Trams in Amsterdam
The Amsterdam Tram is a tram network in Amsterdam, Netherlands. It dates back to 1875 and since 1943 has been operated by municipal public transport operator Gemeentelijk Vervoerbedrijf, which also runs the Amsterdam Metro and the city bus and ferry services. Amsterdam has the largest tram network in the Netherlands and one of the largest in Europe.
Network overview
The 15 tram lines within Amsterdam's tram network serve all boroughs in Amsterdam except for Amsterdam-Noord on the north side of the IJ and Amsterdam Zuidoost. Tram lines 5 and 25 extend south of the borough of Amsterdam-Zuid to serve the municipalities of Amstelveen and Uithoorn, and tram line 19 extends east of the borough of Amsterdam-Oost to serve the municipality of Diemen., the fleet consists of 227 trams, of which 155 are Combinos from Siemens and 72 are Urbos 100 trams from Construcciones y Auxiliar de Ferrocarriles. The first 15G trams ran on line 25. Trams of types 14G and 15G are bi-directional for use on lines 5 and 25 which have terminals without turning loops. All other tram lines have turning loops and use unidirectional trams. Lines 25 and 26 can operate trams coupled in pairs; both lines run in a right-of-way mostly separated from road traffic.
In 2020, the tram network consisted of 14 lines operating over of routes and of standard gauge track with 650 switches and 500 tram stops. The tram fleet travelled almost while in service. Tram service consumed 45 million kilowatts of electricity per year, all produced from green sources.
History
Beginnings
On 3 June 1875, Amsterdam's first horse-drawn tramway was opened. It linked Plantage with the Leidseplein, and was operated by AOM, which had been founded in 1872 by Karel Herman Schadd, amongst others.In the last quarter of the 19th century, horse trams ran through the main streets of Amsterdam, linking all neighborhoods inside the Singel with Dam Square, and were extended to newly constructed residential areas. By the end of the century, about 15 lines led to or from the Vondelstraat, Overtoom, Willemsparkweg, Amsteldijk, Linnaeusstraat, Weesperzijde, Bilderdijkstraat and Ceintuurbaan.
The lines of the original horse tram lines can still clearly be recognised in the present day tram routes 1, 2, 3, 4, 7, and 13.
Gemeentetram
As of 1 January 1900, the municipality of Amsterdam took over AOM. The company continued as the Gemeentetram Amsterdam. A total of 242 tramcars, 758 horses and 15 buildings were acquired along with the company.On 14 August 1900, electric trams ran on what would known as line 10, the first electric tram line in Amsterdam. By 1906, all but one of the existing tram lines were electrified. Additionally, the AOM's unusual track gauge of was converted to.
File:Bustram.jpg|thumb|In 1922, the horses of the Sloten horsecar line were replaced by tram-hauling buses, such as this one in Jacob Marisstraat.
By 1906, the electric tram network consisted of 12 tram lines. To operate these lines, the GTA purchased 229 new electric tramcars. The former horse-drawn trams were progressively reclassified as tram trailers. In 1906, the Amsterdamse Tramharmonie orchestra was founded. This orchestra, composed of amateur musicians from the Amsterdam region, still exists.
The last remaining Amsterdam horse tramway was line 12, which was electrified in 1916. Five years later, upon Amsterdam's annexation of the municipality of Sloten, a former Sloten horse tramway came under the control of the GTA. The horses of this line, which linked Overtoom with Sloten, were replaced by tram-hauling buses in 1922; the line was converted into a conventional bus line in 1925.
Further developments
Between 1910 and 1930, the growth of the city generated many new extensions to the tram lines. The first thirteen electrified tram lines were joined by: line 14 in 1910, lines 15–18 in 1913, line 19 in 1916, lines 22 and 23 in 1921, line 20 in 1922, line 21 in 1928, line 24 in 1929 and line 25 in 1930.In 1931, the tramway network reached its greatest extent, at 25 tram lines. From that year to 1940, all the districts in the city could be reached by tram. Between 1900 and 1930, the fleet grew to 445 motorised trams and approximately 350 trailers. These were all twin axle vehicles with wooden bodies.
From 1922 until 1971, all trams had mailboxes at their rear side. These were emptied at Centraal Station; the post office's distribution centre was located next to the station, at Stationsplein, and later at Oosterdokskade. Thanks to the tram mailboxes, a letter could be delivered on time, even if it is too late for the last collection from the regular mailboxes.
During the Great Depression of the 1930s, the tram service was reduced. In 1932, lines 12, 15, 19, 20 and 21 were abandoned. However, as part of the Eastern Railway Works in 1939–1942, trams came to the new neighborhoods in Amsterdam-Oost, to serve the Watergraafsmeer, the new Amstel station and the rebuilt Muiderpoort station.
On 1 January 1943, the GTA merged with the Gemeenteveren to form Gemeentelijk Vervoerbedrijf.
Between 1940 and 1945, the trams carried big crowds and faced a crisis. Several lines had to be suspended, before the whole service ceased in October 1944 due to a coal shortage. Many tram cars were transported eastward.
Postwar period
Following the end of World War II, tram services were resumed in June 1945, initially with only limited service. Line 5 was split into line 5 and line 12. Some lines were returned to service in later years: lines 2, 17 and 18 and 4. Between 1945 and 1949, the emergency line 26 was the tram line with the highest line number, followed by line 11. In 1948 and 1949, a special tram S ran as an express service from line 25 to Amstel station.Tram lines 6 and 23 did not return to regular service, but operated intermittently until 1958 for transportation to the stadium. Lines 8, 14 and 22, used during the war, were not reactivated as tram lines, although line 22 was revived in 1950 as a bus line.
Between 1948 and 1950, the GVB acquired sixty motorised trams and fifty trailers, known as the three axles. They were built by Werkspoor in Utrecht-Zuilen, and replaced the then oldest trams in the fleet, which had entered service in 1902.
After a period of reconstruction in the 1940s, one tram line after another was shut down in the 1950s. Buses were considered to be more practical. Thus, between 1950 and 1965 lines 18, 12, 11, 17 and 5 were replaced, in that order, by bus services. Only the Leidsestraat and Utrechtsestraat remained served by tram lines, which were necessary because these streets were too narrow for buses.
Revival
In the mid-1950s, tramcars came back into the spotlight. The 25 articulated trams ordered in 1955 to serve only the Leidsestraat lines 1 and 2 were well received, and secured the future of trams in Amsterdam. Between 1957 and 1968, 160 new articulated vehicles, manufactured by Beijnes and Werkspoor in the Netherlands, were added to the fleet; they were numbered 551-587 and 602–724. The old twin axle trams from the prewar period were withdrawn from service between 1945 and 1968.Extensions
After the trams had returned to favour in the inner city, the newly created Western Garden Cities in the west of Amsterdam were connected with its tramway network: Bos en Lommerplein in 1950, Slotermeer in 1954, and Osdorp in 1962.There were also some other new tram lines with line numbers that had long since disappeared or had never existed. Line 17, which was closed in 1956, was revived in 1962, when line 27 appeared on the old route of line 17. In October 1971, line 1 was extended to Osdorp. Line 27 disappeared in 1971. In 1977, upon the opening of Amsterdam's first metro line, lines 6 and 12 appeared. In 1978, with the opening of Station Zuid, came line 5, and in 1982, a new line 14 was opened, forty years after the lifting of the original line 14.
Other changes also occurred. In 1971, the tramway postal service was abandoned. In 1972–1973, the first group of articulated trams were extended by the addition of a middle section, to become bi-articulated trams. Also in the early 1970s, two series of new trams were ordered from Linke-Hofmann-Busch in Salzgitter, Germany, to operate the new western extensions. In 1974–1975, nos 725-779 entered the fleet, and in 1979–1981, nos 780-816 joined them.
By the early 1980s, the GVB had 252 bi-articulated trams available for use, at that time the highest number in any city in Europe. In 1983, after only 35 years - a short time for the Amsterdam tramway network - the three axle trams operated their last services; they had never been liked by the tram personnel. Between 1981 and 1983, the GVB also lost four other trams, when they were destroyed by fires started by rioting squatters.
Meanwhile, further western extensions of the network were opened, to Geuzenveld in 1974, Slotervaart-Zuid in 1975, Nieuw Sloten in 1991 and De Aker in 2001. Other enhancements were to: Station Zuid in 1978, Flevopark in 1980, Station RAI in 1981, Station Sloterdijk in 1982, and a second connection with Bos en Lommer/Slotermeer in 1989.
In 1985, a tram line was built to Haarlemmerhouttuinen, but not connected to other tracks, nor equipped with overhead wires. Thirty years later, it had still not entered into service.
New technology
In 1989–1991, to replace the oldest articulated trams, and to operate new lines, 45 articulated vehicles were built by BN in Bruges, Belgium. They were Amsterdam's first low-floor trams. During the same period came the first withdrawals of the first articulated trams from 1957, apart from a few vehicles that had previously had been damaged by fire or a collision. Additionally, a number of the 1974-1975 LHB vehicles were removed from service.In 1990, a new tramway to Buitenveldert and Amstelveen was ready to go. Line 5 links Station Zuid with Amstelveen Binnenhof, while line 51 ran as a light rail service, from Station Zuid to Amstelveen Poortwachter, and later to Westwijk in 2004. Also in 1990, line 9 to the Watergraafsmeer was extended to Diemen. In 1991, a rush hour line 20 and a special events line 11 were opened. In 1993 a support line 11 and in 1997 a circle line 20 were added to the network. Lines 6, 11 and 20 have since disappeared. However, line 11 is still used occasionally for extra services to the RAI convention centre.
Between 2002 and 2004, following an order for 155 Siemens Combino trams, the existing tram fleet was largely renewed. Four of the Combinos were specified as bidirectional vehicles, for use on line 5 to Amstelveen. By mid-2004, 155 Combinos had been delivered. As a result, the last old articulated cars of the 1960s were removed from service in March 2004. However, between 2004 and 2008 all of the Combinos had to be taken progressively out of service for repairs and strengthening, to correct their many structural faults.
In 2022 a Hanning & Kahl 3-way point-setting system was installed to direct trams on routes 4, 14 and 24 to the correct track in stand A at Centraal Station.