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Lyon is the second largest city in France and situated on the confluence of the rivers Saône and Rhône. Although the city itself only counts some 520,000 inhabitants, it has some 1.7 million inhabitants in the metropolitan area formed by 62 boroughs (606 km2).

Tramway

In January 2001, two tram lines began running through Lyon and its eastern suburbs: between Perrache (transfer to Line A) and IUT de Feyssine in the north-east (line T1; 8.2 km), and from Perrache to Porte des Alpes in the southeast (line T2; 10.1 km). Meanwhile T1 has been extended from Perrache to Hôtel de Region-Montrochet and T2 from Porte des Alpes to St Priest-Bel-Air. All routes are on a reserved right-of-way, with priority at traffic lights.

A third line (T3) opened on 4 Dec. 2006, it links Gare Part Dieu-Villette with Meyzieu Z.I. along the former railway alignment of the 'Chemin de Fer de l'Est Lyonais'. Along this route all level crossings are protected by automatic barriers, thus allowing higher speeds so this line can be classified as "light rail". This route is shared by the Rhônexpress, for which several stops have four tracks to allow airport trains to overtake the urban trams.

On 20 April 2009, line T4 completed the present network. In 2013, this line was extended to Part Dieu railway station and now shares tracks with line T1 up to the University campus to terminate at La Doua-Gaston Berger. In 2014, line T1 was extended south to the Musée des Confluences and over the River Rhône on a new purpose-built bridge to link up with metro line B at Debourg.

- opened in 2001
- operated by TCL (Keolis)
- network length ~70 km (including Rhônexpress)
- 6 lines
- rolling stock: 73 Citadis 302; 10 Citadis 402

>>> T5 opened 17 Nov 2012 (3.8 km): section Parc du Chêne - Eurexpo served during exhibitions only
02 Sept 2013: T4 Jet d'Eau - Thiers-Lafayette (- La Doua) (1.7 km of new route)
19 Feb 2014: T1 Hôtel de Region-Montrochet - Debourg (2 km)
10 June 2014: T3 Meyzieu Z.I. - Meyzieu Les Panettes (0.4 km)
09 Jan 2016: Décines - Parc Olympique Lyonnais (served only during special events)
22 Nov 2019: T6 Debourg - Hôpitaux Est Pinel (6.7 km)
05 Oct 2020: T5 regularly extended to Eurexpo
01 Feb 2021: T7 launched, introducing regular service to Décines OL Vallée branch (formerly Grand Stade)
24 Mar 2021: T2 extended to Hôtel de Region-Montrochet
17 Feb 2025: T3/T7 Décines-Roosevelt and Meyzieu Lycée Beltrame stops added

Rhônexpress

The Rhônexpress from Part Dieu to Lyon Saint Exupéry Airport (Satolas) was launched on 9 Aug 2010 (special fares apply!). It shares tracks with tram line T3 up to Meyzieu Z.I., from where it runs at 100 km/h on a newly-built railway line (equipped with railway signalling) to the airport. Planned as "Liaison ExpresS LYon Saint-Exupéry" (LESLYS), the Rhônexpress is operated by Veolia Transdev with six Stadler Tango trams.

TCL Site (official website)

Sytral (Transport Authority - official website)

Rhônexpress (Airport Tram)

FPTU (France Passion Transport Urbain)

Lyon en Lignes

Tramway de Lyon at Wikipedia.fr

Carto.metro - Fantastic track map

Trams in Lyon by Christoph Groneck

Tram Atlas Frankreich | France (2nd edition, 2022)

This revised edition of our bilingual (German/English) and illustrated atlas includes all tramway and trolleybus cities in France, plus all the Métro and VAL systems. Each city features a detailled system map, some with an enlarged city centre area, showing all stops, loops, single-track section, depots etc. Short texts provide information about special features, while details about history and operation are presented in tables. All current vehicles are depicted in one of the numerous colour photographs.

Angers, Aubagne, Avignon, Besançon, Bordeaux, Brest, Caen, Clermont-Ferrand, Dijon, Grenoble, Le Havre, Le Mans, Lille, Lyon, Marseille, Montpellier, Mulhouse, Nancy, Nantes, Nice, Orléans, Paris, Reims, Rouen, Saint-Étienne, Strasbourg, Toulouse, Tours, Valenciennes

160 pages, 17x24 cm, approx. 300 colour images, network maps, text Deutsch/English
Feb. 2022 - ISBN 978 3 936573 66 4, EUR 19.50

More info here!

Christoph Groneck: METROS IN FRANKREICH / METROS IN FRANCE. Paris, Lyon, Marseille, Lille, Toulouse, Rennes, Rouen & Laon. - Aug. 2006, Robert Schwandl Verlag, ISBN 3 936573 13 1 (More info)

José Banaudo: Sur les rails du Lyonnais: Volume 2, Les réseaux secondaires, tacots, ficelles et métro. - 2002, Editions De Borée, Collection : images ferroviaires 160 p. ISBN 2844941346

Christoph Groneck: Neue Straßenbahnen in Frankreich. - 2003, 167p., Ek-Verlag, ISBN 388255844X