The TVR: France’s tram on tyres.
Half tram, half bus: a long electric vehicle on rubber tyres that followed a single rail set in the road, then drove off it like a bus. Two French cities bought it. Neither kept it. Here is the whole story, with every fact linked to its source.
Not the sports car. This TVR is not the British sports-car maker, and nothing to do with the old Taff Vale Railway. It is the French Transport sur Voie Réservée, a guided tram on rubber tyres that ran in Nancy and Caen.
The short version
TVR stands for Transport sur Voie Réservée, French for “transport on a reserved track”. It was a tram on rubber tyres. French government report, 2010
It was built to run in two ways: guided by a single central rail, or driven on the road like a bus. French government report, 2010 It also had two kinds of power: electric and diesel. French government report, 2003
Only 50 TVRs were ever sold, all of them to Nancy and Caen, and production stopped. French government report, 2010
By 2010 the government judged its reliability disappointing overall, with poor availability and high maintenance costs. French government report, 2010
Caen stopped its TVR at the start of 2018, and work on a new tramway began. Caen la mer, 2019 Caen’s new tramway opened on Saturday 27 July 2019, replacing the tram on tyres with a tram on rails. Caen la mer, 2019
Nancy’s TVR closed on Sunday 12 March 2023, and ordinary buses ran in its place while the route was rebuilt. CBW magazine, 2023 Nancy’s Line 1 reopened on Saturday 5 April 2025 with all-electric trolleybuses. Métropole du Grand Nancy
Explore the story
The storyFrom a Belgian test track to two French cities.
How it workedOne rail, rubber tyres, two kinds of power.
What happened to itWhy Caen and Nancy both replaced it.
Myths vs factsWas it a tram? A bus? A sports car?
Tile pictures are credited on their pages and on the credits page.