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Tramway Nice Côte d’Azur You will like Tramway de Nice History of the tram in Nice Open House at the Tramway Maintenance Center Startup of the Tram Extension of the tram Tramway Inauguration November 24, 2007 archeological sites Other sites you will like are Nice, Côte d’Azur Communauté d'Agglomération Nice Côte d'Azur and Gare SNCF Nice Ville |
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| Click on pictures at right to enlarge. Find more about the new Nice,France Tramway |
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| Tram de Nice at Place Massena |
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The new (2007) Nice Tramway is getting ready to expand to "Line 2". The city was trying to decide if the route will be up the popular and scenic "Promenade des Anglais" or up two or more "less scenic" streets. Alstom sent a demo version of their newest (and more energy efficient) tram and some rapid reconstruction made a block-long visual of how it might look. See where Tramway Line 2 will be going. See what RailwayTechnology.com says about the Nice Tramway |
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FRANCE: NICE WILL OPEN TRAMWAY LINE 2 in YEAR 2016!
In a surprise move, Nice Mayor Christian Estrosi changed his mind about running Line 2 up the Promenade des Anglais and instead went with a plan that provides an 8.6 kilometer "tram/metro" with 3.6 kilometers below ground. It will cost €'450,000,000 and carry 110,000 - 140,000 daily passengers. It will run between Gare de Riquier and new? Gare Multimodal Saint-Augustin. Boulevard Rene Cassin / Avenue Californie at the Champion/Carrefour food market has a tramway in its future. Fifty-three years after the closure of the Tramway de Nice et du Littoral, the Tramway de Nice began to serve its Northern and Eastern sections. 2007 saw the completion of Line 1 serving the North-South needs of the city. Line 2 now addresses the East-West needs. This WebSite will be updated continuously until completion of Line 2 in Year 2016. |
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| Tram de Nice passes construction between Place Massena and Place Garibaldi |
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Old Tram and New Tram
These pictures were taken from an idential spot. The old tram is undated, but you an judge by the cars The street is/has been called: 1. vallon Saint-Michel before Nice was a city, 2. avenue du Prince-Impérial during the Second Empire (in honor of Napoléon Eugène Louis Bonaparte), 3. avenue de la Gare 4. avenue de la Victoire after the First World War 5. avenue Jean-Médecin (in honor of Jean Médecin who was the mayor for 33 years from 1928 to 1943 and 1947 to 1965). |
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| Tram de Nice approaches Place Garibaldi and lowers catenary pole. There is no overhead thru Place Garabaldi and tram runs on its battery. (September 3, 2007) |
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New Trams for Nice
On May 11, 2007, a new tram is on the way to Nice. It was parked near the airport waiting for lighter traffic to travel into the city. Note the " ALSTOM" builder's plate |
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| Tram de Nice at Place Massena showing unique statues (November 12, 2007) | |
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| Tram de Nice at Place Massena. The mayor of Nice lights the statues for the first time. (November 16, 2007) | |
| Not only can you search hotels by city, but you can search by your favorite chain of hotels. Find a hotel room in Nice, Cannes, or Monaco,. |
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New Trams for Nice
On May 11, 2007, a new tram is on the way to Nice. It was parked near the airport waiting for lighter traffic to travel into the city. Another side view. Note fire extinguisher just in case. |
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| Tram de Nice at Place Garibaldi when the statue is moved. (November 16, 2007). The 250 ton statue of Garabaldi was moved 18 meters at a cost of 450,000 Euros. The overall refurbishing of Place Garibaldi is being done for the construction of Tramway Line 1; however the statue needs to be moved for future Tramway Line 2 ( Port of Nice to Cagnes sur Mer). Giuseppe Garabaldi was born in Nice. His statue was erected in 1891. | |
Garbage Trucks, the environment needs them!!! |
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New Trams for Nice
On May 11, 2007, a new tram is on the way to Nice. It was parked near the airport waiting for lighter traffic to travel into the city. Rear end of car |
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New Trams for Nice
On May 11, 2007, a new tram is on the way to Nice. It was parked near the airport waiting for lighter traffic to travel into the city. Side of car. Note security agent with dog |
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During the excavation works for the new tramway along Boulevard Jean Jaurès, two important archeological sites
were earmarked for further explorations respectively south and north of Nice’s Bus terminal:
1) Pont Vieux or Pont Saint-Antoine - Vestiges of this old bridge were found during excavations works over an area of 230m². The aim was to verify the presence and date the original (possibly timber) bridge mentioned as back as 1250 as well as to to assess if the brick built arches discovered, relate to those rebuilt in 1545 after the siege by the French and Turks. Escavations around the steps of Rue du Pont Vieux also aim find a link between the bridge and the original walls sourrounding Nice old town. 2) Porte Parolière near Place Garibaldi is the most important of the 3 gates to enter the fortified old town of Nice from Tourin (Savoy). Louis Brea’s 1516 painting shows this gate flanked by a round tower and its draw-bridge. A surface of 1800m² was excavated to produce a large 6m deep chamber which is then covered by a large slab of reinforced cement to enable the tramwy to run above it during prolongued excavation works. Eventually all archeological finds will be restored and exhibited. |
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Now you can see the entire NICE, FRANCE TRAMWAY in GOOGLE EARTH!!!! | Yes! Open in Google Earth and follow the path of the Tramway station-by station. |
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| In Nice, before the opening of the tram, there has been much testing and operator training. The police have had to come out in force along the new tram line and ticket people driving and/or walking on the tracks. The Marseille tramway doesn’t even really work due to the anarchic habits of Southern French drivers and pedestrians. The first few days they tried testing the tram in Nice, it never got above 5kmh (approximately 3mph), or walking speed… because pedestrians wouldn’t get out of the way. This has apparently remained the case in Marseille. |
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Tramway de Nice et du Littoral The Tramway de Nice was the first tramway system serving the city of Nice, France. The tramway began operations on 27 February 1879 using horse drawn tramcars. The creation of the Compagnie des Tramways de Nice et du Littoral (TNL) was encouraged by the rapid rise in population of Nice and surrounding towns and villages. The TNL's aim was to build a network linking Nice to several towns along the coast on a 1,000 mm (3 ft 3?in) narrow gauge network. Lines were: * Cagnes-sur-Mer - Nice - Beaulieu - Monte Carlo - Menton * Nice urban network. All lines were electrified in 1900 and operated by single car tramcars. In 1930 the TNL was operating 144km of lines, 183 tramcars and 96 trailers. At Cagnes, passengers could board trams of the Tramway de Cannes and travel to Juan-les-Pins, Cannes and Mandelieu. Unfortunately, the coastal line had heavy bus competition. Coastal lines were replaced by buses as early as 1929, the entire suburban network disappeared in 1934 with many comments from the press saluting the disappearance of the old way of transport. Nice decided to slowly close the tramway network and by 1939, only 4 lines remained open. Due to World War II and the requisition of buses, two lines were reopened. The network was then operated by 48 tramcars and 22 trailers. A few tramcars were rebuilt in 1942. After World War II, the badly maintained tramways were showing their age, which was surprising for such a popular mode of transport in a touristic city such as Nice. Tramways were replaced by trolleybuses from 1948 and the last tramway ran on 10 January 1953. |
| Links to interesting tram and bus sites in Nice |
| L'association des Tramophiles de la Côte d'Azur (T.C.A.) |
| Great unofficial WebSite |
| Nice Page from a France-wide site |
| France bus page |
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Traveling in Europe? You will probably need to make a FERRY RESERVATION. Stop by and see our Reservations Center. |
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More History of the Tram and Trains in Nice When I first came to Nice I became very interested in the new tramway. This was because of my background in writing on railroad history. I quickly found out that Nice once had a tram. Quick research showed it went West to Cagnes and East to Menton. On the way it went through Monaco, which had its own tram that even went to La Turbie. Next I found that Sospel had a tram from Menton. Looking closer I found that Compagnie des Tramways de Nice et du Littoral (TNL) went as far North as far as Levens, Contes and L`Escarene. But other operators in the Alpes Maritimes had trams going to: Roquestéron, St Martin Vésubie, St Sauveur sur Tinée and Guillaumes. These had connections to the Chemins de Fer de Provence: Nice - Digne But don`t forget the Nice to Cuneo railroad which went through Sospel, Breil and Tende. Then I discovered the Chemins de Fer de Provence: Nice - Digne with its terminal in Nice. It is sort of between a tram and a train. Didn't know it went West to Grasse towards Draguignan. Next I discovered that it also had a line from Toulon through St Tropez to Frejus and St Raephel. WOW, that is exactly what St Tropez needs today: a train. |
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Overview Chemins de Fer de Provence 600 km of rail lines were built in three areas: - La Littoral. A coastal section ran from Toulon, via Hyeres and Ste Maxime to Fréjus and St Raphaël. - Nice-Meyrargues. A central section ran across the departments of the Var and the Alpes Maritimes, from Meyragues, via Draguignan and Grasse, to Colomars at the Var river, where it connected with the Nice-Digne section. This line ran from the end of the 19th century until it was closed in 1950. - Nice-Digne This section ran from Nice, up the Var river valley to Dignes-les-Bains, and the line is still in service today, the last 1-meter gauge railway in the South of France. - Tramways of the Alpes-Maritimes. A network of tramways provided rail service to many parts of otherwise-remote areas of the Alpes-Maritimes. In addition there were several branch lines: Grasse - Cagnes-sur-Mer branched off of the Grasse-Vence route at Pré-de-Lac (by Magagnosc/Chateauneuf), and followed the valleys down past Roquefort-les-Pins and Villeneuve-Loubet to Cagnes-sur-Mer. Vence - Cagnes-sur-Mer between Vence and the coast went past Saint Paul-de-Vence and La Colle-sur-Loup. Some of the old viaducts and tunnel openings are still visible here, from along the road. From the Var river, at the Pont Charles-Albert (between St Martin-du-Var and Plan-de-Var), a line followed the Esteron valley west to Roquestéron, serving Gilette and Pierrefeu. A branch of the Nice-Digne train went up the Vésubie valley, from Plan-du-Var, via St Jean-la-Rivière, Lantosque and Roquebillière to St Martin-Vésubie. A branch of the Nice-Digne train went up the Tinée valley to St Sauveur-sur-Tinée. This line provided access to the perched villages overlooking the valley: La Tour, Bariols, Clans, Illonse, Marie and Rimplas. Another branch of the Nice-Digne Train-de-Pignes went up the Dalius valley and past the Gorges de Dalius. This line branched north from the main line at the Pont de Gueydan and went to the small town of Guillaumes. GROUPE D'ETUDE POUR LES CHEMINS DE FER DE PROVENCE is a group maintaining the history of this line. They maintain old steam loomotives in PugetThenier. See a good portal (in French) to more information on these lines. |
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JWH Rapid Response Temporary Housing How are your disaster recovery plans for a hurricane? Talk to us! We can design a plan to provide you temporary housing, office, manufacturing or warehouse space. We design your solution, then we store it for you. If a disaster hits, we move it into your site, assemble it, and maintain it. On site containers become residential accommodation, offices and much more! |
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Railroads On The Rebound |
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Over the last 50+ years, railroads have changed a lot. Now they are about to change again.
It is all about a combination of economic factors and climate factors. Since 1950 , railroads have consolidated. Freight moved from a "box car mentality" to a "unit train,mentality". Passenger went from a robust business to a "caretaker" arrangement called AMTRAK. This happened as everybody could drive for free on the Interstate Highway System or fly on an airline system where the government subsidized both airlines and airports. In the meantime, railroad express and railroad post offices went "down the tubes". The old Post Office Department and the Railway Express Agency could not adjust to the new way. UPS and Fex Ex could. |
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Carbon Calculator
What's the most environmentally-friendly way to transport goods? The answer is freight rail. The EPA estimates that every ton-mile of freight that moves by rail instead of by highway reduces greenhouse emissions by two-thirds. But what does that really mean? Our easy-to-use carbon calculator will estimate the amount of carbon dioxide that can be prevented from entering our environment just by using freight rail instead of trucks. We'll even tell you how many seedlings you'd need to plant to have the same effect. |
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| VISIT OUR TICKET BOOTH We can find you tickets for all the great music, sports and cultural events. We have the best prices and most availability of any ticket seller. |
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There is always a chance of storms in the
Mediterranean Sea.
Ominous Weather is about more than weather. Its about our environment. Its about our social issues that need to be surfaced if we want to save our environment. See Champions of our Environment like Al Gore SAS le Prince Albert II de Monaco John R. Stilgoe Ralph Nader. We have other environmental sites on garbage trucks and Rapid response temporary shelters / portable housing. We have addressed several railroad-related projects that will conserve fuel and lessen pollution. Our Window on Europe spotlights projects that can help the rest of the World. See projects that will conserve fuel and lessen pollution. |
“We cannot go back in time. However, we can consider economic development in a different light, and put the notion of “protecting the planet” at the heart of each development project. It is essential to rise above political divisions and ask ourselves what measures we can take today for a development that is sustainable and respectful of nature.” H.S.H. Prince Albert II, North Pole Expedition Diary, April 2006 |
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Greenland's ice caps are melting! Find out more about Global Warming at our Ominous Ecology WebSite. |
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