Düwag trams in Mannheim and Ludwigshafen, Germany: The comeback of the classics | 2020-2024

0:00 Intro
0:40 Düwag ET6/EB6 in Ludwigshafen (2020)
8:07 Düwag ET6/EB6, GT8 and GT8N as Maimarkt service (2023-2024)
20:25 GT6 "Type Mannheim" as "Green Tram" (2023)
23:08 Ride on a Düwag ET6/EB6 tram
24:40 Interior of the "Green Tram"

The closure of the dilapidated southern high street in Ludwigshafen in spring of 2020 led to the comeback of three unique trams: The "Hängerzüge" (ET6/EB6 class), consisting of a six-axle motorcar and a matching articulated trailer, were built in the 1960s as an offshoot of the widely used Düwag articulated trams for the "Rhein-Haardt-Bahn" interurban tram line. After they were taken out of service, three of the eight trains were kept and from 2020 onwards they came back into service, running on the western section of line 7 in the rush-hour.
In May 2021, the Düwag GT8 2156 was added, and in the same year the four trains switched to line 6E between Rheingönheim and Mannheim city center. The following year, the GT8N 516 returned from Gotha to Mannheim. Due to a lack of staff, regular use of the reactivated trains ended in 2022. In 2023 and 2024, they were only used as additional trains during the Maimarkt festival.
Most recently, the GT6N 455 of the "Mannheim Type" briefly returned to regular operation in 2023: With an eye-catching special design and equipped with numerous plants in the interior, it drove on a circular route through Mannheim city center during the Federal Garden Show (Bundesgartenschau).