Vicinal tramway

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The Tramways vicinaux or Buurtspoorwegen were a system of narrow gauge tramways or local railways in Belgium, which covered the whole country and had a greater route length than the mainline railway system. They were 1 m (3 ft 3 in) in gauge and the system included electrified city lines as well as rural lines using steam locomotives and diesel railcars; half of the system was electrified.

Only the coastal line, the Charleroi metro and the short line to the caves at Han-sur-Lesse are still in commercial use, four museums hold significant collections of former SNCV/NMVB rolling stock, including the museum at Schepdaal and the ASVi museum in Thuin.

The longest (11.0 km) and oldest (40 years) touristic tramway is the Tramway Touristique de l'Aisne, or 'TTA'. The line runs between Erezée and Dochamps. A sponsoring group called 'Tramania' has supported various tramway preservation initiatives for 13 years - and has in particular financed the construction of the Thuin museum and car restoration for TTA.

[edit] NMVB / SNCV

Belgium legislation allowing for the construction of rural tramways was passed in 1875, followed by a new law in 1885. The result was the creation of the national Vicinal tramway company - Société nationale des chemins de fer vicinaux (SNCV) in French, Nationale Maatschappij van Buurtspoorwegen (NMVB) in Dutch. The majority of tramlines were 1000 mm gauge (although until 1921 many in the Antwerp area were 1067 mm in gauge, but were later regauged). Many of the tram lines were built alongside roads and also carried considerable quantities of freight (especially timber and agricultural produce) as well as passengers.

World War I and World War II saw greatly increased traffic on the vicinal trams, despite some wartime damage. The network reached a peak of approximately 5,200 km in 1925, but soon parts of the system started to close as usage of buses and lorries increased.

After World War II lorries, buses and cars deprived the vicinal trams of much of their business. In 1950, the network was still approximately 4,250 km in length, but by 1960 had been reduced to only 978 km. In 1977, the buses of the Belgian railways (SNCB/NMBS) were transferred to the SNCV/NMVB. The tramways from Brussels to Wemmel, Koningslo and Grimbergen closed in 1978.

Regions of Belgium
Brussels-Capital (blue)
Wallonia (red)
Flanders (yellow)

Political federalism within Belgium from 1980 onwards saw the splitting of many national institutions into separate bodies for Flanders, Wallonia and the Brussels-Capital Region. The SNCV/NMVB was duly broken up in 1991 into De Lijn (for Flanders) and TEC (for Wallonia). Both companies primarily operate buses. However De Lijn inherited the tram systems in Ghent and Antwerp (including the city's Pre-metro), operated previously by local companies MIVG and MIVA respectively, as well as the coastal tramway. TEC operates the Charleroi Pre-metro which includes sections of Vicinal track. STIB/MIVB operates the standard-gauge Brussels metro, tram and bus network.