“It’s hell! It took me 45 minutes to come from Place Favre to Place Neuve,” says Juan, still out of breath from his morning run. On this Saturday morning, the forty-year-old regrets having chosen the public transport option. “If I had known, I would have taken my bike, but the TPG application showed me one minute late!” In reality, traffic was severely disrupted from 9:30 a.m. to 11:30 a.m. At issue: an incident between two trams.
“A historic tram from the Association Genevoise du Musée des Tramways (AGMT) was traveling in the direction of Moillesulaz,” explains François Mutter, TPG spokesperson. One of the members of the AGMT modified the switch in order to park on the Rive median. “As he was going down to replace the switches, he saw a tram going to Bachet and let it pass,” continues the spokesperson.
It was then that another tram traveling in the direction of Moillesulaz arrived. “The driver did not observe the deviation signal. She continued on her way and the two trams, arriving opposite each other, rubbed against each other,” says François Mutter. “A loud noise was heard,” testifies a reader-reporter.
No one was injured in the incident. “Only one passenger had a scratch on her finger due to broken glass. The driver gave him a bandage,” underlines the spokesperson.
Although there was no impact on road traffic, TPG traffic was significantly disrupted between 9:30 a.m. and 11:30 a.m. Trams 12 and 17 no longer ran between Moillesulaz and Plainpalais. Replacement buses have been put in place. “They were crowded. I had to let two pass which were too full for me to fit in and I ended up forcing my way to get into the 3rd,” describes Juan. At 11:30 a.m., the incident was closed. And the trams were running again.
