| Biel/Bienne tramway network | |||||||||
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 The horsecar tramway, 1890s. | |||||||||
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| Locale | Biel/Bienne, Switzerland | ||||||||
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The Biel/Bienne tramway network (Alemannic German: Strassenbahnnetz Biel; French: Réseau tramway de Bienne) was part of the public transport network of the bilingual city of Biel/Bienne, in the canton of Bern, Switzerland, and its environs for more than 70 years. Opened in 1877, the network operated as a horsecar tramway (Rösslitram) until 1902, when it was electrified and converted from 1,435 mm (4 ft 8+1⁄2 in) standard gauge to 1,000 mm (3 ft 3+3⁄8 in) metre gauge.
Initially, the operator was the Compagnie générale des tramways suisses (TS) of Geneva, a predecessor of today's Transports Publics Genevois (TPC). From 1901, the operator was Städtische Strassenbahn Biel / Tramway de Bienne (TrB), from which the present-day Verkehrsbetriebe Biel (VB) / Transports publics biennois (TPB) emerged. In the 1940s, the tramways were gradually replaced by the Biel/Bienne trolleybus system and motor buses, until the network's closure in 1948. But the tramways were removed in 1954 only because it got tarred. When they were found in 1953 again, many people wanted to keep them but because of the new bus system this wasn't necessary.
As of 2012[update], there was a proposal for the reintroduction of trams to Biel/Bienne. The proposed new tramway would be named Regiotram, and would link Ipsach with Bözingen/Boujean (DE) from 2020, via the route of the Biel–Täuffelen–Ins-Bahn (DE).