Shore tram Belgium has the longest tram line in the world, running along the Belgian North Sea coast.

History of the Coast Tram

The coastal tram in Belgium appeared as a 1000 mm gauge railway between the cities of Ostend and Nieuwpoort in 1885, later, in 1890, the Ostend-Knokke part was completed. The road was mainly used for passenger transportation. In 1912, the road was fully electrified with 600 volt direct current, and from that time on it can be considered a tram line. During the war, the road fell into disrepair and existed in this condition until the 70s, when a large-scale reconstruction was carried out.

There is a project to extend the route to Breskens in the Netherlands and Dunkirk in France, but even the approximate timing of its implementation is unknown.

Characteristics of the coastal tram line

The length of the coastal tram line is 67 kilometers (some sources indicate 68 kilometers). Ostend can be called the center of the entire system.

Part of the track is on a dedicated track and resembles a railway line, part of the tracks is on the same level as the road and looks like a regular tram. At the intersection with roads there are automatic barriers that close when trams pass.

The movement interval is from 15 minutes to 1 hour. Trams run strictly on schedule, and at the stops there are signs informing about the arrival of the nearest tram train.

Tram depots are located in the cities of De Panne, Ostend, and Knokke.

Coastal Tram Stops

There are a total of 69 stops on the route, and a trip along the entire line takes 2:21.

The largest settlements and stops at them:

1. De Panne
2. Koksijde
3. Ostdunkerke
4. Nieuwpoort
5. Lombardsijde - Westende
6. Middelkerke
7. Domain Raversijde
8. Ostend
9. Bredene
10. De Haan
11. Wenduine
12. Blankenberg
13. Zeebrugge
14. Heist
15. Knokke

A little over a month ago, a night retro tram began running in St. Petersburg. So far, only experimental, but authorities say that the route will become regular.
Sobaka.ru studied the current routes of city trams and found out how to arrange an excursion for 25 rubles. Interesting tram routes - the shortest, the longest, historically important, the only countryside and the most picturesque.

No. 3. Repin Square - Sennaya Square

(Repin Square - Lotsmanskaya Street (back: Rimsky-Korsakov Avenue) - Fontanka River embankment - Sadovaya Street - Turgenev Square - Sadovaya Street - Sennaya Square)

Route 3 is the shortest in the city. Its route consists of seven stops and 2.5 kilometers of tracks. Troika appeared back in 1907 and moved from the Baltic station to New Village. Over time, the length of the path was shortened, and the route itself was closed four times. In March 2013, it appeared again, connecting Repin Square and the Sennaya Square metro station. Today, new shuttle trams with two cabins, capable of accelerating up to 80 km/h, are operating on the tracks.

No. 9. Railway station Ruchi - Udelnaya metro station

(Nauki Avenue - Tikhoretsky Avenue - Culture Avenue - Lunacharsky Avenue - Engels Avenue - Enotaevskaya Street)

Another historical route. It has also been operating since 1907; this year the first tram line in St. Petersburg was opened. Traffic on the route was suspended only in 1941, when the power supply was interrupted throughout the city. In 1950, its route was resumed with some changes and an increase in the length of the tracks. Getting on the historical route is easy: today the ninth tram runs every 10-15 minutes.

No. 100. Roadside alley - Ruchi railway station

(Roadside alley - Engels Avenue - Enlightenment Avenue - Rustaveli Street)

In 2007, in honor of the centenary of the opening of the overland electric tram in St. Petersburg, the 100th tram was launched. Or rather, route 57 was renamed the hundredth. But the changes affected not only the numbers: the first high-speed tram was launched along the tracks. From the Pridorozhnaya Alleya station to Lunacharsky Avenue, a “green wave” was organized (synchronization of traffic lights for non-stop traffic), and the tracks were reconstructed. Today the route has been extended to the Ruchi station and operates as usual. As for the 57th tram, its route appeared again in 2009 and is still operating today.

No. 36. Defense street - Strelna village

(Trefoleva Street - Marshal Govorov Street - New Buildings Street - Kronstadt Street - Stachek Avenue - Peterhofskoe Highway - St. Petersburgskoe Highway)

The only tram that goes to the suburbs today is the 36th. Its route runs along the former 66-kilometer Oranienburg power line, which, in fact, is the first line commuter trains In Petersburg. Initially, the 36th connected the Lomonosov plant with Peterhof Square, and in 2006 it received its final form: almost 20 kilometers of tracks that begin on Oboronnaya Street and end at Strelna station.

No. 77. Solidarity Avenue - Communa Street

(Solidarity Avenue - Dybenko Street - Dalnevostochny Avenue - Novocherkassky Avenue - Anchor Street - Sredneokhtinsky Avenue - Bolshaya Porokhovskaya Street - Irinovsky Avenue)

The longest route lasts 23 kilometers. The route runs along the Neva through two bridges: Volodarsky and Alexander Nevsky. It starts at the Prospekt Solidarnosti station and ends with the Komunny Street ring.

Text: Evgeniy Strokov

Interesting facts about trams of the world.

WITH The oldest tram cars (1893) still in normal use are cars No. 1 and 2 of the Isle of Man Tramway. They operate on the 28.5 km long Douglas en Ramsey country line.

WITH The longest tram ride you can make in Germany is from Krefeld, or rather its suburb, to Witten. The length of the trip will be 105.5 km, covering this distance will take approximately five and a half hours, and will require transfers eight times.

WITH The longest non-stop tram route is the Coastal Tram in Belgium. There are 60 stops on this 67 km line. There is also a line from Freudenstadt to Ohringen via Karlsruhe and Heilbronn with a length of 185 km.

WITH The largest tram network in the world is located in Melbourne, Australia.

WITH The most northern tram system in the world is located in Trondheim.

WITH The southernmost tram system in the world is located in Christchurch (43° S).

WITH The world's most eastern tram system is located in Auckland

WITH The westernmost tram system in the world is located in Portland.

WITH The steepest gradients that tram cars can overcome independently, without outside help (classical adhesive system, steel wheel-steel rail coupling, the car moves only with the help of its own engines) are in Lisbon

WITH The steepest slope surmountable by a tram car with outside assistance in the form of a cable car is in Trieste. An 800-meter section of the line with a height difference of 158 meters. Tram cars for descent and ascent are docked to a special funicular car and lean on it while moving.

Interesting facts about trams former USSR and Russia.

WITH The longest tram network is located in St. Petersburg. Her total length is 440 km, there are 42 routes. The longest route is route 36, about 25 km. Previously, Vienna held the record for the longest tram network. The tram network of St. Petersburg ranks 4th in the world in terms of the length of tram tracks.

WITH The smallest tram system in the territory of the former USSR is the Molochnoe village tram.

WITH the most Small town Russia, which has tram traffic, is Volchansk Sverdlovsk region Russia.

WITH The most northern tram in the world was Arkhangelsk (until its closure in 2004).

WITH The longest routes in Russia (and the longest intracity routes in the world) are the oncoming ring routes in Kazan, with a length of 32 km, 46 stops, travel time 2 hours 10 minutes.

WITH the most big cities Russia and Europe, where there are no tram systems - Voronezh, Togliatti and Tyumen, and in the territory of the former USSR - Baku, Tbilisi, Yerevan.

WITH The steepest grade on a tram line in Russia is in Ust-Katav. All tram cars produced by the Ust-Katavsky plant travel along this slope during testing.

WITH The oldest trams in regular passenger operation throughout the entire territory of the former USSR were the Evpatoria Gotha T57 and Gotha B57 cars (1957).

WITH The oldest linear tram car in Russia operates in Izhevsk - this is Tatra 3SU No. 2213, produced in 1968.

WITH The most complex tram intersections in the world for all 6 (more precisely, 12) directions were in St. Petersburg on Vasilievsky Island (dismantled in the early 2000s) and in Kazan at the corner of Tatarstan/Tukaya streets (partially dismantled in 2011) .

WITH The newest tram systems in Russia and the CIS are Cheryomushkinsky (1991) and Molochnensky (1989) trams, Starooskolsky (1981), Mozyr (1988) and Ust-Ilimsky (1988) high-speed trams.

WITH The network of the Zhytomyr tram has been constantly shrinking throughout the 20th century and has been operating for more than 40 years as the only surviving line that does not have a route number.

Did you know that...

A Strahansky tram was opened on June 24, 1900, before the railway came to Astrakhan.

B The tram line in Ust-Ilimsk with a length of 16 kilometers is closest to the North Pole. Since 1991, the world's northernmost tram has been running along it. A tram line connects the city with the forest complex.

IN In 1872, the first horse-drawn line was built in Moscow.

IN In Europe, the prototype of the first tram was a car that was created by the German engineer Ernst Werner von Siemens. In 1879, the machine was used at the German Industrial Exhibition, which took place in Berlin.

IN The Russian horse-drawn railway appeared in St. Petersburg in 1860, first as a freight train, connecting the 17th line of Vasilyevskaya: the islands with the stock exchange warehouses.

IN In 1866 three began to operate passenger lines- Nevskaya, Admiralteyskaya and Sadovaya.

IN In the early 1880s, horse trams were in Odessa, Kharkov, Tiflis, Riga and Rostov-on-Don.

IN In 1883, for the first time, a tram was powered through an overhead contact wire, like modern trams.

IN In 1892, tram traffic began in Kyiv. It was built by engineer A.E. Struve.

IN In St. Petersburg (1894), an ice tram ran because the sleepers and rails for it were laid directly on the frozen Neva.

IN In 1896, an unusual service began to travel between the English cities of Brighton and Rottingdean. vehicle called Daddy Long Legs - a cross between a tram and a ferry.

IN The first trams appeared in Moscow in 1899.

IN The first trams appeared in St. Petersburg only in 1907.

In Frankfurt am Main A children's tram has been operating since 1960.

D This means of transportation became truly convenient only in 1852. It was at this time that the French inventor Alphonse Loubat created special rails that were recessed into the road surface.

TO The common expression “meter with a cap” also originates from trams. Travel on the tram used to be free for children, but free travel for children was based not on age, but on height. Children whose height was less than 1 meter could ride for free. Due to controversy over which children should be considered small, it was decided to draw horizontal lines at the entrance to the carriages at a height of one meter. Children who were below this height were considered small; if the height is above this line, the fare was already paid. Parents who did not want to pay the fare told the conductor that their child was less than a meter tall, but visually appeared large due to the headdress. This is where the expression “meter with a cap” comes from.

R The Yazan tram is the only tram system in the former USSR, opened in the city 14 years later than the trolleybus.

P The first inventor of the electric tram was Fyodor Pirotsky. It was Pirotsky who, in 1880, managed to successfully demonstrate the first electric horse-drawn carriage in Russia.

P The first prototype of the tram was the so-called horse-drawn tram. It was a closed or open carriage, which was pulled along a special railway by a pair of horses. The very first horse-drawn horses appeared back in 1828 in America.

R Iga and Daugavpils, the only cities the former USSR, where the tram has a rod current collector.

T The Rostov-on-Don tramway is the only one in the CIS that has the European Stephenson gauge (1435 mm), and the trams of Kaliningrad, Pyatigorsk, Lvov, Vinnitsa, Yevpatoriya, Zhitomir and Molochny have a narrow gauge (1000 mm).

Material used from sites:

Moscow monorail.

Despite the fact that the first elevated rail transport appeared in Russia back in the 19th century, attempts to turn it into a full-fledged form public transport were crowned with success only at the beginning of the 21st century. On November 20, 2004, the first train set off on its journey over Moscow. However, until 2008, the monorail was viewed more as a kind of attraction. Trains ran from 10:00 to 16:00 with an interval of half an hour, the fare was 50 rubles, and only from January 10, 2008 the monorail became a full-fledged element transport system Russian capital. Currently, the Moscow monorail is a 4.7-kilometer line connecting Sergei Eisenstein Street with the Timiryazevskaya platform via VDNKh and Ostankino. Since the road is managed by the Moscow metro, the fare system on it is similar to the Moscow metro.

Steam locomotive cruise. Circum-Baikal Railway.

The Slyudyanka – Baikal railway runs along the western shore of Lake Baikal with a length of 89 kilometers. It was once part of the Trans-Siberian Railway, but with the commissioning of a section on the other side, the road fell into disrepair. Now it is used to connect residents of coastal villages with the mainland, and also as a tourist route. Numerous bridges and tunnels, coupled with the picturesque landscapes of the Baikal region, attract the attention of lovers exotic holiday. At their service is one of travel companies provides a retro train “Baikal Cruise”. From Irkutsk the train is delivered by electric locomotive to the Slyudyanka station, from where, driven by a steam locomotive, it goes to the village of Baikal and back. The trip lasts two days.

Metrotram. Volgograd high-speed tram.

The Volgograd high-speed tram line, opened in 1984, is today one of the attractions of the hero city along with Mamayev Kurgan or Old Sarepta. This is because part of the line runs underground and the underground stops look like real metro stations. Only now the platforms do not rise above the tracks, and instead of electric trains there are the same trams as above. The similarity with the metro gave the name “metrotram” to the transport, although until 2011 there were only two underground stations and one elevated station. Now there are five stations underground, but the section “Profsoyuznaya - Youth Theater - Elshanka” is served only by the new articulated LAN-2009, in which the cabins are located on both sides. The usual Tatra T-3s do not go there due to the lack of a turning circle, still turning from the overpass at Pionerskaya to Chekistov Square. It is planned to launch for the 2018 World Cup new line high-speed tram.

Hydropower transport. Cheryomushkinsky tram.

Near the Sayano-Shushenskaya hydroelectric power station there is a village called Cheryomushki. Mostly hydropower workers live here, servicing this very hydroelectric power station. The main way to get to work is by tram, which covers the entire route in 15 minutes. The uniqueness of the Cheryomushkinsky tram is not only that part of the route runs along the former bottom of the Yenisei, but also that it became the last tram system built in our country. Just seven months after the opening of the route, the USSR collapsed, and at the present stage of history, not a single city has acquired a tram.

Holiday tram. The village of Molochnoe.

If the Cheryomushkinsky tram is designed to transport workers to work, then its “relative” from the village of Molochny, near the Crimean Yevpatoria, carries vacationers. The administration of the Beregovoy sanatorium, which, despite its name, is located one and a half kilometers from the Black Sea beach, decided to establish its own tram in 1989. Vacationers are the main passengers of the tram and can use it for free. But anyone, having bought a ticket from the conductor, can ride to Black Sea coast. With the annexation of Crimea to Russia, the tram line of the village of Molochnoye, with a length of only one and a half kilometers, became the shortest in Russia.

Tram from the forest. Volchansk.

We conclude a small series of tram essays with a story about the tram of the city of Volchansk, located in the north-west of the Sverdlovsk region. It is widely believed that Volchansk is the smallest city in the world that has its own tram. In 2009, city authorities even wanted to attest to this fact in the Guinness Book of Records, but Bad Schandau was found in Germany, which, despite the population of less than three thousand people, has the status of a city and has its own tram system. However, even without that, the Volchansky tram is unique. The fact is that Volchansk consists of two parts: Volchanka and Lesnaya Volchanka, separated by overgrown meadows and taiga, through which the tram travels. Several decades ago, there was an intercity tram line between Volchansk and neighboring Karpinsk, which also had its own tram, but back in 1965 it was dismantled to allow passage for a walking excavator, but was never put back together. And in 1994, Karpinsk abandoned the tram. In Volchansk, despite competition in the form of a bus, the tram still runs.

The narrow gauge road of life. Alapaevskaya Railway.

To the north of Alapaevsk there are several villages, which can be reached in only one way - by rail with a gauge of 750 millimeters and a length of 270 kilometers, which makes the road the longest narrow-gauge railway in Russia. Built this transport and historical monument V late XIX century A. Yu. Illero, Alapaevsk industrialist of French origin, for production needs. In the 20th century, the purpose of the road changed: instead of metallurgists, it began to serve loggers, as well as residents of surrounding villages. In the middle of the last century, the Alapaevsk narrow-gauge railway was an extensive network of railways, and only the main line Alapaevsk - Kalach with small branches has survived to this day. However, to get to extreme point way, the traveler will have to change trains at Sankino, where trains from Alapaevsk, which include general and reserved seat carriages, go four times a week. A train consisting of a diesel locomotive and one general carriage runs from Sankino to Kalach three times a week. Beyond Kalach the road continues a little and ends at the local cemetery. Such an end railway track is often perceived as an alarming symbol of the imminent “death” of the narrow-gauge railway, however, despite the constant threat of closure, the road, which is the only means of communication with civilization for the residents of Kalach and other villages, continues to operate.

Crimean trolleybus.

With the annexation of Crimea, Russia received not only the shortest tram route (see above), but also the longest trolleybus route. The fact is that the trolleybus systems of Simferopol, Yalta and Alushta are interconnected by intercity routes. In 2014, the routes “Simferopol Airport – Alushta” and “Simferopol Airport – Yalta”, closed in 1998, were restored. Now, to get from Simferopol airport to south coast, a tourist just needs to get on a trolleybus and travel more than 90 kilometers along mountain roads.

Flight over the Volga. Nizhny Novgorod cable car.

Nizhny Novgorod and the city of Bor, located on the other bank of the Volga, are connected not only by railway and highway, but also by a cableway. Every year the road over the Volga, the rowing canal and the coastal zone is used by thousands of passengers traveling from Bor to regional center to work and study. Eight-seater cabins cover a three-kilometer section of the route with a height difference of 62 meters in 15 minutes, which significantly saves time. True, in the morning and evening much more time is spent waiting for your turn to board. Despite the fairly high cost of travel (as of 2014, one trip costs 75 rubles), transport is popular among students who are provided with discount passes.

Funicular of “Soviet San Francisco”. Vladivostok.

They say that Nikita Sergeevich Khrushchev decided to build a funicular in Vladivostok: after returning from America, he decided to turn the capital of Primorye into a “Soviet San Francisco”, one of the symbols of which is the cable tram. They decided to locate the funicular line on the slope of the Orlina hill, facing the Zolotoy Rog Bay, and in 1962, a 183-meter rail track appeared between Sukhanov and Pushkin streets, along which two carriages began to run. In 1957, a walking staircase was laid along the line along the mountainside during repairs or maintenance of the funicular. Locals call it the “ladder of health.” A significant part of the passengers are FEFU students, whose educational buildings are located next to both funicular stops.

P.S. Light at the end of the cave. New Athos railway.

Our top is completed by the New Athos Cave Railway, located in Abkhazia.

In 1961, one of the largest caves in Abkhazia was discovered in the depths of Mount Iveron in New Athos. After 14 years, they decided to make it open to tourists, and for their convenience they paved railway, compared by many to the metro. The only difference between the New Athos metro and the traditional “subway” is its narrow gauge and the absence of a second track. The length of the road is 1.3 kilometers and there are three stations. Trains of six cars travel the entire route in five minutes. Trains run from May to November, as well as during the Christmas holidays.

Many public lines in Moscow can surprise you with their history and beauty of routes. Today we will tell you about tram routes.

Most popular route

Tram No. A “Annushka”

Route: Kaluzhskaya Square - Chistye Prudy metro station.

This is the most famous tram route in Moscow, launched in 1911 and affectionately nicknamed “Annushka” by Muscovites. The tram route ran along the Boulevard Ring “A”, about which Paustovsky once wrote: “The line was elegant, theatrical and shopping, and the passenger was different - intelligent and bureaucratic.” All the beauty of the golden-domed tree flashed before the eyes of the passengers of the Annushka. In 1936, “Ring A” was opened, and the tram route changed forever, and in 1991 it was completely eliminated. To celebrate the 850th anniversary of Moscow in 1997, the tram route, which had become a real symbol of the capital, was restored.

The oldest route

Tram number 27

Route: metro station "Voikovskaya" - metro station "Dmitrovskaya"

The oldest surviving, albeit partially, tram route is located in the north of Moscow. His age is as much as 113 years. It began as a route for the city's horse-drawn railway (horse tram). Its operation was unprofitable. In the evenings, horses and carriages had to be sent to a depot eight kilometers away. In rainy weather, horses got stuck in the mud among the fields, and the horse-drawn carriages were cold. And already in 1891, it was decided to replace the horse-drawn tram with a steam tram.

The very first electric route

Tram number 6

Route: Bratsevo - Sokol metro station.

It was on tram route No. 6 that the first electric tram was launched in 1899. The whole city came to the grand opening. The first shiny carriage, decorated with ribbons and flags, set off along the route that ran from Petrovsky Park, beloved by city residents, to Savyolovsky Station. In 12 years, there will not be a single horse-drawn railway left in the capital; all lines will be electrified. The route was changed many times, completely canceled and reintroduced. Tram No. 6 received a route more or less close to its current state in 1944.

Route with a dead-end turnaround

Tram number 9

Route: MIIT - Belorusskaya metro station.

This route operates double-sided trains, which consist of two coupled carriages with five doors on each side. It was launched in 2012. And precisely because large quantity people and cars in the center, the development of the tram ring with offices had to use a “push-pull” shuttle system, in which the cars, like in the subway, do not turn around, but go back and forth, since a reversible dead end is used as the final end.

The most tourist route

Tram number 39

Route: Chistye Prudy - Universitet metro station.

This is one of the most beautiful tram lines, which is why it is called tourist. The route has not changed since its opening in 1963. Driving along this route you can see a lot of Moscow sights - ancient estates and houses, Donskoy and St. Daniel monasteries, Lomonosovsky and Leninsky prospects with their Stalinist buildings. And at the end you can walk to Moscow State University.

Most innovative route

Tram number 17

Route: Ostankino - Medvedkovo

This route from Ostankino to Medvedkovo runs along a road isolated from cars and has the highest passenger traffic in the capital. Therefore, the authorities are trying in every possible way to improve his working conditions. There I insulated the canvas from road transport, applied new technology the fastenings of the rails and sleepers, the landing platforms and the tram steps are made at the same level. It is planned that a modern traffic control system will be used on this route, when the cars will control traffic lights, providing themselves with a “green wave”.

The only circular route

Tram number 4

Route: Sokolniki metro station - Rokossovsky Boulevard metro station.

The only ring route in Moscow is also notable for the fact that it has two names: 4l and 4pr, which is explained by the direction in which trams travel along the ring. The length of the route is just over 12 kilometers. From Sokolnicheskaya Zastava to Rostokinsky Proezd this is the only tram route, and part of the way it goes through the park. They say that here you can experience the feeling of a fairy tale - tree branches knock on the windows and a real forest aroma penetrates.

Routes of the future

The city authorities plan to launch the fastest trams in 2017. These will be new lines with high-speed traffic from the Prazhskaya metro station to the Biryulyovo Western and Biryulyovo Vostochny districts, as well as along the Entuziastov Highway to the Ivanovskoye district. They will be built to the most modern standards, using the latest tram track designs. The average route speed on these lines will be 30 km/h.