A key item that switches on the abandoned trams, opening two fast-travel lines across Hallownest.
The Tram Pass is the small key item that brings Hallownest's broken-down trams back to life in Hollow Knight. Per the wiki, its only function is to "allow use of the Tram," the old rail cars that sit dead until you slot the pass into their control panels.
According to the wiki, the pass is hidden inside a wrecked tram in the 
Deepnest, one of the darkest and most maze-like areas in the game. Once you have it, two separate tram lines switch on at once, cutting long walks down to a single ride.
The wiki notes the pass powers two routes: one links the lower 
Ancient Basin to Deepnest, and the other runs between the 
Forgotten Crossroads and the Resting Grounds. Both are free to use for the rest of the run.
This guide covers what the Tram Pass does, the two lines it unlocks, exactly where to find it in the Failed Tramway, how to ride the trams afterward, and whether the detour into Deepnest is worth making early. As a one-time pickup, the only real question is when to go get it.
A key item that powers Hallownest's two tram lines. In the Failed Tramway, a wrecked tram in northern Deepnest. Two routes: Basin to Deepnest, Crossroads to Resting Grounds.
Free to ride once the pass is in your inventory.The Tram Pass is a key item, not a relic or a charm. Per the wiki, the trams scattered through Hallownest are powered down until the Knight finds this pass and uses it on a control lever. Before you have it, inspecting a tram only shows a message about "a door with an open slot," a hint that something is missing.
According to the wiki, the pass is a single pickup that never gets consumed. Slotting it in switches on every tram in the game at once, so you do not need to find a separate pass for each line. It lives permanently in the key items tab of the inventory.
In practice, the Tram Pass is one of the bigger quality-of-life upgrades in a run. The trams shortcut some of the longest vertical climbs in the map, and grabbing the pass turns two awkward backtracks into quick rides.
The Tram Pass does not count toward the 112% completion total, so there is no collection pressure. In actual play the only reason to grab it is the travel time it saves.
One pass powers two unconnected routes. Per the wiki, the trams do not form a single network; they are two short shuttles in different parts of Hallownest, each with a station at both ends.
| Line | Connects | Why it helps |
|---|---|---|
| Basin line | Ancient Basin to Deepnest | Skips the long climb between the two lower regions |
| Crossroads line | Forgotten Crossroads to Resting Grounds | Links the central hub to the upper graveyard area |
According to the wiki, the Ancient Basin station also feeds into nearby routes toward the 
City of Tears and 
Kingdom's Edge, so the Basin line plugs into a much wider stretch of the map than its two stops suggest.
In real runs, the Crossroads-to-Resting-Grounds line is the one players use most, since it removes a slow trip back up through the center of Hallownest after exploring the Resting Grounds.
The Tram Pass sits inside the Failed Tramway, a wrecked tram car in the northern reaches of Deepnest. Per the wiki, the pass is lying in the cabin of the ruined tram, which is a dead end you reach by working through the dark Deepnest corridors.
| Step | What to do |
|---|---|
| 1 | Enter Deepnest and head toward its northern, wrecked-tram section |
| 2 | Use the nearby  Bench to set a checkpoint before the climb |
| 3 | Reach the Failed Tramway car and pick up the Tram Pass inside |
| 4 | Use it on the tram control panel to power both lines |
According to the wiki, the same corner of Deepnest is where 
Cloth can be found if you have not already met her elsewhere, so the trip can clear two objectives at once. A 
Hot Spring nearby also restores masks before the journey out.
In practice, Deepnest is much easier with a light source, so many players grab the Tram Pass shortly after picking up a lantern so they can actually see the path to the Failed Tramway.
Once the pass is in your inventory, riding is simple. Per the wiki, each station has a lever; pulling it boards the tram and carries 
the Knight to the other end of that line automatically. There is no fare and no cooldown.
According to the wiki, the trams run independently of the Stag Station network, so they reach spots the stags do not. The two systems together cover most of the fast travel in the game, with the trams handling the lower and central links the stags skip.
The wiki also notes a small piece of flavor: the Last Stag disapproves of the trams and grumbles about them if you ride one. It changes nothing mechanically, but it is one of the character touches the game slips in.
You can reach the Basin tram station on the way to 
the Distant Village in Deepnest, so plan a single loop that grabs the pass and explores both at once.
For most runs the answer is yes, as soon as Deepnest is safe to explore. The Tram Pass costs nothing to use and removes two of the slowest walks in the game, so the time it saves quickly outweighs the detour to grab it.
Dirtmouth and combine them with the tram lines to cover almost the whole map in two fast-travel systems.In real runs, the only players who skip the Tram Pass are speedrunners on routes that avoid Deepnest, since for them the detour costs more time than the trams save.
The Tram Pass ties the lower regions of Hallownest together. These spokes pick up the areas its lines connect.
Game data and screenshots adapted from hollowknight.fandom.com, used under CC BY-SA 3.0. Original content remains the property of the wiki contributors and Team Cherry.