LUXEMBOURG-VILLE — Not wanting to admit that he drives a slow-moving quiet vehicle up and down the same three-kilometer stretch of Avenue John F. Kennedy, a tram driver insists on telling friends and family that he operates a proper train.
“They’re the same, trams and trains, and you can tell because they both start with the sound ‘tra,’” said Luc Molitor, who even bought himself a train driver’s cap that he wears at home while gardening.
“Anyway, the basic concept is the same, operating a lengthy heavy vehicle along rails to transport people,” he continued. “My vehicle can carry up to 450 passengers, and I daresay plenty of regional train drivers would be envious of that number.”
Molitor says that the only real difference is that one vehicle is slightly better suited to cities, and the other slightly better suited to the country, and that most engineers would agree.
“I could probably jump this vehicle onto the tracks going down to Metz, if I really wanted to, which I may do one day, just because it’d be so easy and natural,” he said.
“And don’t even talk about speed because this baby can really roll, and if I crank it up all the way, we can get her up to 40 kpm,” he continued. “That’s with no passengers, of course, and going down a hill.”
“Tram, train, tram, train, say them quickly and you can’t even hear the difference.”