The Bremen tramway network () is a network of tramways forming part of the public transport system in Bremen, Germany. The network is currently operated by Bremer Straßenbahn AG (BSAG; Bremen Tramways Company Ltd.), and integrated in the Verkehrsverbund Bremen/Niedersachsen (VBN; Bremen/Lower Saxony Transport Association). , the network had eight lines, extending over of route (up from of route in 2011). Several sections have been brought to light rail standard, including viaducts, especially on the lines to Osterholz, Arsten and Huchting. These are also referred to as rapid tram lines.
Lines LineRoute No. of stops every ... minutes Huchting – Am Brill – Hauptbahnhof – Neue Vahr – Osterholz – Tenever – Weserpark – Bremen-Mahndorf station 44 7.5 to 10 Only in this direction: Tenever – Osterholz – Neue Vahr – Kirchbachstraße → continues as line 1E 13 20 (only morning rush hour) Gröpelingen – Walle – Am Brill – Domsheide – Hastedt – Sebaldsbrück 33 10 Gröpelingen – Überseestadt – Am Brill – Domsheide – Weserstadion – Weserwehr 29 10 Falkenberg – Borgfeld – Horn-Lehe – Hauptbahnhof – Domsheide – Huckelriede – Arsten 39 49 5 to 10 (Borgfeld - Arsten)15 to 20 (Falkenberg - Arsten) continues/arrives as line 4 → Kirchbachstraße – Horn-Lehe – Borgfeld – Falkenberg 16 15 (only rush hour) Hauptbahnhof - Überseestadt - Waterfront - Gröpelingen 14 20 Universität – Riensberg – Hauptbahnhof – Domsheide – Flughafen 25 5 to 6 Huchting – Am Neuen Markt (Neustadt) – Domsheide – Hauptbahnhof – Kulenkampffallee21 10 to 20 Gröpelingen – Walle – Hauptbahnhof – Hastedt – Sebaldsbrück 32 10 The lines with the suffix "S" (e.g. line 1S) are express lines, which do not stop at every station. Line 3S was discontinued in 2014 because of lack of available trams.
History Horse tramway On 28 March 1876 the Aktiengesellschaft Bremer Pferdebahn was founded. The enterprise opened a horse tramway line from Herdentor to Vahrster Brücke on 4 June 1876, extending the line to Horn in 1877. In 1883, the extension from Herdentor to the stock exchange in the city centre was opened.
The rival company Große Bremer Pferdebahn, which used British capital, opened a line from Hastedt to Walle on 3 November 1879; today's line 2 partly follows the trajectory of that horse line. Both companies extended their network, and lines were opened to Freihafen (1888), Hohentor (1889) and Arsterdamm (1880/1884).
Electric tramway
In 1890, the line from the Stock Exchange to the Bürgerweide exhibition grounds was electrified as a trial for the duration of an exhibition. Once the exhibition had ended, the overhead line equipment was removed, but the system had worked so well that it was decided to electrify all tramways. Electrification was implemented by Union-Elektricitäts-Gesellschaft, the German subsidiary of the American Thomson-Houston Electric Company starting in 1892. The network was fully electrified by 1913, with the exception of the Freihafen line, which had been abandoned by then. Meanwhile, Große Bremer Pferdebahn merged with the Bremer Pferdebahn (which had renamed itself as Bremer Straßenbahn in 1890) in 1899.
In 1908, line numbers were introduced. By 1939, the network consisted of the following lines: 1: Ringbahn 2: Gröpelingen - Markt - Sebaldsbrück 3: AG Weser - Markt - Hohwisch 4: Horn - Bahnhof - Markt - Arsterdamm 5: Flughafen - Markt - Bahnhof - Hemmstraße 6: Vulkanstraße - Brill - Bahnhof - Hemmstraße 7: Hartwigstraße - Bahnhof - Markt - Rablinghausen 8: Gröpelingen - Burg 10: Friedrich-Karl-Straße - Bahnhof - Waller Bahnhof 11: AG Weser - Norddeutsche Hütte 12: Sebaldsbrück - Osterholzer Friedhof 15: Hemmstraße - Bahnhof - Markt - Pappelstraße - Emder Straße (über Westbrücke) 16: Gastfeldstraße - Brill - Bahnhof - Wachmannstraße The system suffered severe damage during World War II - tram services were abandoned on 22 April 1945. After WWII had ended, only 10% of the rolling stock was in working order, and 80% of the overhead lines had been damaged.
World War II aftermath On 13 June 1945 the first tramways resumed operation. In the immediate aftermath of WWII, the Bremen network was split in two, as the bridges over the river Weser had been destroyed. In 1947, the two parts of the network were reconnected, and apart from the tram line over the Stephanibrücke, the 1950s BSAG network re-attained its pre-war extent.
In 1953, bus traffic was taken over by the BSAG. The new Flughafendamm workshop near Bremen Airport was constructed in 1959; in 1963 the head offices also moved to that site.
In 1965, the main passenger transfer stop was relocated from the Marketplace to Domsheide.
Bremen Tram Riots
The Bremen tram riots in 1968 (alternatively often referred to as Bremen tram riots or large student uprising) lasted from 15 to 22 January 1968 and were superficially against fare increases of the BSAG. However, they also reflected the youth's desire for more self-determination and the rejection of the Vietnam War. During the riots, serious violent clashes between the demonstrators and the police took place in the inner city of Bremen. Ultimately, the fare increases were withdrawn.
The Bremen tram riots were part of the nationwide '68 movement, which called for more participation and democracy in society, businesses and educational institutions, protesting against the authoritarian leadership of a rigid state apparatus that demanded more and better schools and universities and condemned the Vietnam War.
Also in Bremen 1965 and 1967 student demonstrations took place against the educational emergency. A Vietnam committee organized rallies and information sessions against the war. In 1967, the schools were more and more involved in these protest movements. To improve the self-determination of the schools existed the "Arbeitsgemeinschaft Bremer Schüler" (ABS) as an association of class and school spokespersons of all Bremen schools. In Bremen-Nord there were a number of students who were members of the German Democrats and also dissatisfied with the work of the ABS. Therefore, they met from June 1967 and founded in mid-November the "Independent Student Association" (USB), in which each student could enter. The activities were also directed against cases of censorship of the school newspapers, which - as the students demanded - should be run by themselves as responsible newspapers. Against the editor of the newspaper The echo of the Gerhard Rohlfs high school in Bremen Vegesack, Hans Jürgen Weissbach, was determined because of offense against the press law. In many cases, left-liberal teachers supported the activities of the USB. At the end of 1967, discussions took place at numerous Bremen schools on the Vietnam War, against the educational crisis, for school reforms, for anti-authoritarian education and against emergency laws. Rudi Dutschke, a representative of the German student movement and the Extra-Parliamentary Opposition, visited the city and gave two speeches.
On 23 December 1967, in Bremen, a large demonstration against the Vietnam War with several thousand participants took place. The demonstration moved through downtown to the US Consulate General. On the afternoon of Christmas Eve, the USB distributed leaflets in front of two churches, telling churchgoers to visit the "rich devotions" while "the war raged in Vietnam."
Triggers of the tram riots was a fare increase of Bremen tram AG (BSAG). At the beginning of 1968 it raised the tariffs for single tickets from 60 to 70 pfennig and that for trading cards for pupils, students and apprentices from 33.3 to 40 pfennigs. The student representatives then decided to defend themselves at a small gathering. Morally and logistically, they were supported by the leftist SPD Altstadtverein (OVA) and the then FDP-affiliated Young Democrats.
On Monday 15 January 1968, around 5 pm, a group of 25 to 50 students, young trade unionists and apprentices gathered on the Domsheide in front of the bell to demonstrate against the fare increase. This intersection was then as today one of the main junctions of the tram lines in Bremen. The young people distributed leaflets and finally got on the tracks to stop the trams. When the desired result failed, the group sat down to "sit down". Although the trams had to stop their journey and the urban transport in the downtown area collapsed in part, but after about an hour, the students were pushed by the police, and some were carried away. The students then continued their action on the station square, where they limited themselves to a demonstration without obstructing the tram traffic. Around 300 people took part in this event and the first minor clashes with the police took place. The city's politicians were initially surprised by these protests.
However, Mayor Hans Koschnick announced the same evening: "We do not let ourselves be blackmailed by the pressure of the road."
The next day, Tuesday, the 16th, the protesters received further inflow and soon gathered in the afternoon, a crowd of 1500 people, the signs with inscriptions like "70 Pfennig - I prefer running" waving. Again a sitting blockade was organized at the Domsheide at 17 o'clock. The backwash of the forced to stop trams and buses extended in the south to the new city and in the north to the station, which corresponds to a distance of 1.1 kilometers. The students had now joined numerous apprentices and students, who were also affected by the fare increase. Finally, the police intervened again, but the blockers were not carried away without resistance as the day before, but threw stones, firecrackers and paint bags. This behavior provoked a reaction from the security forces using a water cannon. When a large group of students attempted to storm the Domsheide, the police put this slogan into action and beat down the demonstrators with batons, injuring numerous bystanders. In a leaflet distributed throughout the city, the ABS distanced itself from the violent protests. However, this did not change the situation, as the ABS by most demonstrators was not recognized anyway. In the evening, the first reports of damage in the press offices of the local newspapers came in: the BSAG reported 21 damaged trams and sidecar of the tram and 14 damaged buses. At the same time, the police announced that they had made 94 arrests that day.
Violence on both sides continued throughout the following day. After the works councils of the AG Weser and Klöckner Hütte, the two then largest employers in the city, declared their solidarity with the demonstrators on the morning of 18 January, some 20,000 people gathered at the Domsheide. Railway tracks and entire streets in the Bremen city center were occupied and blocked, detonators ignited and slogans such as "Beat the cops dead" called, after which the police took 138 protesters into custody. Meanwhile, the Bremen Senate held a special meeting, which decided not to withdraw the fare increases and, on the advice of the Transport Senator, to release BSAG from its passenger transport obligation. The President of the Senate and Mayor Hans Koschnick (SPD), who had not held his post at this time for two months, agreed with the organizers of the student protest on a conversation on 19 January. The Senate Director Waldemar Klischies (SPD), who belongs to the more moderate parliamentarians, was responsible for this decision. After a brief meeting in the cathedral chapter house, he suggested this to the leaders of the cathedral following the advice of the parish pastor Günter Abramzik (called "Abrazzo"). Bremen Interior Senator Franz Löbert (SPD), on the other hand, had proposed that the tracks and roads be taken back by force.