Frustration is mounting among riders of the Reims tram system. Recent disruptions have left commuters questioning the reliability of the service, despite assurances of repairs. “It’s always breaking down, and yet thay say it’s been fully fixed,” one exasperated passenger voiced. Social media reflects similar sentiments, with one user stating, “It’s unacceptable; it’s Sunday evening, and there’s still no service, and no communication – it’s chaos.” Another resident, identifying herself as Nicole, questioned the foresight of the technical teams, asking, ”why weren’t these kinds of failures anticipated, given how long it takes to get things running again?”
The Grand Reims Mobilités network, operated by transdev, experienced significant service interruptions on lines T1 and T2 starting last Thursday, with a gradual return to service by Monday midday.
This disruption, lasting nearly five days, was primarily caused by a failure in the ground-level power supply (APS) system. As of January 12, 2026, the city is working to prevent future occurrences.
During the outage, replacement buses were deployed to serve the 16 affected stations. Interestingly, this type of APS failure isn’t isolated to reims; cities like Bordeaux, Tours, Angers, and Orléans, wich also utilize this underground power system, have encountered similar challenges. According to a report by the European Railway Agency in late 2025, cities employing APS systems experienced, on average, 1.8 more days of disruption annually compared to those using overhead lines.
These underground power boxes represent a complex technological solution,