page_title: Trams in Tianjin
section_title: History
hierarchical_section_title: Trams in Tianjin / History
caption_attribution_description: The first tram in Tianjin, China Deutsch: Die erste Straßenbahn in Tianjin 1906
context_page_description: Tianjin, a major port and industrial center in China. Tianjin once had a standard steel-wheeled tramway network. But the original tram service was completely stopped in 1973. In 2006, tram service returned to Tianjin in the form of the TEDA Modern Guided Rail Tram.
context_section_description: Tianjin was the first city to have its own citywide tram system (operated by Municipal Corporation) in China. It was the second electric tramway of Mainland China, third if the at the time British colonized Hong Kong was counted and is one of the oldest tram networks in Asia. It was built by Belgian interests during the foreign concession period in 1901, and recognized by the Chinese authorities in 1904. Electric trams were put in place on 16 February 1906. The first line was 5.16 km long and single track and was double tracked in 1907. A second line opened in 1908. Routes were gradually added, reaching five lines by 1918 and peaking in 1946 with eight lines. 
  Buses were introduced by the municipality in 1932. But from the mid 1950s, traffic congestion on the tram network grew rapidly with the increasing number of private cars.  From 1964 to 1973, Tianjin gradually demolished all its tram lines.
caption: First tram of Tianjin
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