Iași tram

Iași tram
Former Darmstadt DWM car at the train station (Gara)
Basic information
Country	Romania
city	Iași
opening	March 1, 1900
electrification	since opening
operator	CTP Iași
Infrastructure
Route length	35 km
Gauge	1000 mm ( meter gauge )
Power system	600 volt DC overhead line
Operating mode	Furnishing operation
Stops	55
Depots	2
business
Lines	8th
vehicles	180
Top speed	50 km / h
Network plan

The Iași tram is the electrical transport network of the city of Iași (German: Jassy ) in northeast Romania . With a track length of 82.6 kilometers, it is one of the longer tram networks in Romania. In Romania, besides the Arad tram, only the Iași tram has a meter-gauge rail network. Eight lines currently operate and serve 55 stops.

history

Beginnings

On the basis of Act No. 713 on the Iași tram license, issued by King Charles I on February 25, 1898 , the Iași City Council, represented by Mayor Nicolae Gane, signed with the German company on March 19, 1898 AEG from Berlin signed a contract for the construction of an electric tram network. The engineer Carol Litarszek was appointed the first director of the Iasi tram (1898–1901).

On March 1, 1900, the first electric tram was put into operation on the route between the train station and the town hall. As the newspaper Ecoul Moldovei reported on February 24, 1900, the tram ran from 7 a.m. to 11 p.m. every 7.5 minutes. The price for a round trip was 15 bani .

In 1901, one year after the opening, five lines were in operation (train station ↔ Piața Unirii, Păcurari ↔ Nicolina, Copou ↔ Socola, Strada Albă ↔ Abator and Târgu Cucu ↔ Sărărie) with 19 carriages. The route network reached a length of 17.3 kilometers, making it the largest in Romania, larger than in Brăila , Galați and Bucharest .

Interwar period

In 1916, when Romania entered the war, the Romanian activities of AEG were nationalized and four years later the city of Iași took over the tram systems and vehicles under its own administration. On June 8, 1924, the Societatea Comunală de Electricitate Iași (SCEI, German: Kommunale Elektrizitätsgesellschaft Jassy) was founded. In 1929 the trams were modernized according to plans by engineers Huhulea and Dorogan.

The Second World War was a time of the decline of the Iasi tram. While 45 trams were in use in 1938, the number of operational trams had fallen to 19 in 1945.

Time of communist rule

Historic two-axle vehicle number 100 in 2008

After the Second World War, the operation of the tram in Iași was reorganized several times into the following companies: ETACS (Electricitate, Tramvaie, Apă, Canal, Salubritate) (1949–1957), Întreprinderea Comunală de Electricitate și Transport (ICET) (1957–1961), Întreprinderea de Transport Iași (ITI) (1961–1979), Întreprinderea Județeană de Transport Local (IJTL) Iași (1979–1990).

Tatra T4R No. 220, Calea Chișinăului (2005)

In the period from 1948 to 1990, much work was done to expand and modernize the tram network. New trams of the types ITB V58 (since 1959), Tatra T4R (since 1978) and Timiș 2 (since 1981) were used. The fleet of cars grew from year to year and reached 128 vehicles in 1970. In addition, new depots were built: in 1976 the tram depot was opened on Strada Uzinei and in 1983 the tram and bus depot in Dacia.

After 1990

A former Augsburg GT4 with full German advertising on the Piaţa Unirii

A type GT5 car from Augsburg on line 6, 2005

After the Romanian Revolution in 1989 , the Regia Autonomă de Transport în Comun (RATC) was established, which inherited from the former IJTL Iași. Due to the fact that meter gauge trams were no longer produced in Romania, the RATC was unable to acquire new vehicles. Instead, old type V58 wagons were modernized in the company's own workshop (from 1991) and also used standard gauge wagons of types V2A and V3A taken over from Oradea between 1992 and 1996 by the company SC Nicolina SA (the former Iași railway workshop). In 1997 the Iași tram had 159 cars.

Later used trams were bought:

1997 ten GT4 from the Stuttgart trams .

1998 19 Tatra T4D cars from the Halle (Saale) tram and 16 ST7 and ST8 from the Darmstadt tram . From 2009 to 2013 all cars of the ST7 / ST8 series (except for car 23 of the ST7) from Darmstadt were scrapped.

2000 further 15 GT4s from Stuttgart and eight Tatra T4s from Halle.

2001 14 GT5 cars from the Augsburg tram . In 2004 the first two vehicles were scrapped. Then in 2006 the next one. Another followed in 2009. Mostly parked between 2010 and 2013, but few vehicles were reactivated for a short time in 2011. Nine GT5 were scrapped in 2013. A vehicle with the car number 354 (ex Augsburg 545) could be saved from scrapping and is now preserved in a museum.

2003 27 modernized GT4s from Halle, originally from Stuttgart.

2004 ten (including two modernized) GT4 from Augsburg, which originally come from Stuttgart.

In 2007 ten ST10 and ST11 from Darmstadt and 31 modernized GT4 from Stuttgart.

In 2009, 13 modernized GT4 cars, originally from Stuttgart, and one GT8 from Augsburg.

In 2012, nine more GT8s from Augsburg followed. So far, however, there has been no use. In the same year three GT4s from Nordhausen (formerly Stuttgart) were handed over.

Swiss standard car train from Bern on line 6 in front of the Grand Hotel Traian, 2005

Parallel to these acquisitions, Iași benefited from 2003 from donations of trams organized by the Swiss State Secretariat for Economic Affairs SECO . As part of this program, six four-axle large-capacity multiple units of the type Be 4/4 and a few trailers came to Iași from the Bern tram in 2003 and in 2004 . Four eight-axle articulated multiple units of the type Be 8/8 followed in 2008 and ten in 2010.

Between 2002 and 2006, the RATC Iași was split into two companies: Regia Autonomă de Transport Electric în Comun Iași (RATEC) and SC “Autobuzul” SA After reunification, the company was renamed Regia Autonoma de Transport Public Iași (RATP).

Since 1997, several tram routes have been renewed by the city. In 1997 the Podu Roş ↔ CUG 2 line was shut down on March 29, 1997 after an accident on the CUG 1 loop. Here the Tatra T4R 203 railcar collided with the Timiș 2 sidecar 343. The trams ran for another two weeks, then lines 9 and 10 were shut down.

present

Type ST10 car 276, formerly Darmstadt 7604 at the Dacia depot, 2008

In 1995 and 1996 it was discussed to change the tram network in Iași to standard gauge (1435 millimeters). However, this was not pursued further because the costs would have been more than 400 million euros, the work would have taken more than two years and, in particular, automobile traffic would have been impaired, and standard-gauge trams would have been more difficult to fit into the narrow streets of Iași.

In the first decade of the 21st century, a comprehensive program to rehabilitate the tram tracks began. The following sections were rehabilitated: Pasaj Nicolina ↔ Podul de Piatră, Podul de Piatră ↔ Railway Station ↔ Billa ↔ Canta, Pasajul Alexandru cel Bun, Strada Arcu ↔ Centru ↔ Târgu Cucu ↔ Cinci Drumuri, Tătărași Sud ↔ Tătărași North ↔ Strada Nicoriță.

The following types of cars are currently used on the Iași tram: GT4, GT4-M, GT8, Be 4/4 + B4 , Be 8/8, ST10 and ST11. Museum vehicles also run on various occasions.

Current line network

GT4 cars on Cuza Vodă Street

line	Line route	time	length
1	Copou → Podu Roș → Tătărași → Târgu Cucu → Copou	70 min	17.2 km
3	Dancu ↔ Tătărași ↔ Târgu Cucu ↔ Railway Station	64 min	17.2 km
6th	Dacia ↔ Railway Station ↔ Târgu Cucu	52 min	12.4 km
7th	Canta ↔ Railway Station ↔ Târgu Cucu ↔ Baza 3 ↔ Țuțora	60 min	14.6 km
8th	Baza 3 ↔ Tudor Vladimirescu ↔ Copou	60 min
9	Copou ↔ Târgu Cucu ↔ Podu Roș ↔ Tehnopolis	? min
11	Dacia ↔ Nicolina Railway Station ↔ Tătărași North	80 min	20.9 km
13	Copou → Târgu Cucu → Tătărași → Podu Roș → Copou	70 min	17.2 km

Former tram lines

GT4 number 147 from Halle (originally Freiburg ) on line 3 in Strada Padurii

Car 280 on line 6 at Târgu Cucu

Swiss standard car number 154 (formerly Bern 629, built 1961) on line 3 at the train station

Car 107 of the type ST7 from Darmstadt on line 6 in front of the Grand Hotel Traian, 2005

1 (Copou - Baza 3 - Țuțora)
1b (Copou - Baza 3)
2b (Canta - Train Station - Podu de Piatră - N. Iorga - Baza 3)
3b (Autogară - Centru - Tătărași Sud)
4 (Triumf - Tătărași - Tudor Vladimirescu - Triumf)
4b (Triumf - Tătărași Sud)
5b (Dacia - Podu Roș - Baza 3)
6 (Dacia - Târgu Cucu - Podu Roș - Țuțora)
7 (Canta - Târgu Cucu)
7 (Autogară - Podu Roș - Tătărași North)
8 (Triumf - Piața Unirii - Târgu Cucu - Tudor Vladimirescu - Tătărași - Triumf)
8b (Triumf - Baza 3)
9 (train station - Târgu Cucu - Podu Roș - CUG 2)
9b (Târgu Cucu - Podu Roș - CUG 2)
10 (Dacia - Podu de Piatră - Podu Roș - Pasaj Nicolina - CUG 2)
10b (Dacia - Podu de Piatră - Vol.Republicii (N. Iorga) - Pasaj Nicolina - CUG 2)
11 (Canta - Centru - Târgu Cucu)
12 (Tătărași North - Țuțora)
13 (Copou - Tătărași Sud)
13 (Dancu - Copou)
14 (Dancu - Tătărași North)
14 (Canta - Train Station - Vol.Republicii (N. Iorga) - Pasaj Nicolina - CUG 2)
15 (Tătărași North - Metalurgy - Țesătura - Vol.Republicii (N. Iorga) - Pasaj Nicolina - CUG 2)
16 (Canta - Centru - Tătărași - Metalurgie - Podu Roș - Târgu Cucu - Canta)
16b (Canta - Centru - Podu Roș - Metalurgie - Tătărași - Târgu Cucu - Canta)