(Germany )KASSEL

Images kindly supplied by Nordhessischer VerkehrsVerbund (NVV). (Thanks)
street running section	platform	Kassel HBF (1)
Kassel HBF (2) Kassel HBF (3) Alstom Regio Citadis

Kassel
Kassel is completing a tram-train network, which combines existing urban tramway lines to existing railways (local services or freight transport, with some not electrified sections and some single track segments) in order to connect the main town with the suburban districts.
The whole system is based on 4 branches (that join each other at central railway station in Kassel): a northern one (Hofgeismar-Warburg), a southern one (Baunatal-Melsungen), an eastern one (Helsa-Hessisch Lichtenau) and a western one (Zierenberg-Wolfhagen).
Works started in 1995 with the southern extension of an urban tramway line up to Baunatal-Grossenritte on freight railway tracks (yet provided of a tram-like overhead power supply). In 2001 a further south-eastern extension has been completed up to Helsa, re-using, as well, an existing freight railway (Lossetalbahn), whose tracks have been partially doubled and electrified). In the same year the first section operating in a properly said tram-train mode opened (with tram/train "track sharing" and the usage of 6 Saarbrucken-like dual voltage vehicles) along the northern route up to Warburg. On the same section dual voltage Alstom Citadis low floor cars started their service in 2005.
The whole network has been almost completed by the end of 2007, with Kassel-Hessisch Lichtenau, Baunatal-Melsungen, Kassel-Wolfhagen and Baunatal-Schwalmstadt Treysa segments; this will be possible thanks to a new kind of hybrid rolling stock (Alstom Regio Citadis, dual mode diesel/DC) able to run on railways tracks still not electrified.
RegioTram (official site)
NVV (official site)

Country	Germany
Line	RegioTram
Inhabitants	City 195.000, District 550.000
Date opening	1995
Future development:	--
Length (km)	122
Track sections	on existing tram and railway tracks (only 10 km of new tracks)
Stops	--
Platforms	--
Platform doors	--
General characteristics	--
n. of vehicles	28 new type vehicles (10 hybrid type)+some Saarbrucken type vehicles
n. of cars per vehicle	3
Type	steel wheels bi-directional
Vehicle dimensions (m)	length 37, width 2.65
Vehicle capacity (pax)	220 (90 seated)
Frequency	--
Current/Voltage	tram mode: 600 V DC overhead, train mode: 15 KV AC or diesel
Type of guide/gauge	rails
Speed Km/h	Max 114
Accel./Decel. (m/sec2)
System capacity	--
Ridership	--
Total cost	18 M Euro/km (referred to the 10 km of new tracks)
Staff	--
System builder	ALSTOM
Model	Regio-Citadis
NOTE	--