DÜSSELDORF (feat. Wehrhahnlinie)

I had been to Düsseldorf several times before this visit, usually a brief visit to explore its extensive urban rail network, and in fact, I had been here only 2 months ago, in December 2015 when in anticipation of the tunnel's opening the local population was invited to visit two different underground stations on each weekend in December, and as I was coming all the way from Berlin anyway to see the new underground route in nearby Cologne, I managed to see two stations in Düsseldorf in their almost finished state, namely Heinrich-Heine-Allee and Benrather Straße, the two closest to the busy old town. But before we go into a more detailed evaluation of the new underground tram route, I want to write down some thoughts about the Düsseldorf system in general, so these are some accumulated impressions gained from various visits.

Typical first-generation underground station, here the westbound level at Steinstraße/Königsallee

Düsseldorf has always surprised me positively and negatively, as among all the German Stadtbahn cities, it is probably the one with the most extreme features. When I talk about "Stadtbahn" in this context, I mean those systems which from the late 1960s started to build underground sections to full metro standard, and with the final goal to converting these to full metro operation (like a pre-metro). As we know, none of them actually achieved this initial goal, but all gave up sooner or later. So, on the one hand, the Düsseldorf Stadtbahn system, i.e. the U-lines which had existed before the underground tram routes were now also prefixed with a U, is among the most state-of-the-art metros in the country, using LZB, or internationally better known as ATO, for automatic operation, through its tunnel sections. Remember that the classic U-Bahn systems in Berlin and Hamburg use manual driving throughout, and only Munich's and Nuremberg's run under ATO control, the latter even driverless on part of the network. In Düsseldorf, this makes for a very swift operation in the tunnel sections, although the articulated trains with their folding doors, and mostly with just 60 m trainsets, make it appear more like a light rail rather than a metro system. Generous planning and a long-term vision even led to the first tunnel section being built with four tracks, basically combining two trunk routes. So, for a metro enthusiast, it is always fascinating to see two trains entering the station at the same time with both trains leaving simultaneously too. There is no point now in discussing whether this generous alignment was really necessary or whether the ATO operation would have allowed enough capcity with two tracks too. I was also wondering whether two tracks should have been diverted further south to cover more areas in the city centre. But that's what we've got now, and it works fine. With the central railway station located a bit out of the city centre, the 4-station 4-track section between Hauptbahnhof and Heinrich-Heine-Allee does get very busy at times, so probably the generous construction was justified after all.

Viktoriaplatz/Klever Straße - the first refurbished station with a new floor and new ceiling

The metro-style Stadtbahn service on the underground sections, however, switches completely to the other extreme on some routes as soon as the trains come to the surface. The most striking is on the northern leg used by U78 and U79 where drivers switch to manual driving and have to stop in the middle of the street at Golzheimer Platz, where there is not even a platform for passengers to alight or board, instead the trains fold down steps, here with an additional step for street-level boarding. Only two stops further north, the trains reach a proper dedicated right-of-way with proper high-level platforms now typical for all Stadtbahn systems. Similarly U75 runs like an old-fashioned streetcar through Eller or through the western parts towards Neuss. For a long time, Düsseldorf didn't seem to take level access into its vehicles very seriously, compared to Stuttgart or Frankfurt they started rather late to upgrade surface stations with high-level platforms and, although many have been built in recent years, there are too many to do still. This is the more surprising as the city is known for being among the wealthiest in the country, or seen from another angle, they are debt-free because they don't spend money where they would be expected to spend it? So while other cities like Stuttgart and Frankfurt have put a lot of effort into concluding this upgrading programme, Düsseldorf is years from achieving this goal. And what's worse, neighbouring Krefeld, served by Rheinbahn's U76 and peak-hour line U70 has just wasted millions for a new central stop at Rheinstraße without providing a proper platform for the U76 high-floor trains! I wonder how this is politically possible? By the early 2020s, all public transport is required to be fully accessible. Some local authorities and/or transport agencies, however, show a complete lack of respect for their people and try to evade this law wherever they can. In Krefeld they say, people unable to climb the steps into the Stadtbahn trains can take a low-floor tram to Fischeln, where they can change stepfree into a U76 train (so they'd better add an extra hour to their trip, because apparently not all trams to Fischeln are low-floor and then the line out there is rather slow - I took it on the way in in December as U76 was cut back to Dießern because the new Rheinstraße "hub" was not finished yet). I don't know whether Rheinbahn as the operator insisted strongly enough, but in any case, I cannot understand why it was not possible to incorporate a high-floor section into this overlong island platform built at Rheinstraße! Were somebody's feelings hurt by the visual impact this might have had? Anyway, for me an absolute failure, but this negative point goes rather to Krefeld than to Düsseldorf proper as these decisions are usually taken on a political local level. Back in Düsseldorf, luckily the recent line rearrangement cut back U74 at its southern end after it had been extended south to Benrath over tram tracks only a few years ago, also ignoring the fact that the stops are not equipped with high-level platforms, some have no platforms at all, but street-boarding. But still, people from Benrath coming in on U71 or U83 cannot change to U74 or U77 stepfree as there is not even a high platform at Holthausen, nor on the shared stops on the way in. Funnily, transport operators only think of people in wheelchairs or the elderly when deciding these things, but in the end, level access is for everyone, because it speeds up boarding while it reduces costs by avoiding the need for those retractable steps. This economic aspect was one of the main reasons why other cities hurried to get at least some lines fully equipped with proper platforms, so they could order new trains without these steps. So to conclude with the Stadtbahn system, excellent on the one hand, and rather pathetic on the other.

Things with the tram system are similar. On the one hand, Düsseldorf has maintained by far the largest tram system among all Stadtbahn cities. And though quite separate for many years, in recent years tram and Stadtbahn systems have become more interlaced, which in itself is o.k. as long as the standard of each system is guaranteed, for example by providing platforms with two different levels (as seen in some Duisburg underground stations). The difference between modern underground routes and old-fashioned street-running tram operation is now also quite striking on the tram system. At the eastern end, trams leave the tunnel at Wehrhahn S-Bahn station, and proper (island) platforms have recently been built at the Uhlandstraße junction, but just beyond that point, three of the four U-prefixed lines return to street-running stopping without any platforms at Lindemannstraße and Engerstraße. Being quite close to the city centre, I would have expected these stops to be properly upgraded in time for the opening of the tunnel. On outer sections through Gerresheim and towards Ratingen, some effort has been put into providing proper platforms for what they now also promote as "Stadtbahn". The situation is similar at the southern end of the tunnel in Bilk, where trams also return to the street upon leaving the tunnel. Sure, the original project included longer tunnels at either end, but I guess this has long been given up and would probably not be feasible nowadays. Or maybe by maintaining the street-running they want to prove that in the end a tunnel extension is necessary? Let's see.

So given the lack of proper upgrades to the connecting lines, I would describe the newly opened underground route as a "tram tunnel" or "U-Strab" as we tend to call it here. Let's have a closer look at its alignment and, above all, its stations. In the "old" days, Düsseldorf had decided for a standard design for its underground stations, which though rather elegant in its 1970s style, has often been criticised, while other cities had followed the Berlin model with a different design for each station. 

Oberbilk S - the largest of the second-generation underground stations

For the Oberbilk extension, Düsseldorf introduced a different design, though still maintaining the same style for the three underground stations on that extension. Now for what is generally known as the "Wehrhahnlinie", different architects were invited, although there is certain common line for all stations. Though the tunnel was mostly driven with a tunnel boring machine, all stations were built by cut-and-cover and appear rather spacious. The running tunnel was mostly built as a large two-track tube which determined the layout of the stations with side platforms, not an ideal solution for several reasons (double sets of escalators, more lifts, more complex wayfinding systems, etc.) but a two-track tunnel certainly has advantages for operation, as it allows as many cross-overs as needed - if Cologne had adopted the Düsseldorf approach, the tunnel collapse wouldn't have happened, because that occured exactly where a chamber was to be excavated for a cross-over as the running tunnels were built as single-track tunnels. The only station with an island platform is Heinrich-Heine-Allee, because here a section of the tunnel was already built together with the Stadtbahn tunnels, so they had to use it, resulting in a very wide island platform ideal for a major transfer station. At the same time, this provision also made the final construction much more complicated as a section beneath a department store had to be excavated after the soil had been frozen. Using tunnelling machines, also determined a certain depth, which in the case of Heinrich-Heine-Allee was required anyway to pass below the existing lines, and at Schadowstraße, a road tunnel was built at the same time to allow an old elevated road to be demolished instead. For the stations on the southern leg, I wonder if a simple subsurface cut-and-cover tunnel would have been possible too? Because crictics quite rightly point out that although the tram journey may be faster through the tunnel, in the end, people don't save time because they need a while to get down to or up from the deep-level platforms. Anyway, the eastern leg below Schadowstraße will certainly create quite a different street experience (unless they use all the lanes for car traffic), as this is the city's main shopping street with all major department stores and chains. On the southern leg, I have never really seen many pedestrians, it's more of an office area, so probably some measures to give the tram priority or a tram-only street (instead of the separate running through parallel streets) might have achieved some acceleration, too. Anyway, now it's built and open and needless to discuss the advantages of a tunnel.

Inpendent from what one might think about its utility, the stations are really nice. Generally they are very bright (and in fact let the old stations looks extremely dark now!) and each has something exciting about it. They are all whitish in their basic design, but this is enhanced with different elements in each station:

Pempelforter Straße has black geometric patterns, plus some yellow lines taking passengers down to platform level (on the first day, lots of panels were still missing here). From the eastern exits, passengers can transfer easily to tram 704, whereas to the stops for tram line 707, people need to walk a bit (and therefore the initially proposed double name Pempelforter Straße/Jacobistraße was eventually shortened).

Schadowstraße has dark blue walls in the staircases, and a video installation above the western tunnel mouth, which intends to capture movements from the surface and translate them into abstract objects projected on a big screen. Let's hope that this keeps working for a while, as my experience tells me that most installations of that kind sooner or later become dark as noone cares about maintenance. I wonder why they didn't call this station Jan-Wellem-Platz, which was a traditional tram hub, and Schadowstraße actually runs all the way up to Wehrhahn, so Pempelforter Straße station also serves the shops on Schadowstraße.

At Heinrich-Heine-Allee there are art objects hanging from the ceiling as you come down from the upper platforms. The interchange situation is o.k. At the southern end of the upper platforms (remember, it's a four-track route) a flight of stairs is available downwards, and escalators only upwards, but then a corridors runs stepfree to the western end of the lower platform. People who do not want to walk the stairs downwards, can take escalators up to the mezzanine and then another long escalator down to the new platform, or do the same detour using the lifts. Generally, all stations offer quite a large amount of up and down escalators. Otherwise, Heinrich-Heine-Allee is a plain white station, with the panels covering the eastern exit shaped in geometrical reliefs. When I saw this station unfinished in December, the metal-grid ceiling struck me as ugly, but now with the station finished it is not so bad after all.

With the entrances located in side streets, Benrather Straße is actually a T-shaped station box. In the mezzanine, there is another video installation showing our galaxy with different planets appearing and moving over the different screens. Unfortunately this is located in the mezzanine, so you cannot watch it while you're actually waiting for the tram. But the kids were quite excited about it on the first day. Like at most stations, a view from the mezzanine down to platform level is possible through a glass wall, adding to the open-space appearance. If there is any colour, here it would be silver, with some planelling in stainless steel but with Braille dots (I wonder if the graphic patterns mean something, though).

Graf-Adolf-Platz, like Schadowstraße, is kind of Madrid style, with its offset staircases and a sort of balcony-like mezzanine. Here, the walls next to the escalators are green with some abstract painting in black. Unfortunately, transfer to the tram lines crossing on the surface is not ideal, the shortest walk requires climbing stairs or waiting for the lifts, while the escalator exit requires a bit of a detour on the surface. There should really be a direct underground walkway to each of the busy east-west platforms.

Kirchplatz is the smallest of all stations, probably not too busy on a normal day either as there is no transfer option here. The complementary colour orange is only visible on some tubes mounted on all surfaces, which, if you look carefully, include some words, but it's difficult to make sense out of it.

There will be a new surface stop just after leaving the tunnel, Bilk S, but that hasn't been finished yet, apparently they had to wait for the old tracks to be severed to finish those platforms, and that's what they did last night immediately after the end of regular service on the surface routes through the city centre. At the old Kirchplatz loop, many local enthusiats said goodbye to tram lines 703 and 713 last night, using some old Duewag trams to do the final journeys. The new tunnel lines, however, are exclusively operated with the latest type of trams, NF8Us from Siemens, which are actually single-ended, but are coupled end-to-end as kind of permanent pairs. They run quite smoothly and the tracks through the tunnels are well laid, but inside they are not very spacious, maybe a result of the doors on both sides. In fact, the end module has two doors on one side, but just one on the other, and the second module has no doors at all, so on a crowded tram it can be quite a hassle to get to the next door to alight. And the special area for wheelchairs and prams is much too small, today there was always a problem with lots of families exploring the new system. I'm not quite sure whether the trams carry a ramp for those people to get off at one of the numerous stops without any platforms? So again, the new stations are fantastic with lots of escalators and lifts, but the connecting surface routes often rather pathetic with street boarding (at some stops passengers even have to cross two car lanes to get to the tram in the middle of the street. Most, if not all, of these stops are at least safeguarded by special traffic lights, but for car drivers not familiar with such old-fashioned tram routes these lights may easily appear too suddenly (they don't show green when no tram is around).

To finish off, a few words about the fare system. Verkehrsverbund Rhein-Ruhr (VRR) is probably the largest in Germany of these numerous fare systems, by population served it is the most important anyway. But being so large and multi-centred, it is also the most complex to understand for the occasional, but extensive rider. While fare class A always applies for a single city (although in some cities it is not really clear on maps where the city boundaries are) - in the case of Düsseldorf it is relatively clearly shown on their overall maps, which is important as many tram and Stadtbahn lines go beyond the city boundaries into neighbouring cities and to ride these stretches a class B ticket is necessary. This will cover all lines that start in Düsseldorf, and as long as you validate your ticket in the city centre, but it is not really clear how far you can actually travel on a class B day-ticket. You'd need to use the VRR Ticketberater and try around until you eventually get a map that shows where a B day-ticket is valid. During previous visits, my repeated experience was that noone, least those working for VRR, can give you a clear answer. Once they even suggested to buy a C or D ticket to be on the safe side. You can actually get a day ticket for the entire state of NRW, too. The main problem with A and B tickets is that the A day-ticket at 6.70 EUR has a fair price, but a B ticket, which may only be required for a few extra stations, costs the double for one day. So you'd better plan your trips carefully to make the best of the ticket you choose.

Mapwise, Düsseldorf is among the better places in the VRR area, usually famous for its crap maps. I just don't like the way the new underground tram routes are shown, like the Stadtbahn routes in different shades of blue, resulting in a complete blue mess around the Heinrich-Heine-Allee interchange. I think that it would be more helpful to use a different colour as I did on my maps. 

Can anybody show me on a transport map where Mörsenbroich is?

And one thing I had criticised already in December, but the maps still show the same problem: U71 and 708 trams and indicators at stops show a destination "Mörsenbroich", but this name does not exist on any map. So how should a person not so familiar with Düsseldorf know where this tram is going? And I daresay that Düsseldorfers don't know this place either as in all publications issued by Rheinbahn on the event of the line changes, line U71 is described as starting in Düsseltal, and on their own maps, the last stop Heinrichstraße must be in a neighbourhood called Derendorf. So what have we got here? A complete geography puzzle? Anyway, it is usually a thing of small provincial towns to call the destination of a tram something different from what the last stop is called. Or is it Dutch influence in Düsseldorf? So, Rheinbahn, if you want Düsseldorf to be a real city, do as real cities do, just rename Heinrichstraße into Mörsenbroich and put it on the map, Mörsenbroichers will like it! Or delete Mörsenbroich from all indicators. And there are lots of other termini to be renamed too.

By the way, anyone planning to visit Düsseldorf, don't forget to ride the H-Bahn from the airport to the airport railway station, it's free and fun:

LINKS

Rheinbahn (incl. map)

Düsseldorf at UrbanRail.Net (feat. special photo gallery)

KÖLN Nord-Süd-Stadtbahn

After many years of delays, Cologne's north-south Stadtbahn route finally opened all its underground stations on 13 Dec 2015, a good reason to visit the city once again to catch up with these significant developments. The opening, however, was still just a partial one, as a gap still exists along this route between Heumarkt and Severinstraße, where the tunnel collapsed in 2009 causing the Stadtarchiv located above to collapse too and with two people dead in a nearby building which also crashed down into a big hole. The accident was supposedly caused by faulty construction of some diaphragm wall in what would have become a chamber housing a cross-over along a pair of single-track tube tunnels. After rescuing what could be rescued from the city's archives (after all, Cologne dates back to the Roman period...), investigation on the cause of the accident is still going on. With apparently no deal possible between the city and the constructor, a complicated procedure is necessary to actually access the point of the defective wall deep below ground, soil had to be frozen, and it will take some years to conclude still. After that, the metro tunnel can be finished, but even the most optimistic sources quote a 2023 completion of the full route. And this takes us directly to the major problem on the route brought into service recently. 

The lack of a cross-over in two separate tube tunnels means that trains entering the tunnel from the southern portal have no option to change tracks all the way to Severinstraße, so they have to return on the same track, resulting in quite a chaotic operation from the passenger's point of view, because a train in either direction will arrive on either of the two tracks. And except for Bonner Wall, this kind of information was not yet properly displayed yesterday, so here KVB, the operator, urgently needs to make some rapid improvements. 

On weekdays, the trains of the newly introduced line 17 run every 10 minutes (the minimum headway possible with this kind of operation), and every 15 minutes on Sundays. Yesterday, riding this line was free and lots of locals tried it, resulting in quite full trains at all times, and naturally messing up the timetable. I would have expected that KVB would run an "as often as possible" service with more trains to satisfy the people's curiosity. Instead of some unfriendly staff forced to work on a Sunday at the information desks, they should have brought in more drivers to cover a more intensive service.

Now let's take a look at the route and stations. I had already seen the rebuilt Breslauer Platz/Hbf station previously, which forms part of the north-south project. Three years ago, I also got a chance to see the first station on the new route proper, Rathaus, which was opened as a single-track stub for line 5. This station is a real tube station, with rather narrow platforms and accesses. 

A year later, i.e. two years ago, this stub was extended to Heumarkt, but at that time I didn't manage to visit Cologne, so this station was also new to me on my recent visit. I had seen many photos, as it is labelled as one of the cathedrals of modern metro station architecture, so my curiosity was naturally very strong. And it didn't disappoint me. But the funny thing here is that the "cathedral" part of the station is actually a fancy provision for an east-west line which may never happen, so for the moment it is just a mezzanine for the north-south line crossing one level deeper, with the two levels forming an X-shaped structure. Although there has been some talk again recently, the east-west route (lines 1, 7 and 9) will remain on the surface for a while still, resulting in quite a walk from the line 5 deep-level platform to the surface platforms. Yesterday evening, these were bursting with people coming from the shopping streets and the adjacent Christmas market, so hopefully the long-planned east-west tunnel will soon get its go-ahead to improve transfers and speed up journeys across the city centre. So while the upper unused platform level features this huge vault, the lower level for line 5 is quite straight-forward, but wide and open enough to provide a good atmosphere. At the western end, besides a lift, there is also a staircase, I think it is some 7 or 8 floors to get to the surface, a good way to skip the daily gym. Otherwise there are lots of escalators up and down.

A walk from Heumarkt to Severinstraße allows a look into the big hole caused by the tunnel collapse. What will be the northern terminus of line 17 for the time being is quite a deep station, too, determined not only by the tube-tunnelling, but also by the fact that it runs below the crossing lines 3 and 4 which, though on the surface, run in a cutting on their approach to Severinsbrücke. At the northern end, 45 m long escalators lead directly from the surface to the platform level, but with the upward escalator failing again and again during the first day, I once walked the stairs, and have to admit that they got me almost out of breath! Alternatively, of course, there are also lifts. Coming from lines 3/4, passengers have to take stairs to reach a mezzanine and then escalators down to platform level. The platform itself is surprisingly wide for being a tube-type station, but here some two thirds of entire station length of the space between the tubes was excavated, with the roof supported by a series of inclined columns, giving a very pleasant and generously laid-out waiting area. The tubes are only perceivable at one end of the platform.

At Kartäuserhof, this is quite different. This is a classical tube station, with cross tunnels only at either end where the escalators and stairs arrive, plus a cross passage in the middle where the direct lift to the surface is located. Design-wise, this station features something I had never seen before: the concrete linings behind the tracks were left bare, which is not unusual, but on the platform side these are also visible, but behind a blue transparent glass wall, a simple idea that results in this special colour touch I have often missed in other bare-concrete architecture. With the line running through a very densely built-up district, the tubes actually lie below the buildings, with not much space on the surface for wide exits, so one side only has a staircase, and the other a pair of escalators and a staircase, all leading to a small mezzanine, from where two sets of escalators and stairs go down to either end of the platforms.

Chlodwigplatz was also designed as a transfer station, although the lines crossing on the surface are more of the tram type. The new platform is again quite wide with flights of escalators either going to a main mezzanine dominated by a number of indirectly illuminated columns, or to a smaller mezzanine and an exit near the old city gate. The most striking element in this station are the two huge painted murals on one side of the escalator shaft, almost like a huge graffiti, but reaching heights where unofficial sprayers may never get to:

The last station down the line is Bonner Wall, which was mostly built by cut-and-cover, although the northern end deliberately shows the end of the tube tunnels. Unfortunately, and for no real obvious reason except possibly the junction following immediately to the south, this station has side platforms, making passenger orientation even more complicated, especially if, like at one time yesterday, one platform doesn't properly show the trains it will serve. An island platform would have allowed a change of sides even in the moment the train actually enters the station. But when the station was designed, noone could foresee that such a complicated operation may be necessary over a long period. Certainly, side platforms allow direct lifts from the platforms to the pavements, whereas a lift from an island platform would be located in the middle of the street above. Again, KVB has a job to do here, as yesterday it was not clear for someone using a lift from the surface which platform they will need to board the next train. I fear that this matter will fill some comments in the local press in the coming weeks. As a cut-and-cover station, it actually gave me the impression of being only partly underground and the ceiling slightly above street level. This illusion is caused by a row of lights just below the ceiling which appear to be windows and daylight coming in. Though separated by glass walls, almost the entire station box can be overlooked from the mezzanines at either end. Otherwise, the concrete/glass design is only disrupted by large red areas where all the information panels are displayed.

Just beyond Bonner Wall, the line splits, with the straight route via a ramp to Marktstraße fully completed but not used yet. Probably the lack of a reversing option at Severinstraße would not allow to introduce a service to this 3-track surface terminus right now. A further extension to Arnoldshöhe has been approved and should be finished at least when the full north-south tunnel is finally open.

Line 17, however, turns east and after some 300 m surfaces to cross a main road at grade before joining the existing route to Bonn which has long been running along the River Rhine. There had been long discussions about how this level crossing would influence operation, and most importantly, road traffic. In the end, some provisions for a road tunnel below the Stadtbahn tracks were made, but this will certainly not be built in the near future. The line 17 shuttle now terminates a few stations further south in Rodenkirchen, with some peak-hour trains continuing to Sürth.

So, all in all, had it not been for the horrible tunnel disaster, I consider the north-south line a well-achieved project, which unfortunately will only show its full strength in some 10 years.

For more photos of each station visit our special gallery!

A few other notes on the Köln light rail system. As may be known by the reader, the network is divided into a low-floor and a high-floor system. While the low-floor lines provide proper level access at all stops, some of the stations belonging to the high-floor system have not yet been rebuilt with high platforms, something I cannot really comprehend. There are not too many left, I think, so really more effort should be made in this respect. The fact that people have to climb into those cars via steps clearly slows down alighting and boarding, and with a new series of light-rail cars recently ordered, at least, like in Hannover, certain lines should be operated exclusively with trains without those silly steps. It is generally understood that light-rail trains without steps are cheaper, need less maintenance and being high-floor allow a much freer distribution of doors and thus also of seats and other elements (something we learned from the U3-type cars in Frankfurt back in the 1980s, and this is 2015!).

Regarding tickets, Cologne is in the upper price range among German cities. With a day ticket mostly costing between 6 and 7 euros, in Cologne it's 8.30€! Compared to neighbouring VRR, the VRS fare system is slightly easier to understand (well, almost any other fare system would beat VRR's in this respect...), the "fare stages" are usually graphically displayed at all stops, for the city of Cologne you need a 1b ticket, 2b if you want to include the smaller neighbouring towns served by some light-rail trains too. To cover the entire Köln/Bonn system, though, a 4-zone ticket is required. As I was actually staying in Düsseldorf (VRR!) I was looking at joint tickets covering Düsseldorf and Cologne for a day pass, but all information is very weird and confusing, so to avoid problems I bought a normal train ticket and then a day pass for Cologne. Probably tickets covering all of NRW (the state of North-Rhine-Westphalia) may be an easier option for some visitors. In any case I would recommend to get such tickets from a staffed ticket office to be sure you get what you need. German ticket inspectors have no mercy and often may not understand all different tickets available in what we call "fare jungle". I would urge the NRW government to properly merge all these areas into one single fare system with one philosophy on how these zonal systems work, but typically German, each area has its own way of doing things, and the more complicated the better to keep occasional riders from using public transport for being too complex and always with a remaining fear that you have got the wrong ticket.

LINKS

UrbanRail.Net > Köln > Special North-South Line Gallery

KVB

BIRMINGHAM Tram

Inbound CAF Urbos tram at Jewellery Quarter, with the railway station directly to the left

Birmingham, the centre of the West Midlands, was the last stop on this year's extensive visits to all the tram and metro systems in the U.K, in preparation for my forthcoming 'Tram Atlas Britain & Ireland' due to be published towards the end of October 2015. Many years ago, in 1988/89, I actually lived around here, working as a language assistant in Walsall, but at that time the tram, of course, did not exist, and even the suburban rail system, except for the Cross City Line, were considered rather pathetic, and Walsall was rarely served by trains from Birmingham.

In the meantime I had been back several times, but not since the entire fleet of original Ansaldobreda trams had been replaced by the new CAF Urbos trams. The only thing I liked about the Ansaldos was there colourful livery, but as trams they never convinced me, too small, felt too narrow, and well, apparently they had lots of wiring and other problems so that, like in Manchester, they withdrew them long before their actual normal life would have expired.

Now back to Birmingham, first on a day trip from Nottingham on Monday, 7 September, and again a few days later on my way back from the Isle of Man, the first impression when I got onto the new CAF trams was how wide (2.65 m) and spacious they feel. And with an increased length, they certainly offer double the capacity. Their interior purple and green design is nice, and would actually also fit the Nottingham trams (the two lines there are now shown in green and purple). 

Purple & green interior of CAF Urbos trams, though with rather hard seats

When I had seen the first pictures, I was wondering, like many other people did, whether pink was a good option for a modern tramway (not even purple and pink loving France uses that colour on the outside of trams....), but I have to say, they look good, it's a nice pink, not magenta, and it is not used exaggeratedly, in fact the dominating colour is white with some grey and pink. The seats are rather hard though, and the wheelsets not too well spring-suspended, so the ride is o.k. on good railway track, but a bit bumpy when running over points, and probably also on the future street running sections. I just realise, I didn't ride them on the long street-running section between Priestfield and The Royal, because I walked that stretch to take pictures (there should really be an intermediate stop on this section!).

Like Sheffield, the 'Midland Metro' as it is sometimes called, has not really seen any extensions since it first opened in 1999, despite modest plans to add some. With some delays and being built at crawling speed, as it seems, a short city centre extension is finally becoming a reality possibly before the end of the year (although seeing the state of construction right now in mid-September, I would even doubt that!). The original line has always suffered from its somewhat marginal existence. In Birmingham, the terminus has been hidden away inside Snow Hill Station, accessible via a very slow lift or a long flight of stairs (upwards there is an escalator, too). Apparently, the second track there has not been used for a long time, so the line is virtually single-track from Snow Hill to St. Pauls. The platforms are just about long enough to accommodate one of the new CAF trams, so when there are problems (and I saw one tram stuck there because of a door failure), a second tram can come into the station, but passengers need to step down to street level to get off). 

Improvised boarding at Snow Hill during problems with tram in the rear

Leaving Snow Hill, on the right you can see that track laying has just begun on what will become the new Snow Hill stop at the very end of the railway station, but the trackbed where old and new lines should be connected has hardly been prepared yet.

The line gets double-track just before reaching St. Pauls stop, from where the tram continues on an old railway route all the way to Priestfield. This is mostly a grade-separated route, but being an old railway it is badly integrated with the areas it serves. Most stops are in a cutting and rather deserted, so waiting there may not be too pleasant, especially after dark. Except for the major stations along the route, like West Bromwich Central or Bilston Central, which have major bus connections, the intermediate stops have few passengers. At Wednesbury, one of the major towns along the route, both stops are quite a long way outside of the town centre, with none of them being directly served by any buses either.

Birmingham-bound CAF Urbos tram on street-running section between The Royal and Priestfield

The street-running section from Priestfield to the Wolverhampton terminus does not seem to cause many problems, maybe during rush hours, but as said before, there should be an additional stop. It was curious to learn that they have actually reduced the Wolverhampton terminus from two to just one track. As a passenger, I always find it extremely annoying when you have to wait outside the station because the terminus is still occupied by the departing tram. There can be many reasons for that tram to stay there longer than normal, so if the terminus has to be single-track, then there should at least be a secondary platform for people to get off the incoming tram. Anyway, I couldn't see a reason really why they removed the second track:

On the right, removed second track at Wolverhampton terminus

Probably saves them a few pounds in maintenance at the cost of risking their reputation due to more delays. I'm sure it is not because the line may be diverted to the railway station anyway. Who knows whenever or if ever that will happen, as there have been many projects for Wolverhampton and nothing has happened. The current terminus is actually quite well located for the central shopping area, and if the line is extended to the railway station, this situation will in fact get worse, so I'd suggest to keep the current terminus, too, and have every other tram terminate here, and the other go to the railway station instead.

The Birmingham city centre extension, when open, will certainly give the tram a completely new presence in the city, many people who never use the tram will actually see it regularly. The route will, however, be very slow as the trams will run down the busy Corporation Street where pedestrians will cross the tracks at any point. So, in about 20 years, like in Manchester, talks will start about a second city crossing. 

State of construction at Bull Street stop in mid-September 2015

Some preliminary construction has also started on the follow-on extension from New Street Station via Victoria Square (City Hall) to Centenary Square, but I guess this extension will take a few years to be built as it involves a completely new road layout between the latter two, where the once motorway-like inner ring road will be rebuilt to become a more urban space once again. A further extension down Broad Street to Five Ways, which has always been a priority, will be a bit trickier as despite its name, Broad Street is not really a wide street and either shared street running will have to be chosen, or current road traffic will have to be almost completely diverted onto other roads instead.

For many years still, Birmingham will have just a single tram line, although plans have already been published for a branch to the future high-speed rail station and Digbeth. But Birmingham still lacks the big vision, a real 'big bang' Manchester was able to make a reality, and despite being the larger city, in this respect Birmingham is running years behind Manchester. The West Midlands have a dense and rather good bus network with good maps and quite good information, almost at level with Greater London, but the buses are slow and get quite full as I could experience yesterday when I travelled a long way across the county to get from Stourbridge to the Black Country Living Museum and then on to the tram at Wednesbury Parkway.

S-Bahn-style Cross City Line at Selly Oak

The West Midlands are served by various regional railways, most operated by London Midland (among them the funny shuttle train at Stourbridge), with the north-south Cross City Line offering a train every 10 minutes for most of the day within the City of Birmingham. Unfortunately, like all the other routes, the efficiency of this S-Bahn-style service is significantly reduced by the bottleneck at New Street. It seems that trains always have to queue up to enter the station, and then there is quite a long buffer anyway, so for passengers travelling across the city centre, it is a slow service. Starting with this line, they should really separate different services properly, for example by building a dedicated flyover east of New Street and operate this line separately using the southernmost tracks at New Street exclusively or shared by only similar services. This way trains could run without any hassle through New Street station, the way German S-Bahn system do in cities like Frankfurt or Stuttgart (although in those places sometimes too many S-Bahn lines are bundled and they have to queue again...). For whatever reason, the similar, though not as frequent east-west service between Wolverhampton and Coventry seems to be split at New Street, so that many passengers travelling, for example, from Wolverhampton or intermediate stations to the airport will have to change trains, although they can also use long-distance Arriva Wales or Virgin trains. Also, stopping patterns between New Street and the airport station (called Birmingham International) are a bit strange if you want to travel just between two of the intermediate stations, e.g. from Marston Green to Stechford. So, like in all other places in the U.K., I miss a clear distinction between what are local and all-stopping services and regional or long-distance services, although on the other hand I like the fact that tickets are valid on all sorts of trains. Line numbers would be great again, although I have almost given up convincing the British that line numbers are a nice and useful thing. But unfortunately even the well-established term 'Cross City Line' is no longer used officially, they just announce it as 'a London Midland service to Redditch', for example.

Funny diesel-powered people mover on Stourbridge Town Branch Line

If you ask me, the entire project with the new high-speed rail station planned at Curzon Street east of the city centre is completely wrong. I understand that they want to build a new line from London to Birmingham and north, simply to increase capacity, but the potential reduction of travel times will be so insignificant that it is not really worth creating a separate system with a separate terminus. Though not too far from New Street, it is too far to consider it part of the station complex, and what passengers will gain in journey time to London they will lose on their way to the new station. Especially those taking a train into Birmingham to catch a fancy new high-speed train to London will not be on the winning side, instead they have to add at least half an hour to get from one station to the other, no matter how they will do that, walking, or waiting for a tram, which will eventually crawl between the two stations, whereas now they just need to change platforms within a recently upgraded and pleasant station. But given the capacity constraints of New Street Station as described above, why didn't they design a real Birmingham Central Station, instead of just a high-speed terminus and relocate all long-distance services there, plus a full-scale station for all suburban services? At the same time the entire East End of the city could be properly developed. As the eastern approach lines to New Street actually pass close by the future high-speed terminus, I can only hope that in the end a new station will be added adjacent to it, so that all suburban trains can actually serve Curzon Street directly. Another option would have been to build additional platforms in tunnel below the current New Street station, similar to what has been done in Zurich.

Ticketwise, the West Midlands have quite good fare integration, but looking at the booklet about fares and tickets, I would say there are too many different types of tickets, so what we call the 'fare jungle' in Germany, also applies to many British cities. To explore the entire system within the West Midlands boundaries, a Daytripper for 6.40 GBP is the best option, it's valid on all buses, the tram and all trains, but make sure the rail station you're travelling to is still within the area, as those zonal maps are not posted anywhere, so you'd better check beforehand by getting this booklet, for example. On the tram, like in Sheffield, tickets are sold by a conductor, there are no ticket vending-machines on platforms. To explore just the tram line, there is also a cheaper Metro Daytripper ticket (5.60 GBP). On weekdays, Daytripper tickets are valid only after 09:30!

LINKS

Midland Metro (Official website)

Birmingham at UrbanRail.Net

NOTTINGHAM Tram

Incentro (left) and Citadis (right) at new Nottingham Station stop

As I'm in the final stage of preparing my "Tram Atlas Britain & Ireland" I wanted to see the new Nottingham extensions as soon as they would open. Though vaguely announced via Twitter and all modern forms of communication for many weeks, a concrete start of regular operation was only announced ONE day prior to the actual start, which was the 25 August 2015. Unable to pack my things and go that spontaneously, I finally got to Nottingham on 4 September, a day that may be recorded as a Black Friday in NET's history books...

After strolling through the city centre to get myself accustomed to the flair of the city (I was only here once on a day trip from Birmingham back in 2005), I started to explore the new lines at the railway station, where a viaduct had been slid in over all the railway tracks, with the tram stop right on top (although this does not mean that the tram stop is directly connected to the train platforms, like for example in Freiburg; instead passengers have to walk around through the main hall and ticket gates to get their connecting trains; or exit via a secondary exit at the north end of the southbound platform, which leads to a footbridge that connects all platforms, in most cases the quicker option as many trains tend to stop at the far east end of the platforms). Anyway, the first tram that arrived was a Toton Lane tram, I got on and took a short ride past the junction where the Clifton Line diverges and reached the next stop Meadows Way West. And that was it, everybody had to get off, no power supply available further down the line, there was a lot of confusion. The tram then continued empty to turn around at the nearby crossover and go back into town. After a while I gave up and walked back to the junction to check out the Clifton Line first, hoping that these problems would be solved. The Clifton Line worked o.k. with some delays, but there seemed to be no communication between trams and next-tram indicators which would announce a tram to be due, but it did not arrive, then the tram disappeared from the screen, but after some five minutes appeared on the track.

Being quite cloudy, I didn't bother to get off at too many places for photos, and after a quick late lunch in the centre, hopped on another Toton Lane tram at the central Old Market Square, and this time I made it as far as ... the railway station, where everything had collapsed, two inbound trams were stuck on the ramp just south of the station. Little by little, the control centre managed to make all trams from the north turn back at the railway station, so at least on the old lines the service was more or less o.k. I grabbed a seat on what would naturally become a completely packed tram to Phoenix Park, from there back to Highbury Vale, where a tram to Hucknell soon arrived although the screen said otherwise. As at Hucknall I didn't jump on the same tram to go back, I waited for quite a while along with many Friday night out-goers for the next tram to arrive. Needless to say that I didn't try to get to Toton Lane that evening.

Let's hope that these are just teething problems and can be sorted out soon. There was another disruption on Sunday morning for some 30 minutes on the Toton Lane branch, but trams just seemed to be back running when I jumped on a bus back into town, which leads us to the fare and ticket issue. A day pass just for the tram is 4.00 GBP, but for an extra 50p you can also use all the buses and trains within Greater Nottingham. So to avoid hassle in the case of disruptions on the tram system, I would recommend to get the 4.50 GBP ticket straight away, and you're on the safe side. A single ticket for the tram is 2.20 GBP, quite a sum if you're just going from your city centre hotel to the railway station.

Viaduct through Queen's Medical Centre area

Things went fine on Saturday morning when I was joined by a friend from Newcastle and together we explored the Toton Lane branch, which besides the viaduct over the railway station features the most important structure of the entire system, an approx. 600 m elevated route through the Queens Medical Centre and over the ring road, and with both of us usually being more fascinated by metros than by trams, this stretch was naturally of special interest. The viaduct is probably higher than needed, but this way it does not feel so much like a visual barrier, leaving enough space and transparency below. The elevated "station" is just another standard tram stop with no metro feel to it. There is a lift, but the stairs down to ground level appear rather simple, more like an emergency exit. Walking along the south side of the tracks, one can reach another lift and staircase leading to the western side of the ring road. While the elevated section certainly speeds up the journey, its eastern approach slows it down as if to compensate. Coming from Gregory Street, to avoid some metallic sheds, the trams have to negotiate a tight S-curve. I guess it should have been possible to purchase and relocate that terrain to achieve a much straighter alignment in that area. 

Eastern ramp to viaduct with Bombardier tram carrying Alstom advert

Once back to ground level heading southwest, the trams get their proper right-of-way after the University stop, but for this they have to switch to the south side of the road. In an ideal world, they would remain on the north side as they actually don't stop anywhere along this section, instead, just after University Blvd stop they need to cross the same main road again to enter the Beeston on-street section. Like all other on-street sections, of which there are a few, mixed traffic doesn't seem to be much of a problem as far as I have observed. But regular users may have other impressions. At Beeston Centre, a good interchange has been built, with buses dropping their passengers directly at the staggered tram platforms. A bit further down the line, the trams finally leave the roadway and, walled in by wooden sound barriers, run on a green strip through a housing estate all the way to the terminus at Toton Lane, in fact, the area before the last stop is pretty empty. I think that the name of the last stop was not a good choice. Once up in the very north near Hucknall I was asked by a confused passenger whether the tram was going into the city centre as it just showed "Toton Lane", which apparently no-one knows where it is (they will eventually learn...), but probably in line with the other three termini, "Chilwell West" or so would have been a better choice. And talking of destinations, in a very mono-centric city like Nottingham, I think it would be better to announce "This tram is for City Centre and Toton Lane", etc. Once in the city centre, it could switch to what it is now "This tram is for Toton Lane".

Back to the terminus at Toton Lane, there is a huge car park, just like at the other termini and even at some intermediate stops, which gives the system a very French feel. And the P+R is well-utilised and free.

Cator Lane: typical tram stop

All in all, the Toton Lane branch, or Beeston branch, will have its share of passengers, as it is rather urban in its alignment. It does, however, feel a bit indirect on its way into town through the detour via NG2, a business park, although on the map it is actually not much further. A bridge was built for this purpose over the railway line to London, but surprisingly, this is a tram-only bridge, no path for pedestrians or bicycles, which would rather be the norm nowadays, and what they did on a bridge on the Clifton line.

Now let's have a look at the Clifton line, which runs quite straight through the areas it is supposed to serve, i.e. Wilford and Clifton. The first section along Queen's Walk, a tree-lined avenue, is very pleasant, followed by an old stone bridge at Meadows Embankment. Wilford is actually served a bit marginally, as the trams use an old railway corridor, though not the old railway formation, which is still visible right next to the tram tracks on the western side and which acts like a sort of sound barrier. But the trackbed uses ballast and railway-type rails and the trams speed up properly on this section. The passage under the ring road, however, just south of the Ruddington Lane stop, is rather done at crawling speed. Trams then run through an open field, where I guess a stop could be added if the area is developed. Back on urban roads, the trams take an S-curve to get onto Clifton's main road Southchurch Drive, from where the run mostly on-street to the terminus at Clifton South, another P+R facility at the edge of the built-up area, although a lot of new housing can also be seen in this area.

Citadis has arrived at Clifton South P+R

So, all in all, the impression of the new extensions is rather positive, and I'm still wondering why these projects are possible in Nottingham and Manchester, but nothing is really happening anywhere else in the country?

Incentro on its way inbound has left Wilkinson Street and changes to right side

A few words about the older routes still, which I had already seen back in 2005. Generally, from the Railway Station up to The Forest, despite running mostly on-street, the trams travel at reasonable speeds. 

Street-running between High School and Nottingham Trent University

The split alignment through Hyson Green, however, is a bit slower and especially coming from the north, very slow. The track layout around the depot access at Wilkinson Street is probably the least convincing part of the entire system, for some 200 m trams actually operate on the right hand! Once past Wilkinson Street, the trams cross the Robin Hood rail line and take a turn right, a curve that feels tighter than it actually is, before getting aligned along the western side of the railway all the way up to Hucknall. Both types of trams run really well at high speed. The line splits at Highbury Vale, where the two respective stops are at some distance from each other, although an electronic sign indicates boarding passengers, which tram will arrive first for the city centre. Each branch is then mostly single-track, the Phoenix branch being rather short does not have a passing loop at the intermediate Cinderhill stop, which is thus the only stop on the system with only one platform face. The Hucknall-bound trams, however, have to switch to the passing loop at all intermediate stops, and here I sometimes had the impression that the points could be more like real trailing junctions, so passengers would not really notice that they are switching from one track to another, which would result in a much more comfortable ride. Unlike Birmingham, fortunately all termini have two tracks, although in the case of Hucknall, this is actually necessary due to the long single-track section to the next stop.

Priority at traffic lights seems to work pretty fine, although there are a few points where I observed trams to stop longer than I would desire. One such point is northbound just after the Old Market Square stop, where they stop just to give way to buses coming down that street and turning right. But I think that this traffic light is linked to the one up the hill just before the Royal Centre stop, so that the trams can always roll across that intersection without stopping on the steep street. Another such point is south of the railway station in the northbound direction. But generally, the impression is that the city government is giving priority to public transport over individual road traffic.

Nottingham now has two generations of trams. Although generally I prefer Bombardier's Flexity (and the Incentro is somehow the mother of the newer Flexity) to Alstom's Citadis, here I would actually choose the Citadis as my favourite. The Incentro, though refurbished, looks a bit dated inside, with dirty corners on the floor, but especially the seats are horrible. They don't have a flat area to sit on, but a somewhat curved, pseudo-ergonomic one, whereas the Citadis, which I had often criticised for their seats in other cities, have acceptable seats, if not perfect (but given that everybody has a different body structure there is no perfect seat really). In some intent to modernise the Incentro trams, they received a new old livery, i.e. in fact only the distribution of the colours was changed, but in my opinion, not really successfully. They lack the elegance of the new Citadis, although generally I have to say that I don't like the colour scheme, with silver/white combined with this dark teal-like green:

Original Incentro livery (at Hucknall in 2005) as opposed to ...

... new livery (on railway-style section between Wilford Village and Wilford Lane)

But many of the Incentro trams now actually carry colourful adverts. As I suggested in my Edinburgh blog entry, in a country where many days in the year are grey and rainy, and the traditional architecture is dominated by dark sandstone or dark red-brick buildings, modern trams should add a colour contrast to brighten up the urban life. But apparently, this dark-green is something traditional in Nottingham, as it can be seen all over the city and even the taxis have this colour. And my usual comment about the Citadis not being able to negotiate curves properly, this statement would not be true here. Either Alstom has improved their vehicles so much in recent years, or Nottingham's routes are indeed very well built. Even the extremely tight curve at Lace Market is passed perfectly without any disturbing sounds while keeping a reasonable speed.

Energy giant e-on adding a little colour touch (at Holy Trinity)

LINKS

NET - Nottingham ExpressTransit

Nottingham at UrbanRail.Net