Electric trolley
 Clip from a Belfast horse tram in 1901 on YouTube
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A tram (also tramcar; and in North America streetcar, trolley or trolley car) is a rail vehicle which runs on tracks along public urban streets, and also sometimes on a segregated right of way. The lines or networks operated by tramcars are called tramways. Tramways powered by electricity, the most common type historically, were once called electric street railways (mainly in the USA). However, trams were widely used in urban areas before the universal adoption of electrification; other methods of powering trams are listed below under "History".
Tram lines may also run between cities and towns (for example, interurbans, tram-train) or even countries (Basel, Strasbourg), or partially grade-separated even in the cities (light rail). Very occasionally, trams also carry freight. Tram vehicles are usually lighter and shorter than conventional trains and rapid transit trains, but the size of trams (particularly light rail vehicles) is rapidly increasing. Some trams (for instance tram-trains) may also run on ordinary railway tracks, a tramway may be upgraded to a light rail or a rapid transit line, two urban tramways may be connected to an interurban, etc. For all these reasons, the differences between the various modes of rail transportation are often indistinct. In the United States, the term tram has sometimes been used for rubber-tired trackless trains, which are not related to the other vehicles covered in this article.
Today, most trams use electrical power, usually fed by an overhead pantograph; in some cases by a sliding shoe on a third rail, trolley pole or bow collector. If necessary, they may have dual power systems — electricity in city streets, and diesel in more rural environments. Trams are now included in the wider term "light rail", which also includes segregated systems.
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