page_title: Trams in France
section_title: Trams on tyres
hierarchical_section_title: Trams in France / Recent technical developments / Trams on tyres
caption_attribution_description: English: citadis of the Line B near the square "place des Quinconces", Bordeaux, France Français&#160;: Rame de tramway de la ligne B, place des Quinconces, Bordeaux, France
context_page_description: Trams in France date from 1837 when a 15 km steam tram line connected Montrond-les-Bains and Montbrison in the Loire. With the development of electric trams at the end of the 19th century, networks proliferated in French cities over a period of 15 years. Although nearly all of the country's tram systems were replaced by bus services in the 1930s or shortly after the Second World War, France is now in the forefront of the revival of tramways and light rail systems around the globe. Only tram lines in Lille and Saint-Étienne have operated continuously since the 19th century; the Marseille tramway system ran continuously until 2004 and only closed then for 3 years for extensive refurbishment into a modern tram network. Since the opening of the Nantes tramway in 1985, more than twenty towns and cities across France have built new tram lines. As of 2020, there are 29 operational tram networks in France, with 3 more planned. France is also home to Alstom, a leading tram manufacturer.
context_section_description: A recent development of tramway technology has been the guided bus (or tram on tyres), a rubber-tyred vehicle guided by a fixed rail in the ground, which draws current from overhead electric wires like a conventional tram.
  Two incompatible systems exist: 
  The Guided Light Transit designed by Bombardier Transportation which has been adopted in Nancy and Caen. Here a double flanged wheel between the rubber tyres follows the guidance rail.
  The Translohr system, used along a 14-km line at Clermont-Ferrand, where a special rail is grasped by a pair of metal guide wheels set at 45° to the road and at 90° to each other.
  In both cases the weight of the vehicle is borne by rubber tyres on bogies to which the guide wheels are attached. Power is supplied by overhead lines, or on the Caen tramway until 31 December 2017, (when it was closed to be converted to a conventional steel wheel tramway now in operation since 27 July 2019), and the Nancy tramway by onboard diesel engines in areas where there are no overhead wires.
  The Translohr system is intended for guidance-only operation, whereas the Bombardier system can be driven as a normal bus as requirements dictate, such as journeys to the depot. Unlike rail trams, the vehicles have a steering wheel, though it is not used when following the guidance rail. Because the Translohr tram cannot move without guidance, it is not classified as a bus. Hence the Translohr vehicles in Clermont-Ferrand are not equipped with licence plates.
caption: A section of APS track in Bordeaux with powered and neutral sections
exif: {"Image Make": "NIKON CORPORATION", "Image Model": "NIKON D40", "Image Orientation": "0", "Image XResolution": "300", "Image YResolution": "300", "Image ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Image Software": "Picasa 3.0", "Image DateTime": "2008:10:25 12:46:42", "Image YCbCrPositioning": "Co-sited", "Image ExifOffset": "210", "Thumbnail Compression": "JPEG (old-style)", "Thumbnail XResolution": "72", "Thumbnail YResolution": "72", "Thumbnail ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormat": "1002", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormatLength": "7057", "EXIF ExposureTime": "1/1000", "EXIF FNumber": "11", "EXIF ExposureProgram": "Aperture Priority", "EXIF ISOSpeedRatings": "800", "EXIF ExifVersion": "0221", "EXIF DateTimeOriginal": "2008:10:25 12:46:42", "EXIF DateTimeDigitized": "2008:10:25 12:46:41", "EXIF ComponentsConfiguration": "YCbCr", "EXIF CompressedBitsPerPixel": "4", "EXIF ExposureBiasValue": "-1/3", "EXIF MaxApertureValue": "4", "EXIF MeteringMode": "Pattern", "EXIF LightSource": "Unknown", "EXIF Flash": "Flash did not fire", "EXIF FocalLength": "26", "EXIF SubSecTime": "60", "EXIF SubSecTimeOriginal": "60", "EXIF SubSecTimeDigitized": "60", "EXIF FlashPixVersion": "0100", "EXIF ColorSpace": "Uncalibrated", "EXIF ExifImageWidth": "3008", "EXIF ExifImageLength": "2000", "Interoperability InteroperabilityIndex": "R98", "Interoperability InteroperabilityVersion": "[48, 49, 48, 48]", "EXIF InteroperabilityOffset": "878", "EXIF SensingMethod": "One-chip color area", "EXIF FileSource": "Digital Camera", "EXIF SceneType": "Directly Photographed", "EXIF CVAPattern": "[0, 2, 0, 2, 2, 1, 1, 0]", "EXIF CustomRendered": "Normal", "EXIF ExposureMode": "Auto Exposure", "EXIF WhiteBalance": "Auto", "EXIF DigitalZoomRatio": "1", "EXIF FocalLengthIn35mmFilm": "39", "EXIF SceneCaptureType": "Standard", "EXIF GainControl": "Low gain up", "EXIF Contrast": "Normal", "EXIF Saturation": "Normal", "EXIF Sharpness": "Normal", "EXIF SubjectDistanceRange": "0", "EXIF ImageUniqueID": "073c844c2a4a1c05990218f4408bd2a1"}