Network
The network is a mixture of traditional tramways, of which 82% have been upgraded so far to have their own right-of-way, and an U-Bahn-like system of tunnels in the city centre. The network is owned by infra GmbH and covers nearly the whole city area. Parts of the network reach into the neighbouring towns of Garbsen, Isernhagen, Langenhagen, Laatzen and Ronnenberg as well as into the town of Sarstedt, which is in the borough of Hildesheim. The operator's concession is held by üstra Hannoversche Verkehrsbetriebe AG. The system currently consists of three full Stadtbahn lines, respectively named (with their tunnels in brackets)
- A (Waterlooplatz – Lister Platz),
- B (Vahrenwald – Döhren)
- C (Königsworther Platz – Braunschweiger Platz).
A fourth tunnel, to be used for the D line (Goethestraße - Sallstraße), has been proposed but has not been realised so far due to the high costs of construction, currently estimated to be around € 1 billion. Nevertheless, the above-ground parts of the D line, most notably the D Süd, connecting the Hanover fairground to the C tunnel, have been upgraded to proper Stadtbahn standards, some preparations for interchange with the current stations, like an empty station below the current Hauptbahnhof station, have also been built in the past.
The whole Stadtbahn network uses various colours to differentiate between the lines. For example, a station that would service both A and B lines would have a blue and a red stripe on its station sign; stop on the D line would feature a lime stripe on the station sign, and so on. This scheme sometimes also recurs in the architecture of the stations, for example the station Kröpcke used to feature tilework that changes colours when stepping over between lines, i.e. yellow elements would be introduced in the red tiles when walking from the B to the C part of the station.
Individual routes operate within the main lines, diverting to various terminals at the city's edge. The route numbers are assigned to the lines as following (routes that only run during exhibitions on the Hanover fairground are denoted in italics):
- A line - routes 3,7,9
- B line - routes 1,2,8,18
- C line - routes 4,5,6,11,16
- D line - routes 10 and 10E
Whilst the number 6 and 16 services are using a large part of the D line, they are still denoted as C services by using the colour yellow on station signage.
The main hub of the network is Kröpcke, a large subterranean station in the city centre. Routes 1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,11,16 and 18 call at this station, making it possible to reach every point on the A, B or C lines from every other point with one stepover only.
Read more about this topic: Hanover Stadtbahn
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