Restaurant tram

A restaurant tram is a tram vehicle where meals can be served in a way of a full-service, sit-down restaurant. Customers consume the meals while the tram is following a route over an existing network of a tramsystem. Old trams are often used with a rebuilt interior and upholstered seats and tables. Most restaurant trams are equipped with a small kitchen only used to serve meals, while a traditional kitchen in a stationary restaurant is used to do most preparations. A subtype is the pub restaurant, serving drinks and snacks.^[1]

Tram restaurant in Nordhausen

According to the book The Experience Economy by Pine & Gilmore, customers growingly expect to have a special experience. Additionally, unique experiences are popular in social media pots. Both have helped to make restaurant tram services more common in the twentieth century.^[2]

Examples

Some of the cities that operate or have operated a restaurant tram are: Brussels,^[3] Rotterdam, Nordhausen, Bern, Zurich, Timisoara,^[4] Kolkota^[5] and Christchurch.

Former "Bistrowagen" in Düsseldorf

• The U76/U70 tram line between the German cities of Düsseldorf and Krefeld used to offer a Bistrowagen ("dining car" in German), where passengers could order drinks and snacks. That practice dates back to 1924, when interurban trams conveyed a dining car.^[6] With the introduction of modern tram units in 1981, four trams had a Bistrowagen^[7] that operated every weekday until 2014.
• In 1976 the first full dining restaurant started running in Bern using a historic tramcar and trailer.^[8]
• In 1983 the Colonial Tramcar Restaurant started running in Melbourne using three historic W-class trams,^[9] but the service had to close in 2018 because the trams were seen as too unsafe to operate between other traffic.^[10]
• Since 2005 in Milan, two historic tramcars -Class 1500- from 1928 are in use as a restaurant.^[11][12]
• In 2006, one restaurant tram entered a service in Turin, a second one followed in 2011.^[13] The restaurant service was transferred to an external party early 2023.^[14]
• The Hague's tram restaurant service started in 2014,^[15] within ten years it made over 2500 trips through the city. The initiator got his inspiration from the Melbourne example.^[2]

Pub and café trams

In Germany the pub trams is a common service, in about twenty cities and regions.^[1]

• The first pub tram in Germany started opertions in Frankfurt am Main in 1977. Due to its success, the fleet consists of two motorised trams and four trailer cars.^[1]
• Since 1995, Helsinki has a pub tram named SpåraKoff.^[16]
• In 2025 a trial started in Changchun with a café in a hydrogen powered tram. A total of six tramcars are planned to be in service.^[17]

Gallery

• 
  W-class tram in Melbourne
• 
  Class-1500 tram in Milan
• 
  Ce 4/4 type tram in Zurich
• 
  GTL-8 tram in The Hague
• 
  Tram 411 in Christchurch

See also

• Buffet car
• Dining car