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Article: LRT is changing the face of French cities: the first modern French tramway opened in Nantes 20 years ago. Since then, about 20 more cities have either opened new light rail systems, or are building or planning them.(Rapid Transit)
- Article from:
- International Railway Journal
- Article date:
- March 1, 2005
- Author:
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 2005 Simmons-Boardman Publishing Corporation. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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AS one of the European countries that gradually abandoned many of its traditional tramways after the Second World War, France was able to start afresh when the new wave of light rail transit (LRT) began to be created in Europe through the introduction of segregated alignments and new rolling stock. At the same time, many other countries were embarking on reconstructing and modernising their existing networks.
The "fresh start" approach, coupled with some specifically French initiatives and conditions, such as a local transport tax on business (the versement transport), and the demographic fact that France has relatively few large cities for a country of its size, ...