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See caption — Two low floor trams, an Alstom Citadis 302 and a Bombardier Flexity Classic, in Adelaide, South Australia

A low-floor tram is a tram that has no steps between one or more entrances and part or all of the passenger cabin. The low-floor design improves the accessibility of the tram for the public, and also may provide larger windows and more airspace.^[1]

A low-floor tram allows accessible level access from curb level platforms. Level access can also be achieved either by using a high-floor vehicle serving high-platform stops. Currently both types are in use, depending on the station platform infrastructure in existing rail systems. Some systems may make use of former railway alignments where use of existing high platforms is desirable, while others, particularly new systems, may not have the space to site high-level platforms in urban centres.

Low-floor tram configurations

Entry door of a low-floor tram, with "roll-in" level floor accessibility.

Entry door of a high-floor tram. Steps are visible just inside the door.

Trams traditionally had high floors, and articulated tram designs evolved with low-floor centre sections. Examples of this design are Amsterdam 11G/12G-trams and the Kusttrams in Belgium.

The most common design of 100% low floor vehicles^{[citation needed]} is the multi-articulated design. This uses short carbody sections for the wheels with longer sections between them. Examples of this are the Alstom Citadis and Combino. A different design was developed by MAN. In 1990 the GT6N was the first 100% low-floor tram. These trams are found in ten German cities (such as Bremen and Munich) and in the Swedish city Norrköping. Other designs are only partially low floor, with high floors over the bogies at the outer ends and single axle bogies under the low-floor centre section. North American light rail type vehicles frequently have a similar configuration but with a centre bogie designed to accommodate a low floor situated under a short centre section.

In Vienna, Ultra Low Floor (ULF) Trams can "kneel" at the curbside, reducing the height from the road to only 180 mm (7.1 in).

Some public transport companies have both low floor and high floor trams. They report that low floor trams have 15% higher maintenance costs for the rolling stock, and 20% higher maintenance costs for the infrastructure on average.^[2]

Many low-floor trams have fixed bogies^[3] which increase track wear and tear, while decreasing the speed at which a tram can drive through a curve (usually 4–15 km/h (2.5–9.3 mph) in 20 m (66 ft) radius curve).^[4] The Škoda ForCity and the newest Alstom Citadis X04 try to counter the effect with pivoting bogies while maintaining 100% low floor design. Prior to the new design, pivoting bogies could only be used under high floors, hence such trams could only be part low-floor, with high-floor sections over the pivoting bogies.

Historic examples

Single section tram with low-floor door in the middle — Brisbane Hedley-Doyle Stepless tram, No. 301

The idea of a low-floor tram dates back to the early 20th century when a number of trolley systems began experimenting with various "stepless" designs. Perhaps the most notable is the Hedley-Doyle Stepless car introduced in 1912 for use on Broadway in Manhattan.^[5] A number of other cities also purchased Hedley-Doyle Stepless trams after seeing their success in Manhattan. Since these cars had a unique appearance compared to any other trams running at the time, they earned a number of nicknames, including hobble skirt cars, public welfare cars, and sow bellies.^[6]

Typical floor heights

Typical floor heights of low-floor trams are 300 to 350 mm (11.8 to 13.8 in), and the Ultra Low Floor tram has a floor height of only 180 mm (7.1 in). For comparison high-floor trams are typically more than 600 mm (23.6 in) and rapid transit using heavy rail trains has floor heights of 800 to 1,200 mm (31.5 to 47.2 in).

List of low-floor trams by country manufactured and manufacturers

Belarus

Belkommunmash

AKSM-743 - Third Generation tram on Minsk tramway
AKSM-843 - Fourth generation tram on Minsk tramway

K3R-N / K3R-NT (reconstruction with low-floor middle section)
KT8D5N (with low-floor middle section)
KT8D5R.N1 / KT8D5R.N2 / KT8D5R.N2P (reconstruction with low-floor middle section)
KTNF6 / KTNF8 (reconstruction of KT4 with low-floor middle section)
RT6N1 / RT6N2
RT6S
Satra III (reconstruction with low-floor middle section)

Aliance TW Team

Tatra T3R.PLF (nicknamed "wana" (Czech for 'bath') - newly built with low-floor middle section)
Tatra T3R.SLF ("wana")
VarioLF / VarioLF plus / VarioLF plus/o ("wana")
VarioLF2 / VarioLF2 plus / VarioLF2/2 IN
VarioLF3 / VarioLF3/2
EVO1
EVO2
VV60LF (trailer)

Škoda Transportation

03T Astra/Anitra
05T Vektra
Elektra 06T, 10T, 13T, 14T, 16T and 19T
ForCity Alfa 15T
ForCity Classic, including 26T, 28T and 35T
ForCity Plus, including 29T and 30T
ForCity Smart Artic

Inekon Trams

01 Trio / 12 Trio

France

Alstom

ATM Class 6000
Citadis 100
Citadis X01 (301, 401 and 301 CIS/71-801)
Citadis X02 (202, 302, 402 and 502), including Melbourne C Class and C2 Class
Citadis 403
Citadis X04 (304)
Citadis X05 (205/Compact, 305, 405)
Regio-Citadis
Citadis Dualis
Citadis Spirit
Tramway Français Standard TFS-1 (with low-floor centre section added at a later date) and TFS-2
Translohr vehicles

Germany

Allgemeine Elektricitäts-Gesellschaft AG (AEG)

ATAC Class 9000

Duewag

Geneva Be 4/6 and Be 4/8
GT8N (reconstruction with low-floor middle section)
GT8Z (reconstruction with 73% low-floor)
Duisburg GT10 NC-DU (reconstruction with low-floor middle section)
MGT6D
M97 (reconstruction with low-floor middle section)
Sheffield Supertram
6MGT and 8MGT

MAN

Nuremberg N8S-NF (reconstruction with low-floor middle section)

Siemens

Avenio (previously Combino Plus/Supra)
Avenio M (previously Combino), including Melbourne D class
Frankfurt am Main type R tram
Karlsruhe GT6-70D/N and GT8-70D/N
S700 and S70 (also known as Avanto)
Serie 3800 de FGV on Metrovalencia and CCFL fleet series 501-510 on Lisbon tramway
Ultra Low Floor (ULF)

Adtranz

Italy

AnsaldoBreda

ATM Class 5000
Sirio
Oslo SL95
West Midlands Metro T-69
Boston Type 8 Trolley

Fiat Ferroviaria

ATM Class 5000
Fiat Cityway [it]

Società Costruzioni Industriali Milano (Socimi)

Japan

Alna Sharyo [ja]

Little Dancer

Kinki Sharyo

Hiroden 5100 series Green Mover Max
Hiroden 1000 series (II) Green Mover LEX [ja]
Kinki Sharyo SLRV (low-floor centre section)

Niigata Transys

Fukui Railway F1000 (ja:福井鉄道F1000形電車)
Kumamoto City Tram 0800 (ja:熊本市交通局0800形電車)
Kumamoto City Tram 9700 series (ja:熊本市交通局9700形電車)
Man'yosen MLRV 1000 (ja:万葉線MLRV1000形電車)
Okayama Electric Tramway 9200 (ja:岡山電気軌道9200形電車)
Toyama City Tram Line 9000 series (ja:富山地方鉄道9000形電車)
Toyama Light Rail TLR 0600 (ja:富山ライトレールTLR0600形電車)
Utsunomiya Light Rail HU300 series [ja]

Poland

Konstal

Modertrans

Moderus Beta MF 01, MF 13, MF 14 AC BD, MF 18 (reconstruction with low-floor middle section)
Moderus Beta MF 02 AC, MF 15 AC, MF 16 AC BD, MF 19 AC (new trams with low-floor middle section)

Pesa

Tramicus 120N, 121N and 122N
Swing
Jazz
Twist 2010N, 2012N, 2014N Krakowiak and 71-414 Fokstrot

Protram

Protram 205 WrAs
Protram 405N, one prototype produced in 2012 and used since then in Kraków

Solaris Bus & Coach

Solaris Tramino

Romania

Astra Vagoane Călători

URAC Bucharest

Bucur LF (65% low floor)
V3A-93-CH/CA-PPC (low-floor middle section)
V3A-93-PPC (reconstruction with low-floor middle section)

Russian Federation

PTMZ (Petěrburgskij tramvajno-mechaničeskij zavod)

LVS-2005
LVS-2008
LVS-2009 (71-154) and 71-154М

UKVZ (Usť-Katavskij vagonstrojitělnyj zavod imeni Sergeje Mironoviče Kirova)

71-623
71-624
71-628, 71-628-01, 71-628-02 and 71-628M
71-630
71-631
71-633
71-639 (Castor)

Uraltransmash

71-412 (partially low-floor)
71-415

Tver Carriage Works (PC Transport Systems contract)

71-911 and 71-911E (City Star)
71-911ЕМ (Lionet)
71-921 (Corsair)
71-922 (Varyag)
71-923 (Bogatyr) and 71-923M (Bogatyr M)
71-931 (Vityaz), 71-931M (Vityaz-M) and 71-931AM (Vityaz-Leningrad)
71-932 (Nevsky)
71-934 (Lion)

Spain

Construcciones y Auxiliar de Ferrocarriles (CAF)

Vossloh España

Citylink, including Sheffield Supertram Class 399
Tramlink

Switzerland

ABB

Tram 2000 Be 4/8 (low-floor middle section)
Variobahn

Stadler Rail

Tango, only some models
Variobahn, including Munich Class S
Citylink, including Supertram Class 399
Tramlink

Turkey

Durmazlar

Bozankaya

Ukraine

Electrontrans

Electron T3L44, T5L64 and T5B65

Tatra-Yug

Other trams

BKM 85300M
DL6WA, mark Dalianren (meaning "Dalian people") manufactured by Tram Factory of Dalian, in Dalian.
Brookville Liberty Modern Streetcar
Cegielski 118N Puma
Tram Power City Class
Hedley-Doyle Stepless car (1912)^[5]
United Streetcar trams
M31 in Gothenburg tram network (reconstruction with low-floor middle section)
ja:SWIMO
Newag Nevelo
NGT6DD and NGT8DD in Dresden

References

^ "The joy of high ceilings (also called low floors)". Human Transit. Retrieved 2010-02-22.
^ Prof. Dr. Ing. Thomas Siefer (March 2010). "Abschlussbericht - Entwicklung des Stadtbahnnetzes Hannover - Studie zum Einsatz von Niederflurfahrzeugen" [Final report: Development of the Hanover light rail network - Study on the use of low-floor vehicles] (PDF) (in German). Institut für Verkehrswesen, Eisenbahnbau und -betrieb (TU Braunschweig). p. 111. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2014-02-22. Retrieved 2012-02-18. Eine weitere Erknenntnis der Unternehmem, die sowohl Hochflur-, als auch Niederflurfahrzeuge im Einsatz haben, ist der direkte Kostenvergleich beider Systeme. Für die Wartung und Instandhaltung der Fahrzeuge werden im Mittel Mehrkosten in Höhe von 20% genannt. Für die Wartung und Instandhaltung der Infrastruktur werden beim Einsatz von Niederflurfahrzeugen um 15% höhere Kosten ermittelt.
^ "Zelingr, Heptner" (PDF). Retrieved 2010-05-12.^{[permanent dead link‍]}
^ "ČVUT.cz - Čapek, Kolář" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 2011-07-18. Retrieved 2010-05-12.
^ ^a ^b "A Novelty in Car Construction, The "Stepless" type of the New York Railways Company". Brill Magazine. VI (3). J. G. Brill Company: 73–84. 1912. Retrieved 2012-08-17.
^ "San Diego Electric Railway San Diego Class I Electric Streetcar Bodies No. 126, 128 & 138" (PDF). pp. 24–25. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2012-05-06. Retrieved 2012-08-17.