Stuttgart Stadtbahn - History

History

Stuttgart Stadtbahn, now all standard gauge (1435 mm), has been developed out of a traditional tramway system, which in Stuttgart had metre gauge. In 1961 the city council of Stuttgart decided a general modernization of the municipal tram system; in central areas, the tram should be led underground, in peripheral areas it should get new tracks, separate from road traffic. Intercurrent ideas for a totally new subway were rejected in 1976. At the same time it was decided to enhance modernization of the existing tram in combination with a change from metre gauge to standard gauge. For this reason, Stuttgart made the intermediate effort of rebuilding almost all its tracks with mixed-gauge, on which old streetcars (SSB GT4, built 1959–1965) could run as well as new metro cars (SSB DT 8, in regular service since 1985).

Read more about this topic:  Stuttgart Stadtbahn

Famous quotes containing the word history:

    “It’s not the sentiments of men which make history but their actions.”
    —Norman Mailer (b. 1923)

    “To a surprising extent the war-lords in shining armour, the apostles of the martial virtues, tend not to die fighting when the time comes. History is full of ignominious getaways by the great and famous.”
    —George Orwell (1903–1950)

    “He wrote in prison, not a History of the World, like Raleigh, but an American book which I think will live longer than that. I do not know of such words, uttered under such circumstances, and so copiously withal, in Roman or English or any history.”
    —Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)