The Rouen tramway (, known locally as "Métro de Rouen") is a tramway/light rail network in the city of Rouen, Normandy, France. Construction began in 1991 and the network opened for service on 17 December 1994. Modern network The tramway consists of two lines that share a common route in the north in and diverting into two southern branches to Saint-Étienne-du-Rouvray and Le Grand-Quevilly. The northernmost section of the line within Rouen city centre runs through a underground (subway) section in the Rouen city centre encompassing stations Joffre–Mutualité through Bouvoisine. At the Théâtre des Arts station, transfers between the tramway and Rouen's three bus rapid transit lines (T1-T3) can take place; while transfers between the tramway and the SNCF railway line take place at Gare–Rue Verte station. The remainder of the tramway to the south of the underground portion runs on the road surface and on reserved track. In light of the fact that the new mode of transport technically is a light railway/tramway, inhabitants of Rouen and its suburbs have taken the habit of calling it the 'métro'. In September 1997 the tramway was extended to the Technopôle du Madrillet. Technical data Length of the network : Number of stops : 31 Number of tramcars : 28 Tramcar capacity : 178 Average commercial speed : Maximum speed: Daily traffic: 65,000 journeys Opening hours: 5:00am to 11:30pm Frequency of service: every 3 minutes (peak); every 20 minutes (off peak) Rolling stock The original rolling stock used by the system until 2012 was the GEC Alsthom Tramway Français Standard (TFS), identical to those used on the Grenoble tramway (1987) and Paris Tramway Line 1. In January 2010, Alstom was awarded a €90m contract to supply 27 Citadis 402 trams in 2011–2012 to replace the TFS cars. All TFS trams were removed from service in 2012 and were subsequently shipped to Gaziantep, Turkey as an expansion fleet for a newly built tram line in that city. Former tramway The first tramway was steam hauled, opened in 1874 and was owned by Gustav Palmer Harding. The Compagnie des Tramways de Rouen (CTR) was created on 11 September 1878. Steam hauling stopped in 1884 due to rising costs and the ineffectiveness of the system, the tramways then were horse drawn. On 19 June 1892 a funicular railway linking Rouen to Bonsecours opened. Two years later, in 1894, the decision to operate all tramways electrically