Tram of Nice

The tram of Nice is a network of tram of 8,7 km, composed of only one line. It was inaugurated the Saturday November 24th 2007.

The old tram

The first network of Tram of Nice, the Tram of Nice and the Littoral was born in 1900, followed by a departmental network in 1906. The whole of the network is electrified in 1910. In the years 1920, the network counts 11 lines of which some are used partially to transport goods.

However the tram is criticized and the drunk will be preferred to him on certain lines since 1927.

The last tram line of firm Nice the January 10th 1953.

The current tram

Like many cities in France, Nice knows big problems of circulation, in particular owing to the fact that the majority of the economic activities are concentrated in the center town. Although contacted within the framework of the Contest Cavaillé, Nice did not take action pursuant.

To cure these problems, of the studies on the realization of a public transport in Exclusive right of way was carried out starting from 1987. The town of Nice started to set up a line of bus in exclusive right of way as from 1997, and launched a dialog on the installation of line 1 of the tram in 1998.

The choice was made on the tram because this mode of displacement is more reliable than the bus, since it is not subjected to the risks of the motor vehicle traffic and that it is much less expensive than a line of Métro. The tram was declared of public utility in 2003 and the alteration work began the same year and were not completely completed at the beginning of December 2007 whereas the public startup was carried out on November 24th, 2007, after several weeks of technical tests.

Line 1

The first line of the tram (T1) brought into service on November 24th, 2007 measures 8,7 km and extends from Nice-North (Boulevard Count de Falicon) near the Stade of Ray and the A8 to the Michel Bridge, in the district Saint Roch. The line borrows very important axes of circulation the such avenue Jean Médecin, central artery of Nice, the place Masséna, the principal place of the city or the place Garibaldi in the East, near to Old man-Nice. The line also serves the university campus Saint-Jean-with Angely, which according to the projects of the municipality and the Université of Nice Sophia-Antipolis should become a pole important in the years to come.
On this line, the electricity supply of the oars is made by means of catenary, except during the crossing of the places Masséna and Garibaldi, which are crossed thanks to batteries: the oars lower to them pantograph and rock their food on the batteries at the last station before each one of these places and carry out the opposite operation at the first station after these places. The purpose of this operation is not to disfigure with electric cables these historical places with the remarkable Architecture.

Another remarkable elements, it is the deployment of works of art throughout the line, in particular the sculptures of perched characters of Jaume Plensa Place Massena. Michel Redolfi conceived the sound design. The artist Benjamin Vautier says Ben (who signs also descriptive visual stations), Mado the niçoise, Michael Lonsdale in particular prétés their voice with the voice announcements inside the Tram. The sonals and voices are different according to the hours, seasons etc

Lines in project

Hardly the first finished line, it is already envisaged to extend the network:

line 1 should be prolonged between the terminus of the Bridge-Michel and the Trinity, a common neighbor in the valley of the Paillon, by serving the Pasteur hospital and the district of the ARIANE.
a second tram line which could connect the Port of Nice to Cagnes-sur-Mer.
a third line which should serve the plain of the Var at the beginning of the district Saint-Augustin, in the west of Nice.

The public dialog will take place between on January 15th and on February 28th, 2007. The purpose of this dialog is to present the project to the population and to enable him to deliver its opinion on the various possible layouts. According to the the Community of agglomeration of Nice-Coast of Azure, the Déclaration of public utility could be obtained in 2009 and the opening of the lines to spread out between 2013 and 2020. If these projects were carried out, the network of tram would measure 35km and serve four communes.

Oars

The oars are model Citadis built by Alstom. Each oar will measure 35m length in their initial version (of the cars could however be added where necessary, carrying the length of the oar to 45 meters). Each oar will be able to transport to 200 people and will circulate with 18km/h on average.
The oars were especially designed for Nice: the choice of large windows but also of the external and interior colors was made according to the architecture and of the climate of the city.

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