Tampere light rail

Tampere Tram
Tram on Hämeenkatu
Overview
Native nameTampereen Ratikka
Area servedTampere, Finland
Transit typeLight rail
Number of lines2
Number of stops33
Annual ridership20.5 million (2025)
WebsiteOfficial website
Operation
Began operationAugust 9, 2021 (2021-08-09)
Operator(s)VR
Technical
System length24 km (14.9 mi) (phases 1 and 2)
Track gauge1,435 mm (4 ft 8+12 in) standard gauge
Electrification750 V DC overhead
Average speed19–22 km/h (12–14 mph)
Top speed70 km/h (43 mph)

The Tampere light rail (Finnish: Tampereen raitiotie), branded as Tampere Tram (Finnish: Tampereen Ratikka), is a public transport system in Tampere, Finland. In November 2016, the Tampere city council approved plans to construct a 330-million-euro light rail system on the route from the city centre to Hervanta and to the Tampere University Hospital. Traffic on the first two lines of the route (lines 1 and 3) began on 9 August 2021.

An extension from the city centre to Lentävänniemi, passing through the artificial island Näsisaari that serves the structure of light rail, opened in two parts in 2023 and 2025. A further extension of line 1, now ending at Sorin aukio in the city center towards neighbouring Pirkkala is under construction, scheduled to be finalised in 2028. Further extensions in Pirkkala and to Ylöjärvi and Linnainmaa are being designed.

Unlike Turku, another Finnish city that is planning a new light rail system (see Turku light rail), Tampere had not had a previously existing tram or light rail system. The construction of a tram system in Tampere was seriously studied between the years 1907 and 1929, but left unrealised due to the high price of constructing such a system.

Tampere is the fourth city in Finland to have a tram system, but one of only two to still have trams in service, as Turku discontinued tram service in 1972 and Vyborg (already part of the Soviet Union at the time) did so in 1957.