#2021-06

[merpmonde]

Strasbourg's tramway's 30th anniversary!

On this day in 1994, Strasbourg inaugurated - or rather, resurrected - its tramway network. Like many cities in France, Strasbourg had a streetcar system until the late 1950s, when it was decided that cars would take over. 30 years of worsening congestion and pollution later, the town chose a tramway, which had made a successful return in the mid 1980s in Nantes and Grenoble, over an automatic metro to revitalise its transit service.

Unlike Nantes and Grenoble, Strasbourg looked to foreign streetcar manufacturers Socimi and ABB, who designed a fully low-floor tram with generous windows. The Eurotram was at first a 33-metre vehicle (original form seen above), which quickly proved insufficient. A lengthened version, with an extra motor module and carriage, appeared in the following years.

Personally, I quite like this tram for the massive windows, the very mechanical sounds as it runs, and the fact that the warning bell is a real bell (later models have an electronic bell which... just sounds worse). A downside I have noticed, though not for me specifically, is that it has a low ceiling.

After losing out in the 90s, national constructor Alstom won the next round of contracts for Strasbourg's trams in the 2000s. The Citadis model, fully low-floor and taller than the Eurotrams, entered service in 2005. More Citadis trams arrived in 2016, with a new design that I really like, and with special adaptations to allow it to run in Germany, as the network crossed the border to Kehl in 2017, a first for a French tram operator.

Today, the network consists of 6 lines, crisscrossing the city centre and heading out into the suburbs. A 7th line is in the planning stages, due to head North towards Bischheim and Schiltigheim. Despite refurbishment, the Eurotrams won't be around forever, and new trams are on order - more from Alstom.

[who-niverse]

Happy birthday, Jodie Whittaker..

Born: June 17, 1982

[marieochi-diary]

【雑誌掲載のお知らせ】 『月間アートコレクターズ』 No.148　2021年7月号 ヌード特集にて、「new world」(2020年作)と作品についてのコメント掲載されてます！ また、コレクター小泉清さんの記事で”＃ツイッターで楽しむ裸婦展”では 「 灰鳥 」(2015年作)を紹介してくださっています！ 非常に光栄です(＞o＜) 沢山の作家さんの作品やコメントが掲載されており、ボリュームたっぷりです。 ぜひご覧ください。 詳細はこちらに↓ 生活の友社　 アートコレクターズ　No.148　2021年7月号 https://www.tomosha.com/book/b585946.html

[yong-hae-sook]

Yong Hae Sook, Gangryong Temple Daebul Bojeon (Utopia 3 Views Mash-Up), inkjet print, 95x285cm, 2021.

용해숙, 강룡사 대불보전 – 유토피아 삼경 매시업, 잉크젯 프린트, 95x285cm, 2021년.

[ughmulder]

pain: realizing you've been lying to yourself about your feelings. suffering, even: continuing to do so because changing your life to stop lying is too much work