Bratislava tram

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tram
Bratislava tram
image
Tram car type Škoda 30 T
Basic information
Country Slovakia
city Bratislava
opening August 27, 1895
operator Dopravný podnik Bratislava
Infrastructure
Route length 41.5 km
Gauge 1000 mm ( meter gauge )
Power system 600 volt DC overhead line
Depots 2
business
Lines 5
Top speed 50 km / h
Network plan

The Bratislava tram is the meter-gauge tram system of the Slovak capital, Bratislava, opened in 1895 and, along with the Košice tram, is one of two tram networks in Slovakia. It is operated by the transport company Dopravný podnik Bratislava as (DPB), which is also responsible for the Bratislava trolleybus , which went into operation in 1941, as well as the city bus service.

history

Danube Monarchy (1881 / 1893–1918)

Map of what was then Pressburg (1905), with the tram lines completed by then

The first plans to build a tram in what was then Pressburg (today: Bratislava) were proposed by the Viennese engineer Nicolaus Markovits in 1881, after a bus network had been in operation since 1868. However, this should still be a horse-drawn tram , and the single-track route should go from the former Coronation Hill Square (now in Slovak: Námestie Ľudovíta Štúra), across Promenade Square (now in Slovak: Hviezdoslavovo námestie), the market square (now: Námestie SNP) and St. Stephen's Street (now: Štefánikova) ulica) to the then building of the State Railway Station (today: Bratislava hlavná stanica ). However, this project was not continued.

In 1893 the Salzburg engineer Alexander Werner suggested a horse-drawn tram again, but then changed his proposal to an electric tram. On June 2, 1893, he received approval for preparatory work from the Hungarian Ministry of Commerce of the Austro-Hungarian Monarchy. According to the new plan, the main line on the Danube bank was extended to Vitézgasse (now defunct) in what was then Theresienstadt below the castle ; it remained largely identical up to the state train station, but led directly over the Promenadenplatz. According to this plan, branch lines should lead to the now defunct Neustädter Bahnhof (today the location of the Mlynské nivy bus station) and to the branch station (today: Bratislava filiálka station). In addition, some secondary routes were planned to connect suburbs and industrial sites within the next five years: The cartridge factory (not built), the Dynamit-Nobel factory and today's Račianske mýto via Schöndorferstrasse (today Obchodná ulica) and Landstrasse (today Radlinského ulica). The trams were to be supplied by the Budapest company Ganz .

In July 1893 a contract was signed between the Bratislava City Council and the Lindberg and Ganz company . On September 19, 1894, the concession to build the tram was granted; the actual construction began in May 1895. On August 27, 1895, the first section from the Danube bank to the intersection of today's streets Štefánikova and Krížkova was opened. In the same year the line to the state train station was extended. This route had 14 stops and was 3,125 meters long.

The branch lines to the Neustädter Bahnhof via Barossstraße (today Štúrova) and Justilände (today Dostojevského rad) and to the branch station via Spitalgasse (today Špitálska) and Kreuzgasse (today Krížna) were built as early as the next year. This opened up all three train stations in the city.

In 1897 the Lindberg company was shut down and the Részvénytársaság villamos és közlekedési vállalatok számára was founded. This was replaced in June 1898 by the Pozsonyi villamossagi reszvénytársaság DPB predecessor company. Before the turn of the century, today's Račianske mýto was also connected to the network.

At the beginning of the 20th century the existing lines were marked with the letters A to E, and Lyra pantographs were used. In 1909, the trackless railway from Preßburg – Eisenbrünnl to this factory and on to Železná studienka (German: Eisenbrünnl ), which existed until 1915, was built as a replacement for the unused route to the cartridge factory . In 1910, the expansion to the Dynamit-Nobel factory (at today's Vinohrady train station) was carried out from Landstraße and the connection to Spitalgasse was built.

Czechoslovakia, First Slovak Republic (1918–1945 / 1948)

A historic two-axle train

Shortly after the collapse of Austria-Hungary and the emergence of Czechoslovakia , to which the city now called “Bratislava” came, the points, overhead lines and wagons were fundamentally renewed and a tariff system was introduced. In 1922 the Pozsonyi villamossagi reszvénytársaság was renamed the Slovakian Bratislavská elektrická účastinárska spoločnosť (BEÚS). In addition, there were plans in the interwar period to convert the entire network to standard gauge, but this did not happen due to lack of money and other reasons.

The tram had to compete with bus traffic since 1927. The branch to Neustädter Bahnhof, now Nové Mesto station, was closed this year. A year earlier, the route through the Obchodná was also closed. However, the network was expanded further: in 1929 the tramway on the banks of the Danube was extended to Villa Lafranconi (September 7th) and Svrčia ulica on the then city limits (September 27th). On July 1, 1933, the Kreuzgasse branch was released to the Tehelné pole quarter on Vajnorská Street in the Nové Mesto district, which until the 1980s had a level crossing with the standard-gauge railway in the area of ​​the branch station before it was abandoned. The Czech manufacturer Tatra Studénka has supplied the cars since the 1930s. In 1935, BEÚS became the majority owner of the then Elektrická lokálna železnica Bratislava – krajinská hranica , which operated the Czechoslovak part of the Pressburg Railway , switched it from standard gauge to meter gauge and changed the power supply from alternating current to direct current (550 volts) used in the rest of the network.

After the Munich Agreement in 1938, tram traffic to Petržalka , which was now called “Engerau in the German Reich”, had to be stopped. At the end of 1942, the company that maintained the route was also liquidated. In the same year the last remaining Lyra pantographs were replaced by pantograph pantographs. In early 1944 the lines were marked with numbers instead of letters, which is still the case today. The line from Tehelné pole was further extended to Zátišie (at today's Nové Mesto station). After the Allied bombing raids on what was then the capital of the First Slovak Republic on June 16, 1944, damage was to be expected, and at the end of March 1945 operations were stopped because the front was approaching. Shortly after the occupation by Soviet troops, all parts of the tram, which was badly damaged by the Germans, had to be repaired.

Czechoslovakia and the "Building of Socialism" (1948–90)

A historical car of the type Tatra T2

After the KSČ came to power in Czechoslovakia, the BEÚS was nationalized and in 1949 incorporated into the newly formed company Dopravné závody mesta Bratislava (DOZÁB, Bratislava City Transport Company). In the same year new wagons from Siemens and Tatra were used, the last single-track line on the Danube bank was expanded to double-track and extended to today's Vodárenská street in Karlova Ves. The distance along the street Vajnorská in 1951 after Kolónia Mierová and 1956 as the new custodian Jurajov dvor continued. The connection to Petržalka was restored in 1951, but closed for good in 1961. However, in 1965 a branch to the Nové Mesto station, a short connection between the lines to the Vinohrady station and the Jurajov dvor depot, and in 1966 the line from the Vinohrady station to Rača (Detvianska street) were opened to traffic. The Tatra T2 wagons were first used around 1960 ; From around 1965 on, the Tatra T3 cars were also available .

In the 1970s and 1980s the tram experienced a renewed upswing: new lines were built and old ones modernized in order to make the newly emerging prefabricated housing estates accessible. The two oil crises in 1973 and 1979 also helped to return to electric traction. The section to Ružinov first went into operation in 1971. The branch to Karlova Ves was fundamentally rebuilt from 1971 to 1975 and added to the end of the Karlova Ves district. During this time, some routes in the old town were relocated and in 1975 the first depot on Pribinova Street was abandoned. 1979–1980 the branch was relocated to the main station, whereby the old town lost the direct connection there. In 1981 tram traffic on Obchodná Street was restored and in 1983 the tunnel under the Bratislava Castle , previously a road tunnel, was rebuilt for the tram. The new Dúbravka prefabricated housing estate was connected to the network in 1984 and 1986 by expanding it to Hanulova Street and Pri kríži district. In the meantime the last of the old Tatra T2 wagons have been taken out of service. In 1988 the Rača branch was expanded into the Komisárky district and in 1989 the Zlaté piesky resort was opened up, which was to be the last expansion for the next 27 years.

The operating company DOZÁB was reorganized twice at the end of the 1980s: in 1987 the group company Dopravné podniky hlavného mesta SSR Bratislavy (for example: Transport Company of the Capital of the Slovak Socialist Republic of Bratislava), from which in 1989 Dopravný podnik Bratislava, štátny podnik (Bratislava Transport Company , state company) emerged . Today it operates as Dopravný podnik Bratislava as (Verkehrsbetrieb Bratislava AG).

After that, the focus was on the construction of the first underground line, which began in 1988 but stopped again shortly after the Velvet Revolution .

Present (1990 to today)

The 1990s were marked by longer investment breaks and general austerity measures, because there were hopes for the construction of the subway, but this was not realized. During this time, Tatra T6A5 wagons were purchased and the older Tatra K2 wagons were modernized. Other car types such as the Škoda 06T were also tested at times . Plans for the underground construction were abandoned in 2002.

In November 2012, a decision by the Bratislava city government for a new light rail project was announced. A new light rail line to be built is to lead in a north-south direction from the main station through the old town, crossing the Danube, to the Petržalka district. The EU is said to have promised to cover 85% of the construction costs estimated at EUR 420 million, and the first opening should be in 2015.

The first section (2.4 kilometers) from Šafárikova námestie to the Jungmannova stump end point on the right of the Danube was opened on July 8, 2016, so there has been a tram route to Petržalka again for 55 years. It leads over the Starý most , a former road bridge that was closed for a long time due to damage and gave way to a replacement. For a possible future of a Regiotram, the entire new line was provided with four-rail tracks (meter gauge / standard gauge). The section cost 58.5 million euros, of which the EU, as promised, was subsidized with 85%. The Slovak state subsidized a further 10% of the total.

The second part up to Janíkov dvor is still in the planning phase. Previously, on November 2, 2011, the route to the main train station was temporarily closed due to the poor state of construction and was only reopened in 2014. The new line from Dúbravka to Karlova ves should be completed by mid-September 2020, after which direct trains from Karlova ves to the city center will be possible.

Line network

The tram tunnel under the Bratislava Castle

The network operated today covers 41.5 km (0.79 km of which is underground) and is almost entirely two-pronged. It extends almost exclusively on the left bank of the Danube from Bratislava. Essentially, it consists of a small network in the old town from which several branches branch off. These branches connect the old town with the districts of Petržalka , Dúbravka (via Karlova Ves ), Rača , the Zlaté piesky recreation area (via Nové Mesto , with branches to the Bratislava-Nové Mesto train station and the Ružinov district ) and the main train station .

The whole network is built in meter gauge (1000 mm) and electrified with 600 V direct current.

The maximum speed has been limited by the company to 50 km / h, most vehicles would be approved for 65 km / h. In 2013 the tram carried 63.608 million passengers - around 27.6 percent of all passengers carried on the DPB network, although a decline has been observed in recent years.

List of lines:

line route
1
 Hlavná Stanica - Obchodná - Nám. SNP - Nám. Ľ. Štúra - Štúrova - Nám. SNP - Obchodná - Hlavná Stanica
2
 Number currently not assigned
3
 Rača , Komisárky - ŽST Vinohrady - Račianske mýto - Americké nám. - Štúrova - Starý most - Petržalka , Jungmannova
4th
 Zlaté piesky / ŽST Nové Mesto - Vajnorská - Trnavské mýto - Špitálska - Nám. SNP - Tunnel - Karlova Ves - Dúbravka , Pri kríži
5
 Number currently not assigned
6th
 Number currently not assigned
7th
 Rača, Komisárky - ŽST Vinohrady - Račianska - Hlavná Stanica
8th
 Number currently not assigned
9
 Ružinov , Astronomická - Trnavské mýto - Obchodná - tunnel - Karlova Ves

Line 7 only runs during rush hour.

On March 19, 2012, the number of lines was reduced from 14 to 8. To compensate for this reduction, the cycle times were shortened and standardized; they are now eight minutes during rush hour and 15 minutes outside.

Infrastructure

  • Depots: Jurajov dvor, Krasňany, Martanovičova (until 1975)
  • Reversible loops: Dúbravka-Pri kríži, Hlavná stanica, Karlova Ves, Rača-Komisárky, Ružinov-Astronomická, Zlaté piesky, ŽST Vinohrady, ŽST Nové Mesto

dare

Tatra T3 (photo from 1993)
Tatra T6A5, Saleziáni stop

Today different trams run on the routes, as well as some modernized variants. Most of the vehicles are painted in the city colors of red, silver and white, but there are also advertised or older red and cream-colored vehicles. In 2014, the operator owned a total of 244 cars with an average age of around 26.5 years.

literature

  • Gerhard Bauer: Trams in the Czech and Slovak Republics. From the horse tram to the Tatra carriage. The history of the tram company in words and pictures ; Verlag für Verkehrsliteratur Bauer, Dresden 1995, ISBN 3980430308
  • Thomas Naumann: Bratislava: Tram on the way into the future , part 1. In: Stadtverkehr , ISSN  0038-9013 , issue 5/2017, pp. 30–37

Web links

Commons : Bratislava tram  - collection of pictures, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Bratislava urban transport funding reallocated , accessed on December 26, 2012
  2. ↑ Tram opened across the Danube . In: Strassenbahn-Magazin , issue 9/2016, p. 13.
  3. ↑ Petržalská električka - 2. časť: úsek Bosákova - Janíkov dvor , imhd.sk (Slovak), accessed on July 12, 2016
  4. ↑ Odstavenie električkovej trate na Hlavnej stanici v Bratislave ( Memento of the original from January 27, 2012 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , bratislava.sk (Slovak), accessed November 7, 2011 @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / bratislava.sk
  5. ↑ Bratislava commences first phase of tram routes reconstruction on themayor.eu accessed on August 8, 2019
  6. ↑ Prepare for the re-routing of trams in Bratislava on spectator.sme.sk accessed on August 10, 2019
  7. ↑ Nové trasy električiek (from March 19, 2012) ( Memento of the original from March 16, 2012 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , imhd.sk (Slovak), accessed March 24, 2012 @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / imhd.zoznam.sk
  8. ↑ current number list according to [1]