Vienna is the capital city of Austria. It has beautiful buildings within the historic centre which are set in a large 'ring' on the Ringstrasse, a wide boulevard which follows the route of the old demolished city walls.
The present tram system is run by the city owned Wiener Linien and is the largest European tramway system outside of the Soviet Union. Vienna has a mixture of old and new suburbs most of which are served by the tramway. The system is mostly street running although there are a number of sections that run underground and connect with the U-Bahn. There is the specially branded Ring Tram that starts from Schwedenplatz, which we feature on this video programme.
The current fleet is made up of 'E1' and 'E2' class articulated cars - mostly with a trailer car. These cars are of the German Düwag design made in Austria under licence by Lohner, Rotax and SGP. The latest low floor cars are the ULF (Ultra Low Floor) which have been developed for the Vienna network. The first examples have been in service since 1995. At the time of filming there were over 200 of these cars in service, although the 'E1' and 'E2' class still dominate the scene. These will eventually be replaced by the ULF.
This programme is part one of two produced from a visit by the independent transport videos camera in 2012. The filming starts at Scwarzenbergplatz. From here we film at various locations on the Ringstrasse, each section is titled for the location. We then film three circuits on board the 'Ring Tram' - SGP E1 class number 4866. You will be able to see the beautiful buildings as we pass them as well as plenty of tram action. We continue filming on the 'Ring'.
Our next location is Südbahnhof, and a ride on board ULF739. We are now in the southern part of the city on Quellenstrasse with a lot of action as our cameras move along this long busy street. A ride is then taken on E2 class 4323+1487 to Enkplatz on route 6, and interesting comparison with the previous ride on the ULF!
Back on the 'Ring' we make our way to the 'two tier' tram station at Schottentor. Here the trams wind down from street level to an underground platform and then make their way back to the surface! This brings us to the end of part one. In part two we feature the Wiener Lokalbahnen A G tramway in their smart cream and blue livery. We hope you enjoy part one!
Produced by - Independent Transport Videos
Running time - 72 Minutes
Format - 16:9 Widescreen
DVD only