Lyon tramway


The Lyon tramway comprises eight lines, seven lines operated by TCL and one by Rhônexpress, in the city of Lyon, France. The original tramway network in Lyon was developed in 1879; the modern network started operation in 2001.
Lines T1 and T2 opened in January 2001; T3 opened in December 2006; line T4 opened in April 2009; line Rhônexpress opened in August 2010; line T5 opened in November 2012; line T6 opened in November 2019 and line T7 opened in February 2021. The tramway system complements the Lyon Metro and forms an integral part of the public transportation system in Lyon. The network of 7 tram lines operated by TCL runs ; the single line operated by Rhônexpress runs for . The network is currently served by 73 Alstom Citadis 302 and 34 Alstom Citadis 402 trams.

History: the original network (1879 - 1957)

The first steam-driven tram line, the number 12, linked Lyon and Vénissieux in 1888. The network was electrified between 1893 and 1899. Extensions to the suburbs were built until 1914. This was the height of the network - high quality service, low price, high frequency and high profitability for shareholders. The inflation between World War I and World War II made the network unprofitable. Beginning in the 1930s, tramways were progressively replaced with trolleybuses and later buses. A modernization plan, including underground sections in the city centre, planned in the 1940s was rapidly abandoned. The last urban tram ran on line 4 in January 1956 and the last suburban tram, the "Train bleu" in Neuville-sur-Saône, was abandoned in June 1957.

Original OTL network

The first tram network was built and operated by the Compagnie des Omnibus et tramways de Lyon, founded in 1879. It consisted of ten , horse-drawn lines with a total length of 44 km serving Lyon, Villeurbanne, La Mulatière et Oullins.
In 1894, new electric trams were in service with these lines:
  • 1: Bellecour – Monplaisir via Pont de la Guillotière and Grande Rue de la Guillotière
  • 2: Bellecour – Montchat
  • 3: Cordeliers – Villeurbanne
  • 4: Parc de la Tête d'or – La Mouche, extended to Perrache
  • 5: Bellecour – Pont d'Écully via Pont du Change
  • 6: Terreaux – Gare de Vaise via Quai Saint-Vincent
  • 7: Perrache – Les Brotteaux via Pont Morand
  • 8: Pont Morand – Saint-Clair
  • 9: Bellecour – Saint-Paul via Pont Tilsitt
  • 10: Bellecour – Oullins.
The first line to open was line 5, from Place Bellecour to Vaise along the Saône river, competing with riverboats. Lines 1 and 7 followed the approximate routes of the current metro lines D and A, respectively. The network was gradually extended, by the OTL and by acquisitions of competing operators, between 1894 and 1914.

OTL extensions

  • 11: Bellecour - Bon-Coin
  • 12: Bellecour - Saint-Fons, extended to Vénissieux
  • 13: Cours Bayard - Place Commandant Arnaud
  • 14: Pont d'Oullins - Chaponost
  • 15: Charité - Pierre-Bénite
  • 16: Bellecour - Meyzieu - La Balme
  • 17: Tolozan - Montluel
  • 18: Gare Saint-Paul - La Mouche, extended to Gerland
  • 28: Cordeliers - Brotteaux
  • 31: Pont-Mouton - Saint-Rambert-l'Île-Barbe
  • 32: Charité - Vitriolerie.

    La Société du Tramway d'Écully

lines to the northwest, acquired by the OTL in 1894.
, steam powered lines on the left bank of the Rhône river. Became the Nouvelle Compagnie Lyonnaise des Tramways in 1902, then acquired by the OTL in 1906.
and Saint-Just funiculars and trams in the west plateau. Acquired by the OTL in 1910.
Acquired by the OTL in 1914. Originally metric gauge, converted to standard gauge in 1925.
  • 33: Croix-Rousse - Caluire, extended to Les Marronniers.

    Tramway de l'Ouest du Dauphiné

This company reached Lyon in 1909. The meter gauge line leading to the east suburb was used on 6 km after being electrified in 1925.
  • 34: Cordeliers - Saint-Priest

    The current network (since 2001)

Following a decline in the 1950s and 1960s, public transit in Lyon was revived in the 1970s with the opening of the Lyon Metro. In 1996 a decision was made to build a new tram network to complement the metro. The first two lines were opened on 2 January 2001: Line T1 from Perrache to IUT–Feyssine via Part-Dieu and Charpennes and line T2 from Perrache to Porte des Alpes via Jean Macé and Grange Blanche. Line T2 was extended to Saint-Priest–Bel Air on 27 October 2003 and line T1 was extended to Montrochet on 15 September 2005, then again to Debourg on 19 February 2014. Line T3 was opened on 4 December 2006 along the former Chemin de Fer de l'Est Lyonnais tracks from Gare Part-Dieu–Villette to Meyzieu–ZI. Line T4 opened on 20 April 2009, running from Jet d'Eau–Mendès France to Hôpital Feyzin Vénissieux, and was extended to La Doua on 29 August 2013. Line T5 opened on 17 November 2012, running from Grange Blanche to Eurexpo.

Line T1

Operates from 04:40 to 00:35, maintained by the Centre de Maintenance de Saint-Priest - Porte des Alpes.
  • Debourg
  • ENS Lyon
  • Halle Tony Garnier
  • Musée des Confluences
  • Hôtel de Région–Montrochet
  • Sainte-Blandine
  • Place des Archives
  • Perrache
  • Quai Claude Bernard
  • Rue de l'Université
  • Saint-André
  • Guillotière–Gabriel Péri
  • Liberté
  • Saxe–Préfecture
  • Palais de Justice–Mairie du 3ème
  • Part-Dieu–Auditorium
  • Gare Part-Dieu–Vivier Merle
  • Thiers–Lafayette
  • Collège Bellecombe
  • Charpennes–Charles Hernu
  • Le Tonkin
  • Condorcet
  • Université Lyon 1
  • La Doua–Gaston Berger
  • INSA–Einstein
  • Croix-Luizet
  • '''La Doua–IUT Feyssine'''

    Line T2

Operates from 04:55 to 00:34, maintained by the Centre de Maintenance de Saint-Priest - Porte des Alpes.
  • Hôtel de Région–Montrochet
  • Sainte-Blandine
  • Place des Archives
  • Perrache
  • Centre Berthelot–Sciences Po Lyon
  • Jean Macé
  • Garibaldi–Berthelot
  • Route de Vienne
  • Jet d'Eau–Mendès France
  • Villon
  • Bachut–Mairie du 8ème
  • Jean XXIII–Maryse Bastié
  • Grange Blanche
  • Ambroise Paré
  • Desgenettes
  • Essarts–Iris
  • Boutasse–Camille Rousset
  • Hôtel de Ville–Bron
  • Les Alizés
  • Rebufer
  • Parilly Université–Hippodrome
  • Europe–Université
  • Porte des Alpes
  • Parc Technologique
  • Hauts de Feuilly
  • Salvador Allende
  • Alfred de Vigny
  • Saint-Priest–Hôtel de Ville
  • Esplanade des Arts
  • Jules Ferry
  • Cordière
  • Saint-Priest–Bel Air
Line T2 has been extended from Perrache to Hôtel de Région–Montrochet on 24 March 2021, sharing the track of line T1.

Line T3

Operates from 04:32 to 00:06, maintained by the Centre de Maintenance de Meyzieu.
Codenamed "LEA", Line T3 runs along a portion of the former CFEL train line which extended from the Gare de l'Est de Lyon to Saint-Genix-d'Aoste.
  • Gare Part-Dieu–Villette
  • Dauphiné–Lacassagne
  • Reconnaissance–Balzac
  • Gare de Villeurbanne
  • Bel Air–Les Brosses
  • Vaulx-en-Velin–La Soie
  • Décines–Centre
  • Décines–Roosevelt
  • Décines–Grand Large
  • Meyzieu–Gare
  • Meyzieu–Lycée Colonel Beltrame
  • Meyzieu–ZI
  • Meyzieu–Les Panettes
Line T3, which is 14.6 km long, runs largely on ballasted railroad track. It takes 23 minutes to go from Gare Part-Dieu - Villette to Meyzieu - ZI, and runs at a maximum speed of 70 km/h. 7 km run near residential areas and are equipped with a noise barrier.

Line T4

Operates from 04:39 to 00:45, maintained by the Centre de Maintenance de Saint-Priest - Porte des Alpes.
  • La Doua–IUT Feyssine
  • Croix-Luizet
  • INSA–Einstein
  • La Doua–Gaston Berger
  • Université Lyon 1
  • Condorcet
  • Le Tonkin
  • Charpennes–Charles Hernu
  • Collège Bellecombe
  • Thiers–Lafayette
  • Gare Part-Dieu–Villette
  • Archives Départementales
  • Manufacture–Montluc
  • Lycée Colbert
  • Jet d'Eau–Mendès France
  • Lycée Lumière
  • États-Unis–Musée Tony Garnier
  • Beauvisage–CISL
  • États-Unis–Viviani
  • Joliot Curie–Marcel Sembat
  • La Borelle
  • Gare de Vénissieux
  • Croizat–Paul Bert
  • Marcel Houël–Hôtel de Ville
  • Lycée Jacques Brel
  • Herriot–Cagne
  • Vénissy Frida Kahlo
  • Division Leclerc
  • Maurice Thorez
  • Lénine–Corsière
  • Darnaise
  • '''Hôpital Feyzin Vénissieux'''

    Line T5

Operates from 05:00 to 00:00, maintained by the Centre de Maintenance de Saint-Priest - Porte des Alpes.
  • Grange Blanche
  • Ambroise Paré
  • Desgenettes
  • Essarts–Iris
  • Boutasse–Camille Rousset
  • Hôtel de Ville–Bron
  • Les Alizés
  • De Tassigny–Curial
  • Lycée Jean-Paul Sartre
  • Parc du Chêne
  • Chassieu—ZAC du Chêne
  • Eurexpo
From its opening to 4 October 2020, line T5 served the stop Eurexpo only on exhibition days and only from 08:00 to 22:00. Since 5 October 2020, line T5 serves Eurexpo everyday, except in July and August.
A projected extension to Chassieu, which would have added two new stations, Eurexpo 2 and René Cassin, was not approved by the public enquiry and has been postponed due to lack of support from local councillors.
Planning documents do however still include a future study of an extension to line T5 via Chassieu to meet line T3 close to the Parc Olympique Lyonnais spur. This link is considered to be strategic by the owners of the Eurexpo conference centre, as it could enable direct travel from Eurexpo to Lyon Part-Dieu railway station and to the airport.