Neil Pulling explores the French tramway SYSTEMS central to a policy of reducing the appeal of Tours car use by providing FACTFILE alternatives – and which features a flamboyant No. Tours, France interpretation of 96 's Citadis.

round 240km (150 miles) ABOVE: Old and south-west of , Tours new symbols – is the capital of Indre- Tour's Hôtel de et-Loire department Ville and the city’s version of Alstom's and the Centre-Val de Citadis 402 at Place ALoire region’s largest city. France’s Jean Jaurès. longest river is part of Tours’ identity, but like many Loire settlements, the RIGHT: The new centre evolved at a respectful distance tramway has been from its fragmented flood-prone added to Pont course. The grandeur of the Hôtel de Wilson's eventful Ville overlooking Place Jean Jaurès history as the nevertheless leaves little doubt of city's central Loire crossing. where that centre is. It is a measure of the importance accorded to the tramway that opened on 31 August 2013 that it was routed along the spine-like main thoroughfare and past the enormous city hall. As with Strasbourg or Le Havre, All pictures by areas of Tours within the system’s Neil Pulling.

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THE FLEET All services are operated by 21 September 2012. All 21 were received “A focus of industry attention when air-conditioned, bi-directional Alstom by June 2013 and 18 are needed at peak with low floors throughout; they times. Damaged in the collision by an first opened, the Tours system is are numbered from 051, the old system automobile driver suicide between the having reached 50. Supplied as part platforms at Place Jean Jaurès in April distinguished by striking design.” of a EUR73m contract agreed in autumn 2014, 057 has since returned to traffic. 2010, the Fil Bleu Citadis 402 are 43m long, The combined depot and network 2.4m wide and have capacity control centre was completed in for 204 standing and 76 seated. September 2012. It is partially in village Using components from eight surroundings at the end of non-revenue Alstom plants, they were assembled at track extending beyond the northern Reichshoffen in Alsace. The first tram terminus, Vaucanson. A spacious site, was tested at Alstom’s La Rochelle facility it could be modified to provide for a from where it was delivered to Tours in second line.

TOP: Part of the transformation of central Tours, the gardens at Place Jean Jaurès.

LEFT: One of the busier non-central stops, Liberté displays the system's black and white platform markers.

LEFT: Leading north from Place Jean Jaurès towards the Loire, Rue Nationale is the main shopping street.

RIGHT: Mainly together, the tracks diverge slightly for a short section in the university district: 071 on Allée Ferdinand de Lesseps.

368 / SEPTEMBER 2015 www.tautonline.com . www.lrta.org catchment will seem very different for A focus of significant industry those whose previous visit was before attention when first opened, Tours’ trams returned to the streets. system is distinguished by striking Styled as Tour(s) Plus, the design at the lineside and on vehicles. agglomération has grown to Previously engaged on tram projects incorporate 22 communes. in Paris, Algeria, and Angers, It registered 296 506 residents on locally-based RCP Design Global 1 January 2015, of which 138 323 were in concert with other designers in Tours commune. The new tramway formulated many of the system’s was created under the agglomeration’s features. This extended to the former transport body SITCAT, surroundings in a broad strip either its role since assimilated within side of the double-track installation. Tour(s) Plus. With preliminary works Although many French cities focus begun in summer 2010, the formal heavily on urban integration for their declaration that enabled the Cité Tram new tramway schemes, Tours has consortium directed by SYSTRA to taken this to a new level with close ABOVE: With shared road space, tram platforms are staggered and proceed was signed in December 2010. co-operation between the main face their counterparts at Jean Jaurès. Tours’ line A is 14.8km (9.3 miles) project partners and leading urban long with services scheduled to take design and architectural practice 47 minutes between termini. Richez_Associés (familiar for its work The original system opened in 1877 on other tramway projects in Le Mans, but closures began in 1932. World Reims, Brest, Orléans and Casablanca). War Two disruption including a To preserve or improve vistas in split network and the relative ease of the central district and on the Loire replacement by trolleybuses (used until crossing, Tours installed the Alstom 1968) saw Tours follow the national APS ground-supply system, the fifth trend, closing its tramway by autumn such application in France. The single 1949. Fil Bleu (blue thread or wire) – APS section is 1.8km (1.1 miles) long rendered as filbleu – was the identity between Place Choiseul and Gare de adopted for the urban bus network Tours, these stops being the changeover in 1992. Unlike several French cities points for power supply. It thereby that changed their covers Place Jean Jaurès, the main identity when opening a new tramway, shopping street, Rue Nationale, also the Tours added trams to the brand. Loire’s Pont Wilson, named after the The urban network is operated by a First World War American president. local subsidiary of the Keolis Group, A designated national monument, ABOVE: Heading places along line A, there is dedicated while the regional bus service titled this bridge is the direct connection south from Gare space for pedestrians and cyclists. Touraine Fil Vert is run by Transdev. between the centre and suburbs SNCF, where trams Ready for growing patronage, the Tours’ current urban transport plan that begin at the river’s northern change from APS to system opened with 43m platforms has a prominent policy of giving embankment near Place Choiseul. overhead supply. and, rather than later lengthening, priority to transport alternatives other Used by the first-generation tram seven-section trams. Both feature than ‘individual motorised mobility’, system, this 434m multi-arched black and white banding that for some with ‘ambitious but realistic targets bridge was completed in 1778. may recall World War Two’s D-Day for changing modal shares.’ It projects It was breached in war and a flood recognition stripes; they are used here reducing urban journeys by car from prompted partial collapse in 1978. 55% (2008) to 47% (2023) and raising The latest significant event was BELOW: Part of combined bus and tram use from rebuilding for new tracks to be placed the tramway project, NETWORK FACTS 8% to 13% for the same timescale. on the upstream side of a single uni- the new bridge over Cycling is also favoured for growth. directional road lane. As in most other the Cher. Opened: August 2013 Lines: 1 Stops: 29 Distance: 14.8km (9.3 miles) Depots: 1 Approx. weekday hours: 05.30-00.30 Main frequency: 6-8 minutes Gauge: 1435mm Power: 750V dc overhead and APS ground supply Fleet: 21 Alstom Citadis 402 Transport authority: Tour(s) Plus City network: Fil Bleu Operator: Keolis Tours

INFORMATION City network: www.filbleu.fr (essentials also in English) Civic information: www.tours.fr Agglomeration: www.agglo-tours.fr Tourist information: www.tours-tourisme.fr

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Tours line A Coppée Marne P+R P+R Park-and-ride Beffroi Vaucanson Bicycle parking Monconseil P+R Trois-Rivières

Christ Roi

P+R Tranchée Mi-Côte Place Choiseul

Loire Anatole France

Nationale “Ready for growing patronage, the system opened with 43m platforms Jean-Jaurès Gare de Tous and, rather than later lengthening, Palais des Sports Tours Liberté Sanitas seven-section trams.”

Suzanne Charcot Valadon Verdun Cher L’Heure Tranquille Fac 2 Lions P+R Pont Volant République

Joué Hôtel de Ville

Rotière

Rabière Stade Jean-Bouin

P+R Lycée Jean Monnet Richez_Associés/Cyrille Dubreuil Richez_Associés/Cyrille

LEFT: Tram 066 descends to Pont Volant, here part of the system’s 6km (3.7 miles) plus of planted track.

RIGHT: White at the front and red at the back, cab-end markers leave little doubt about a tram's presence and directional intention: 051 at Anatole France.

370 / JUNE 2015 www.tautonline.com . www.lrta.org ABOVE AND INSET: Tours’ interior interpretation of the Citadis is filled with clever design details. to denote positioning of the tram’s TOP RIGHT: Tram double doors and their platform 061 draws into alignment. The banding also appears Place Choiseul, on tall posts at stops and in parking the northern overhead/APS sites. It is a motif echoed by the changeover point. vertical parallel strips of LED lighting on the tram ends, white for the leading RIGHT: Room to end and red to denote the rear. grow: the spacious The tram’s exterior features a matt maintenance centre chrome coating that gives a hazy beyond Vaucanson reflection of its surroundings designed terminus. to reflect the changing environments along the route. Interior lighting varies according to ambient conditions using what Alstom calls ‘sensorial design’, again to act as a visual northern Loire bank. Contributing to on the Bordeaux – Paris route do not indicator of the districts as the tram reduced car dependency, line A links use the grand city terminus, Gare de passes through. There are multiple outlying traffic generators and the Tours, instead calling at the through- seating types and much use is made central district and this underlies station Saint Pierre des Corps in the of wood finishes, including for partial the zig-zagging within a dominant southern suburbs. City connections partitions; yet perhaps most unusual north-south axis. are made by the rail shuttle or other is the asymmetric interior colouring. Educational centres are a significant trains using both stations. The main Overhead screens provide passenger influence on demand patterns. There bus terminal (gare routière) is directly information, supplemented by are large schools at each end of the in front of Gare de Tours, with the custom-created audio by musician and line and a university campus around tram stop a few paces away along the sound designer Louis Dandrel; sound the stops Fac 2 Lions and L'Heure city side of the station. Joue-les-Tours that in places links to the location, like Tranquille, the latter also a modern station in the south-west is near the the singing tone for Christ Roi stop, shopping and entertainment centre. tramway at République, but Gare de named after the nearby church. Housing concentrations are scattered Tours is the only realistic tram to Although the city centre is level, along the line, one such being train interchange. there is more variation elsewhere, unusually near the centre around Palais Five of the inclusive-ticketed exemplified by the long rise from the de Sport and Sanitas. In the north, line Fil Bleu park-and-ride sites (parking A serves the recently developed Europe relais) are by the tramway. The other district centred around Beffroi stop. two are on the line 2 Tempo bus route. ESSENTIAL FACTS To include the large southern This and the tram are classified as commune Joué-lès-Tours, a new 225m having the network’s highest service Local travel: For maps and timetables, visit the filbleu office long bridge was built over the Cher level with a 6-10 minute frequency. between Gare de Tours and Jean Jaurès at 9 Rue Michelet. Single river, a substantial Loire tributary. A prospective tramline B, also mainly journey with one-hour validity including transfers from EUR1.50; lower pro-rata for the multi-trip variants. The '1 Journee' day ticket The tramway bridge is also used by north-south, would likely serve the is EUR3.70. Ticket machines that can also recharge tickets are set and has pedestrian and cycle CHU Trousseau regional hospital in in the tall red column at stops. Onboard validation required. paths. With unusual local railway the south-east, replacing at least part arrangements, the tramway’s main of bus line 2’s coverage. What is there to see? The spectacular Saint Gatien de Tours interchanges are with the 27 regular A year after opening, the tramway cathedral, dating from the 12th Century and completed in 1547. Filbleu bus routes. was already intermittently reaching its The main tourist draw is the Old Town with Place Plumereau The LGV Atlantique high-speed 55 000 daily target ridership and peak at its centre – walk west from line A between Anatole France line opening in 1990 altered the weekday usage has been identified and Nationale, or use filbleu line C2 operated by electric Gruau Microbuses. Tours is convenient for the Touraine wine area and service between Tours and Paris. as being between 16.00 and 19.00. Loire Valley UNESCO World Heritage Site, famed for chateaux- In the capital, the principal station Currently the tramway and bus lines like Amboise (20 minutes by train) and Chinon (50 minutes). for Tours changed from Austerlitz 2, 3, 4 and 5 account for around 75% to Montparnasse. Most TGV trains of passengers carried by Fil Bleu.

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