Asymmetric tram featured in HS2 video

[Basil Jet]

At 15:04 in the recent Megaprojects HS2 video (

) is a drone shot of a foreign tram. The front of the tram seems to be sloped in on the right side: the back of the tram also seems to slope in on the right side, i.e. the left side of the tram in the image is straight and the right side has two corners chopped off. The "S" on the front makes me suspect it's German.

Which city is it, and what's the reason for the asymmetry?

 

[pelli]

Here is a screenshot from the video:


Image-searching the web for "light blue tram" reveals that such a livery is used in Gothenburg, Sweden. Their M31 tram (Swedish Wikipedia link, apparently manufactured by Swedish companies ASEA and ABB) looks to have the same stuff on the roof, and the "S" on the front could be a "5":

(from Wikimedia commons and Wikimedia commons)

The location appears to match stop "Töpelsgatan" on line 5, although the colours in Google Maps satellite view are a bit off:


I couldn't find any explanation for the asymmetry, but one observation is that the tram has doors at the very front and back, which could explain why they would not want to "cut the corner" on the right-hand side of the tram, and maybe the left-hand corner is cut just to reduce overhang on curves?

 

[stuu]

The Gothenburg trams only have doors on the right, which seems a likely cause, if not an actual explanation

 

[MCR247]

I would assume the cab design to be to aid the drivers view

 

[edwin_m]

This is quite common for uni-directional trams. I assume it's to reduce overhang on the left side for trams to pass each other on curves, but still allow a door on the right side to be close to the kerb and adjacent to the driver, as on some networks it's possible to pay the driver on boarding.