Very Luas-ish type system they went for as well. I think this kind of rail really is the future of urban transit as the grey areas between trams and metros is fading all the time. Dublin may actually be on the forefront of this trend in public transport for once (well at least, just behind Amsterdam and Hanover).
Facinating how the Paris system had to deal with the same professional NIMBY-ism as Luas and negativity. The article brings up a very good point about sound pollution caused by road traffic. This is hardly ever talked about in Dublin or Ireland in general.
Paris tram makes a comeback
Caroline Wyatt
By Caroline Wyatt
BBC Paris correspondent
Alternatives to driving are always welcome in Paris
This month, work began on the first new tramway to be built in central Paris for more than 60 years.
An eight-kilometre (five-mile) stretch is to be built in the 14th arrondissement, south of the River Seine, to link the Pont de Garigliano on the city's western edge with the Porte d'Ivry to the south-east.
You might think that Parisians would be sighing happily with nostalgia for the days when pedestrians could hear the rattle of the rails and the clang of a tram bell, rather than the noise of horns.
But the Tramway de Marechaux Sud project (TMS) has long been controversial, and the chopping down of some 75 trees along a green city avenue to make way for the tram-lines has re-ignited a heated debate which began in 2001.
The plans are all part of the Paris Mayor Bernard Delanoe's promise to "green" transport in the French capital.
He says the tramway with its 17 stops should take up to 28 million passengers a year when the service opens in 2006, and will cut down 25% of traffic in the area - all at a cost of a mere 260 million euros.
The tram, travelling at 20km an hour, won't be quite as picturesque as its 1930s predecessors but a sleek, modern version with on-board information screens for passengers.
Car-ridden desert
But the chopping down of the trees on 15 July on the Boulevard Jourdan was described as a "massacre" by local environmentalists.
The tramway should have been built on existing rail tracks, they argue, many of which have lain disused since Paris gave up most of its tramlines in the 1930s in favour of the motorcar, metro and buses.
Only two other tram services are still running, both on shorter stretches.
Earlier this month, the Association for the Defence of the Environment in the Montsouris Park (ADEPAM) called on local people in the 14th to join in a march against the "undesirable" tram.
The irony is that the politician in charge of the project, and Paris transport networks generally, is a Green, Denis Baupin, who says that the temporary travails are worth it for the end result.
Mr Baupin admits that authorising an axe to be taken to the trees was not a great moment for a Green, but that with 2,240 trees planned along the route, the initial sacrifice of some existing greenery was necessary.
It was done in the early morning hours "to avoid disrupting the traffic".
He's now sent out an open letter to local residents, asking them to be patient and describing the tram as a unique opportunity to reinvigorate, both economically and visually - an area that's become something of a car-ridden desert.
Noise and air pollution
He promises a better quality of life for all thanks to the new tramline.
The peripherique is often jammed in both directions
There are many supporters of this project, and even more ambitious plans to create a whole new "beltway" tramline all the way around Paris.
Though the Paris metro is popular, and the buses run frequently, car travel in Paris is becoming increasingly difficult.
On working days the peripherique motorway around the city is jammed in both directions, and finding parking in the centre is a daily chore.
The extensive tram network which used to run through the city is now seen as a possible solution, not for the centre where the streets are too narrow, but for the outlying suburbs, where noise and air pollution from the busy motorways is an increasing problem.
Residents near the peripherique currently put up with noise levels of up to 100 decibels.
On the whole, local people are guardedly supportive of the new tram line, but most say they'll reserve judgement on the promises of local politicians until the tram itself is up and running.
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Paris welcomes trams back to town
The new T3 tram
Trams are faster to construct than underground trains
Paris has inaugurated a modern electric tram line along a section of the city's inner ring road, the first time trams have run in the city since 1937.
Mayor Bertrand Delanoe rode the first tram on the new T3 line, built to offer Parisians environmentally-friendly public transport.
The line is set to carry 100,000 people a day along a crowded section on the Left Bank of the Seine.
The opening was boycotted by right-wing opposition parties.
They have opposed the 300m euro ($400m; £200m) development, calling it a waste of money.
But Mr Delanoe defended the tram project, the largest public transport project for Paris since the city's ring road was built in the 1970s.
"We need to respond to pollution with action, it's a necessity of public health and civilisation," he said.
"Half of the planet's population lives in towns today, so we need to make behaviour evolve."
World approval
Tram lines already run in some suburban areas outside Paris' city limits.
But the new tram is the first within the metropolitan area since Paris's extensive tram network was finally closed just before World War II.
Those trams, which began as horse-drawn carriages, ran from the mid-19th Century and predated the city's underground Metro system.
The new line runs through 17 stops in the city's 13th, 14th and 15th arrondissements, to link the Garigliano bridge on the city's western edge with the Porte d'Ivry to the south-east.
There are plans to expand the network to other areas of the city.
Journeys on the new line will be free during the tram's inaugural weekend, with fares after that costing the same as the bus line the tram has replaced.
The mayors of Beirut, London, Montreal, Barcelona, Bamako, Stockholm and Antananarivo were in Paris for the opening ceremony.