Nice tramway

The Nice tramway () is a , triple-line tramway in the city of Nice in Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur, France. It is operated by the Société nouvelle des transports de l'agglomération niçoise division of Transdev under the name Lignes d'azur.

Opened on 24 November 2007, it replaced bus lines 1, 2, 5 and 18. From the start, the system had 20 Alstom Citadis trams in service, providing a tram every seven minutes. Since its inception, the number of passengers has increased from 70,000 per day in 2008 to 90,000 per day in 2011. The frequency has gradually increased to a tram every four minutes in 2011.

Given the success of the T1 Line, Mayor Christian Estrosi decided to create additional lines. The West-East T2 Line serves the Nice Côte d'Azur Airport to the west through the construction of a multimodal centre and the Port of Nice to the east. This line runs through a tunnel in the centre of Nice. A future extension of the west–east line, north along the Var valley, is proposed. Another extension, running further west from the airport, across Var, is also proposed. In addition, the Nice Côte d'Azur urban region decided to extend Line 1 to the Pasteur neighbourhood.

History

1900–1953

The first tramway in Nice opened in 1879, was electrified in 1900, and was followed by a departmental network in 1906. The entire network was electrified in 1910. In the 1920s, the network had 11 lines, some of which were partially used for goods transport. However, the tram was criticised and was replaced by buses on some lines beginning in 1927. The last tramway in Nice ceased service on 10 January 1953.

Renaissance

Like many other French cities, Nice has major traffic problems, including the fact that most economic activities are concentrated in the centre. To overcome these problems, studies on the implementation of transit in dedicated lanes were conducted in 1987. The city of Nice began to implement dedicated bus lanes in 1997, and launched a study on the implementation of a tram line in 1998.

Trams were chosen because they appeared to be more reliable than buses, since they are not subject to the vagaries of traffic, but they are less expensive than a subway line. The tram was declared a public utility in 2003 and work began the same year; the line was placed in service on 24 November 2007 after several weeks of technical trials, even though construction was not fully completed.

In the months following the launch of the tram, there were between 65,000 and 70,000 passengers daily; the number rose to 90,000 by January 2011.

Network 
The Nice tramway was designed to serve most of the population of Nice. As the city is situated on hilly ground by the sea, the first tram line was drawn as a U shape, passing through the city centre.

Henri Sappia terminus 

Formerly called "Las Planas", the north-western terminus of the tramway was renamed "Henri Sappia" in July, 2013. The Henri Sappia depot is situated at the northwestern terminus of the line in the neighbourhood of Le Rouret, where the Count of Falicon and the Marquis of Rouret once owned large villas and many farms dotted the land.

Above the tram terminus sport and cultural centres have been built. The plaza in front of the station has been raised and planted, with a fountain of water jets installed.

Fontaine du Temple 
The Fontaine du Temple neighbourhood where the Comte de Falicon tram stop is built has been remodelled for the arrival of the tramway. The plaza has been repaved and will host an outdoor market.

Latest expansions

Line 2 Ouest-Est (T2) 

Line 2 runs for  of which  near the centre is underground. Starting at Port Lympia in the east and ending at Nice Côte d'Azur Airport and Nikaïa in the west, serving 20 stations in total. Ridership expectations are 140,000 passengers per day. Work began in the second half of 2014. A €270m contract for building the underground section was awarded in December 2013.  Service from CADAM to Magnan opened on June 30, 2018, service to the airport and Jean Médecin station opened as scheduled on 28 June 2019, and service on the complete line was opened in December 2019, the journey is about 26 minutes from Nice Airport to Port Lympia. The total cost of the line is projected to be €770m of which the central government is contributing €52.8m.

Line 3 (T3) 
Line 3 branches off Line 2 at the Interchange located at Gare de Nice-Saint-Augustin which adds an additional 6 stations onto the network with its terminus being located at Saint-Isidore. Line 3 also serves the Allianz Riviera with journey times from the Stadium to the Port projected at being 36 Minutes

Proposed expansions

Line 4 (T4)
An extension from the current Line 2 (T2) to Saint Laurent du Var and Cagnes-Sur-Mer has been proposed.

Line 1 (T1) from Hôpital Pasteur to L'Ariane
In addition, an extension of the original Line 1 (T1) from its current terminus at Hôpital Pasteur to the northern neighbourhood of L'Ariane is being considered.

Tram and art
Art works are used throughout the line, including sculptures of figures by Jaume Plensa, on the top of pylons on the Place Massena. Michel Redolfi designed the sound system. Artists Benjamin Vautier, known as "Ben" (who designed the station name signs), the Mado la Niçoise, Michael Lonsdale and others make voice announcements inside the tram. Sounds and voices are different depending on the hours, seasons, etc. The thirteen artists selected to decorate the tramway are:
 Ben (Benjamin Vautier)
 Michael Craig-Martin
 Gunda Förster
 Yann Kersalé
 Ange Leccia
 Stéphane Magnin
 Maurizio Nannucci
 Jean-Michel Othoniel
 Pascal Pinaud
 Jaume Plensa
 Emmanuel Saulnier
 Pierre di Sciullo
 Sarkis Zabunyan
 Jacques Vieille

Rolling stock

Line 1 (T1) 
The cars of the Nice tramway are unique and have been designed to blend in with the Niçois architecture. They are based on the Alstom Citadis family of tramcars and were built near La Rochelle, Poitou-Charentes. A standard 5-car tram measures  but two extra carriages were added, bringing the length to . The tram is  wide and can carry 200 passengers at an average speed of  compared to an average speed of  for the bus. It uses the .

Lines 2 and 3 (T2, T3) 
For T2 and T3 lines new Citadis 405 were built. They consist of seven cars and are equipped with a Ground-level power supply and batteries.

Power supply 

Nice tramway was originally to use the ground-level power supply third rail system as used by Bordeaux tramway. However, this plan was modified in favor of a hybrid system where the tram is able to operate on both conventional overhead power supply 750 VDC catenary wires using a pantograph (in much of the underground and central city areas of Nice) as well as using on-board nickel metal hydride batteries without pantograph (for most distances of the outer suburbs, and for example where the tram crosses the Place Masséna and Place Garibaldi)..  Tram stations are equipped with power charging contact strips located beneath the tram stopping position (see photo), with accompanying battery/supercapacitor banks seen on the station platform (built/supplied by Alstom).

Network Map

See also 
 Trams in France
 List of town tramway systems in France

References

External links 

 Nice tramway – official website 
 ST2N – official website 

Transdev
Tram
Tram transport in France
750 V DC railway electrification