Bucharest tram
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| Basic information | |
| Country | Romania |
| city | Bucharest |
| opening | December 28, 1872 |
| electrification | 1894 |
| operator | RATB |
| Infrastructure | |
| Route length | 137 km |
| Gauge | 1435 mm ( standard gauge ) |
| Power system | 750 volt DC overhead line |
| Operating mode | mostly facility operation |
| Depots | nine, plus main workshop |
| business | |
| Lines | 25th |
| vehicles | 650 |
| Top speed | 80 km / h |
| statistics | |
| Passengers | 112 million annually |
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The Bucharest tram is the largest tram system in Romania with 25 lines . The standard gauge network in the capital Bucharest has existed since 1872 and is now 137 kilometers long (as of 2018). Today the tram is operated by the municipal transport company Regia Autonomă de Transport București , or RATB for short . This is also responsible for the Bucharest trolleybus, which opened in 1949, and city bus traffic, but not for the Bucharest Metro, which has been operating since 1979 .
For many decades the Bucharest tram main workshop produced new trams for the capital itself, but also for almost all other Romanian companies. Numerous older cars were also completely modernized. In this context, the main workshop was also known as Atelierele Centrale ale Societății de Transport București or, after the Second World War, under Uzina de Reparaţii Atelierele Centrale , or URAC for short
history
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The forerunner of today's electric tram was a horse-drawn tram . It went into operation on December 28, 1872 as the city's first public transport and connected the Piața Sfântul Gheorghe with the Podul Târgoviştei at the Bucureşti Nord station . This was the first tram in what was then the Kingdom of Romania , the Timișoara tram , which opened in 1869, still belonged to Austria-Hungary at the time . The first operating company was Buchurest Tramways, founded in 1871 , which belonged to the internationally operating Tramways Union Company Limited based in England. The company opened additional routes and by 1895 already had four lines on which 45 cars were used.
In 1890, a second foreign company, the Société Anonyme d'Entreprises, Liège from Belgium, entered the scene and in 1893 received a concession for a 5.5 kilometer long electrically operated line between Obor and Cotroceni. This was expanded to two tracks over a length of 3.05 kilometers and began operating on December 9, 1894. It was the first in Romania, even in the parts of the country that were added later there were no electric trams at that time. The company Siemens & Halske from Vienna was entrusted with the installation of the electrical system including the street lighting ; the substation was located at the western end of Cotroceni. The electric was operated with eight railcars, former horse-drawn carriages served as sidecars. Further electrification was not allowed by the city administration, the influence from abroad was not wanted.
Also in 1894 the Buchurest Tramways received a new concession for a further 21 years, which was sold in 1898. In that year the Bucharest tram network was almost 20 kilometers long, although the horse-drawn tram and the electric tram had no track connection. The merger did not take place until 1909, when the city itself - in competition with the two private companies - founded the communal company Societatea Comunală a Tramvaielor, Bucureşti (STB) in order to advance the further electrification of the network. From 1911 on, the STB operated electric tram itself. The new wagons were initially supplied by the J. G. Brill Company from the United States, and then from 1920 by the Grazer Waggonfabrik . Only when their license expired could the two private companies be integrated into the STB. Finally, in 1929, Bucharest - as the last major European city - stopped running horses.
This was followed by an extensive expansion of the network, growing from 86 kilometers in 1936 to 144 kilometers in 1943 - at that time, 841 cars were already in use - and finally to 351 kilometers in 1980. At the same time, however - especially in the center - Numerous routes were also shut down and replaced by trolleybuses and later also by the metro. For example, in 1964, when the busy route along the Bulevardul Nicolae Bălcescu was closed, three tram lines were no longer available. In return, however, numerous new lines went into operation in the outskirts, and with line 26 a ring line was built around the city center , which was the only line in the network with a red line number and also operated all night.
In addition, a continuous modernization took place beginning in the 1930s. Above all, this included the introduction of the passenger flow principle and the establishment of the facility in 1934 . In 1937 there were already 19 tram lines, and at that time there were 24 bus lines running parallel to them.
The STB traded as Întreprinderea de Transport Bucureşti (ITB) from 1950 , before today's RATB was founded in 1990 as a result of the 1989 revolution .
Lines
The Bucharest tram lines operate as follows in 2015:
| line | Line route | Hold |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Șura Mare - Basarab train station - Șura Mare (exit) (ring line) | 46 |
| 4th | Progresul train station ↔ Zețarilor | 7th |
| 5 | Piața Sf. Gheorghe ↔ Pasaj Băneasa | 16 |
| 7th | Progresul train station ↔ Piața Unirii | 18th |
| 8th | Depoul Militari ↔ Zețarilor | 30th |
| 11 | Zețarilor ↔ Cartier February 16 | 34 |
| 14th | Piața Sf. Vineri ↔ Granitul | 13 |
| 16 | Piața Sf. Gheorghe ↔ Platforma Industrială Pipera | 20th |
| 21st | Piața Sf. Gheorghe ↔ Pasaj Colentina | 14th |
| 23 | Zețarilor ↔ Complex RATB Titan | 36 |
| 24 | Cartier Dămăroaia ↔ Vasile Pârvan | 17th |
| 25th | Progresul train station ↔ Depoul Militari | 35 |
| 27 | Complex RATB Titan ↔ Piața Unirii | 25th |
| 32 | Depoul Alexandria ↔ Piața Unirii | 11 |
| 35 | Depoul Militari ↔ Basarab train station | 21st |
| 36 | Republica ↔ Platforma Industrială Pipera | 26th |
| 40 | Complex RATB Titan ↔ Piața Sf. Vineri | 26th |
| 41 | Piața Presei ↔ Ghencea | 15th |
| 42 | Piața Presei ↔ Gara de Nord | 12 |
| 44 | Cartier February 16 ↔ Vasile Pârvan | 16 |
| 45 | Mezes ↔ Gara de Nord | 15th |
| 46 | Gara de Nord ↔ Granitul | 26th |
| 47 | Piața Unirii ↔ Ghencea | 14th |
| 56 | Piața Sf. Vineri ↔ Republica | 15th |
The line layout changes frequently due to track construction work.
Light rail
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In 1998 the RATB started a project to modernize the tram network. In this context, the term Metrou ușor (literally translated as light metro , i.e. light rail ) was used, which refers to the fact that the tram runs on tracks that are completely independent of road traffic, reaches higher speeds and only stops at the stops. In order to achieve such a system, it was not enough to change the route, it was also necessary to introduce a type of car that can reach higher speeds without compromising safety and passenger comfort.
So far, some separate tracks have been created on line 41, the rest of them continue to run in the street area, but have been marked as a priority area for the tram with lane markings . There are plans to build another light rail line to Henri Coandă Airport .
The line 41 is the first line of the Bucharest tram, at traffic lights , a priority circuit possesses. On the entire route it has an independent track structure (which can only be crossed by vehicles or pedestrians in marked areas) and green waves at all intersections. Modernized railcars of the type V3A are currently operating on the light rail line.
Line 41 crosses Bucharest from Presei Square to Ghencea District (in the area of the Steaua Stadium) along the route: Presei Square (terminus) - Mărăşti Boulevard - Alexander Averescu Boulevard - Turda Street - Pasaj Grant - Crângaşi- Route - Virtuții Street (Militari) - Pasaj Lujerului - Brasov Street (Drumul Taberei) - Ghencea Boulevard (terminus). Both terminals are the first multimodal connection points for public transport in Bucharest.
Important destinations that are served by this route are: the Pullman Bucharest World Trade Center, the Institute of Agriculture, the Caşin Church (in its vicinity also the Triumphal Arch ), the Institutul de Cercetare și Proiectare în Informatică (ICI), the Grant Bridge, the Odeon Theater and the Giuleşti Stadium , the Ștrandul Dâmboviţa swimming pool, the Lujerului underpass and the Steaua Stadium .
The track consists of type CF 94 rails. The track structure is concreted or greened. The travel speed is faster than any other Bucharest tram line. The travel time for the entire route is around 30 minutes.
Rolling stock
Tatra T4R
The T4R railcars were produced by the Czechoslovak manufacturer ČKD Tatra between 1973 and 1975. A total of 131 cars were delivered. A T4R car has 20 seats and 77 standing places. These are currently running on lines 8, 25, 35 and 47.
V2A / ST
In 1998 a program to modernize the Tatra wagons was started, using three bogies from two T4Rs and building a new railcar based on their car bodies . The first two copies were bidirectional cars (V2S-T), the later one-way cars (V2A-T). Originally 126 Tatra cars were to be converted into 63 Bucur cars. In November 2008, when eleven Bucur cars were built, the continuation of the project became questionable. These wagons are currently used on lines of the Militari depot, especially on line 8.
V3A
The V3A is the first type of articulated tram produced in Romania. It was manufactured by URAC from 1972 and built for Bucharest, Cluj-Napoca , Brăila , Constanța (model V3A-C, for a voltage of 825 volts), Oradea , Ploieşti , Braşov and Botoşani until 1990 . The Oradeaer wagons later went to Iași , where they were converted to meter gauge.
The first project to modernize the rolling stock from 1989 envisaged the conversion of the V3A cars manufactured between 1973 and 1990. So - in a modification of the original plan - the first V3A-93 was manufactured by URAC in 1993, which replaced a V3A and was given its car number. Between 2004 and 2006, four V3A-93s with a low-floor middle section were built to enable barrier-free entry. The last V3A-93 was built in 2007. All railcars of the types V2A, V2A-2S, V3A and V3A-2S (except number 205) are driven by two series-wound direct current motors with a nominal output of 120 kilowatts each.
In 1995, the construction plans for the V3A-93 model were sent to the Electroputere company in Craiova. Electroputere manufactured the cars with the numbers 358 and 359. Because URAC was not satisfied with the result, cooperation with FAUR , a Bucharest-based rail vehicle manufacturer , began in 1995 . FAUR produced 52 cars between 1995 and 2004, which are designated as V3A-93M and were the result of the modification of the V3A-93 project by FAUR.
Between 1997 and 2000 Electroputere again delivered 13 more new trams to Bucharest, also based on the V3A-93M model, but with a different design. As an experiment, the first three cars were equipped with DC voltage converters from the Dutch company Holec, which made recuperative braking possible for the first time at the RATB . These cars are designated as V3A-H. The other ten cars were equipped with the classic series resistor control. Car 246, on the other hand, was experimentally equipped with another DC / DC converter, which over time has proven to be unreliable and has therefore been replaced by a series resistor control.
In order to continue the modernization of the rolling stock, the first V3A-93-CH-PPC (CH = Chopper, PPC = podea parțial coborâtă partially lowered floor ) was built in 2006 . Apart from a modified design and the low-floor middle section, the cars of this type are the first large-scale series with chopper control (DC voltage converter). Since 2006, the last remaining V3A cars have been replaced by V3A-93-CH-PPC. Then the V2A wagons were parked and all replaced by V3A-93-CH-PPC in order to increase transport capacity and reduce operating costs.
In 2008, at the end of the revision period for car V3A-H number 205, it was decided to replace the engine and electrical equipment, as the old spare parts could no longer be obtained. This car was equipped with two three-phase asynchronous motors with a nominal output of 240 kilowatts as well as a traction converter that converts the DC voltage of the contact wire into three-phase AC voltage and adapts the voltage and frequency to the motor speed. This car is based at the Alexandria depot and only runs on line 41.
V2A-2S / V3A-2S / V3A-2S-93
In the 1980s, eight V3A one-way cars were converted into V3A-2S bidirectional cars due to the numerous metro construction sites at the time and the associated provisional routes. The renovation required the installation of doors on both sides, the presence of two driver's cabs, two pantographs and the installation of two electrical equipment ( driving switches , contactors and resistors). For the same reason eight single articulated railcars V2A-2S with the same properties were built (numbers 4037-4044). Of the eight V3A-2S cars, two were scrapped and replaced by V3A-93, the other six were replaced between 2006 and 2007 by six V3A-2S-93 cars, which are bi-directional versions of the V3A-93. Since 2009 the eight V2A-2S wagons have also been scrapped and replaced by V3A-2S-93. These are located at the Victoria depot and only run on line 5.
Bucur Low Floor
The Bucur Low Floor tram (Bucur LF) is the most modern type of tram in Bucharest and has been manufactured by the main workshop since 2007. It offers numerous improvements in terms of both modern design and technology. It is a one-way multi-articulated vehicle with 66% low-floor space. 14 cars have been produced so far. They are currently based in the Dudeşti depot and only run on line 1.
Former wagons
V951 and V54
The V951s produced in the company's own workshops and the V54s produced by Electroputere from Craiova were the first open- plan cars in Bucharest. A total of 268 of the two series were delivered between 1951 and 1959. A large part was extensively modernized between 1976 and 1982, the scheduled use took place until 2000.
LHB
In 1969 Linke-Hofmann-Busch (LHB) delivered an eight-axle one-way articulated multiple unit to Bucharest, which was added to the inventory under the car number 3501. It was based on the six-axle 13-18, later 6951-6956, also delivered to the Braunschweig tram in 1969 . A follow-up order was not placed, instead the model of the main workshop served as a prototype for the V3A. The LHB loner was in use until the second half of the 1980s and was then scrapped.
Rathgeber
The three-axle multiple units and sidecars of the types Rathgeber M5.65 / m5.65 and M4.65 / m4.65 came from the Munich tram to Bucharest from second hand between 1993 and 1997 ; in Romania they were converted into four-axle bogie cars. Most of these cars were parked or scrapped in 2007. The last remaining train was converted into a track washing car. Several M5.65 are used for maneuvering and for material transport.
Two trains of the younger Rathgeber type P3.16 were also acquired from Munich . In Romania, however, they were never used as planned, number 2008 was converted into a party car, the remaining three cars were scrapped.
V09
The two-axle wagons with wooden bodies of the type V09 were procured from the Belgian manufacturer Dyle et Bacalan from 1927 , their electrical equipment came from the Compagnie Française Thomson-Houston . They ran until 1976, a car of this type was restored by the main workshop in 1996 and is housed in the Dudeşti depot.
V08, V10, V12, V56 and V58
Between 1956 and 1967, the main workshop produced a total of 467 railcars and 1106 sidecars of a new two-axle steel car type under the type designations V56 and V58 (railcars) and V08, V10 and V12 ( sidecars ). Including both reconstructions of older vehicles with wooden structures and new buildings. Most of these cars were produced for the capital itself, but all of the other Romanian tram networks of the time were also equipped with them. They were in use in Bucharest until the 1980s, one of which has been preserved as a museum car and is also stationed in the Dudeşti depot.
V2A
The type V2A is a two-part articulated wagon, with two motor bogies and a running bogie under the joint, which were manufactured by the main workshop. From 1982 42 railcars were produced for lines with lower demand. There were also eight bidirectional V2A-2S cars. These cars have not been in use since 2010.
Work car
The RATB has numerous wagons for material transport and track maintenance. Some of them are converted passenger cars, such as the four grinding locomotives from 1960, three of which are still in use today as snow blowers . Other work cars were built specifically for this purpose, such as the small locomotives called Măgăruş ( little donkeys ).
Depots
- Alexandria
- Bucureștii Noi (also trolleybus)
- Giulești
- Colentina
- Dudeşti
- Giurgiului
- Militari
- titanium
- Victoria
literature
- A. Günther, S. Tarkhov, C. Blank: Tram atlas Romania 2004 . Working group Blickpunkt Straßenbahn e. V., Berlin 2004, ISBN 3-926524-23-5 .
- Hans Lehnhart: The tram companies in Romania . In: Der Stadtverkehr, Issues 11-12 / 1966 and 3/1967.
Web links
- Website of the operator RATB (Romanian)
- Picture galleries of the Bucharest tram on public-transport.net
- Bucharest tram on UrbanRail.Net
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b R.ATB statistics
- ↑ List of tram lines on the RATB website
- ↑ Proiectul privind metroul usor Gara de Nord - Otopeni ar putea fi transferat la Primaria Capitalei ( ro ) Accessed on 9 April of 2009.
- ↑ Tram atlas Romania 2004, page 10
