Portal:Trams
 The Trams Portal A tram (also known as a tramcar, streetcar, trolley, or trolley car) is a rail vehicle that runs on tracks, commonly along public urban streets (called street running), and sometimes on separate rights of way. Since about the turn of the twentieth century, the most common type of tram has been the electric tram, running on what were once called electric street railways. Previously, horse-drawn trams (horsecars), and, to a lesser extent, steam-powered trams, were widely used in urban areas. Trams may also run between cities and/or towns (for example, as interurbans, tram-trains). Partially grade-separated tram services (often referred to as light rail) may be operated even in cities. Very occasionally, trams carry freight. Tram vehicles are usually lighter and shorter than conventional trains and rapid transit trains. However, the differences between these modes of public transportation are often indistinct. For example, some trams (such as tram-trains) may also run on ordinary railway tracks, a tramway may be upgraded to a light rail or a rapid transit line, and two urban tramways may be united by an interurban line, etc.Template:/box-footer Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'Module:Box-header/colours' not found.  The General Motors streetcar conspiracy (also known as the Great American streetcar scandal) refers to allegations and convictions in relation to a program by General Motors (GM) and other companies who purchased and then dismantled streetcar and electric train systems in many cities in the United States. Between 1936 and 1950, National City Lines and Pacific City Lines—with investment from GM, Firestone Tire, Standard Oil of California, Phillips Petroleum, Mack Trucks, and the Federal Engineering Corporation—purchased over 100 electric surface-traction systems in 45 cities including Baltimore, Newark, Los Angeles, New York City, Oakland and San Diego and converted them into bus operation. Several of the companies involved were convicted in 1949 of conspiracy to monopolize interstate commerce but were acquitted of conspiring to monopolize the ownership of these companies. Some suggest that this program played a key role in the decline of public transit in cities across the United States. Others say that independent economic factors brought about changes in the transit system, including the Great Depression, the Public Utility Holding Company Act of 1935, labor unrest, market forces, rapidly increasing traffic congestion, urban sprawl, taxation policies that favored private vehicle ownership, and general enthusiasm for the automobile. Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'Module:Box-header/colours' not found.  In 1880 he modified a city two-decker horse tramway to be powered by electricity instead of horses, and on 3 September [O.S. August 22] 1880 the unusual form of public transport started to serve residents of Saint Petersburg amid the vocal protests of the owners of the horse-cars. The experiments continued until the end of September 1880. Some historians claim that this was the first electric tram in the world. Pirotsky did not have the money to continue his experiments, but his works stirred interest in electric trams around the world. Among people who met Pirotsky was Carl Heinrich von Siemens who was very interested and asked many questions. In 1881 the brothers Siemens started producing their own design of electric trams commercially. The first permanent electric tram line using Siemens tram cars was opened in Berlin in 1881 and the first permanent tram line in the Russian Empire was opened in Kiev in 1892. Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'Module:Box-header/colours' not found.  A double-decker tram in Hong Kong in 2013. The Hong Kong Tramways started operation in 1904 with the first double-deckers introduced in 1912. 
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