Tram networks with more than one tram operator.

[stadler]

How many tram systems have more than one operator running trams on the network?

It certainly seems quite rare as most tram networks just get one operor to run everything. But there certainly are a couple. I can only think of four examples of this.

• The trams in Portland Oregon USA are run by two separate operators with each operator having their own lines. Tri Met MAX (owned by the Clackamas County and Multnomah County and Washington County local governments) operate 5 lines: Blue Line, Green Line, Orange Line, Red Line, Yellow Line. Portland Streetcar (owned by the Portland City government) operate 3 lines: A Loop Line, B Loop Line, North South Line.

• The trams in Seattle Washington USA are run by two separate operators with each operator having their own lines. Sound Transit Link (owned by the King County and Pierce County and Snohomish County local governments) operate 3 lines: Line 1, Line 2, Line T. Seattle Streetcar (owned by the Seattle City government) operate 2 lines: First Hill Line, South Lake Union Line.

• The trams in Basel Switzerland are run by two operators with each operator having their own lines. BVB operate 11 lines: 1, 2, 3, 6, 8, 14, 15, 16, 21, N6, N14. BLT operate 6 lines: 10, 11, 17, E11, N10, N11.

• The trams in Paris France are run by two different operators with each operator having their own lines. RATP operate 9 lines: T1, T2, T3, T4, T5, T6, T7, T8, T10. Keolis operate 4 lines: T9, T11, T12, T13.

Can anyone think of any other tram networks besides these where more than one operator runs trams?

Also i suspect the answer will be no but is there any tram network where two or more operators jointly run the same tram line in the same way that some bus routes are jointly run?

 

[DanielB]

Between Den Haag Laan van Nieuw Oost Indië and Leidschenveen in the Netherlands there is a joint operation with trams (3, 4) operated by HTM and metros (E) operated by RET.
They use the same tracks, though have different platform heights. (And the trams have OV-chipcard readers inside the vehicles, but for the metro one needs to check in at the platform)

There are also some cases in the Rhein-Ruhr area in Germany where trams from one city run through to another city and share tracks with the local operator.

 

[signed]

RATP operate 9 lines: T1, T2, T3, T4, T5, T6, T7, T8, T10. Keolis operate 4 lines: T9, T11, T12, T13.

Bickering, but T4 is a Keolis-SNCF conglomerate

In Nantes, SEMITAN/Naolib run T 1/2/3 and SNCF Voyageurs run the 2 tram-train lines (counting them as they serve stations inside the city)

Same thing in Lyon, where Keolis operates the TCL trams, RATP Dev (or Transdev, Wikipedia can't agree with itself) operates the scam RhôneExpress and SNCF Voyageurs operate the interurban tram-trains

 

[daodao]

Both Zurich and Vienna have an interurban tram service provided by another operator running into the city centre using the city's tram tracks.

 

[Taunton]

Also i suspect the answer will be no but is there any tram network where two or more operators jointly run the same tram line in the same way that some bus routes are jointly run?

Is the riverside route along the Rhine still run by Cologne and Bonn? When I was there long ago it was run alternately by vehicles from Cologne (red) and Bonn (green).

 

[Sir Felix Pole]

Zwickau (former home of Trabant!) in Germany has the unusual arrangement of street-running dual-gauge (standard and metre) tracks to reach the city centre from the railway station. They are used by regional heavy-rail services and local trams respectively, thus sharing the same route, if not exactly the same tracks!

 

[Actonman]

The Badner Bahn of Wiener Lokalbahn has some of its own infrastructure, but interworks over the Vienna Tram network to reach Opera and Karlsplatz. The company is also a main line oprator.

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The Karlsruhe tramway network also has interworking with another operator that uses "tram-trains" over a wider network, including the main line.

 

[The exile]

• The trams in Paris France are run by two different operators with each operator having their own lines. RATP operate 9 lines: T1, T2, T3, T4, T5, T6, T7, T8, T10. Keolis operate 4 lines: T9, T11, T12, T13.

Can anyone think of any other tram networks besides these where more than one operator runs trams?

Not sure that the trams in Paris could really be described as "a network".

== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: 18 Sep 2025 ==

Is the riverside route along the Rhine still run by Cologne and Bonn? When I was there long ago it was run alternately by vehicles from Cologne (red) and Bonn (green).

Likewise the Düsseldorf - Duisburg route (U79?). The Essen U18 and 104 used to be shared with Mülheim, as did the 112 between Mülheim and Oberhausen - but the three operators have now merged. Is there a shared operation with BOGESTRA?

 

[Flange Squeal]

In Mulhouse, France, there are three tram lines (1/2/3) operated by bus and tram operator Soléa, plus a tram-train which runs over sections of all three tram lines on its way out of Mulhouse. The tram-train vehicles are owned by the regional and local governments and marketed alongside the tram lines, but are jointly crewed by Soléa and SNCF (state-owned rail network) drivers, with Soléa responsible for the infrastructure as far as Lutterbach and SNCF beyond there to Thann. I don't know if this counts towards your jointly operated query though as although the drivers are employed by two different operators and they also maintain their own bits of infrastructure over the route, the tram-trains used aren't separately owned by each party like jointly operated buses would be.

 

[mluk321]

In Germany it is:
- Karlsruhe: VBK & AVG (both owned by the city)
- Kassel: RegioTram Gesellschaft (JV between HLB and the Kassel Transport Company (KVG)) & KVG
- Bochum/Gelsenkirchen: BOGESTRA & Ruhrbahn (Essen/Müllheim)
- Bonn: SWB & SSB (concession holder, operated by SWB as "subcontractor") & KVG (Cologne)
- Duisburg: DVG & Ruhrbahn & Rheinbahn (Düsseldorf)
- Düsseldorf: Rheinbahn & DVG
- Essen: Ruhrbahn & BOGESTRA & STOAG (planned in 2030 when the tram line Oberhausen-Essen opens)
- Cologne: KVB & SWB
- Krefeld: SWK & Rheinbahn
- Müllheim: Ruhrbahn & DVG & STOAG
- Chemnitz: CVAG & City-Bahn Chemnitz
- Zwickau: SVZ & DLB (railway operator)

Maybe a random topic for another time:
Until 2016 BOGESTRA was listed on the stock exchange, BSAG (public tranport operator in Bremen) until 2017.
However, one can still buy shares of ÜSTRA (operating the Hannover Stadtbahn + Busses), current listing

 

[Gordon]

Not sure that the trams in Paris could really be described as "a network".

I think I would call a collection of 10 or more tram routes all built since 1992 a network - whilst Britain has managed the comparatively feeble Croydon Tram link in it's capital.

This map looks like a network to me: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tramw...ia/File:Île-de-France_-_plan_des_tramways.png

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Both Zurich and Vienna have an interurban tram service provided by another operator running into the city centre using the city's tram tracks.

And Bern

 

[daodao]

And Bern

The Bern-Worb interurban is now operated as route 6 of the Bern city tramway network, so no longer fits the OP's criteria.

 

[AdamWW]

I think I would call a collection of 10 or more tram routes all built since 1992 a network - whilst Britain has managed the comparatively feeble Croydon Tram link in it's capital.

This map looks like a network to me: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tramways_in_Île-de-France#/media/File:Île-de-France_-_plan_des_tramways.png

== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: 18 Sep 2025 ==

But the lines are (mostly?) independent of each other, aren't they? Rather than having stretches of track used by more than one route as in most tram networks.
So I can see the argument there.

 

[edwin_m]

I think I would call a collection of 10 or more tram routes all built since 1992 a network - whilst Britain has managed the comparatively feeble Croydon Tram link in it's capital.

This map looks like a network to me: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tramw...ia/File:Île-de-France_-_plan_des_tramways.png

Manchester Metrolink is much more of a network than Croydon. Most of London isn't good tram country, lacking Paris's wide roads and Manchester's disused railways.

Paris trams might be considered a network from the public point of view, although it doesn't make sense as a network until seen as part of the overall transport map. But from the operational point of view it's a series of disconnected routes.

 

[Ben Rhydding]

The line from Squires Gate to Gynn Square was used both by Blackpool Corporation, which owned it, and by Lytham St Annes which had running powers. When the latter system closed in 1937, Blackpool had to order 20 additional trams (the Brush railcoaches 284 - 303) to make up for the loss of those running through from Lytham.

 

[daodao]

The line from Squires Gate to Gynn Square was used both by Blackpool Corporation, which owned it, and by Lytham St Annes which had running powers. When the latter system closed in 1937, Blackpool had to order 20 additional trams (the Brush railcoaches 284 - 303) to make up for the loss of those running through from Lytham.

There are many historical examples, including in Great Britain in places like Manchester, but none survive here. There are now few examples worldwide, with the partial exception of Germany.

Even where urban tram networks have survived, there are now very few interurban lines that run into towns/cities, and some of the surviving ones are run by the same company that runs the urban network.

 

[eddp]

If Paris counts as a network, then the tramways in the Community of Madrid probably also count - there you have four lines in the Metro Ligero system, which are run as concessions by three different operators: Metros Ligeros de Madrid SA for ML1, Metro Ligero Oeste SA for lines ML2 and ML3, and Tranvía de Parla y Metros Ligeros de Madrid, SA for ML4 (the Parla tram).

 

[mangad]

• The trams in Seattle Washington USA are run by two separate operators with each operator having their own lines. Sound Transit Link (owned by the King County and Pierce County and Snohomish County local governments) operate 3 lines: Line 1, Line 2, Line T. Seattle Streetcar (owned by the Seattle City government) operate 2 lines: First Hill Line, South Lake Union Line.

Only Line 1 of the Sound Transit Link runs into Seattle. The other two lines don't run into Seattle and right now are all independent of each other. If you look at it on a map, it's not really a network, and more a cluster of services run by the same organisation.

Line 1 is also non-street running, unlike the Seattle Streetcar which definitely does go on the roads. They are completely separate and the nature of them means I wouldn't put them in the same bucket. To give a UK (well, okay, London) comparison, Sound Transit's your DLR, and Seattle Streetcar is your Croydon Tramlink.

 

[signed]

But the lines are (mostly?) independent of each other, aren't they? Rather than having stretches of track used by more than one route as in most tram networks.

They are wholly independant and some run wholly incompatible systems (T5 and T6 run Translohr and T4, T11-14 are tram-trains)

But that's how all but a few tram networks work in France. Off the top of my head only Lyon and Strasbourg really run significant interlining. Nantes, Toulouse have stretches of interlining. But nothing alike what Zurich or Prague do.

 

[Taunton]

Paris trams might be considered a network from the public point of view, although it doesn't make sense as a network until seen as part of the overall transport map. But from the operational point of view it's a series of disconnected routes.

Paris overall tram maps remind me of the old London tram maps, and broadly their replacing trolleybuses which did much the same; an oddball inner suburban network, nothing in the centre, peripheral rather than radial routes, leave the heavy haul to the Metro/Underground, would probably take all day to get by tram between otherwise quite close points on the "network", some completely isolated sections, etc

 

[Zamracene749]

In Szeged, Hungary the city operated SZKT trams share the tram lines through the city centre with MAV operated tramtrains to Hódmezővásárhely.

 

[FormerBritInMe]

There many historical examples, including in Great Britain in places like Manchester, but none survive here. There are now few examples worldwide, with the partial exception of Germany.

Even where urban tram networks have survived, there are now very few interurban lines that run into towns/cities, and some of the surviving ones are run by the same company that runs the urban network.

There were many historical examples in the US. For example in Boston the Eastern Massachusetts Street Railway (EMSR) operated between Quincy and the Fields Corner rapid transit station in the Dorchester neighbourhood of Boston on tracks also operated by the Boston Elevated Railway, forerunner of today's MBTA. They served the first stop at the border between Quincy and Boston which was Neponset Circle, where a Boston Elevated crew took over. They then ran non stop to Field's Corner. There was a similar operation on the Fellsway Line North of Boston.

 

[The exile]

- Essen: Ruhrbahn & BOGESTRA & STOAG (planned in 2030 when the tram line Oberhausen-Essen opens)

Just as a little observation for all those who bemoan how long we take to do things in the UK. Extension of the tram from Essen to Oberhausen was being announced as “imminent” when I lived there in 1999.

 

[67thave]

I believe that Alexandria in Egypt has two separate tram networks run by two separate companies.

Tokyo likely also counts - in addition to the Arakawa Line, which is run by Toei (the municipal bus operator and operator of four metro lines), Tokyu operates the Setagaya Line, which, even though it is operated by a mainline railway company, is legally classified as a tramway and uses lighter rolling stock.

 

[Bodiam]

Is the riverside route along the Rhine still run by Cologne and Bonn? When I was there long ago it was run alternately by vehicles from Cologne (red) and Bonn (green).

And when I was first there even longer ago, the routes between Cologne and Bonn were part of the Koeln-Bonner Eisenbahn, which was a Class 1 railway with a very heavy freight traffic as well as express and stopping passenger trains, even though its trains ran over KVB tram tracks to reach the centre of Cologne.

 

[MarcVD]

If historical networks can be mentioned, then it's worth noting that the once mighty SNCV network in Belgium (5000 km!) shared tracks, sometimes over 3 rail sections, with urban networks in Antwerp, Gent, Brussels, Charleroi, and Liège...

 

[Springs Branch]

Another historical but fairly recent example was the extensive tram network in Melbourne, Australia.

For a few years around the millennium, Melbourne's trams were operated by two separate companies - M>Tram (an offshoot of Britain's National Express) and Yarra Trams.

M>Tram generally worked the north-south tram routes through the city centre, while Yarra trams did east-west streets. The two mostly kept out of each other's way, apart from a couple of roads in the suburbs where they overlapped. See the green & blue on this map.

Melbourne's Tram Network Map 2002 by Melbourne's Public Transport Gallery EXTRAS, on Flickr.

M>Tram and Yarra Trams came about through a late-1990s privatisation initiative, when previously government-owned and operated tram and suburban 1500V DC heavy rail networks were franchised to private operators. The two separate tram operators (and also the two separate heavy rail franchises) did not last long, with National Express pulling out in December 2002 and the tram fleet being re-combined and operated by one franchisee (today's Yarra Trams).