page_title: Trams in Vienna
section_title: After World War II
hierarchical_section_title: Trams in Vienna / History / After World War II
caption_attribution_description: Deutsch: Vier Generationen von Triebfahrzeugen der Wiener Straßenbahn im Betriebsbahnhof Breitensee: Reihe B, Niederflurtriebwagen 701 Reihe C1 Nr. 141, 1950er-Jahre, Museumswagen Reihe K Nr. 2447, vor dem 1. Weltkrieg gebaut, Museumswagen Reihe E1 Nr. 4533, 1970er-Jahre, im regulären Einsatz Die Remise Breitensee wurde 2006 geschlossen und bis 2009 abgetragen. Das Gelände wird für das Wohnbauprojekt Karree Breitensee genutzt werden. English: 4 Generations of Trams at Breitensee Depot in Vienna: Class B Ultra Low Floor Tram No. 701 Class C1 No. 141 from the 1950ies, Museum Class K No. 2447, built before WW I, Museum Class E1 No. 4533, built in the 1970ies, regular use The Remise Breitensee became unused by Oct. 2006 and was demolished until Jan. 2009. Its ground will be used for the housing project Karree Breitensee.
context_page_description: Trams in Vienna are a vital part of the public transport system in Vienna, capital city of Austria. In operation since 1865, the network reached its greatest extent during the interwar period. Today, it is the fifth largest tram network in the world, at about 176.9 kilometres in total length and 1,071 stations.
  The trams on the network run on standard gauge track. Since 1897, they have been powered by electricity, at 600 V DC. The current operator of the network is Wiener Linien. In 2013, a total of 293.6 million passengers traveled on the network's trams. As of 2013, there were 525 tramcars in Vienna's tram fleet, including 404 trams or tramsets scheduled for service during peak periods, comprising 215 single cars and 189 motor and trailer sets.
context_section_description: Following the Battle of Vienna in early April 1945, the first five lines were able to be returned to service on 28 April. Most of the city's fleet of 4000 trams were badly damaged, 400 of them beyond repair. The task of restoring the network would not be completed until 1950; some short sections of track were never put back into operation.
  In 1948, Vienna acquired second hand trams of Type Z (road numbers 4201-4242) under the Marshall Plan from New York. These trams, which became known as Amerikaner (Americans), were a little wider than other trams used in Vienna. They could only be put into operation on tracks that had a wider track spacing, left over from the steam tramways. An example of these more widely spaced tracks was Line 331 to Stammersdorf. The Amerikaner were comparatively modern, because they were equipped with air-operated doors and automatic retractable ramps. Additionally, the seat backs could be adjusted, so that all seated passengers could always face towards the direction of travel. Some of the major modifications required for the Amerikaner to be able to run in Vienna were carried out by Gräf & Stift in Wien-Liesing.
  Until the 1950s, the network was still consistently operated with old, repaired and partially rebuilt trams, as new ones could be purchased only from 1951 onwards. Even in the 1950s, new trams were consistently obtained in series of only limited numbers, as from 1955 the abolition of the tramway in Vienna was the contemporary transport planning vision, and investments were made accordingly.
  In their early to mid-20th century, private cars had been the exception in European cities, because they had then been too expensive for most of the population.  However, with the growth of private transport in the postwar period, the calls for a car-friendly city became louder.  Rail traffic on the road was therefore seen as a "transport barrier" (the term "transport" applying only to motor vehicles), and the full relocation of public transport to the U-Bahn and buses was seen as the vision of the future.
  In 1956, Vienna's first articulated trams, designated as Type D, were commissioned from Gräf & Stift. Due to the tight financial situation, the new trams were assembled from salvaged parts.  The basis of each one was two old Stadtbahn trailer chassis, on which modern car bodies were mounted.  The chassis and bodies were then connected, by means of a telescopic joint section, of Italian design. The prototype of the Type D, with road number 4301, was delivered on 3 July 1957. After the testing and commissioning process had been completed, the Type D entered service from 17 February 1958.  The inaugural trip operated by these trams was on Line 71.
  A total of 16  type D trams were built.  They were used until 1976 on Lines 9, 41, 42 and E₂. They were cumbersome, due to their high weight (28 t (31 short tons; 28 long tons)), and were also otherwise unconvincing.
caption: Four tram generations in the Breitensee tram depot (closed in 2006) on Line 49.
exif: {"Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormat": "44", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormatLength": "7428"}