Uploaded February 2022 | Updated September 2026, 1 week ago
In the early 1990s the German Federal Railways were short of rolling stock for use on local services in the Karslruhe area so some tram-trains were used to help maintain the service.
This film shows them at Karlsruhe, Durlach, Ersingen and Pforzheim railway stations.
One of the aims when filming was to clearly show that the tram trains really were travelling on tracks also used by normal mainline trains - including International express passenger services and goods / freight trains. Just by chance a steam train was also seen - at Ersingen station.
The film ends riding inside the train-trains.
Since this was filmed the tram-train concept has matured with the tram-trains being the mainstay of an extensive 'city railway' (Stadtbahn) network that reaches several nearby towns, in some cases also extending beyond the mainline railway's tracks to travel through urban streets as new-build street tramways.
Here in the UK tram-trains are used on the Sheffield Supertram network plus the Tyne & Wear Metro route to Sunderland sees 'light metro' type trains also travelling over mainline railway tracks.
In addition, although the specifics are different track sharing between different types of larger and smaller trains is a well-known concept in London and used to exist in the Liverpool Merseyside system in the days when Liverpool Overhead Railway trains were extended over mainline railway tracks to serve the Aintree horse racing stadium.
S-VHS video footage from December 1991, February and May 1992
In the early 1990s the German Federal Railways were short of rolling stock for use on local services in the Karslruhe area so some tram-trains were used to help maintain the service.
This film shows them at Karlsruhe, Durlach, Ersingen and Pforzheim railway stations.
One of the aims when filming was to clearly show that the tram trains really were travelling on tracks also used by normal mainline trains - including International express passenger services and goods / freight trains. Just by chance a steam train was also seen - at Ersingen station.
The film ends riding inside the train-trains.
Since this was filmed the tram-train concept has matured with the tram-trains being the mainstay of an extensive 'city railway' (Stadtbahn) network that reaches several nearby towns, in some cases also extending beyond the mainline railway's tracks to travel through urban streets as new-build street tramways.
Here in the UK tram-trains are used on the Sheffield Supertram network plus the Tyne & Wear Metro route to Sunderland sees 'light metro' type trains also travelling over mainline railway tracks.
In addition, although the specifics are different track sharing between different types of larger and smaller trains is a well-known concept in London and used to exist in the Liverpool Merseyside system in the days when Liverpool Overhead Railway trains were extended over mainline railway tracks to serve the Aintree horse racing stadium.
S-VHS video footage from December 1991, February and May 1992
