DESCRIPTION
Karlsruhe tram opened in 1877 (initial horse tram); its electrification was completed in 1900.
In years '80s it was planned to integrate the urban tram network with the suburban/regional local railways ("Karlsruhe Model"), in order to extend the urban tram routes to the suburban areas along existing railway tracks without the need of any tram to train modal spit; these suburban/regional railway tracks had to be utilized in track sharing by tramcars and trains.
The first tram-train route opened on 25 September 1992 (Karlsruhe-Bretten, with an automatic DC/AC voltage transition by the tramcars that operates along the tram-train shared track sections); in the next years, other tram-train routes were activated (Karlsruhe-Worth, Karlsruhe-Bissingen, Karlsruhe-Baden/Baden, Karlsruhe-Eppingen-Heilbronn, Bruchsal-Menzingen/Odenheim, etc.). The growt of the tram-train system was accompanied by the armonization of railways and LRT/tram timetables along the shared routes; the remarkable commercial success of tram-train operations brought its extension on other sections of national (DBAG) or private (SWEG South-West German Rys.) freight railways tracks.
Karlsruhe system currently combines urban and suburban LRT/tram lines, with many track sections operated in track-sharing with regional or national trains along existing railway infrastructures (S1: Hochstetten-Karlsruhe Hbf-Bad Herrenalb; S2: Spock-Karlsruhe Marketplatz-Rheinstetten; S4:Achern-Karlsruhe Hbf-Ohringen; S5: Bietingheim/Bissingen-Karlsruhe Marketplatz-Worth; S6: Pforzheim-Neuenburg-Bad Wilbad; S11: Ittersbach-Karlsruhe Hbf-Hochstetten; S31: Freudenstadt-Karlsruhe Hbf-Odenheim; S32: Achern-Karlsruhe Hbf-Menzingen; S41: Karlsruhe Tullastrasse-Eutingen; S51: Karlsruhe Hbf-Germersheim; S52: Karlsruhe Marktplatz-Germersheim).