Gothenburg is Sweden’s
second largest city and is situated in the west of the country in the Västra
Götaland Region. It is a major port and
has grand buildings. The city has the
largest tram network in Northern Europe of which most of it has dedicated
rights of way with street running in the city centre. Horse trams first ran in Gothenburg in 1879
and were operated by an English company with the electric trams beginning in
1902. The present day operating company
is Göteborgs Spårvägar AB. Västtrafik
is the transport authority, which has responsibility for both the buses
and the
trams in the city. Gothenburg’s trams
survived the change in the rule of the road in 1967 along with those in
Norrköping. The trams are in a smart sky blue and white
livery and the buses mostly wear an over-all mid blue scheme, with some
of the
older Volvo articulated buses in a similar livery to that of the
trams. The tram fleet at the time of filming, which
was in June 2016, consisted of Type M28 trams built by ASJL and ASEA between
1965-1967 – the 700 series, M29 trams built by Hägglund between 1969-1972 – the 800 series, M31 trams built by ASEA between 1984-1992, with a low-floor
section added – the 300 series and Type M32 ‘Sirio’
trams built by Ansaldobreda between 2006-2013,
these being 100% low-floor, and numbered in the 400 series.
Our filming begins at Drottningtorget outside
the Central Railway station in the city where all types of trams are seen
operating as well as the buses, including some three-part articulated Volvo buses. We continue to Norra
Hamngatan for more action and then go to film on the Götaälvbron bridge before
catching tram 350, a Type M31 for a ride back to the city centre on Line 5 over
the bridge. Here we board another Type
M31 tram, this time number 360 also on Line 5 for a ride to the busy Korsvägen
interchange. After intense filming here
we travel on 803+859, which are M29 type trams on Line 2 to Mölndal. We then return to Korsvägen to connect with
Line 6 and board 745+730, ASJL Type
M28 trams, to Chalmers travelling through the 1050m Chalmers tunnel, which was
completed in 2002. At Chalmers we record
the movements of the trams and buses before boarding Ansaldobreda ‘Sirio’ Type M32 tram, 411 on Line 8 to
Marklandsgaten. Again another busy
interchange for you to enjoy the action! With our filming complete here, we
board 840+734 a Hägglund Type M29
tram and ASJL Type M28 tram set on
Line 3 to Järntorget. At this
interchange we ride on low-floor tram 443 on Line 9 to Drottningtorget and get
the drivers eye view as we travel along the waterside heading towards the
Central Railway station where we get a superb view of this lovely city.
Further filming is completed in the city centre
at various locations including Skånegaten, Stampgatan, Östra Hamngatan and
Kungsportsplatsen. From here we board
849+704 another Type M29 and M28 combination and travel on Line 3 to
Olskrokstrget to complete our filming.
Here we see the trams running out to this pleasant suburb at the end of
the evening rush. We hope that you have
enjoyed your journeys around Sweden’s second city as much as we did filming it
for you!