A tram (also known as a streetcar or trolley in North America) is a rail vehicle that travels on tramway tracks on public urban streets; some include segments on segregated right-of-way.[1][2][3] The tramlines or networks operated as public transport are called tramways or simply trams/streetcars. Many recently built tramways use the contemporary term light rail. The vehicles are called streetcars or trolleys (not to be confused with trolleybus) in North America and trams or tramcars elsewhere. The first two terms are often used interchangeably in the United States, with trolley being the preferred term in the eastern US and streetcar in the western US. Streetcar or tramway are preferred in Canada. In parts of the United States, internally powered buses made to resemble a streetcar are often referred to as "trolleys". To avoid further confusion with trolley buses, the American Public Transportation Association (APTA) refers to them as "trolley-replica buses". In the United States, the term tram has sometimes been used for rubber-tired trackless trains, which are unrelated to other kinds of trams. Tram vehicles are usually lighter and shorter than main line and rapid transit trains. Today, most trams use electrical power, usually fed by a pantograph sliding on an overhead line; older systems may use a trolley pole or a bow collector. In some cases, a contact shoe on a third rail is used. If necessary, they may have dual power systems—electricity in city streets and diesel in more rural environments. Occasionally, trams also carry freight. Trams are now commonly included in the wider term "light rail",[4] which also includes grade-separated systems. Some trams, known as tram-trains, may have segments that run on mainline railway tracks, similar to interurban systems. The differences between these modes of rail transport are often indistinct and a given system may combine multiple features. Ultra Light Rail ULR trains are trams are a developing light weight rail type,[5] around <5T/axle (empty), for use in smaller cities and towns to replace main bus routes e.g. Coventry Very Light Rail,[6] ULR Partners future-light-rail[7] or lower use branch train lines. They may be normal trams,[8] rail motor sized and/or smaller modular units capable of platooning.[9] They offer all the advantages of traditional trams but their lower weight, prefabricated beam type tracks[10][11][12] offer the possibility of avoiding costly services diversions, lightweight OHL Over Head Lines[13] and/or onboard power options e.g. hydrogen, biomethane, battery, may mean reduced/eliminated OHL. Thus installation costs may be lower than traditional trains and trams. One of the advantages over earlier forms of transit was the low rolling resistance of metal wheels on steel rails, allowing the trams to haul a greater load for a given effort. Another factor which contributed to the rise of trams was the high total cost of ownership of horses. Electric trams largely replaced animal power in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Improvements in other vehicles such as buses led to decline of trams in the mid 20th century. However, trams have seen resurgence in recent years. In 2014, the Aubagne tramway in Southern France became the first tram system in the world not to charge fares.[14] Contents 1 History 1.1 Horse-drawn 1.2 Steam 1.3 Cable-hauled 1.4 Gas 1.5 Electric 1.6 Other power sources 1.7 Modern development 2 Design 3 Operation 3.1 Controls 3.2 Power supply 3.3 Routes 3.4 Track 4 Track gauge 4.1 Tram stop 5 Manufacturing 6 Debate 6.1 Advantages 6.2 Disadvantages 7 By region 7.1 Major tram and light rail systems 7.2 Africa 7.3 Asia 7.4 Europe 7.5 North America 7.6 Oceania 7.7 South America 8 Incidents 9 In popular culture 10 Tram modelling 11 Etymology and terminology 12 See also 12.1 Tram models 12.2 Trams by region 12.3 Tram lists 12.4 Other topics 13 References 13.1 Citations 14 General and cited references 15 Further reading 16 External links History Main article: History of trams The history of trams, streetcars or trolley systems, began in the early nineteenth century. It can be divided into several distinct periods defined by the principal means of power used. Horse-drawn Main article: Horsecar A horse-drawn tram operated by Swansea and Mumbles Railway, 1870. Established in 1804, the railway service was the world's first. The world's first passenger train or tram was the Swansea and Mumbles Railway, in Wales, UK. The Mumbles Railway Act was passed by the British Parliament in 1804, and horse-drawn service started in 1807.[15] The service closed in 1827, but was restarted in 1860, again using horses.[16] It was worked by steam from 1877, and then, from 1929, by very large (106-seater) electric tramcars, until closure in 1960.[17] The Swansea and Mumbles Railway was something of a one-off however, and no street tramway would appear in Britain until 1860 when one was built in Birkenhead by the American George Francis Train.[18]]
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