Editing Light rail (section)

=== Early systems ===
[[File:Ostrava, Stadler Tango NF2 č. 1733 View from Tieto Towers.jpg|thumb|Ostrava tram stop with pedestrian underpass.]]
Prior to the systems in North America, besides Germany a few regions in Europe developed light rail like tram transport as early as the 1960s. Besides [[Gothenburg tram network|Gothenburg]], several cities in Central and Eastern Europe executed plans to modernise tram systems, notably in [[Trams in Ostrava|Ostrava]].<ref name="ACE21">{{cite journal |last1=Khairullina |first1=Elvira |title=Trams in the European Socialist countries in the 1960s and 1970s: from crisis to impetus. Soviet Union and Czechoslovak Socialist Republic |journal=Arquitectura Ciudad y Entorno |date=2021 |volume=16 |issue=46 |url=https://www.researchgate.net/publication/353073533_Trams_in_the_European_Socialist_countries_in_the_1960s_and_1970s_from_crisis_to_impetus_Soviet_Union_and_Czechoslovak_Socialist_Republic |access-date=25 March 2025}}</ref>

The first of the new light rail systems in North America began operation in 1978 when the Canadian city of [[Edmonton, Alberta]], adopted the German [[Siemens-Duewag U2]] system, followed three years later by [[Calgary, Alberta]], and [[San Diego, California]]. The concept proved popular, with there now being numerous [[list of United States light rail systems by ridership|light rail systems in the United States]] and [[List of North American light rail systems by ridership|in North America]].

In Britain, modern light rail systems began to appear in the 1980s, starting with the [[Tyne and Wear Metro]] from 1980 and followed by the establishment of the [[Manchester Metrolink]] in 1992 and the [[South Yorkshire Supertram|Sheffield Supertram]] from 1994.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Butcher |first=Louise |date=25 January 2012 |title=Railways: light rail schemes |url=https://researchbriefings.files.parliament.uk/documents/SN03307/SN03307.pdf |access-date=24 July 2024 |publisher=House of Commons Library |page=2}}</ref>