicle is the size of the smallest circular turn that the vehicle is capable of making. The term turning radius is actually a misnomer, since the size of a circle is actually its diameter, not its radius. The less ambiguous term turning circle is preferred...
and heavy weight of the tram makes it unsuitable for some of the lines to Majorstuen, which have poor tracks and sharp turns. The SL95s were delivered by the ItalianItalyItaly , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...
company Ansaldo/Firema, now Ansaldobreda. The SL95 is 33.12 metres long, 2.6 metres wide, 3.62 metres tall and weighs 64.98 tons. The tram has a capacity for 212 passengers, 88 of which are seated.
There are also some old trams which are brought out on special occasions. During the summer, tram no. 70 together with trailer no. 647 operates scheduled trips on Sundays. It was built by Falkenried in Hamburg, Germany in 1913 for Grønntrikken. It remained in regular passenger service until 1968 and continued to serve as a maintenance vehicle. For the tram's 100 year jubilee, the no. 70 tram was restored in 1994. Trailer no. 647, complete with the classical open platforms, is a replica of an old trailer, built from parts from tram no. 71.
Former rolling stock
- The fifty 4-axle Høka motor cars (designated SM53SM53The SM53, also called Høka trams after the manufacturer Hønefoss karosserifabrikk, were a tram model which operated for more than 40 years on the Oslo Tramway. A number of these trams were later rebuilt and became known as SM83 trams....
and numbered 204-253) entered service in 1952-58. These were not articulated trams, but usually pulled a matching trailer (designated ST55 and numbered 551-580) in order to increase capacity. In the mid 1980s eleven of these motor cars were rebuilt and modernised. These trams were given the designation SM83 and numbered 261-271. All these trams were retired in 2000 when Oslo Sporveier increased the voltageVoltageVoltage, otherwise known as electrical potential difference or electric tension is the difference in electric potential between two points — or the difference in electric potential energy per unit charge between two points...
of the network from 600 V to 750 V. - In 1954, with 30 Høka cars in service, one started manufacturing a type of hybrid cars, with a body similar to the Høka, though a bit smaller, built upon the undercarriage of existing, 2-axle, older cars. This type of car was called "kylling" ("chicken") because it was smaller than the new 4-axle cars built at HØNEfoss ("høne" = "hen"). The kylling cars were in service from 1954 until 1982. Matching trailers were also manufactured on the same principle, but these were mainly pulled by the Høka cars, as they proved too heavy to pull for the kylling cars.
- In the early 1990s, the line over Storo was cut off from its turning circle terminus due to construction work. To get around this problem, a number of old trams were purchased from GothenburgGothenburgGothenburg is the second-largest city in Sweden and the fifth-largest in the Nordic countries. Situated on the west coast of Sweden, the city proper has a population of 519,399, with 549,839 in the urban area and total of 937,015 inhabitants in the metropolitan area...
at the price of 1 kroneNorwegian kroneThe krone is the currency of Norway and its dependent territories. The plural form is kroner . It is subdivided into 100 øre. The ISO 4217 code is NOK, although the common local abbreviation is kr. The name translates into English as "crown"...
each. These trams, which had been built between 1958 and 1962, and designated M25 in Gothenburg, were coupled back-to-back so that a driver's cabin was available at either end of the train. They were designated SM91SM91SM91 is the Norwegian designation for a tram type which operated on the Oslo Tramway until 2002. The trams were imported from Sweden, where they had originally run on the Gothenburg Tramway under the designation M25. The trams were originally delivered to the Gothenburg Tramway between 1958 and 1961...
in Oslo. The condition of the SM91 was somewhat better than the aging Høka cars, so they replaced them. The SM91 was never popular with passengers, they were as noisy as the Høka, and the rear doors, which would only allow people out of the tram, had to be pushed open manually by passengers from the inside. After a fatal accident involving the doors of this tram type in January 2001, the trams were no longer run coupled together. They were finally retired in November 2002.