This shot shows three aspects of Heidelberg Tram operations that will be extinct within the next year. First is the tram itself. These 1972-vintage Düwag tram cars will get sold off to transit authorities in Poland upon the arrival of new Bombardier "rail grinders" next year.

Second is the track. This is one of the last places in Heidelberg that still has conventional tram track in place. The city is in the process of rebuilding Rohrbach Straße in its entirety. All new water, sewer, gas, and telecom infrastructure are getting installed, the roadway getting rebuilt, and the tram tracks rebuilt entirely for the first time since this neighborhood first came into being postwar. Since the new tram cars, as their nicknames imply, are much rougher on tracks than conventional articulated cars like these, VRN is building a much sturdier track structure based on the track structure employed in Taiwan's new high speed rail system. Basically, the rails get bolted to a 2-foot-thick ribbon of concrete at 1-foot intervals, complete with rubber spacers to allow for heat expansion, and rubber chevrons separating the rail from the street pavement to make the trams run more quietly.

The third nearly extinct aspect of this picture is the station. The tram is just accelerating out of the Markscheide station, but one can barely tell, because the station is nothing more than a bench on the sidewalk with a transit sign next to it. The traffic lights in the background exist primarily to stop vehicular traffic when a tram is boarding. Yes...passengers board in the middle of the street. When the city rebuilds the Markscheide station, the street will funnel down to the width of the tram's right-of-way, and passengers will have boarding platforms to use. A ribbon of asphalt about a meter wide will run from the street behind the platform for cyclists to use instead of sharing the narrow stretch of road between the platforms with trams, trucks, and cars. I'll let you make your own judgements about these changes. I for one will miss these cars though.