Afternoon all!

We had gone on a short trip to Strasbourg from Thursday till Saturday this week, which, while not purely motivated by railfanning, did allow me to take a handful of tram and railway photos. As you will probably be aware of, Strasbourg, with a population of about 272,000 and a historic background far too extensive to be summed up with just a few words, is not only an important railway node in eastern France, but also represents a prime example of how trams may be successfully re-introduced to a city which had previously abandoned them.

The current tram system, first opened in November 1994, comprises six lines, lettered A to F and serving the following relations:

A: Hautepierre Maillon – Illkirch Lixenbuhl via Central Station and Homme de Fer

B: Hoenheim Gare – Lingolsheim Tiergaertel via Homme de Fer

C: Neuhof Rodolphe Reuss – Gare Centrale via Homme de Fer

D: Aristide Briand – Rotonde via Central Station

E: Robertsau Boecklin – Baggersee

F: Place d'Islande – Elsau via Homme de Fer

The station called Homme de Fer is located at the intersection of Rue de la Haute Montée, Rue du Vieux Marché aux Vins and Place Kléber and serves as a central interchange for four of the six lines. Lines A and D serve Strasbourg Central Station in an underground station, while the C line has a separate ground-level terminus at Central Station.

The city's tram fleet consists of 53 ABB-built Eurotram type cars and 41 Alstom Citadis 403 type cars, both being low-floor, bidirectional designs.

This photo shows Citadis type car 2021 waiting at the Gare Centrale terminus for the C line. diagrammed on the "42" turn – as evidenced by the small number in the top right of the destination sign. On the Eurotram cars, a separate illuminated turn number display is provided in the rear cab bulkhead.

Here, we were walking up Rue de la Division Leclerc, with a Citadis on the A line headed for Illkirch Lixenbuhl running down the street from the Langstross/Grand'Rue station.

And this was Eurotram car 1039 on the D line for Aristide Briand waiting at Langstross. These cars have two very large doors on each side of all free-floating passenger modules – each door comprising an entire window. However, while these doors provide good access and are very suitable for wheelchair users, they also are fairly slow to open and close, thereby increasing station dwell times. The bogies are located below the cabs and in each of the single-window modules.

At Central Station, I then captured 11513, a Z 11500 type 25 kV AC EMU belonging to the "Z2" family which also comprises 1.5 kV DC only and AC/DC dual system units. These sets were built from 1982 till 1988 and consist of one motor car and driving trailer each, allowing multiples of up to four units. 11513 was standing by to work the 830112 service to Saverne, departing less than two minutes after I took this photo.

The Alsatian Region branch of SNCF had been the first to introduce 200 kph regional express workings on its system. These are marketed as "TER 200" and are found on the Strasbourg-Basel line, powered by class BB 26000 "SYBIC" dual system locos. For these services, locos 26140 through 26153 were outfitted with push-pull controls and Faiveley AX type AC pantographs, which had been found to be better suited for the loco pushing trains at top speed. Here, 26152, having arrived with the 96222 service a few minutes prior, was preparing to shunt to the stabling area with its colourful rake of Corail coaches. The "R" suffix on the running number indicates these locos to be push-pull capable.

Running late by about 20 minutes, 26162 was working the IC 91 service from Brussels to Basel.

And finally, we rode out to the European Parliament...

...where I captured another Eurotram car on the E line: