Tram Trains Are AMAZING | The Karlsruhe Model

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Hi, my name's Reece. I'm a passionate Creator, Transportation Planner, and Software Developer, interested in rapid transportation all around my home base of Toronto, Canada, as well as the whole world!

[RMTransit]

Where would you build a tram train system?

[Gurrcities]

Omg, finally! I live in Karlsruhe and absolutely love this system. I can walk 100 meters to a tram stop and 45 minutes later I'll be in the Black Forest or various other cities without having to change once. It's also worth mentioning that in many years, Karlsruhe is designated as the most bicycle friendly city in Germany. Especially for students it's a great system because you can also rent bikes for free, which are widely available here.

[phiwatec]

I actually work as a student worker in the main workshop of the Karlsruhe Tram Company. So it was quite nice to see them here. :) My dad is also one of the drivers on the tram train.

[stefang]

It is worth mentioning, that the Karlsruhe Model is called the Chemnitz Model in the East of Germany, so this city might also be worth a look. The main advantage of the Karlsruhe Model is that it makes living in towns and villages around Karlsruhe much more comfortable, which in return reduces housing prices in the center (a bit). You can live in a village with a tram station and your children can easily drive into the city for shopping or to party on their own, I would even go so far and say that the number of students who still live at home somewhere in the region is a bit higher in the universities of Karlsruhe because of this. This system decreases the difference between the city and the surrounding province, and this solves a lot of the problems that many cities have today.

[unknownPLfan]

This is sort of like a modern incarnation of the Interurban. Crazy that we used to have tons of systems like this in the US if you go back 90-100 years ago. These would be a great to see as functioning like "commuter rail" in more smaller cities of 100K - 300K or similarly as lines that connect between radial mainline routes, such as SEPTA's Norristown High Speed Line, which may be considered one of 2 remaining interurban lines in the US.

[cayreet]

I live in Bruchsal, which is a smaller town close to Karlsruhe, and my mother's family has lived in the area for a long time. That is why I want to tell a little story about why the tram system in Karlsruhe is so great to have.

When my mum was out of school in 1958 and was training for a job, she had to go to Karlsruhe once a week in the late afternoon for specific classes (that's part of vocational training here in Germany). The classes ended at nine pm and she and the others from Bruchsal had to hurry to the train station afterwards to catch the train home, because there was only one train an hour and if they missed it (because the teacher had spoken too long, for instance), they had to wait for one hour.

When I was a kid, we were often taking the train to Karlsruhe once a year with our class for a trip through the Karlsruhe Zoo (which, incidentally, is just across the street from the main train station). At that time, the regular frequency of trains was still one hour, so our teachers (and usually one or two parents) had to herd us across the street, into the station, to the rails, and up the right stairs in time to catch the train or we'd be stuck there for an hour (with the kids going everywhere, stressing the adults out completely).

When I went to uni in Karlsruhe, the tram system was already implemented. At that time, trams were every 20 minutes, which is a much better rate than one hour. I could switch trains in the morning in Durlach (another town that's basically part of Karlsruhe) and get off right at the uni (there's two viable stops, depending on where on the premises you need to be).

Now, there's a tram to Karlsruhe from Bruchsal and back about every ten minutes. It's so easy to get there without having to worry about missing 'that' specific train. So I missed that one? Not a problem, the next one will be here in ten minutes, it might even already wait at a platform and I can go in and take a seat and wait in peace. Not to mention that the prices aren't too high and thus it's also a viable way to get to Karlsruhe just for a shopping trip or to meet with friends or to go to the theatre or do something else in your spare time.

I love the trams.

[eechauch]

It’s really cool to someone outside of Germany talk about my hometown. I think it’s quite an oversight that many people associate transit concepts only with very large cities. Because the majority of people doesn’t live in those. We only have 4 cities in Germany with more then 1mio inhabitants, Karlsruhe is somewhere around rank 20 in German cities, there are quite a few that could implement similar systems, while the systems of Munich or Berlin are just much too expensive for most. So talking about systems for midsized cities is actually very interesting in my opinion, because it affects way more people then those in the few metropolis.

Growing up with this system being the norm, I often wonder why so few cities of comparable size have something like this. I think you got the benefits and prerequisites of the system quite well. It’s certainly not a perfect situation for large cities, but I think it’s one of the best solutions for midsize cities I know. I really like people have been starting to take notice of what we have here. It’s just really convenient and I can do pretty much any trip with max 1 transfer, which is quite nice.

[felixw]

1:54 did you know that the Universities of both Karlsruhe and Waterloo offer degrees in traffic planning? And that the two work together with a exchange program?

[tripleseis]

Kassel, a city that's similar in size to Karlsruhe, also has tram trains in addition to its regular city wide tram network. They also use diesel/electric trams for sections of railway that don't have any overhead power. There's also a small tunnel under the Hauptbahnhof that links the tram network with the mainline railway.

[MartinIbert]

Have you heard of the Saarbahn? It's a similar system in the Saarbrücken area. Its coolest aspect (IMHO) is that it runs into neighbouring France! So you can board a tram in Saarbrücken, Germany, and get off a train in Sarreguemines, France, and it's a one-seat trip.

[computer_toucher]

Norway's biggest city is barely 600, 000 people but still has a pretty good bus, tram AND subway service. There is always /some/ kind of stop nearby to get you where you want. And it's easier than driving through the city center.

[AlexLP]

Calling Karlsruhe a "small city" is so weird to me. For German standards I would call it a normal sized one (if not a relatively big one)

[DanTheCaptain]

Hungary just opened its first Tram Train and it runs from Szeged to Hódmezővásárhely. It uses dual mode vehicles that run on overhead catenary wires while within city limits and runs on diesel while running in between the cities. Szeged has an even smaller population than Karlsruhe at about 160, 000 and Hódmezővásárhely at a mere 44, 000. It has since been quite the success.

[rolandschmidt]

One of the lines is so long that the tram trains need more than 2 hours for one direction. Toilets are installed on board of these trains. They are rolling through the Murg valley. I used this line for a hiking tour along a long- distance trail called "Murgleiter": As I returned by tram train every evening to the same hotel, no heavy luggage had to be carried. The landscape in the Black Forest mountains is breathtaking, the train service absolutely reliable and free of extra cost for tourists (tourist have to pay a small daily tax but are entitled to free transport on short-distance trains and busses). It was a wonderful experience of nature, culture and railway technology. At this single-track line, signals and switches are operated so quickly that at a crossing, the waiting train starts to accelerate even before the oncoming train has stopped at the platform! Also intresting: an inclination of 5 % beteeen Baiersbronn and Freudenstadt, which requires rolling stock equipped for safe operation on this section.

[haisheauspforte]

It's interesting that to a north American guy Karlsruhe is a small city, I am German and I think it is pretty big. I think it is no surprise, but a necessity for a city the size of Karlsruhe to at least have a decent tram network and I am a bit ashamed for my hometown of Kiel (~250.000) to not have a tram network.

[sea]

The cities of Chemnitz (Saxonia) and Kassel (Hessia) also mafe their own (type of) tram-train networks. It should be mentioned both cities are even smaller then Karlsruhe with up to 244k/204k residence.

[uncinarynin]

Karlsruhe used to have an old railway station of 1843 closer to the center, which became too small and had a lot of level crossings, so it was decided to build a new station further south, opened 1913 (still in operation today). This means however that a lot of commuters have to change into trams and for some relations changing at the central station is not convenient. The Albtalbahn has already been an old private railway converted to a DC-electrified interurban tram, which made Karlsruhe a convenient spot to try out the first multi-system tram-trains.

[willsrobotdreams]

Another interesting Tram Train system is the so-called "Badener Bahn", which connects Vienna to Baden (Lower Austria) and stops in many smaller towns along the way. In the Lower Austria part it essentially works as an LRT and once in Vienna it uses the same tracks and stops as the city's trams!
Currently in the works is the tram line between the swiss City of Lausanne and the town of Renens, which are part of the same urban area. In a second phase it will evolve into a true tram train, as it will extend further into the country side. I am really looking forward to it!

[CarstenCzaja]

Nice video, now I'm taking the S2 to the public indoor swimming pool. Cheerio.

[del.see.oh.]

Wow, I was really close to this girl online from Karlsruhe a few years ago. This was a pretty big project back then. She would send me random pictures and videos of construction sites knowing how interested I was in transit and infrastructure in general.