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Third tramway for Grenoble

Posted: 24 June 2005 | Claude Bertrand, President, SMTC | No comments yet

The public transport network in the Grenoble metropolitan area is one of the most dynamic in Europe, with more than 68 million users per year. This network is taken care of by the SMTC, the public institution in charge of public transport in the agglomeration and operated by the SEMITAG. It is composed of two tram lines and 25 regular bus lines.

SMTC work has been recognised several times at national level, whether for global quality or accomplishments concerning accessibility. They also obtained the European first prize for accessibility, awarded during the European Meeting of the Ministers of Transport in 2003.

The public transport network in the Grenoble metropolitan area is one of the most dynamic in Europe, with more than 68 million users per year. This network is taken care of by the SMTC, the public institution in charge of public transport in the agglomeration and operated by the SEMITAG. It is composed of two tram lines and 25 regular bus lines. SMTC work has been recognised several times at national level, whether for global quality or accomplishments concerning accessibility. They also obtained the European first prize for accessibility, awarded during the European Meeting of the Ministers of Transport in 2003.

The public transport network in the Grenoble metropolitan area is one of the most dynamic in Europe, with more than 68 million users per year. This network is taken care of by the SMTC, the public institution in charge of public transport in the agglomeration and operated by the SEMITAG. It is composed of two tram lines and 25 regular bus lines.

SMTC work has been recognised several times at national level, whether for global quality or accomplishments concerning accessibility. They also obtained the European first prize for accessibility, awarded during the European Meeting of the Ministers of Transport in 2003.

This choice is the result of a strong-willed policy of the two institutions within the SMTC. They have supported the development effort financially since 1995, increasing their share from five per cent each year in addition to the inflation. This profit sharing is also based on the dynamism of its main expedient which is the ‘transport payment’, a tax on the salaries deducted from the businesses with more than nine employees.

The public transport system’s development policy in the Grenoble urban area has a double objective: improvement of the transport infrastructures and rise of the supply. The results are now visible and the increase of the offer, mostly due to the development of the bus lines at the end of the 1990s, still have an elasticity superior to one. The current construction and start-up of the third tram line in the agglomeration will add to the current tram supply.

A vanguard line

The first tram line in the agglomeration opened in 1987 and was the sign of the return of a transport medium that had been forsaken in 1956 in the Grenoble area. It answered a request for transport in the town centre, because the bus network was no longer sufficient, especially in the heart of the city. Thus, the Grenoble urban area was the second town to reintroduce the tram in France, right after Nantes in 1985.

Beyond that, the reintroduction of the tram was accompanied by important innovations, particularly as far as accessibility was concerned. To achieve a tram line entirely accessible to people with reduced mobility, a task force was organised with Alstom, the manufacturer of the rolling stock, and a mobile step system was created. This innovation has been used since the end of 2004 on the tram network and its principles have significantly inspired the accessibility on the bus lines in the area.

In 1990, the second tram line was opened, a link between the Grenoble station and the university. At the end of 2000, the expansion of the tram lines boosted the network with 20 kilometres of tramway and 80 stops. The trams take care of 50 per cent of the users (the other 50 per cent for the bus lines with 220 kilometres of lines and 900 stops). The exploitation of the two tram ways is possible thanks to the 53 vehicles ordered from Alstom Tramway Français Standard (Alstom Standard French Trams). They allow the transport of 185 passengers at once. The frequency of the service during the day is one tram every three or four minutes, with the maximum in the centre where both lines A and B are running (approximately one tram every 90 seconds).

What’s more, some important changes are occurring on the tram network. The platforms have been or will be extended within the next two years, in order to welcome the new vehicles bought as part of the third tramway development network. These adaptations are required because of the adoption (also on the current vehicles) of a new accessibility system by ‘doorway fusible’ instead of the mobile step. This new system allows more autonomy for people with reduced mobility.

A new line in the horizon

At the moment, the SMTC is building the third tramway. This project will add 13.5 kilometres of lines and 26 stops to the already existent network. It represents an investment of €430 million. Part and parcel of the Urban Transport Plan of the Grenoble metropolitan area decided in May 2000 by the SMTC, it will create a true web with the two first lines and assure a major urban conversion in the five municipalities affected by the new line. The main goal of the project, named ‘Tram3’, is to take part in the long lasting development of the Grenoble district, by diminishing the traffic on the boulevards, for example.

The new rolling stock, ‘Citadis’, is the result of a €90 million transaction, signed in February 2003 by the SMTC. Ordering 35 Citadis, 44 metres in height and able to transport 270 persons, will complete the 53 vehicles currently running in the area. An air conditioning system will improve the welfare of the users.

This new rolling stock will be mostly used on the B line. This line, which stops at the Grenoble hospital (with 7,000 employees) and the university (with 40,000 students) is saturated in the rush hours in spite of the important frequency and thus is in need of more efficient material. What’s more, when the network is fully exploited, there is only one vehicle available if a problematic situation should arise. This is obviously insufficient.

A new warehouse is currently in construction to welcome the rolling stock. Located at the extreme west of the third line, the ground surface is 3,000 square-metres. This warehouse will stock and take care of the 35 new vehicles. And as the warehouse of Eybens is overloaded, 15 TFS rolling stock, already running, will join them. The architectural concept of the building is to blend in with the landscape and it has the potential to be extended in order to receive more rolling stock. It will be handed over to the operator (the SEMITAG) in November 2005 and will be able to welcome the new vehicles from August 2005. The Citadis rolling stock will be used on the B line from the end of the year 2005.

The new rolling stock and the third line of tram is a great opportunity for the SMTC. The organisation can adapt its network, especially concerning the accessibility, as explained above. As a matter of fact, the new vehicles have an integral low floor and access by each of its eight doors. New systems will be launched from the end of 2005 including help for exploitation, user information and vocal indications in the tram. The entirety of the tram and bus shelters will be changed and harmonised after plans drawn by Norman Forster.

Regarding the visual aspect of the new rolling stock, a specific research study was conducted by a commission composed of the creators, technicians, representatives and the Director of Communication of the SMTC. If a visual coherence is kept for the outside, the colours inside the vehicle are much livelier than in the TFS. A progressive generalisation will be executed on the entirety of the rolling stock, including the buses, around the grey, blue and magenta colours, the last one representing the SMTC.

Finally, the development of the tramway network is going beyond the objectives primarily decided with the PDU (Urban Transport Plan). The figures concerning the use of the bus and tramway network in the agglomeration are already reaching the objectives for 2010, with 68 million journeys. It could be interesting to underline that thanks to a survey on the ways of transport used in the agglomeration in 2001, it was demonstrated that the Grenoble metropolitan area was the only one in France where the use of the car was stable and even in slight decline. Therefore the upcoming third tramway and all the infrastructures which will accompany it (park and ride, connections with the stations of the agglomeration, ‘tram-train’) will obviously intensify this tendency. It will favour the possibilities of expanding the exploitation of the tram lines in the future. Nowadays, the real development possibilities in the north-east and north-west of the agglomeration are a sign of good conditions in the future amplification in the use of the network and the territorial solidarities. All is done for a harmonious evolution of the 26 municipalities and 400,000 inhabitants of the Grenoble urban area.

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