A 14 meters (46 feet) high Euro sculpture, symbol of the European currency, towered above the tram stop at the former headquarters of the European Central Bank. The R class (all types of Frankfurt tramcars had been assigned consecutive letters since 1899) had been built in two batches of 20 in 1993 and 1995. Two of the 40 cars (010 and 017) were lost in accidents. Although the first low-floor tram in Frankfurt and one of the first 100-percent low-floor cars in the world, they were no success. Designed on short term for political reasons, and pressed into service without proper testing, they developed a lot of bugs. As the cars had only three bogies, centered under each of the three sections, they swung to the left and right wildly in curves and had to be stabilized by complex modifications. And this was not the only problem. So the VGF did not take up the option for 60 more examples, instead ordered trams from Bombardier, thus sparking a legal dispute.
