Trams in Asia
Trams in Asia were well established at the start of the 20th century, but started to decline in use in the 1930s. By the 1960s, the majority of systems had been closed down. Extensive legacy tramways still exist in Japan. Recently, more modern systems have been built in China. Cambodia. In Cambodia, tram networks once ran in Siem Reap and Battambang. Trams in Cambodia were known as "bamboo train" and using Werkspoor and Beijnes tram fleets. China. Several cities in China had tram systems during the 20th century. However, by the end of the century, only Dalian , Hong Kong and Changchun continued to operate. By 1937 it had expanded to cover 12 km of track and ran 21 tramcars. It was finally closed in 1973. However, in the 21st century, a number of tram systems started operating. Initially, Tianjin and Shanghai have introduced rubber tired trams for the TEDA Modern Guided Rail Tram and Zhangjiang Tram respectively. In 2011, Shenyang city decided to reintroduce the trams to complement its new metro network, then under construction. The first three lines of the new system were opened in the southern part of the city on August 15, 2013: Line  1 from New World International Convention & Exhibition Centre to Taoxian street, line 2 from Taoxian Airport to the Olympic Center and line 5 from the Olympic Center to Shenfu New Town. A fourth line is under construction. A year later, Nanjing opened the new Hexi trams just before the 2014 Youth Olympics. After that new tram systems opened in Qingdao, Guangzhou, Shenzhen, Suzhou, Zhuhai, Wuhan, and Huai'an. As of 2017, Beijing, Chengdu, Sanya, Wuyishan, Honghe and Haikou have new tram systems under construction. While Ningbo, Quanzhou, Zhengzhou, Baotou and Kunshan are planning tram networks for the future. Hong Kong. The  tramway system was introduced in the then British colony in 1904. The Hong Kong Tramway is a traditional British Isles-style double-decker tramway with street running, along the north shore of Hong Kong Island. Since the 1980s, the MTR Light Rail system has opened in the north west New Territories. Despite its name, the famous Peak Tram is actually a funicular railway. India. In India, the city of Kolkata has the only operational tram network. The tram network in Kolkata is the oldest operating electric tram network in Asia, with the current network operating since 1900. Mumbai, Nashik, Chennai , Kanpur, Kochi, Patna and Bhavnagar formerly had tram networks but all of these were dismantled between 1930s and 1960s. Indonesia. In Batavia (now Jakarta), the capital of the former Dutch colony of the Netherlands East Indies, a horse tram service started in 1869. A steam tram ran from 1881, and electrification followed in 1897. All Jakarta trams were discontinued in the 1960 by an independent Indonesia due to pressure from Sukarno which saw tram network as "antiquated" and "relic of colonial era". The other cities in Indonesia who used to have urban tram network were Surabaya, East Java and Semarang , Central Java. Semarang tram network was constructed between 1882 and 1883, and it was essentially the inner suburb extension of Samarang–Joana Stoomtram Maatschappij (SJS) network, where they already had extensive rural tram network to the east of Semarang. Unfortunately, due to financial difficulties that hampered SJS railway company, Semarang tram network was closed down in 1940 (despite public protest in Semarang) and their rolling stocks were transferred to Surabaya tram network. Surabaya tram network was first built in 1886. Initially consist of steam tram only, but later another network of electric tram was added in 1923. They served Surabaya  commuters well into the independence era. The electric tram bowed out from service in 1968, while its steam counterpart outlived the electrics before bowed out from service in 1978, making it as the very last urban steam tram service in the world to see service. In 2012 there is a talk of reviving Surabaya's tram network as a part of Surabaya Mass Rapid Transit project, which will see parts of the old electric tram right of way reactivated, and it will be combined with the future monorail network. The project is aimed to alleviate Surabaya's traffic congestion and  provide cheap public transportation for Surabaya commuters. As in 2014 the project have entered tender phase. In 2018, Gamplong Natural Studio was inaugurated in Sleman Regency, Special Region of Yogyakarta and was built for movie purposes. There is a tram line inside the studio that is made complete with replicas and can be operated. Israel. The 13-kilometre-long Jerusalem Light Rail system began operation in August 2011 and is being extended. The construction of the Tel Aviv Light Rail has begun and the first line is set to be completed between 2018 and 2023. A significant portion of it  will be underground. A light rail system for Beersheba is also currently planned. Japan. The first tramway in Japan was the Kyoto electric railroad built in 1895. By 1932, there were 82 street railway companies in 65 cities, with 1,479 km of track. Similar to North America at the time many of these local tram networks had through service with interurban lines. Many Japanese cities had extensive tram systems until the 1960s, when increased motorization started to make some lines disappear. While others, particularly in the larger cities, where outright replaced by subway lines and/or converted the interurban routes to  suburban railway lines. Tokyo, for instance, had 41 routes in 1962, while only two routes (Toden Arakawa Line and Tokyu Setagaya Line) still survive today. Kitakyushu was the most recent closure being closed in the year 2000. There are still many smaller cities still have relatively well-kept networks. However, not many of them enjoy high ridership. Current tram systems include Sapporo Street Car (Sapporo) and Hakodate City Tram (Hakodate) in Hokkaidō; Tokyo Toden and Tokyu Setagaya Line in (Tokyo), Enoden (Kamakura), Toyohashi Railroad (Toyohashi), Toyama Chihō Railway (Toyama), Man'yōsen (Takaoka), Randen (Kyoto), Hankai Tramway (Osaka), Okaden (Okayama), and Hiroden  (Hiroshima) on Honshū; Iyotetsu (Matsuyama) and Tosaden (Kōchi) on Shikoku; and Nagasaki Electric Tramway (Nagasaki), Kumamoto City Tram (Kumamoto), and Kagoshima City Tram (Kagoshima) on Kyūshū. Along with a few private railroad interurbans that have not been upgraded into full heavy railway standards. Trams were formerly used in Sendai, Yokohama, Kobe, Fukuoka, Nagoya, among others. North Korea. Pyongyang, the capital city of North Korea, has an extensive tram system that first opened in 1991. It is now 50 km in length running mainly ČKD/Tatra vehicles with some other trams originally from Zürich. Another tram system is present in the  city of Chongjin. South Korea. The South Korean capital Seoul had trams up until 1968. Some of their cars were acquired second-hand from the Los Angeles system. The trams were very useful in the Korean War where half of the trams broke down. Trams were also formerly used in Busan until 1968. Wirye Line in Seoul is a future tram line scheduled to open in 2025. Lebanon. Tram networks existed in Beirut under the French rule. These networks were no longer functional after the Lebanese Civil War. Malaysia. The sole tram service in present-day Malaysia operated in George  Town, Penang in British Malaya between 1906 and 1936; its service was discontinued in favor of trolleybuses (which would in turn be replaced by conventional diesel buses). Due to the relatively early retirement of streetcars in the city, few traces of streetcar infrastructure remain in George Town, with the exception of a stretch of paved-over streetcar railway rediscovered during roadworks in the late 2000s. Although talks on reviving the city's tram system have taken place since, none of these plans have materialized. Pakistan. In Pakistan, Karachi was the first and only city where trams were introduced by the  British Raj in 1885. After almost 90 years, the network was closed in 1975 as trams were involved in many accidents and there was an attempt to decongest the city's traffic. Trams are under construction at DHA City, Karachi which is going to be a planned city of 1 million people. A 35 km Tramway has been approved in the city of Lahore and construction will start in February 2020. Philippines. The Philippines once had a tram network in the capital, Manila, which first started in the 1880s using horse-drawn streetcars owned by Spanish-Filipino businessman Jacobo Zóbel  de Zangroniz through the Companía de Tranvias y Ferrocarriles de Manila. These streetcars are known as the "tranvía", or "trambiya" in the Filipino language. At the turn of the 20th century, horse-drawn "tranvías" of the Companía de los Tranvías de Filipinas were replaced by electric-powered streetcars as it changed ownership to the Manila Electric Railroad and Light Company, now known as the Manila Electric Company. The "tranvía" network ran throughout the city of Manila and its outskirts, Pasay, Makati, and Pasig. Much of the system was destroyed during the Battle of Manila in 1945. The trams were superseded  in the late 20th century by a still-growing urban rail network, beginning with the Line 1 in the late 1980s, followed by the Line 3 a decade later. Trams were also formerly used on the island of Corregidor. Singapore. Singapore has historically operated two tram services, the first a steam tramway existing between 1886 and 1894, and the second an electric-powered system between 1905 and 1927. Sri Lanka. The northern and central areas of the city of Colombo had an electric tram system. This system commenced operations around 1900 and was discontinued by 1960. The original operator was  the Colombo Electric Tram Car and Lighting Company Ltd. (represented by Boustead Brothers), and after an infamous tram car Strike, the Colombo Municipal Council took over operations. Subsequently, the tram system was phased out. Taiwan. During the Japanese colonial period in Taiwan from the 1890s to 1945, the Japanese administration in Taiwan planned for extensive tramway networks across various Taiwanese metropolitan areas. However, none of these plans materialised. The first serious attempt on light rail in contemporary Taiwan was the development of two demonstration light rail vehicles (LRVs) by the Taiwan Rolling Stock Company and the National Chung-Shan Institute  of Science & Technology in 2001; the two LRVs were built to the 1067mm Cape gauge to be tested on Taiwan Railway Administration tracks. In 2004, Siemens built a demonstration track in Kaohsiung to evaluate the suitability of light rail in Kaohsiung and operated a Melbourne D-class tram there. However the first revenue-earning light rail line only came about with the start of construction of the Kaohsiung LRT Circular line in June 2013.; the first phase began trial operations in 2016 with a fleet of catenary-free low floor CAF Urbos LRVs. The Danhai LRT began operations in  December 2018 with a fleet of locally-built light rail vehicles. Thailand. The Bangkok electric tramway system was first introduced in 1893. It serviced Bangkok with 48.7 km of track and 206 trams. The tramway service was discontinued in 1968. United Arab Emirates. The Dubai Tram opened in 2014 and became the first tramway system in the world to use platform screen doors at its stations and the first tram system outside Europe to be powered by ground-based electric supply system. Uzbekistan. The Tashkent electrical tramway system was introduced in 1912 as a replacement of the horse-driven trams  that were running since 1901. Tashkent tram system is the oldest in Central Asia, and was one of the biggest in the former Soviet Union. In the beginning of the 21st century the system has lost many of its routes, due to removal of track from the city center. The last route close on begin of May 2016. However, in 2017 a new tram system in Samarkand came into operation. All the rolling stock (21 streetcars) were transferred from Tashkent. Vietnam. In Vietnam, tram networks once ran in Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City (formerly Saigon). Saigon. Compagnie française des  tramways de l’Indochine (CFTI) began tram services in Saigon in 1881, using cars towed by a steam locomotive designed by Deauville on a 0.5m gauge line. The system went bankrupt in 1896, but the system managed to survive using 14 new cars (trailers and locomotives) that CFTI ordered from Borsig, Germany and expanded with two more lines in 1904 and 1913. Electric car service began in 1923 with new electric cars and the line became with 2 lines in service. Tram service ceased in 1953-1954 and the system was dismantled by 1957. Hanoi. Hanoi's tram system, Compagnie  des tramways électriques d’Hanoï et extensions, began service in 1900 and was acquired by Société des Tramways du Tonkin in 1929 (renamed Société des Transports en Commun de la Région de Hanoi in 1952). By 1943, the system had 5 lines and a spur line in 1968. The system's demise began with line closure in 1982 and survived until the last line closed in 1989, and continued as a trolley bus system until 1993. All the tram cars were imported from France.