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7/2 Spreading tourism proceeds with difficulty

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6/2 Zuideramstel opens new office on Sabbath

5/2 The truth about integration

4/2 Wilders has little support on Amsterdam

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31/1 Wooden rowing boats to disappear from Amstel

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18/1 Palestine at the Jewish Historical Museum

18/1 What is the right size for a district?

17/1 PvdA Oost against fewer districts

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15/1 Soldiers may attend Afghanistan debate after all

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14/1 Youth for Christ to republish vacancies

13/1 Paintings of the Zuidas

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11/1 Social cohesion initiative raises eyebrows

10/1 Fewer districts in 2010

10/1 Zuidas: People feel that we are losers

9/1 Fun on the ice - but not for all

9/1 Supermarket coupon fraud thwarted

9/1 I Amsterdam must remain exclusive

8/1 Use term Apartheid in every discussion

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7/1 Municipal managers to return to shop floor

4/1 Police: take photo of strange people

3/1 Gaza protest criticises politicians

1/1 Thousands to protest against attacks on Gaza

1/1 Mustapha Laboui leaves district council

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Cargo tram pilot expected soon

24 November 2006 – The city administration has set conditions for cargo transport by tram. The CityCargo Company wants to start a pilot at the Cornelis Lelylaan – Amstelveenseweg – Stadionweg trajectory by early January at the latest.

The company plans to have cargo trams operational at a large scale by 2012. This should reduce the number of lorries within the city ring by 2,500, making it possible to cancel some of the 1,800 parking spaces for lorries.

The city’s appearance will become quieter and bicycle safety will improve, CityCargo’s Peter Hendriks expects. Reducing the number of lorries will reduce congestion and air pollution as well. The municipality expects a 15% fine particle reduction.

The administration stipulated that a cargo tram pilot may not harm passenger trams. Further, cargo trams are only allowed to ride between 7 am and 11 pm. These conditions pose no problem for CityCargo, Hendriks said. The city council still has to approve the conditions. According to Hendriks, council members are enthusiastic about the concept.

The trams will only use tram trajectories that are not heavily used by passenger trams and they will only stop on ‘dead tracks’ that passenger trams do not normally use. More capacity is expected to become available because of the construction of the North/South line and because, in the future, only certified ‘quality taxis’ will be allowed to use the public transport lanes.

CityCargo wants to start a pilot in Amsterdam West by the end of December or early January. Trams will be rented from the Municipal Transportation Company (GVB) and will be slightly modified. In the future, the company will build its own trams and intends to enter the city from the North, East and South as well.

Potential clients include transportation companies, which now lose a lot of time driving their lorries in and out of town. In addition, companies such as Heineken, eager to be associated with innovative concepts with a positive image, might be interested.

Tram cargo has never before been tested in this form. Trams are used to supply a Volkswagen factory in Dresden and to collect garbage in Zürich, but in those cases the concept is far less complicated.

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