Just like other large historical processes, the implantation of the modern urban service system has taken place in successive long-term waves. Politics, technology, economy and finance figure among the main factors which marked the general configuration of such waves, as well as the particularities that they acquired in every case and place. It is clear that the real configuration of these factors in each case was different, and so were the respective achievements. In the following pages we will study the implantation in the main cities of Andalusia (Spain) of the modern tram networks. This was a region that counted with several and significant historical cities, and, at the end of the 19 th century, it was accomplishing a promising specialization in the production for export of minerals and agricultural staples as well as a moderate industrial diversification process.