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The Hanover Stadtbahn is a Stadtbahn light rail system in the city of Hanover , Germany that opened in September of 1975 , gradually replacing the city's Tramway network over the course of the following 25 years. As of 2005, it transports 115 million passengers per year. The system is colloquially known among Hanover residents as Üstra , named after its (former) operator. Two types of light rail cars operate on the system, the TW 6000 , built from 1974 to 1993, and the TW 2000 , built from 1997 to 1999. The system is extensively used, especially during trade shows on the Hanover Fairground like CeBIT or the Hannover Messe , and is widely regarded to be one of the best of its kind, ranking along with the Stuttgart Stadtbahn . It makes up for more than 60% of the GVH transport association's total traffic and has 170 stops as well as 19 stations in tunnels, spanning over four cities, two counties and 115 kilometres of total line length. NETWORK The network is a mixture of traditional Tramway s, of which 82% have been upgraded so far to have their own right-of-way, and an U-Bahn -like system of tunnels in the city centre. The system currently consists of three full Stadtbahn lines, respectively named (with their tunnels in brackets)
A fourth tunnel, to be used for the D line ''(Goethestraße - Sallstraße)'', has been proposed but has not been realised so far due to the high costs of construction, currently estimated to be around € 1 billion. Nevertheless, the above-ground parts of the D line, most notably the ''D Süd'', connecting the Hanover Fairground to the C tunnel, have been upgraded to proper Stadtbahn standards, some preparations for interchange with the current stations, like an empty station below the current Hauptbahnhof station, have also been built in the past. The whole Stadtbahn network uses various colours to differentiate between the lines. For example, a station that would service both A and B lines would have a blue and a red stripe on its station sign; stop on the D line would feature a lime stripe on the station sign, and so on. This scheme sometimes also recurs in the architecture of the stations, for example the station Kröpcke used to feature tilework that changes colours when stepping over between lines, i.e. yellow elements would be introduced in the red tiles when walking from the B to the C part of the station. Individual routes operate within the main lines, diverting to various terminals at the city's edge. The route numbers are assigned to the lines as following (routes that only run during exhibitions on the Hanover Fairground are denoted in ''italics''):
Whilst the number 6 and 16 services are using a large part of the D line, they are still denoted as C services by using the colour yellow on station signage. The main hub of the network is Kröpcke , a large subterranean station in the city centre. Routes 1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,16 and 18 call at this station, making it possible to reach every point on the A, B or C lines from every other point with one stepover only. HISTORY Stadtbahn lines opened REFERENCES SEE ALSO
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