Long-awaited tram system for Tampere (Finland) is under consideration

Residents are now being polled on their route preferences

The construction of a light rail system for Tampere has been discussed for decades.
     
It has finally been decided that the construction of tracks could commence in 2015, provided that the city can reach a binding political decision on the necessity of the system.
      On the other hand, the City of Tampere is also calling for a state subsidy for the project.
     
The tram system that will possibly be set up in Tampere in the next few years would in some places run through very narrow streets, including the city centre and for example Pispalanharju, the residential district on the Pispala ridge.
      The construction of the planned tram system would call for a reduction in the number of cars particularly on Hämeenkatu, the main street of Tampere.
     
On Thursday, the City of Tampere presented preliminary route alternatives for a tram system that would run between the districts of Hervanta and Lentävänniemi, asking all potential passengers to give their opinions online about the alternative routes.
      The residents may say along which roads and streets and through which districts they would like the planned trams to run.
     
The civil servants even promised that the results of the survey would weigh a great deal in the final decision-making.
      ”The results of the survey will be significant, even if this is not an actual referendum. We are just asking advice for our planning”, says Manager Mika Periviita of Tampere City Public Transport.
     
If the project materialises and Tampere does get its own tram system, it would be a little longer and faster than that in Helsinki. The stops would be further apart and the trams would run at a frequency of every five minutes.
      ”The targeted speed would be more than 20 km/h, compared with Helsinki’s 13 km/h”, Periviita notes.
     
In Helsinki, the tram network is in some places more than 100 years old.
      In Tampere, most of the network could be built in more open areas, meaning for instance that tight curves and hills could be avoided. The plan is to get some expertise for example from Switzerland.
      Quite a lot of details in the tram project still remain open. Moreover, the project has also been opposed, as some people have regarded buses as an adequate mode of public transport in proportion to Tampere’s size.
      For the route survey, see Tampereen kaupunkiraitiotie (only in Finnish) at http://www.tampere.fi/liikennejakadut/projektit/kaupunkiraitiotie.html.
     
At present, only Helsinki has a working tram network.
      Previously there were trams in Turku (horsedrawn from 1890-1902, and an electric tram service that was terminated in 1972) and in the city of Vyborg, formerly Viipuri in Finnish, where the Soviets eventually pulled up the tracks in 1957.
      Turku has also considered a return to a light rail system for local transport.

"Sinners always have a future, saints always have a past." – Oscar Wilde