Editing Tram (section)

===Electric===
{{main|List of tram systems by gauge and electrification}}
The world's first electric tram line operated in [[Sestroretsk]] near [[Saint Petersburg]] invented and tested by inventor [[Fyodor Pirotsky]] in 1875.<ref>{{harvnb|Pyrgidis|2016|p=156}}</ref><ref>{{harvnb|Petrova|2003|p=12}}</ref> Later, using a similar technology, Pirotsky put into service the first public electric tramway in St. Petersburg, which operated only during September 1880.<ref name="guarnieri 1">{{Cite journal|last=Guarnieri|first=M.|year=2020|title=Electric tramways of the 19th century|journal=IEEE Industrial Electronics Magazine|volume=14|issue=1|pages=71–77|doi=10.1109/MIE.2020.2966810|hdl=11577/3340486 |s2cid=214624057|hdl-access=free}}</ref>
The [[Siemens locomotive of 1879|second demonstration tramway]] was presented by Siemens & Halske at the 1879 Berlin Industrial Exposition.
The first public electric tramway used for permanent service was the [[Gross-Lichterfelde tramway]] in [[Lichterfelde (Berlin)|Lichterfelde]] near Berlin in Germany, which opened in 1881. It was built by [[Werner von Siemens]] who contacted Pirotsky. This was the world's first commercially successful electric tram. It drew current from the rails at first, with [[Overhead line|overhead wire]] being installed in 1883.<ref>{{cite magazine|magazine=Popular Mechanics|author=Hearst Magazines|title=Popular Mechanics|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=wN4DAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA750|date=May 1929|publisher=Hearst Magazines|page=750}}</ref>

[[File:Blackpool + zoo 1979 to 1980 (32963118752).jpg|thumb|Between 1962 and 1992 [[Blackpool]] had the only urban tramway in the UK.]]
In Britain, [[Volk's Electric Railway]] was opened in 1883 in Brighton. This two kilometer line along the seafront, [[Track gauge conversion|re-gauged]] to {{Track gauge|2ft8.5in|lk=on}} in 1884, remains in service as the oldest operating electric tramway in the world. Also in 1883, [[Mödling and Hinterbrühl Tram]] was opened near [[Vienna]] in Austria. It was the first tram in the world in regular service that was run with electricity served by an overhead line with [[Pantograph (transport)|pantograph]] [[current collector]]s. The [[Blackpool Tramway]] was opened in Blackpool, UK on 29 September 1885 using conduit collection along Blackpool Promenade. This system is still in operation in modernised form.<ref>{{cite web | title = Blackpool Trams | publisher = Fylde Tramway Society | date = 3 September 2004 | url = http://www.tramway.com/fts/fts_bct.html | access-date = 19 November 2010 | url-status = live | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20110717090431/http://www.tramway.com/fts/fts_bct.html | archive-date = 17 July 2011}}</ref>

The earliest tram system in Canada was built by [[John Joseph Wright (engineer)|John Joseph Wright]], brother of the famous mining entrepreneur [[Whitaker Wright]], in [[Toronto]] in 1883, introducing electric trams in 1892. In the US, multiple experimental [[#Electric|electric trams]] were exhibited at the 1884 [[World Cotton Centennial]] World's Fair in [[New Orleans, Louisiana]], but they were not deemed good enough to replace the [[Emile Lamm|Lamm]] fireless engines then propelling the [[St. Charles Streetcar Line]] in that city. The first commercial installation of an electric streetcar in the United States was built in 1884 in [[Cleveland, Ohio]], and operated for a period of one year by the East Cleveland Street Railway Company.<ref name="mileston">{{cite web|last=American Public Transportation Association |title=Milestones in U.S. Public Transportation History |url=http://apta.com/research/stats/history/mileston.cfm |access-date=20 March 2013 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090303212350/http://apta.com/research/stats/history/mileston.cfm |archive-date=3 March 2009 }}</ref> The first city-wide electric streetcar system was implemented in 1886 in [[Montgomery, Alabama]], by the [[Capital City Street Railway]] Company, and ran for 50 years.<<ref name="mileston"/>

[[File:Zuerich-vbz-tram-2-swpsigbbc-880755.jpg|thumb|[[Trams in Zürich|Zürich tram]] [[multiple-unit train]]]]
In 1888, the [[Richmond Union Passenger Railway]] began to operate trams in [[Richmond, Virginia]], that [[Frank J. Sprague]] had built. Sprague later developed [[multiple unit]] control, first demonstrated in Chicago in 1897, allowing multiple cars to be coupled together and operated by a single motorman. This gave rise to the modern [[rapid transit|subway]] train. Following the improvement of an overhead "trolley" system on streetcars for collecting electricity from [[overhead wire]]s by Sprague, electric tram systems were rapidly adopted across the world.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Robbins |first=Michael |date=2000 |title=The Early Years of Electric Traction: Invention, Development, Exploitation |url=http://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.7227/TJTH.21.1.6 |journal=The Journal of Transport History |language=en |volume=21 |issue=1 |pages=92–101 |doi=10.7227/TJTH.21.1.6 |s2cid=109210400 |issn=0022-5266}}</ref>

Earlier electric trains proved difficult or unreliable and experienced limited success until the second half of the 1880s, when new types of current collectors were developed.<ref name="guarnieri 1"/> Siemens' line, for example, provided power through a live rail and a return rail, like a [[model train]], limiting the [[voltage]] that could be used, and delivering [[electric shock]]s to people and animals crossing the tracks.<ref>{{cite web|last = Wood|first = E. Thomas|title = Nashville now and then: From here to there|url = http://www.nashvillepost.com/news/2007/4/27/nashville_now_and_then_from_here_to_there|access-date = 7 August 2007|url-status = live|archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20070928011259/http://www.nashvillepost.com/news/2007/4/27/nashville_now_and_then_from_here_to_there|archive-date = 28 September 2007}}</ref> Siemens later designed his own version of overhead current collection, called the [[bow collector]]. One of the first systems to use it was in [[Thorold, Ontario]], opened in 1887, and it was considered quite successful. While this line proved quite versatile as one of the earliest fully functional electric streetcar installations, it required horse-drawn support while climbing the [[Niagara Escarpment]] and for two months of the winter when [[hydroelectricity]] was not available. It continued in service in its original form into the 1950s.{{citation needed|date = February 2018}}

[[Sidney Howe Short]] designed and produced the first [[electric motor]] that operated a streetcar without gears. The motor had its [[armature (electrical engineering)|armature]] direct-connected to the [[streetcar]]'s [[axle]] for the driving force.{{sfn|Martin|1924|pages=122–123}}{{sfn|Hammond|2011|p=142}}<ref name="FtWorth1894">{{cite news |author=<!--Staff writer(s); no by-line.--> |title= Professor Sidney Howe Short experiments with motors |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/9450242// | work=Fort Worth Daily Gazette |location=Fort Worth, Texas |date= 11 November 1894 |via=[[Newspapers.com]] {{open access}} }}</ref><ref name="Grace">{{cite web |url=http://www.gracesguide.co.uk/Sidney_Howe_Short |title=Sidney Howe Short |work=Grace's Guide to British Industrial History |publisher=Grace's Guide Ltd. |access-date=10 March 2017 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170312062123/http://www.gracesguide.co.uk/Sidney_Howe_Short |archive-date=12 March 2017}}</ref><ref name="Topeka1894">{{cite news |author=<!--Staff writer(s); no by-line.--> |title= Street Railways his hobby |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/9450668// | work=[[Topeka Daily Capital]] |location=Topeka, Kansas |date=14 November 1894 |via=[[newspapers.com]] {{open access}}}}</ref> Short pioneered "use of a conduit system of concealed feed" thereby eliminating the necessity of [[Overhead line|overhead wire]] and a [[trolley pole]] for street cars and railways.{{sfn|Malone|1928|p=128}}{{sfn|Martin|1924|pages=122–123}}{{sfn|Hammond|2011|p=142}} While at the University of Denver he conducted experiments which established that [[multiple unit]] powered cars were a better way to operate trains and trolleys.{{sfn|Martin|1924|pages=122–123}}{{sfn|Hammond|2011|p=142}}
[[File:09870-Budapest-1908-Kettenbrücke mit Straßenbahn-Brück & Sohn Kunstverlag.jpg|thumb|A [[Trams in Budapest|tram in Budapest]] in 1908. The city established a network of electric trams in 1894.]]
Electric tramways spread to many European cities in the 1890s, such as:
* Prague, Bohemia (then in the Austro-Hungarian Empire), in 1891;
*[[Trams in Kyiv|Kyiv, Ukraine]], in 1892;
* Dresden, Germany; Lyon, France; and Milan and Genoa, Italy, [[Manx Electric Railway|Douglas, Isle of Man]] in 1893;
* Rome, Italy: Plauen, Germany; Bucharest, Romania;<ref>{{Cite web |title=STB SA {{!}} Societatea de Transport Bucuresti STB SA |url=https://www.stbsa.ro/eng/istoric_eng |access-date=20 March 2024 |website=www.stbsa.ro}}</ref> [[Trams in Lviv|Lviv, Ukraine]]; Belgrade, Serbia in 1894;
* Bristol, United Kingdom; and Munich, Germany in 1895;
* Bilbao, Spain, in 1896;
* Copenhagen, Denmark; and Vienna, Austria, in 1897;
* Florence and Turin, Italy, in 1898;
* Helsinki, Finland; and Madrid and Barcelona, Spain, in 1899.<ref name="guarnieri 1"/>

[[Sarajevo]] built a citywide system of electric trams in 1895.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.sarajevo.ba/en/stream.php?kat=79 |title=Sarajevo Official Web Site : Sarajevo through history |publisher=Sarajevo.ba |date=29 June 1914 |access-date=8 March 2015 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141023042858/http://www.sarajevo.ba/en/stream.php?kat=79 |archive-date=23 October 2014}}</ref> [[Budapesti Közlekedési Zrt.|Budapest]] established [[Trams in Budapest|its tramway system]] in 1887, and its ring line has grown to be the busiest tram line in Europe, with a tram running once per minute at rush hour. [[Bucharest]] and [[Belgrade]]<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.beograd.org.rs/cms/view.php?id=201239 |title=City of Belgrade – Important Years in City History |publisher=Beograd.org.rs |date=5 October 2000 |access-date=8 March 2015 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150111233244/http://www.beograd.org.rs/cms/view.php?id=201239 |archive-date=11 January 2015}}</ref> ran a regular service from 1894.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://hampage.hu/trams/e_index.html |title=Trams of Hungary and much more |publisher=Hampage.hu |access-date=8 March 2015 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150302131306/http://hampage.hu/trams/e_index.html |archive-date=2 March 2015}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.ratb.ro/index.php?page=meniu&id_rubrica_meniu=13 |title=RATB – Regia Autonoma de Transport Bucureşti |publisher=Ratb.ro |access-date=8 March 2015 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150318064322/http://www.ratb.ro/index.php?page=meniu&id_rubrica_meniu=13 |archive-date=18 March 2015}}</ref> [[Ljubljana]] introduced [[Ljubljana tram system|its tram system]] in 1901&nbsp;– it closed in 1958.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.jhl.si/en/lpp/?m=51&k=1605 |title=Historical Highlights |publisher=Ljubljanski potniški promet [Ljubljana Passenger Transport] |access-date=25 April 2012 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120304092909/http://www.jhl.si/en/lpp/?m=51&k=1605 |archive-date=4 March 2012 }}</ref> [[Oslo]] had the first tramway in [[Scandinavia]], starting operation on 2 March 1894.<ref>Fasting, Kåre: ''Sporveier i Oslo gjennom 100 år''. AS Oslo Sporveier, Oslo 1975, pp. 49–50.</ref>

The first electric tramway in Australia was a Sprague system demonstrated at the 1888 [[Melbourne Centennial Exhibition]] in [[Trams in Melbourne|Melbourne]]; afterwards, this was installed as a commercial venture operating between the outer Melbourne suburb of [[Box Hill, Victoria|Box Hill]] and the then tourist-oriented country town [[Doncaster, Victoria|Doncaster]] from 1889 to 1896.<ref>{{harvnb|Green|1989}}{{page needed|date=June 2024}}</ref> Electric systems were also built in [[Trams in Adelaide|Adelaide]], [[Trams in Ballarat|Ballarat]], [[Trams in Bendigo|Bendigo]], [[Trams in Brisbane|Brisbane]], [[Trams in Fremantle|Fremantle]], [[Trams in Geelong|Geelong]], [[Trams in Hobart|Hobart]], [[Trams in Kalgoorlie|Kalgoorlie]], [[Trams in Launceston|Launceston]], [[Leonora, Western Australia|Leonora]], [[Trams in Newcastle, New South Wales|Newcastle]], [[Trams in Perth|Perth]], and [[Trams in Sydney|Sydney]].

[[File:Art work of Toledo, Ohio - DPLA - 0a107364e8d8eb430ebc183d28c46463 (page 31) (cropped).jpg|thumb|right|Streetcar in [[Toledo, Ohio]], 1895]]
By the 1970s, the only full tramway system remaining in Australia was the Melbourne tram system. However, there were also a few single lines remaining elsewhere: the [[Glenelg tram line]], connecting Adelaide to the beachside suburb of [[Glenelg, South Australia|Glenelg]], and tourist trams in the Victorian [[Goldfields region of Victoria|Goldfields]] cities of Bendigo and Ballarat. In recent years the Melbourne system, generally recognised as the largest urban tram network in the world, has been considerably modernised and expanded.<ref>[https://www.railexpress.com.au/innovation-in-the-worlds-largest-tram-network/ Innovation in the world's largest tram network] ''Rail Express'' 5 May 2020</ref> The Adelaide line has been extended to the Entertainment Centre, and work is progressing on further extensions.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://dpti.sa.gov.au/infrastructure/public_transport_projects/city_tram_extension|title=City Tram Extension|first=Infrastructure|last=Division|website=dpti.sa.gov.au|access-date=22 July 2019}}</ref> [[Light rail in Sydney|Sydney]] re-introduced trams (or light rail) on 31 August 1997. A completely new system, known as [[G:link]], was introduced on the [[Gold Coast, Queensland]], on 20 July 2014. The [[Newcastle Light Rail]] opened in February 2019, while the [[Light rail in Canberra|Canberra light rail]] opened on 20 April 2019.<ref>[https://transportnsw.info/news/2019/light-rail-in-newcastle-opening-from-monday-18-february Light rail in Newcastle opening from Monday 18 February] Transport for NSW 3 February 2019</ref> This is the first time that there have been trams in Canberra, even though [[Walter Burley Griffin]]'s 1914–1920 plans for the capital then in the planning stage did propose a Canberra tram system.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.actlightrail.info/p/routes-for-light-rail.html|title=Routes for Light Rail|access-date=22 July 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190402162522/https://www.actlightrail.info/p/routes-for-light-rail.html|archive-date=2 April 2019|url-status=dead}}</ref>
[[File:Ventura County Railway Locomotive No. 2 and Pacific Electric No. 498 at the Orange Empire Railway Museum.jpg|thumb|left|The [[Southern California Railway Museum]] in [[Perris, California|Perris]] has the largest collection of [[Pacific Electric Railway]] streetcars (known as the Red Cars).]]

In Japan, the Kyoto Electric railroad was the first tram system, starting operation in 1895.<ref>[http://www.city.kyoto.jp/koho/eng/historical/first/04.html Kyoto Tram from Kyoto City Web]. Retrieved 12 February 2009.</ref> By 1932, the network had grown to 82 railway companies in 65 cities, with a total network length of {{convert|1479|km|mi|abbr=on}}.<ref>{{cite newsletter |url=http://www.japanfs.org/en/mailmagazine/newsletter/pages/027840.html |title=The Rebirth of Trams |magazine=JFS Newsletter |date=December 2007 |access-date=12 February 2009}}</ref> By the 1960s the tram had generally died out in Japan.<ref>{{harvnb|Freedman|2011|p=6}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.japanfs.org/en/news/archives/news_id027840.html|title=The Rebirth of Trams: The Promise of Light Railway Transit (LRT)|access-date=19 April 2020}}</ref>

Two rare but significant alternatives were [[conduit current collection]], which was widely used in London, Washington, D.C., and New York City, and the [[Stud contact system|surface contact collection]] method, used in [[Wolverhampton]] (the Lorain system), [[Torquay Tramways|Torquay]] and [[Hastings]] in the UK (the Dolter stud system), and in [[Tramway de Bordeaux|Bordeaux]], France (the [[ground-level power supply]] system). {{citation needed|date = February 2018}}

The convenience and economy of electricity resulted in its rapid adoption once the technical problems of production and transmission of electricity were solved. Electric trams largely replaced animal power and other forms of motive power including cable and steam, in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.{{citation needed|date = February 2018}}

[[File:SOCIMI Colosseo.jpg|thumb|right|Tram line 3 [[Socimi]] in front of [[Colosseum]] in [[Rome]].]]
There was one particular hazard associated with trams powered from a trolley pole off an overhead line on the early electrified systems. Since the tram relies on contact with the rails for the current return path, a problem arises if the tram is derailed or (more usually) if it halts on a section of track that has been heavily sanded by a previous tram, and the tram loses electrical contact with the rails. In this event, the underframe of the tram, by virtue of a circuit path through ancillary loads (such as interior lighting), is live at the full supply voltage, typically 600 volts DC. In British terminology, such a tram was said to be 'grounded'—not to be confused with the US English use of the term, which means the exact opposite. Any person stepping off the tram and completing the earth return circuit with their body could receive a serious electric shock. If "grounded", the driver was required to jump off the tram (avoiding simultaneous contact with the tram and the ground) and pull down the trolley pole, before allowing passengers off the tram. Unless derailed, the tram could usually be recovered by running water down the running rails from a point higher than the tram, the water providing a conducting bridge between the tram and the rails.{{citation needed|date = February 2018}} With improved technology, this ceased to be a problem.

In the 2000s, several companies introduced catenary-free designs: Alstom's Citadis line uses a third rail, Bombardier's PRIMOVE LRV is charged by contactless induction plates embedded in the trackway and CAF URBOS tram uses ultracaps technology<ref>[http://www.thetransportpolitic.wordpress.com/2009/01/22/bombardier-presents-new-catenary-free-streetcar/ Wordpress.com] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090129082418/http://thetransportpolitic.wordpress.com/2009/01/22/bombardier-presents-new-catenary-free-streetcar/ |date=29 January 2009 }}, "The transport politic"</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.spanishrailwaysnews.com/noticias.asp?not=30|title = Caf's ACR for catenary-free trams}}</ref>