A Coruña - La Coruña Tramway - Simplon Postcards

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	A Coruña - La Coruña Heritage Tramway 1997-2011 This page is under construction
	The tourist tramway in A Coruña (in Galician - La Coruña in Spanish) opened in 1997 and was operated by Tranvia. The meter-gauge line runs approximately 5 km. along the seaside promenade from the Castillo de San Antón to the soccer stadium Estadio Riazor via the Torre de Hercules. There were five trams available: 27 (cream), 32 (yellow), 57 (green/yellow), 100 (blue), 101 (blue). Operating cars 27 and 32 are replicas of original La Coruña tramcars; 100 and 101 are former Lisbon cars re-gauged from 900mm to 1000mm; number 57, on display at the depot, owes its heritage to the Spanish city of Zaragoza. A preserved Bilbao tram was returned its town of origin. The tramway closed 'until further notice' in July 2011. I have visited A Coruña on three cruises, first in May2007 on P&O's Oceana, in April 2011 on RCI's Independence of the Seas and in May 2015 on P&O's Britannia. The tramway was not running on our first trip, although I walked the route. On our second trip a single tram was running, which was totally inadequate to cope with the easily predicted large numbers of potential passengers on a ship the size of the 'Indy'. The operation was a total shambles on that day. Whilst some of the infrastructure costs may have been disguised by the new dual carriageway road built simultaneously, they must still have been substantial for a system which at peak periods only schedules three small 4-wheel trams. It is hard see how this could repay more than a small fraction of the costs and borrowings, given the elaborate permanent way, decorative tramway poles (each with a unique ceramic design) and the huge new depot for such a small fleet (maybe the intention was to obtain more heritage vehicles). I was not remotely surprised when it was reported that the system had suspended operations in July 2011.

The tourist tramway in A Coruña (in Galician - A Coruña in Spanish) was operated by Tranvia, as are the local buses and the metrotenerife. The metre gauge heritage tramway was opened in 1997. The urban historic tramway in A Coruña existed from 1903 until 1962 and there was an interurban line to Sada from 1922 until 1956. Electrification started in 1913 and the last mule cars were withdrawn from service in 1917. The heritage tramway closed 'until further notice' in July 2011 following Spain's economic problems.

My first visit to A Coruña in 2007 was prior to the weekday operating season, and so the tramway was closed. Luckily we were there on a Sunday on our 2011 visit, the only day that trams ran in April. The official timetable showed services starting at 12:00 noon from the port (actually one stop away at Castelo de San Anton due to building works), as did the posters on the tram stops. However, no tram had appeared by the appointed time, by which point a substantial number of potential passengers had arrived. The first tram from the the other end of the route at Riazor was scheduled at 12:30, so we waited until that time before giving up and starting to walk along the tram route. We had walked around half the total route before tram 32 appeared, but we were not near any stops. We continued walking to the stop for the Torre de Hercules and waited for a further considerable time before the tram arrived, crammed to capacity with people from the ship. Enough passengers disembarked to allow us to board and we travelled most of the route around towards Riazor. The service was supposed to leave hourly from each terminus, running just the one tram. In practice, the number of passengers and the time they took to clamber on and off, plus negotiate and pay the fares (clearly displayed at the stops) led to a round trip time of around 90 minutes. Given the presence of a ship with 4000 passengers, whose arrival had been publicised for well over a year, a single vehicle service was not the best of plans. The Riazor terminus is at the far end of the Enseada do Orzan, the beautiful bay and beach looking out to the Atlantic. We walked further around the bay to the Millennium monument, then back to Riazor and around the bay hoping to photograph the tram again, but it did not arrive. We gave up and made our way into the city centre and then back to the ship. In July, August and September they run a three tram service with an interval of 20 minutes every day. Anyone visiting just for the tramway should ensure they visit during this period - the service whilst we were there would embarrass the smallest of haphazard preservation groups. That such a large transport company could not do better was ridiculous.

The system has been laid out at huge capital expense, with much landscaping and remodelling of the road system that it runs along. It is double track separated by a wide dual carriageway around most of its route, then single track with one passing place around the Enseada do Orzan beach, running on its own right of way between the road and the promenade, Blackpool fashion. It is hard to see how even the summer peak service could ever pay back more than a fraction of the construction costs, given the small size and frequency of the vehicles used. I was not particularly surprised when operations were suspended in July 2011.

There are four trams available for use. No.27 is a replica 1913 A Coruña tram. No.32 is a restored 1932 car. Nos.100/101 are ex-Lisbon cars re-gauged to metre gauge. Three further Lisbon cars 212, 214 and 233 were also acquired for future re-gauging.

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