page_title: Trams in Tallinn
section_title: History
hierarchical_section_title: Trams in Tallinn / History
caption_attribution_description: Eesti: Viru värav hoburaudtee ehitamise ajal 1888. aastal
context_page_description: The Tallinn tram network is the only tram network in Estonia. Together with the four-route trolleybus network, the four tram lines, with a total length of 19.7 km arranged in a roughly cross-shaped layout, provide a backbone for the public transport network in the Estonian capital. All the routes meet up at Hobujaama in the city centre. Trams are unidirectional, one-sided and single-person operated, and much of the network runs on segregated track.
  The network is operated by Tatra KT4 and KTNF6 types and, since 2014, CAF Urbos AXLs.
  The trams, trolleybuses and motorbuses in Tallinn are operated by the transport operator Tallinna Linnatranspordi AS. This enterprise emerged on 19 July 2012 when Tallinna Autobussikoondis, the motorbus company was merged with Tallinna Trammi- ja Trollibussikoondis.
context_section_description: The first tramline in the city, which at that time and until 1917 was known as Reval, was opened in 1888 and was a horsecar line. The network was built using a 3 ft 6 in (1,067 mm) gauge, and it operated on the principal streets crossing the city, Narva Street, Pärnu Street and Tartu Street (Narva maantee, Pärnu maantee & Tartu maantee), using carriages imported from Belgium. By 1902 the total length of the lines in operation was 7.24 km (4.5 miles).
  In 1915, two local companies, the Russian-Baltic Shipyard and AS Böckler and Co., constructed a steam tramway in order to transport workers from the city centre to its factory at the city's Kopli quarter. This used a single track 1,524 mm (5 ft) gauge line, which made it suitable for also transporting heavy cargo to the harbour. The gauge used corresponded with the standard Russian gauge, and the passenger carriages used were of Russian provenance, purchased second-hand from Saint Petersburg. Later, the steam engines were progressively replaced with internal combustion units.
  During the First World War, the horse-drawn trams ceased operation in 1918, leaving just the steam tramcars running to Kopli. The 1920 Treaty of Tartu signaled Soviet acceptance of Estonian independence, and on 13 May 1921 the rest of the Tallinn tram network reopened. Horses were made redundant, however, as all the tramcars were now modified to use petrol/gasoline engines. By then, only two horse-drawn carriages survived, and were in severe disrepair.
  On 28 October 1925, electric trams were introduced, initially on the line along Narva Street. A 600 V DC power supply was used. Six years later, the broad gauge track on the route to Kopli was replaced with 3 ft 6 in (1,067 mm) gauge, which was now standard across the network. After this, the line, which hitherto had been operated by a combination of steam- and petrol-powered trams, used only petrol-powered trams.
  By 1940, the city tram network extended to 13.4 km (8.3 miles), including the 5.1 km (3.2 miles) stretch of former steam tram track to Kopli. However, the return of war in 1939, and the savage conflict that followed the annexation of Estonia by the Soviet Union in 1940, put a stop to further development of the city's tram network.
  After the war, economic growth returned only slowly to the Estonian Soviet Socialist Republic; yet in 1951, the single-track line between the city centre and Kopli was doubled up to create a conventional two-way tram line, and in 1953 it was linked up with the rest of the network. 1954 saw the completion of a three-year project to build a tram depot at Vana-Lõuna, and a year after that, the stretch on Tartu Street (Tartu maantee) was extended to Ülemiste. Various further local developments followed. In 1970's tram routes were planned in Lasnamäe, in 1980's Laagna tee have been constructed for this purpose, but the new authorities discontinued this project after the fall of the USSR. On 1 September 2017, line 4 was extended to the airport.
caption: The Viru gates during the construction of horse-drawn railways, 1888.
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