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Ersingen heavy / light rail contrasts.
This video shows dual-voltage light rail trams / streetcars sharing a mainline railway with main-line trains at Ersingen station.
It was filmed in the early 1990's when the mainline faced a shortage of 'heavy' rail trains.
The LRV's were used to replace some local trains on the route between Karlsruhe and the nearby town of Pforzheim. Their intended use was on a new service combining street tramway & pedestrian zone routes electrified at 750v dc and mainline routes electrified at 15,000c ac. However they were only able to work on that service once some new linking tracks had been constructed, and until this had been done they were 'spare'.
This line is also used by heavy freight trains, international InterCity express trains and even steam trains, all of which are seen in this video.
For safety all services using this line were fitted with Automatic Train Protection signalling.
Also seen is a short ride inside one of the light rail vehicles.
