THE DEVELOPMENT OF LOW-FLOOR TRAMS

The gradual development of trams, i.e., streetcars or trolley cars, from 1950 till 1980 was abruptly interrupted in the early eighties by the arrival of the low-floor car. Six factories in FRG and Austria, one in Switzerland and one in Belgium virtually covered the market based on what roughly could be defined as three designs. Today each of these makers has its own design(s) complemented by those four Italian, one Swiss, and one French builder. This article aims to give a synthesis of the development. Which designs have so far emerged as leading in volume, what are the technological tendencies that can be traced? And, what are the price consequencies of the development?