Zhangjiang Tram

Zhangjiang Tram is the only tram line operating in Shanghai today, utilizing a system manufactured by the French Translohr company. It is a rubber-tired tram system, second both in China and Asia.

Shanghai originally had a steel wheeled electric tramway network. Routes expanded gradually, and it reached its largest extent in 1925 with 328 tramcars; this tram system shut down in 1975. Tram service returned to Shanghai in 2009, with commercial service resuming in 2010. Unlike the standard tramway, it chose a modern rubber-tired system.

Zhangjiang Tram started construction on December 23, 2007. Construction was originally planned to be completed on December 2008, but this was delayed a year, until December 31, 2009 when it was opened to traffic. Passenger operations started on January 1, 2010. Zhangjiang Tram runs from Zhangjiang Hi-Tech Park Station of the Shanghai Metro Line 2 to Heqing Town. Now the 10 km (6.2 mi)-long 1st phase, which runs from Zhangjiang Hi-Tech Park Station to Jinqiu Road is in service, and has 15 stops, two of which are interchanges to Shanghai Metro Line 2 (Zhangjiang Hi-Tech Park, the current terminal of the line and Jinke Road station). The next phase of the project is the Zhangjiang tram division multiple-phase construction, a project in the east Greenfield Road, from Zu Chong Zhi Road (Shanghai Metro Line 2 Zhangjiang Hi-tech station), west to Osmanthus Road Autumn Road, which covers a distance of about 10 km, with a total of 15 stops, 1 depot. It will be followed by an extension in the direction of Tang Zhen-Qing.

The tram network's closure in the 1970s was perceived at the time as the removal of an obstruction to smooth and swift traffic; this proved not to be the case. Uncontrolled increase of the number of petrol vehicles, exacerbated by increasing population, increased air and noise pollution, traffic jams and smog and slowed traffic beyond what it had been when the trams were running. Observing the improved traffic patterns and reduced pollution brought about by tram lines in cities around the world like Tunis, Melbourne, Buenos Aires, Pyongyang and within China, in Tianjin, Shanghai planned to reinstate its tram lines as well. Unfortunately, the increase in cars & buses in downtown Shanghai made running tram lines in that area impossible, and so the city began constructing lines in the Zhangjiang Hi-Tech Park, on the eastern side of the main city. Shanghai's transport authority at last decided to open a separate, modern, high speed, rubber tired tram.

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