Saint-Étienne can be proud of preserving the oldest tramway line in France. The origin of today’s line 4 goes back to 1881, when a metre-gauged steam tram between Terrasse and Bellevue was opened as the first tramway line in the conurbation. This line followed the major north-south axis of Saint-Étienne, a city limited on either side by a range of hills. Several other urban and interurban lines were developed in the following years. Electric traction was used since 1897, but the main route Terrasse – Bellevue was not electrified until 1907. In 1954, after many closures, the Terrasse – Bellevue line was once again the only one left. But in contrast to the other lines it could keep alive and it was extended twice in 1983 and 1991 and upgraded to modern French tramway standard in recent years. Since 2006, there is once again a second tramway line, which is in fact a branch from the existing line 4 to the main railway station Châteaucreux. The second line, labelled as line 5, has a very unusual layout: It follows line 4 between Terrasse and Peuple, then serves the branch to Châteaucreux, runs back to Peuple and finally follows line 4 again to Bellevue.

4 Hôpital Nord - Terrasse - Peuple - Bellevue - Solaure (9,3 km)
5 Terrasse - Peuple - Châteaucreux - Peuple - Bellevue (10,7 km)

04/12/1881   4 Bellevue – Terrasse (5,5 km) - originally built as a steam tramway
01/10/1907   4 Start of electric operation
17/02/1983   4 Bellevue – Solaure (1,5 km)
07/12/1991   4 Terrasse – Hôpital Nord (2,3 km)
06/10/2006   5 Peuple - Châteaucreux (2,6 km)

5 Châteaucreux - Technopôle

35 Alstom/Vevey type Saint-Étienne, delivered as from 1991/1998

STAS - http://www.stas.tm.fr/
Saint-Étienne Métropole - http://www.agglo-st-etienne.fr/

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