Trams in Tianjin - AbsoluteAstronomy.com

Tianjin

' is a metropolis in northern China and one of the five national central cities of the People's Republic of China. It is governed as a direct-controlled municipality, one of four such designations, and is, thus, under direct administration of the central government...

, a major port and industrial center of China has returned its tramway as a modern rubber tired tram system.

Tianjin once had a standard steel wheeled tramway network. Like other Chinese towns & cities, Tianjin's tram system was also opened directly as an electric tram. The tram service was completely stopped in 1972. Tram returned in Tianjin in 2006.

History

The Tianjin tramway network was built by Belgian interests. The concession was given by the occupying powers in 1901 and recognized by the Chinese authorities in 1904. Electric trams were put in place in 16 February 1906, and they were the main mean for urban public transport until 1972. Routes were built step by step, and it reached their most widespread network in 1933 with 116 tramcars. Tianjin was the first city to have its own city-wide tram system (operated by Municipal Corporation) in China. It was the second electric tramway of Mainland China

Mainland China

Mainland China, the Chinese mainland or simply the mainland, is a geopolitical term that refers to the area under the jurisdiction of the People's Republic of China . According to the Taipei-based Mainland Affairs Council, the term excludes the PRC Special Administrative Regions of Hong Kong and...

. By counting Hong Kong it was third.

But starting from the mid '50's, traffic congestion grew rapidly. Buses were introduced by the municipality in 1932. Starting of bus & taxi service grew very rapidly. The number of private cars also increased very much, and especially many streets, which were ideal for tram, now started occupying by motor vehicles. Tramcars were not modernized for many decades, and basically the 1930s electric cars were still running in the 1970s. On that time buses started faster & smoother journey with modern buses, whereas trams were still slower, single coach and many backdated features like bow collector etc., so looked outdated. Under maintenance of tracks caused some derailments and bumpy rides, which were not liked by commuters. Due to the wars between China & Japan, reconstruction of Tianjin became urgent, and for this program, many streets were necessary for widening. The transport authority thought that a slow tram transport with fast bus transport on middle of a wide road will cause many problems for smoother city transportation. The tramway had little comfort and was slow because it was caught in the traffic jam caused by the cars, rickshaws etc. The tracks were also outdated, noisy and in the middle of the street. Cars had to pass the tramway on the right, causing danger for the pedestrians boarding and alighting the tramway. By justifying all ways, transport department decided to replace trams by metros.

After closing tram network in early '70, people of Tianjin thought the only unfashioned obstacle of smooth city traveling has removed, and the city can move faster than before, but it proved false some years later. Uncontrolled increasing of petrol vehicles like bus

Bus

A bus is a road vehicle designed to carry passengers. Buses can have a capacity as high as 300 passengers. The most common type of bus is the single-decker bus, with larger loads carried by double-decker buses and articulated buses, and smaller loads carried by midibuses and minibuses; coaches are...

, taxi

Taxicab

A taxicab, also taxi or cab, is a type of vehicle for hire with a driver, used by a single passenger or small group of passengers, often for a non-shared ride. A taxicab conveys passengers between locations of their choice...

, and private car started chocking the streets of Istanbul. Like most Asian countries, China

China

Chinese civilization may refer to:* China for more general discussion of the country.* Chinese culture* Greater China, the transnational community of ethnic Chinese.* History of China* Sinosphere, the area historically affected by Chinese culture...

suffered by many problems of developing countries, including pollution

Pollution

Pollution is the introduction of contaminants into a natural environment that causes instability, disorder, harm or discomfort to the ecosystem i.e. physical systems or living organisms. Pollution can take the form of chemical substances or energy, such as noise, heat or light...

, traffic jam, illegal migration

Human migration

Human migration is physical movement by humans from one area to another, sometimes over long distances or in large groups. Historically this movement was nomadic, often causing significant conflict with the indigenous population and their displacement or cultural assimilation. Only a few nomadic...

, low literacy

Literacy

Literacy has traditionally been described as the ability to read for knowledge, write coherently and think critically about printed material.Literacy represents the lifelong, intellectual process of gaining meaning from print...

and booming increasing of population

Population

A population is all the organisms that both belong to the same group or species and live in the same geographical area. The area that is used to define a sexual population is such that inter-breeding is possible between any pair within the area and more probable than cross-breeding with individuals...

etc. Increasing population

Population

started increasing urbanization

Urbanization

Urbanization, urbanisation or urban drift is the physical growth of urban areas as a result of global change. The United Nations projected that half of the world's population would live in urban areas at the end of 2008....

of Tianjin, and it started increasing motor vehicles, which started increasing air & sound pollution

Sound pollution

Sound pollution may refer to:* Noise pollution, displeasing or disruptive sound of human or machine origin* Sound Pollution...

, traffic jam & smog

Smog

Smog is a type of air pollution; the word "smog" is a portmanteau of smoke and fog. Modern smog is a type of air pollution derived from vehicular emission from internal combustion engines and industrial fumes that react in the atmosphere with sunlight to form secondary pollutants that also combine...

. Subway line construction started even 2 years before of the tramway closure. Metro is also an electric rail transport like tram, which runs mainly underground, so there is no question of caught in traffic jam like tram. Also it can take much more passengers than tram, but metro construction was slower in Tianjin. It took 14 years to complete only 1 line, even the construction was interrupted greatly by earthquake

Earthquake

An earthquake is the result of a sudden release of energy in the Earth's crust that creates seismic waves. The seismicity, seismism or seismic activity of an area refers to the frequency, type and size of earthquakes experienced over a period of time...

& lack of professional labors. The city not became so faster than pre-tram closure era, so it needed more metro lines in a short period, but constructions of subway is very costly including digging, tunneling, uninterrupted electricity, high maintenance, high technology for continually running a good subway network. It was not possible for Tianjin in a short period. From starting '80, all this problems started and at mid '90, inhabitants of Tianjin realized that non-controlling of motor vehicles, fully depending on metro & closure of tram was a great mistake. To solve those problems in a cheaper way, they decided to build a light rail system especially in eastern Tianjin, but although it was cheaper than metro, construction of elevated tracks & decorated stations were also costly. So light rail also wasn't the permanent solution. Many cities around the world like Tunis

Tunis

Tunis is the capital of both the Tunisian Republic and the Tunis Governorate. It is Tunisia's largest city, with a population of 728,453 as of 2004; the greater metropolitan area holds some 2,412,500 inhabitants....

, Sydney

Sydney

Sydney is the most populous city in Australia and the state capital of New South Wales. Sydney is located on Australia's south-east coast of the Tasman Sea. As of June 2010, the greater metropolitan area had an approximate population of 4.6 million people...

, Buenos Aires

Buenos Aires

Buenos Aires is the capital and largest city of Argentina, and the second-largest metropolitan area in South America, after São Paulo. It is located on the western shore of the estuary of the Río de la Plata, on the southeastern coast of the South American continent...

, Pyongyang

Pyongyang

Pyongyang is the capital of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea, commonly known as North Korea, and the largest city in the country. Pyongyang is located on the Taedong River and, according to preliminary results from the 2008 population census, has a population of 3,255,388. The city was...

etc. also understood that error, and like them, Tianjin also planned for return of tram.

Downtown Tianjin was then so overcrowded by motor vehicles around 2000, so opening a tramway system were not possible there, so transport authority decided to construct it in the Tianjin Economic Development Area, which is in eastern side of the main city.

Past in a nutshell

1906 - Electric tram started running from 16 January.

1933 - Tram service expanded to 14.4 Km. This was the peak year of Tianjin tram.

1972 - The last tram ran.

2006 - Tram returned as modern rubber tired system in TEDA
Teda
The Teda are a Toubou people who live mostly in northern Chad, but is present also in Libya, Niger and Nigeria. They speak Tedaga, a Nilo-Saharan language, and are very close ethnically and culturally with the Daza. They likely number more than 50,000, and are Muslims....

.

Tram routes

Beside electric trams, a horse tramway was also constructed, which connected the city with a large arsenal to the east.

Fleet

When first tram opened, all stocks were open type. There were only minimal roof, mostly top opened. Around 1930, newer stocks arrived. Windows added, and a more closed trailer was introduced especially in the peak hours. However, after that tramway had very little upgrade and basically the 1930s electric cars were still running in the 1970s. These vehicles looked outdated compared to the new cars and buses that were then on the streets. That was one of the strong reasons of closure of the system.

Alignment

All tram routes were on unreserved tracks and middle of the roads. Tramcars were caught in the traffic jam caused by the cars. The tracks were also outdated, noisy and in the middle of the street. Cars had to pass the tramway on the right, causing danger for the pedestrians boarding and alighting the tramway. Those were one of the strong reasons of closure of the system.

External links

Old photos of Beijing, Shanghai & Tianjin tram