The Austrian Railway Group : Tramways in Linz

The tramways of Linz, the capital city of Upper Austria, started in 1880 when the city opened their first tram route on the 1st August of that year, using horse-drawn trams The route was converted to electrical supply from 31 August 1897, and 1 May of the following year, the separate Pöstlingbergbahn opened from its' terminus by Linz Urfahr Bahnhof, on the north side of the river. The tram routes eventually took in the separate Florianerbahn between Ebelsberg and St. Florian, although for many years this was operated by Stern und Hafferl, who still own the line. The common, and unusual gauge, of 900mm precludes through running on the national rail network, and was chosen because of the routes through the town walls in horse-drawn tram days.

Five tram routes operated in and around the city centre, but contraction of the network came in the early 1960's, and the city was left with just 9 km of trackwork. Reopenings and extensions - back to Auwiessen (Line 1) in the south in 1985, and the reinstatement of 3.5 km of the old route 5 (now route 3) to Ebelsberg in 2001 brought the total back to 15.3 km.It is at Ebelsberg that a connection is being relaid reconnecting the S & H line to Pichling See. The plan is for the museum service on the Florianerbahn to be allowed to run into Linz city centre on Sundays - something not allowed when the line was in daily use.

A further 2km extension to the environmentally-friendly urban area of Solar City will open in 2004, as an extension to Line 2, and a further extension to the ÖBB station at Pichling is being prepared. A 4km long extension from Auwiessen to the ÖBB station at Wegscheid is to be built. Tram route 1 has been extended northwards to the centre of the University. This line currently does not serve the main Hauptbahnhof but reconstruction work at the station has allowed the building of a 1.9 km long horsehoe-shaped tunnel under the whole area. Trams will use this double track tunnel, with extra stops, to service the Hauptbahnhof and the central shopping area together, and will then rejoin their old routes. The existing route between Goethestraße and Unionkreuzung will be removed. Line 3 will continue to turn round at the station, and two turning circles inside the tunnels have been built. Completion is due in December 2004. The plans for this radical restructuring were first promoted in 1976, and are known locally as "Nahverkehrsdrehscheibe" or Turntable for Local Transport. As the station rebuilding progresses, so a bus interchange is being built outside the front entrance. In addition, the Linzer Lokalbahn (LILO) is to be extended to the Hauptbahnhof as part of the same restructuring.

The oldest trams in the fleet, dating from 1970 and built by Lohrer / DUWAG, can still be seen operating Line 3, connecting the Hauptbahnhof (surface line) and Linz Urfahr stations. These trams are due to be replaced by 21 Bombardier CityRunner 8-section vehicles, some of which have already been delivered.

The tram service is centrally controlled, with high-tech stops showing when the next service will arrive