page_title: Trams in Rouen
section_title: Operational difficulties and closure
hierarchical_section_title: Trams in Rouen / Operational difficulties and closure
caption_attribution_description: Tramway de Rouen - Gare rive droite
context_page_description: There have been two separate generations of trams in Rouen. The first generation tramway was a tram network built in Rouen, Normandy, northern France, that started service in 1877, and finally closed in 1953. There were no trams at all in Rouen between 1953 and 1994, when the modern Rouen tramway opened.
  Horse-drawn carriages and omnibuses had started at the end of the 18th century and progressively improved, but were no longer enough to provide urban services in an age of industrial and demographic growth. Local officials therefore adopted the tramway as a new mode of transport. At first they were horse-drawn, and later steam-powered; the tramway was electrified in 1896.
  The network spread quickly through various city-centre districts on the right bank of the Seine, to reach the suburbs of the northern plateau, the hills of Bonsecours in the east, skirting around the textile valley of the River Cailly in the west, crossing the river and serving, in the south, the suburbs and industrial districts of the left bank.
caption: Tram near Gare de Rouen-Rive-Droite ("Gare Rue Verte")
exif: {}