“The Line 2 Tramway passed a decisive point in March.”  Those words jumped out of the page at me when I opened the March/April copy of the Le Petit Niçois newspaper earlier this week.  What did that mean? As a “tram enthusiast”, I had to delve into it to find out.

According to the story, they have laid track in the tunnel and have actually done some of the first tests by running some trams on it. And with that I was off. Staying near the Nice port this week has allowed me to see the construction first hand. Most of the visible construction is between Place Garibaldi and Port Lympia.

In the port, there is a section near the northern side of the port where the line will end. They have started laying the tracks and are preparing for the station. Here are some pictures of the work as it is progressing.

Starting to look like tram tracks

Out of the six stations that are still under construction, the underground section will be 3.2 kilometer long and there will be four stations that will be underground: Alsace Lorraine, Jean Médecin, Durandy, and Place Garibaldi. There are several reasons why these stations are underground. Being underground saves the architectural beauty of Nice as well as allows the work to progress without shutting down Nice traffic. This would cause massive disruptions. There will be no cars or foot traffic to slow down the trams.

From the underground station at Place Garibaldi, the tram will reemerge above ground and travel down the nearby Rue Catherine Segurane. There are cranes and other digging equipment which are working weekdays to get the job done.

Above ground near Place Garibaldi

Rue Catherine Segurane

From Rue Catherine Segurane, the tram route will turn east towards the port on Rue Antoine Gautier. The first picture is looking west and the second picture is looking east on Rue Antoine Gautier.

Looking west

Looking east

One of the thoughts I had was for the people that own the houses along the route. Although the tram is super quiet, there will be trams passing by these houses from early morning into the evening. I would bet that when they bought the houses that they didn’t expect there would be a tram running by.

Will the tram be ready by the end of 2019, it’s anyone’s guess. It will be nice to ride the tram from the airport terminals to the port when it is finally complete.

There is a French language page about the construction if you are interested. http://tramway.nice.fr/ligne-ouest-est/projet-ouest-est/tout-sur-le-projet/