PYONGYANG DPRK - TROLLEYBUSES AUGUST 2014 (2)

Pyongyand had a large variety of trolleybuses of various vintages and mainly homemade 'Chollima' type.  We had 3 specially chartered trolleybus rides and one specially chartered tram, also we were allowed to travel 7 stops on the metro getting off at most of the stations to admire the architecture etc.

Opposite the railway station

Chollima type 091 built 2009 in front of Railway Station

Trolleybus 209 with lots of accident free stars on its sides

The stars which appear on the sides of some of the trolleybuses denote how many miles of accident free work they have accomplished - each star is equivalent to 50,000 km, also an indicator of the age of the trolleybus.

The Chollima brand symbol.  Chollima is the name of the winged horse (Pegasus) in Korean.

This was the first of our chartered trolleybuses - a Chollima 964 built in 1964.  It was in good condition,  but a little slow.

This is the Chollima 964 in front of the winged horse it is named after

Our group at the end of the trolleybus hire with the driver and conductress in our midst.  The two men on either end of the group were the depot/transport managers for Pyongyang and they were very pleased to meet such an interested crowd.  We also found out which towns in DPRK still have trolleybuses and trams, useful for a further visit.

Trolleybus and tram stop outside the Railway Station

Some very pretty liveries

One of the older type trolleybuses

On it's way round the Railway Station turning ciurcle

En route from Arch of Triumph to Kim Il Sung Square

Passing the Arch of Triumph with a 2 pieces of traffic!

Two types of trolleybus

Passing through Kim Il Sung square, familiar from military parades

Kim Il Sung Square

Wiring crossover

Most recent model of trolleybus.  Note the young lady traffic person, present at most road junctions.  Not much traffic to direct and some seemed to spend most of their time saluting to cars with blacked out windows!

PYONGYANG DPRK - ZURICH TRAMS AUGUST 2014 (1)

A group of 12 visited Pyongyang for 5 days in August and managed to have our visit tailored to a transport theme and apart from the obligatory museums, mausoleums etc did practically everything we requested.  Although denied the opportunity to ride on the former Zurich trams to the Kumsung Sun Palace (mausoleum) we were given the opportunity to photograph them at the 11th hour en route to the station for the train back into China..

Tram on way back to metro station.  The mausoleum (Kumsung Sun Palace) can just be seen in the background.

En route to the mausoleum with passengers sitting to attention.

113 on way to metro station

101 returns to metro station

Tram on way back to the metro station.  This was as close as we were allowed to get after our visit to the mausoleum.

This was the last tram of the morning on way back to depot

NANJING AUGUST 2014 - Luc Koenot

Nanjing indeed opened August 20. After Olympic services focusing on the first 5 stops of the line during the Olympics (August 20-28), service is now on the entire line. 3 cars are offering now an irregular 45-minute service on the 7,76 km long line with 13 stops from which the last 7 are in undeveloped but already infrastructured land. See picture taken of car 01 in an empty environment along a 2x (4+2) lanes road ! Special in Nanjing : overhead lines only at stops to recharge the Primove accumulators. The second line will open end of Q4.

DA LIAN 25 AUGUST 2014

The newest trams in Da Lian are a rather ugly locally built  'low floor' DL6WA type (but only low floor if at a platform stop, not too frequent) and some rather nice 1927 cars with art deco light fittings and very authentic sounds, which should alternate with the newer trams on route 201, but seems to be every 3rd or 4th.  Route 201 is  very slow as it is fighting the copious traffic most of the way along it's route. The fare on route 201 is terminus to railway station CNY1 and railway station to other terminus CNY1 necessitating fighting your way to the ticket machine if you ride across the railway station boundary.  Fares are either paid by smart card or notes into a fare collection box.

Arriving at Da Lian station

Da Lian DL6WA tram

Basic controls

All the DL6WAs we travelled on had loose covers on the seats

Route 201 in a much more pleasant livery

1937 car on route 201

Route 201

Route 201 at the seaside terminus, which has been cut back several stops due to building works

Interior view showing the old photos of trams in Da Lian behind the hand rails

Beautiful art decor type light shades

201 working its way through the traffic - note the easily remembered fleet number!

DALIAN NEW LRV EXTENSION ROUTE 202 ON 25 AUGUST 2014

Route 202 is to have an LRV extension out to the distant suburbs of Dalian.  We caught tram 202 to the end of the route to try and find the LRV and were turned off the tram a few stops from the end of the route.  We caught a local bus which follows the route as far as the depot and then turned off into an area of new 'posh' housing.  We looked at the depot and then decided to walk along the side to see if there was any sign of the new LRV tracks etc.  After a short distance we were then confronted with tall hoardings and had to follow these with occasional glimpses through the gaps of some trackwork.  We walked about 1.5-2 miles in 30+ degrees C and eventually found a viaduct with the roofs of some cars showing and a station in the distance - that's dedication for you! (On our return we found a free shuttle bus between tram terminus and LRV station!). The current LRV service is between Cai Da Ling and Lushunxingang hourly, and takes 52 minutes running time.

Route 202 at the current terminus

Route 202 approaching terminus

The depot with a 1927 tram in view

Tops of LRV cars just visible on the viaduct

Road sign which spurred us on to keep walking!

Cai Da Ling Station the current terminus at the City end.

The single journey ticket costs CNY7, which is expensive comparatively to the CNY1 or 2 on the trams

Spare cars lined up on the viaduct outside Cai Da Ling station

View of the station.  As can be seen the service is lightly used at the moment.

LRV arriving  from Lushunxingang end

Builders plate

SHENYANG 24 AUGUST 2014

Shenyang has a new tramway built for the 12th Chinese National Games and opened in August 2013.  There is 70km of tramway with routes 1, 2, 3 and 5 in operation (although route 3 was not operating on the day we were there). Route 4 is in the planning stage and route 6 is under construction.  There are 30 trams built by Changchun - 20 of these are 100% low floor, the other 10 are 70% low floor and all have super capacitors and run in areas with no overhead.

Interior shot showing ticket machines and paper transfer tickets

Interior shot showing 100% low floor design

Route 5 in super capacitor mode on way from Airport

Route 5 in the city centre

Route 2 

Route 2

Route 5 with yet another area of apartment buildings en route to the Airport. (We were amazed by the amount of new building along the route to the airport and many new wide roads crossing the route with very little traffic at present.