Caen Guided Light Transit
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| Overview | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Native name | Tramway de Caen | ||
| Locale | Caen, Normandy, France | ||
| Transit type | GLT/TVR, a type of guided bus | ||
| Number of lines | 2 | ||
| Number of stations | 34 | ||
| Daily ridership | 42,000 (2008) | ||
| Operation | |||
| Began operation | 18 November 2002 | ||
| Operator(s) | Twisto | ||
| Technical | |||
| System length | 15.7 km (9.8 mi) | ||
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The Caen guided light transit or Caen TVR, locally known as "the Tram", is an electrically powered guided bus system in Caen, France, which uses Bombardier Guided Light Transit (TVR in French) technology.
After a construction time lasting three years, the system opened on 18 November 2002 at a total cost of 227 million euros. The Caen transport company, Twisto (CTAC), is the current operator of the TVR system and calls the system the "Tram".
Service is provide by 24 three-section articulated vehicles, guided by a central non-supporting rail. The entire passenger line is guided, and in normal service the vehicles are powered by electricity drawn from an overhead wire through a pantograph. The vehicles have auxiliary diesel engines and steering wheels and are able to operate away from the guide rail, but only in diesel mode, and under normal operating conditions they run only in electric mode when carrying passengers along the route, using their diesel engines only when travelling to and from the depot (garage). The use of pantographs for current collection means the Caen vehicles cannot move laterally away from the overhead wire when operating in electric mode, and for this reason they are not considered to be trolleybuses, under the English language meaning of that word, and the system is sometimes referred to as a "rubber-tyred tramway".
It was in 1988 that the SMTCAC (Syndicat Mixte des Transports en Commun de l'Agglomération Caennaise) first considered developing public transport on a large-scale. However, the opening of the bus system was not without problems as well as lack of interest in the system by the population with only 23% backing the project, in 1994, Viacités, one of the guided bus' network partners closed a contract with the consortium STVR (Société the transport sur Voie Réservée), existing construction company Spie Batignolles and Bombardier Transportation proceeded with infrastructure and vehicle construction. Due to financial contracts the municipality had no other choice but to push the project forward despite a relative lobby against the tram.
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