Saint-Étienne can be proud of preserving the oldest tramway line in France. The origin of today’s line T1 goes back to 1881, when a metre-gauged steam tram between Terrasse and Bellevue was opened as the first tramway line in the conurbation. This line followed the major north-south axis of Saint-Étienne, a city limited on either side by a range of hills. Several other urban and interurban lines were developed in the following years. Electric traction was used since 1897, but the main route Terrasse – Bellevue was not electrified until 1907. In 1954, after many closures, the Terrasse – Bellevue line was once again the only one left. But in contrast to the other lines it could keep alive and it was extended twice in 1983 and 1991 and upgraded to modern French tramway standard in recent years. For many decades, it was labelled as line 4. Since 2006, there is once again a second tramway line, which is in fact a branch to the main railway station Châteaucreux. This second line, initially labelled as line 5 and unusually operated between Terasse and Bellevue via Châteaucreux, was later splitted into the current lines T2 and T3.

T1 Hôpital Nord - Terrasse - Peuple - Bellevue - Solaure (9,3 km)
T2 Hôpital Nord - Peuple - Châteaucreux (8,2 km)
T3 Châteaucreux - Peuple - Bellevue (5,0 km)

04/12/1881   4   Bellevue – Terrasse (5,5 km) - originally built as a steam tramway
01/10/1907   4   Start of electric operation

... other original lines not shown ...

17/02/1983   4   Bellevue – Solaure (1,5 km)
07/12/1991   4   Terrasse – Hôpital Nord (2,3 km)
06/10/2006   5   Peuple - Châteaucreux (2,6 km) - further via line 4 to Terrasse and Bellevue
30/08/2010   T1 Hôpital Nord - Solaure - former line 4
30/08/2010   T2 Hôpital Nord - Châteaucreux - former nothern part of line 5
30/08/2010   T3 Châteaucreux - Bellevue - former southern part of line 5

T2 Châteaucreux - Technopôle

35 Alstom/Vevey type Saint-Étienne, delivered as from 1991/1998

STAS - http://www.reseau-stas.fr/
Saint-Étienne Métropole - http://www.agglo-st-etienne.fr/

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