This will be one of the last times the old GT8-100C/2S TramTrains are used. They can be driven from both ends, and such are used for shuttle services like this, where normal turning loops are not available. Starting next year, the remaining C/2S services will instead be served by the new class 492 TramTrains.
It always kind of surprises me when trams aren’t double ended. I suppose if you design your infrastructure appropriately it’s not a problem, but it feels like being able to drive from both ends gives the train/vehicle more flexibility and means changing directions only takes about as long as it takes for the driver to walk from one end to the other, and means you don’t need to build the space for a wye or loop or whatever.
In Karlsruhe, the trams are actually technically double-ended. They can be fully operated from the rear and driven at full speed. But since there is no rear-view mirror there, you cannot carry passengers, and only one side has doors. But every morning, a train reverses from Ettlingen to Marxzell to pick up a load of students right on time for school. The next loop is all the way up the mountain at Bad Herrenalb, and we don’t have time for that…
Yeah, that surprised me too, I had assumed that all trams like this have a driver’s seat on both ends. (Pretty much the only thing I see here in the U.S. though is the Siemens S70, so I don’t see many different models.)
Is the advantage simply cost and more passenger seating?
Well, on true one-sided trams you also save the equipment for an entire driver’s stand. Although that (mostly) doesn’t apply here.