Łódź tram

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tram
Łódź tram
image
Stop "Piotrkowska Centrum"
Basic information
Country Poland
city Łódź
opening December 23, 1898
operator MPK-Łódź
Infrastructure
Route length 141 km
Gauge 1000 mm ( meter gauge )
Power system 600 V DC overhead line
business
Lines 22nd
Line length 328.3 km
Cruising speed 17.2 km / h
statistics
Passengers 150 million per year (MPK only, 2010)
Mileage 13.7 million km per year (MPK only)dep1
Network plan
Network plan (as of April 2012)

The first electric tram in Łódź ( German:  Lodz ) ran on December 23, 1898.

Łódź was the first city in Congress Poland to have an electric tram. At the beginning there were two short stretches in the city center. In 1901 the first overland routes were put into operation. The first led to Pabianice and the second to Zgierz . These two lines were built by well-funded entrepreneurs to move workers from the city to their factories. This private initiative was dominated by industrialists of German descent. Between 1910 and 1931, more overland trams were built around Łódź, making the city the largest network of its kind in Poland. After World War IIthe urban and intercity railways were nationalized and the company Miejskie Przedsiębiorstwo Komunikacyjne - Łódź (MPK - 'Municipal Transport Company ') was founded. The large new development areas of the post-war period were all connected to the tram network. Until the end of 1976 the line to Tuszyn was closed, the tram network was completely preserved. In the 1990s, the lines to Aleksandrów and Rzgów were closed.

Currently (2012) Łódź has 16 urban tram lines and three intercity lines, of which line 46 to Ozorków is the longest Polish tram line with a length of 29 kilometers. The gauge of the Łódź tram is the meter gauge (1000 millimeters). The vehicle fleet is very diverse: Polish Konstal cars, used German Duewag standard cars and new Polish low-floor trains.

history

Old postcard of one of the first trams in Łódź, a Herbrand railcar on Piotrkowska Street.
The tram went through the Litzmannstadt ghetto , here line 3.

In 1892 there were more than 300,000 inhabitants in Łódź. The city was already heavily industrialized but lacked modern urban planning. There were no broad arterial roads and no ring roads. All traffic converged in the center of town, especially on Piotrkowska Street. In the middle of the 1880s, a horse-drawn tram operated for a short time, but it was closed for hygienic reasons. Following the example of the cities of Dresden and Leipzig , the city administration wanted to introduce an electric tram that would run day and night: during the day for people and at night for goods traffic. The approval for the construction of the tram network was granted by Tsar Nikolas II of Russia in person to the entrepreneur Julius Kunitzer.

The technical side and the power supply had to be developed and financed by Kunitzer. He worked closely with the AEG group and the establishment of the network began in 1897.

The concession initially comprised four lines, two of which went into operation on December 23, 1898: one from the church square to the Upper Market (today's Reymonta Square) and the other from Helenów Park to the Paradyż restaurant (near today's center) on Piotrkowska Road . In February 1899 the other two lines went into operation. This made Łódź the first city in Congress Poland and ten years earlier than Warsaw to have electric trams.

In 1903 the tram network comprised nine lines:

  • 1: Upper Market ↔ Kościelny Square
  • 2: Tramwajowa Street ↔ Kościelny Square
  • 3: Upper market ↔ cemeteries
  • 4: Upper Market ↔ Helenów Park
  • 5: Milsza Street ↔ Helenów Park
  • 6: Milsza Street ↔ Kościelny Square
  • 7: Tramwajowa Street ↔ Upper Market
  • 9: Widzew ↔ Główna Street
  • 10: Water Market ↔ Kościelny Square

The north-south connection, which ran on the new and important central axis Piotrkowska Street, became the most important tram connection. Shortly before the outbreak of the First World War , twelve inner-city tram lines operated. The operation of the tram was very successful and the investments made quickly paid off. The traffic in the city center decreased, and the feared accidents and protests by private cab owners did not materialize. In the first few years, the tsarist police only had to take action against individual coachmen who wanted to derail a tram. The main station (Kaliska) only got a tram connection with the city in 1913, although the station forecourt was not served until 1933. Incidentally, it did not get a reversing loop until 1947. In the years after the First World War, the tram network was continuously expanded in small steps. 1928 was the year in which the record sum of 22 kilometers was reopened. In 1929 there were 17 inner-city lines with a track length of 46 kilometers; an average of 238,000 passengers were carried per day. Investments in the tram network were only made again after the Second World War.

Development of the overland network

Largest expansion of the tram network (1974).
Motorcar Konstal 5N, the widespread post-war model in Poland. Line 17, May 1991.
Six-axle Konstal 102Na multiple unit on line 41. Commissioned as No. 878 in 1973. This series was retired in 1993.

The owners of the industrial plants around Łódź saw the advantages of the tram for their workers and goods and called for the network to be expanded towards their companies, which were located in the suburbs of Łódź. Once again, the financially strong Julius Kunitzer won the concession. The official name of the consortium was: Konsorcjum brzmiała: Łódzko-Zgierskie i Łódzko-Pabianickie Elektryczne Wąskotorowe Koleje Podjazdowe (Electric Narrow Gauge Railways Łódź - Zgierz and Łódź - Pabianice). Together with the AEG, this consortium built two overland railways: today's line 41 with a length of 15 kilometers from Łódź to Pabianice , opened on January 17, 1901, and today's line 16 with a length of 9.5 kilometers from Łódź to Zgierz , which lasts two days opened later. Julius Kunitzer himself was murdered by his own workers during the uprising in 1905 .

In 1908, the operator of the overland lines was transferred to a limited liability company which, under the name Towarzystwo Łódzkich Wąskotorowych Elektrycznych Kolei Dojazdowych (ŁWEKD), acquired the concession to operate the two lines for 48 years on July 14, 1908. 40% of the shares in this GmbH were in the hands of the Scheibler family , another well-funded large industrial family. According to the articles of association, the most important goal of the company was the expansion of the overland tram network. The third route was the line from Łódź to Aleksandrów . This was opened in two phases, as the railway line had to be crossed to the south. On February 25, 1910, the entire line was ceremoniously put into operation. Overland lines were opened in the following years: to Ruda Pabianicka (1910), Konstantynów (1911), Tuszyn (1916), Kruszów (1917), Ozorków (1922) and Lutomiersk (1931). The latter was initially not electrified and so opened as a steam tram . Before the First World War , tram routes to Brzeziny , Koluszki , Zduńska Wola and Piotrków Trybunalski were planned, but were not implemented due to a lack of funds. The overland lines to Tuszyn (1976), Aleksandrów (1991) and Rzgów (1993) were later closed, the others are still in operation today (2012) and are integrated into the city's tram network. After the Second World War , the urban and inter-city transport companies were nationalized and merged. Many suburbs were connected to the tram network and new vehicles were procured. These came almost exclusively from the Polish manufacturer Konstal and were mostly two-axle railcars with one or two sidecars . As in many countries of the Eastern Bloc, little was invested in the maintenance of the tram network, but at the same time the tram provided a large amount of traffic.

In the time before the political upheavals in Poland, all new building areas were connected to the tram network, this was a necessity because private automobile traffic was almost completely absent. Since the 1970s there has been a slight decrease in passenger numbers each year, mainly on the overland routes.

Development since 1990 until today

Bombardier Cityrunner in the city center.

After the fall of the Iron Curtain , Łódź began modernizing public transport. Some short lines were discontinued and the large number of direct line connections (30) was reduced on January 1, 2001 to a more rational network of 15 urban lines (1-15) and five intercity lines (41, 43, 43 bis , 45, 46). In order to modernize and accelerate operations, the Łódzki Tramwaj Regionalny (ŁTR) project was launched. It is a light rail project that consists of connecting lines 11, 41 and 46 to form a long light rail line from Ozorków via Łódź to Pabianice. For this purpose, the tracks were replaced where necessary and the substructure reinforced, modern signals were installed on the single-track sections and ten low-floor PESA 122N railcars were purchased. However, due to a lack of financial resources, the project could only be completed between Helenówek and Chocianowice. Another light rail project includes the expansion of line 10 Retkinia - Widzew and an extension of the line to the Olechow settlement. Construction will start in 2013. European funding is expected for the completion of the Ozorków ↔ Pabianice line. Furthermore, new tram routes are planned on Kopcińskiego, Palki and Rzgowska streets by 2020.

Line network 2012

line route length Travel time Hold shortest cycle Average speed Car type Remarks
1 Łódź Chojny Railway Station ↔ Strykowska 9.7 km 33-37 min 22/21 20 min 16.7 km / h Konstal 805Na
2 Dąbrowa ↔ Szczecińska 14.6 km 50-54 min 32 10 min 16.7 km / h Konstal 805Na
3 Augustów ↔ Wycieczkowa 16.5 km 60 min 38-40 10 min 16.5 km / h Konstal 805Na
4th Dąbrowa ↔ Helenówek 13.4 km 48-54 min 34/33 20 min 15.8 km / h Konstal 805Na
5 Kurczaki ↔ Łódź Żabieniec Train Station 12.9 km 49-52 min 32/31 20 min 15.5 km / h Konstal 805Na
6th Kurczaki ↔ Strykowska 11.5 km 42-46 min 25th 10 min 15.7 km / h Konstal 805Na
7th Śląska ↔ Koziny 9.9 km 35-39 min 23/22 20 min 16 km / h Konstal 805Na
8th Augustów ↔ Chochoła 17.2 km 55-58 min 29/30 7.5 min 18.5 km / h Konstal 805Na
9 Augustów ↔ Konstantynów Łódzki 18.5 km 61-65 min 35/37 20 min 17.6 km / h Konstal 805Na
9A Augustów ↔ Zdrowie 11.8 km 41-43 min 23/26 20 min 16.9 km / h
10 Augustów ↔ Wyszyńskiego 12.4 km 40-41 min 24/23 7.5 min 18.5 km / h Konstal 805Na
11 Chocianowice-IKEA ↔ Helenówek 16.2 km 51-58 min 37 10 min 18 km / h PESA 122N , Cityrunner
12 Stoki ↔ Wyszyńskiego 12.8 km 50-54 min 31/30 7.5 min 17.7 km / h Konstal 805Na
13 Śląska ↔ Szczecińska 15.6 km 55-57 min 31/32 10 min 16.8 km / h Konstal 805Na
14th Dąbrowa ↔ Wyszyńskiego 11.9 km 40-42 min 25th 10 min 17.5 km / h Konstal 805Na
15th Kurczaki ↔ Telefoniczna 13.8 km 47-53 min 30th 12 min 16.6 km / h Konstal 805Na, Cityrunner
15A Chocianowice-IKEA ↔ Telefoniczna 14.1 km 47-54 min 32 12 min 17 km / h Konstal 805Na
16 Kurczaki ↔ Zgierz 18.2 km 60-65 min 40 20 min 17.7 km / h Konstal 805Na
16A Plac Niepodległości ↔ Helenówek 10.8 km 40 min 26th 20 min 16.1 km / h Konstal 805Na
41 Plac Niepodległości ↔ Pabianice-Wiejska 15.3 km 46-48 min 30th 20 min 19.6 km / h Konstal 805Na
43 Telefoniczna ↔ Lutomiersk 22.2 km 71-77 min 43 60 min 18 km / h Düwag GT6 , Düwag GT8N, Düwag M6S , Düwag GT8ZR, Konstal 805Na
46 Zdrowie ↔ Ozorków-Cegielniana 29 km 91-94 min 47 20 min 19 km / h Düwag GT6, Düwag GT8N, Düwag M6S, Düwag GT8ZR, Konstal 805Na
total average speed 17.2 km / h
Railcar of the type Konstal 805Na on line 1. Newly delivered in 1983, eight years later the railway is in a poor state of maintenance.
Former Freiburg eight-axle Duewag on route 46.
Formerly Bielefeld Duewag six-axle vehicle on line 43bis, the last bis line in Łódź

vehicles

Vehicles in regular service

In 2012 the Łódź tram had the following vehicles:

Model / modernization In regular service since: Handicap reverse blue background.svg number of pieces
Konstal 805Na ( previously Konstal 105NW ) 1977 426
Original Konstal 805Na 1977 254
Konstal 805Na ND 2004 142
Konstal 805N-Enika 2005/2011 10
Konstal 805N Elin, Konstal 805N-ML 1997 20th
Düwag GT6 1990 9
Düwag GT8ZR 2009 2
Düwag GT8N 2007 Handicap reverse blue background.svg 6th
Düwag M8C 2013 14th
Düwag M6S 2011 6th
Bombardier Cityrunner 2002 Handicap reverse blue background.svg 15th
PESA 122N 2008 Handicap reverse blue background.svg 10
Total number of pieces 474
Share of (part) low-floor wagons 6.5%

In April 2017, a DÜWAG low-floor car built in 1994 was bought by the Bochum / Gelsenkirchen tram ; if the experience was positive, 35 other cars of this type could be taken over from there.

Historic vehicles & formerly in regular service

  • Herbrand VNB-125 - a vehicle preserved as a historic vehicle
  • HERBRAND GE-58 - operated from 1910 to 1958, a vehicle preserved as a historic vehicle
  • U-104 Pulman
  • Lilpop II - operated from 1929 to 1973, a vehicle preserved as a historic vehicle
  • Lilpop III - operated from 1939 to 1973, a vehicle preserved as a historic vehicle
  • Konstal N (Konstal 2N)
  • Konstal 4N (Konstal 5N) - a vehicle with a sidecar preserved as a historic vehicle
  • Konstal 102N (Konstal 802N)
  • Konstal 102N
  • Konstal 803N - operated from 1973 to 2012, a vehicle preserved as a historic vehicle
  • Lohner GT6 - operated from 2009 to 2012
  • Düwag GT8 - operated from 2009 to 2012
  • Düwag GT8 type Freiburg - operated from 2006 to 2012

Depots and other buildings in the tram network

Surname location owner opening annotation
Tram depot No. 1 (Polish: Zajezdnia Tramwajowa nr 1 (Telefoniczna)) ul.Telefoniczna MPK-Łódź 1986
Tram depot No. 2 (Polish: Zajezdnia Tramwajowa nr 2) ul Pabianicka MPK-Łódź 1901 Until the closure of the Dąbrowskiego depot (tram depot No. 2) tram depot No. 3
Institute of Technology (Tramwajowa) (Polish: Zakład Techniki) Street Tramwajowa 6 MPK-Łódź 1898/1986 Until 1986 tram depot no. 1, main workshop: responsible for modernizing the trams
Institute for Infrastructure (Polish: Zakład Torów i Sieci) ul.Dąbrowskiego 23 MPK-Łódź Near the former Dąbrowskiego depot
Tramwaje Podmiejskie Sp. Z oo tram depot (Polish: Zajezdnia Tramwajów Podmiejskich) ul.Konstantynowska 115 TP 1910 Until 1994 the depot No. 4 of the MPK; there are plans to build a public transport museum there
MKT tram depot (Polish: Zajezdnia MKT (Helenówek)) ul.Zgierska 256 MKT 1901 Until 1993 the depot No. 5 of the MPK

In 2012 there was a change in the ownership of the individual depots.

literature

  • Hans Lenhart, Claude Jeanmaire: Tram companies in Eastern Europe. Tramway systems of Eastern Europe. Verlag Eisenbahn, Villigen, 1975 and 1977. Part I: Trams in the GDR and Poland, ISBN 3-85649-025-6 .
  • Robert Schwandl: Tram Atlas Poland Poland . 1st edition. Robert Schwandl Verlag, Berlin 2017, ISBN 978-3-936573-50-3 , pp. 64–73 , chapter Łódź (German, English).

Web links

Commons : Trams in Łódź  - collection of pictures, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. Bogestra: MPK Łódź buys an NF6D, 35 more as an option www.drehscheibe-online.de, April 4, 2017