Timisoara tram
| Timisoara tram | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Route length: | 30.9 km, of which single-track: 0.3 km |
| Gauge : | 1435 mm ( standard gauge ) |
| Power system : | 600 volts =, originally 550 volts = |
| Opening: | July 8, 1869 |
| Electrification: | July 27, 1899 |
| Operator: | Societatea de Transport Public Timișoara |
| Lines: | seven |
| Stops: | 69 |
| Passengers: | 52 million annually |
The Timișoara tram is the second largest tram operator in Romania after the Bucharest tram . The total network length is 33.1 kilometers, and a total of 69 stops are served. Currently, the seven lines 1, 2, 4, 6, 7, 8 and 9 operate in Timișoara , which together cover seven of the ten city districts. Only Freidorf , Ghiroda Nouă and Plopi have no tram connection. However, Freidorf at least had a rail connection until 2009, but has since been served by bus line 3 in permanent rail replacement services. Line 5 has also been replaced by buses since September 2, 2017.
The network is standard gauge and goes back to the horse tram that was opened in 1869 , which was electrified and expanded in 1899. Furthermore, the Timișoara tram was the first tram operator in what is now Romania, and later the second electrically operated tram in Romania.
The tram operator is the public limited company Societatea de Transport Public Timișoara , STPT for short.The urban rail network traditionally forms the backbone of local public transport , it has been supplemented by the Timișoara trolleybus since 1942 and from 1894–1899, 1926–1929, 1934–1948 and since 1954 through various bus routes. The three urban modes of transport together transport 90 million passengers annually, 52 million of which are on the tram.
Special features of the operation are or were the various ring lines since 1936, freight traffic with state railroad cars on tram tracks from 1899 to 1904 and from 1916 to 1993, the use of twin railcars from 1931 to 1988, the use of bidirectional cars with one-sided doors from 1966 to 1980 and the Signaling by means of red line numbers between 1978 and 1997. In addition, the previously practiced routing of double-track lines separated according to the direction of travel on the roadside or on the left and right of a wide central strip.
Furthermore, from 1914 onwards, the Timișoara tram workshops also produced tram cars for their own use. For example, the Timiș 2 type, which used to be widespread in Romania, is an in-house development of the Timișoara tram. Its production - including for numerous other Romanian tram companies - was transferred by the transport company to the mechanical engineering company Electrometal Timișoara in 1977 , which ended in-house production.
Network development and line history
The horse train era (1869–1899)
The tram in Timișoara, founded by Temesvári Közúti Vaspálya Részvénytársaság and originally called Temesvári Közúti Vaspálya Részvénytársaság , the German equivalent was Temesvárer Straßen-Eisenbahn-Gesellschaft , was founded on July 8, 1869 and was among the first horse-drawn trams in the world when it opened . It initially only ran between the Piața Sfântul Gheorghe in the inner city and the factory town , and from October 25 of the same year on a second line between the inner city and the left bank of the Bega in the Josefstadt . It was completed on September 29, 1871 with the extension of the somewhat younger line to today's North Station . Operational peculiarities were the two-class system and the freight traffic for today's Timișoreana brewery .
Conversion to electrical operation (1899)
At the end of the 19th century, the need for transport in what was then Temesvár increased sharply and the horse-drawn tram could only partially satisfy it. The city's population had almost doubled while the horse-drawn tram was in operation. In 1869 there were still 32,725 inhabitants in Temesvár, in 1900 there were already 59,229 inhabitants. This made the Banat capital one of the largest municipalities in the Austro-Hungarian dual monarchy . Furthermore, towards the end of the 19th century, a horse-powered tram was no longer considered appropriate. In Budapest , the capital Transleithaniens , drove example, since 1887 electric trams in Vienna , the capital Cisleithaniens since 1897. But four Hungarian provincial cities already before Temesvár an Electric - these were Pozsony (since 1895) and Miskolc , Szabadka and Szombathely (since 1897). In the Austrian half of the empire - with the exception of the capital - electricity was already being used in over ten cities.
The expansion of the network also became increasingly urgent. In particular, the residents of Elisabethstadt , which was still called Mayerhöfe at that time - which the horse-drawn tram only touched on the western edge - have long been demanding their own tram connection. The municipality was incorporated into Temesvár in 1890. Equally urgent was the improved connection of the peripherally located factory town station, since 1876 Temesvár's second station. The station, known today as Gara de Est, was located in the then undeveloped area north of the center of the factory town - over a kilometer from the centrally located Piața Traian - and had been connected by a horse-drawn bus line since 1895 .
The city administration under the leadership of the then mayor Karl Telbisz pushed the expansion plans . As early as the end of 1895, the municipality began negotiations in this regard with the then Temesvári Közúti Vaspálya Részvénytársaság ( TeKöVa ), a private joint-stock company that presented a corresponding concept on November 15, 1895. As a result, the company decided on electrification at the shareholders' meeting on July 20, 1897 and operated under the new name Temesvári Villamos Városi Vasút Részvénytársaság , TVVV for short , from July 21, 1897 . The official German equivalent, the logging of the company was bilingual, was Temesvárer Elektro Stadtbahn Actiengesellschaft . The authorities also issued a new license for the electrical company - also in 1897 - which was limited to December 31, 1959.
In July 1898, construction work on the new line network finally began. The financing was provided by the Hungarian Railway Transport Company from Budapest, in Hungarian Magyar Vasúti Forgalmi Részvénytársaság . With the creation of the electrical system, the United Electricity AG were vorm. B. Egger & Co. (VEAG) from Vienna and the electricity company Felix Singer & Co. from Berlin jointly entrusted. The comparatively small company Singer also equipped the trams in Bamberg (1897), Liegnitz (1898), Thorn (1899) and Stralsund (1900) with electricity. In each case, pantographs with contact rollers from the Dickinson system were used , which allowed a lateral deviation of up to three and a half meters. During the construction of the overhead line, decorated tubular steel masts from Mannesmann were used in exposed places such as in front of the Gara de Nord and on the Piața Libertății , otherwise ordinary wooden masts or cross wires and catenary rosettes in narrow streets . The contact wire had a diameter of eight millimeters and was installed at a height of 5.5 meters above the upper edge of the rail . However, the wooden poles failed because they rot too quickly. They therefore had to be completely replaced by steel lattice masts by 1904.
The first test drive took place on June 30, 1899, before regular electrical operation finally began on Thursday, July 27, 1899. This ended - apart from a nocturnal course to Gara de Nord and back - the horse-drawn tram service in Temesvár. The horse-drawn buses also finally ceased their service at that time. At the same time, the rail network grew from around six to 10.3 kilometers. Instead of the two horse-drawn tram radial lines and the supplementary horse-drawn bus line - none of which had any numbers - from then on, five electrically operated lines ran, including two diameter lines and three radial lines:
| line | route | Signage | length | Tact | Courses |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| I. | Parcul Uzinei - Gara de Nord | Malom tér - Belváros - Józsefvárosi Indóház | 5.159 km | 10 mins | 6th |
| II | Banatim - Splaiul Tudor Vladimirescu / Strada Mangalia | Buziási út - Belváros - Dunagőzhajózási ügynökség | 5.2 km | 15 minutes | 4th |
| III | Piața Traian - Gara de Est | Kossuth tér - Gyárvárosi Indóház | 1.1 km | 15 minutes | 1 |
| IV | Piața Sfânta Maria - Strada Memorandului | Hunyadi út - Király utcza | 1.288 km | 15 minutes | 1 |
| V | Piața Alexandru Mocioni - Piața Iuliu Maniu | Küttl tér - Temető utcza | 0.979 km | 15 minutes | 1 |
The terminus Dunagőzhajózási ügynökség of line II was named after the agency of the First Danube Steamship Company , which was located shortly after the confluence of the Strada Mangalia - which was then still called Csillag utcza - with the Splaiul Tudor Vladimirescu. However, the approximately 250-meter-long route between Király hid and the agency, as well as the Piața Traian - Parcul Uzinei section, could only go into operation a few days after the electric power line opened because construction work on these two sections was still in progress on the day of the changeover Gear were.
The line identification using Roman numerals was only for internal use. The wagons were signposted on the side by means of interchangeable plug-in signs attached to the wagon roof with the lines in Hungarian and frontally with a colored line signal with the respective line identification color. The daytime signal was a circular white sheet metal disc with a colored diagonal bar, which was attached to the top right of the car roof. The night signal for operation in the dark, on the other hand, was the headlight mounted in the center below the windshield , on which a translucent colored diagonal bar was placed. Marking with line colors was also common in many other cities at the time. It was intended to make it easier for illiterate people and members of national minorities to differentiate between the various routes. At that time, only a third of Temesvár's inhabitants belonged to the Hungarian titular nation .
The majority of the electrically operated network consisted of completely new lines. This also included the new route in the inner city, which led across the central Piața Libertății . On the Piața Sfântul Gheorghe, the previous center of operation of the horse-drawn tram, there was a stop with a siding and a stump track . On the latter were outside the rush hours the unneeded sidecar parked. The ten available sidecars were only used on the busiest main lines I and II. Although the two lines together only had ten circulations and all four terminals were equipped with transfer tracks , not all trips could be equipped with trailers. The reason for this was the short turnaround times at the end points, which prevented the trailers from being bypassed and required the use of additional push sidecars . In general, the tram company needed the sidecar above all for the then very pronounced excursion traffic on Sundays and public holidays, especially in the summer months. In the cold season, on the other hand, there were initially no trailers in operation, and it was not until the winter of 1901/1902 that the statistics recorded two sidecars used all year round for the first time.
In the factory town , an important transfer hub was built in 1899 on the Piața Traian , which the horse-drawn tram had bypassed to the south . The Piața Sfânta Maria developed into the second central point of the network . There, passengers from Elisabethstadt had connections in all directions. In Josefstadt, the tram from then on reached the train station directly via Bulevardul Regele Carol I and Strada General Ion Dragalina. For passengers from the area around Piața Iuliu Maniu, however, this resulted in a compulsory transfer at Piața Alexandru Mocioni , the third transfer point of the new network.
Furthermore, parallel to the electrification, the tram company expanded two sections of the horse - drawn tram to double track . This involved the 1280 meter long section between the Piața Romanilor - where there was a bus stop at the time - and the Piața Balaș at what is now the Hotel Continental, as well as the 1088 meter long section between the opera house and the Piarua Alexandru Mocioni. The city's massive fortress walls also had to be broken through because the two railway fortress gates were only designed for a single-track route. However, the softening , which began in 1891, was already in full swing, which means that the bulwark, which had been completely removed by 1910, was no longer intact. The two double-track islands, which together were around 2.4 kilometers long, were the only sections of the horse-drawn railway line that the company directly surrounded. The advantage here was that no track - the electric tram required a stronger substructure and heavier rails - had to be rebuilt during ongoing operations. This could be avoided by first putting the new, second track into operation and then replacing the old horse-drawn railway track. Not least for this reason, the electric tram ran between Piața Alexandru Mocioni and Strada Iancu Văcărescu on the other side of the street than the horse-drawn tram.
With the double-lane expansion in Temesvár, the sideways position of the tracks was also used for the first time. This alignment - a typical Austro-Hungarian peculiarity - was initially to be found on two sections on the wide boulevards of the Temesvár suburbs. Specifically, this concerned about 800 meters between the inner city and the Josefstadt between today's cathedral and the Piața Alexandru Mocioni and in the factory town another 500 meters between the city park and the Piața Romanilor. The division of the tracks made it possible for passengers to board directly from the sidewalk . You did not have to expose yourself to the dangers of road traffic .
In addition, a large part of the single-track sections was laid out on the side. Once again, the passengers benefited from the safe change of passengers, and the existing track no longer had to be relocated during the later double-track expansion. On the other hand, this solution had disadvantages for private transport, in each case the trams came head-on towards the other road users. There were only three short single-track sections around the Piața Traian in the center, but the company also arranged the track on these in such a way that it no longer had to be moved during later expansion. In detail, the following routing existed at the time of electrification:
 |
Strada Alba Iulia / Strada Victor Vlad Delamarina - Hotel Continental |
single track | Grooved rails | Left when looking out of town |
 |
Hotel Continental - Baia Neptune |
two-pronged | Vignole rails | looking out of town on the right |
 |
Baia Neptune - Piața Romanilor |
two-pronged | Grooved rails | in side position, separated according to the direction of travel |
 |
Piața Romanilor - Piața Traian |
single track | Grooved rails | central |
 |
Piața Traian - Piața Badea Cârțan |
single track | Grooved rails | looking out of town on the right |
 |
Piața Badea Cârțan - Gara de Est |
single track | Vignole rails | looking out of town on the right |
 |
Piața Traian - Parcul Uzinei |
single track | Grooved rails | Left when looking out of town |
 |
Piața Traian - Piața Aurel Vlaicu |
single track | Grooved rails | central |
 |
Piața Aurel Vlaicu - Banatim |
single track | Grooved rails | Left when looking out of town |
 |
Strada Alba Iulia / Strada Victor Vlad Delamarina - Operă |
single track | Grooved rails | Left when looking out of town |
| Operă - Catedrala Mitropolitană |
two-pronged | Vignole rails | Left when looking out of town | |
 |
Catedrala Mitropolitană - Piața Alexandru Mocioni |
two-pronged | Grooved rails | in side position, separated according to the direction of travel |
 |
Piața Maria - Piața Nicolae Bălcescu |
single track | Grooved rails | looking out of town on the right |
| Piața Nicolae Bălcescu - Strada Independentiei / Strada Memorandului |
single track | Vignole rails | looking out of town on the right | |
 |
Piața Alexandru Mocioni - Piața Iuliu Maniu |
single track | Vignole rails | looking out of town on the right |
| Piața Alexandru Mocioni - Bulevardul Regele Carol I / Strada Iancu Văcărescu |
single track | Vignole rails | looking out of town on the right | |
| Bulevardul Regele Carol I / Strada Iancu Văcărescu - Splaiul Tudor Vladimirescu / Strada Mangalia |
single track | Grooved rails | looking out of town on the right | |
| Bulevardul Regele Carol I / Bulevardul Iuliu Maniu - Splaiul Tudor Vladimirescu / Bulevardul Iuliu Maniu |
single track | Grooved rails | Left when looking out of town | |
 |
Bulevardul Regele Carol I / Strada General Ion Dragalina - Gara de Nord |
single track | Vignole rails | Left when looking out of town |
In addition, in the course of electrification, the city adapted the Podul Brücketefan cel Mare bridge to the new conditions; in 1899 it was expanded from five to seven arches. The Podul Traian bridge also had to be reinforced, and the tram company contributed a quarter of the costs to this measure.
The power supply of the electric tram was taken over by a specially built steam power plant based on the L. & C. Steinmüller system . This was located south of today's Bulevardul Take Ionescu, to the right of the administration building of the tram company. The self-operated power plant consisted of a boiler house and a machine house . The former housed two steam boilers , each with a heating surface of 181.7 square meters and a pressure of ten atmospheres . Two composite steam engines with an output of 250 horsepower each were installed in the machine building; they drove two electric generators with an output of 150 kilowatts . The electrical voltage generated in this way was initially 550 volts. To avoid major voltage drops, there were two feed points, one in the factory town and one in the Josefstadt.
The changeover was associated with a significant increase in transport performance. While the horse-drawn tram carried 874,901 passengers in 1898, the electric tram in 1900 already carried 2,397,492 people, i.e. more than two and a half times as many. According to the contract with the city, the electric had to be operated 18 hours a day, i.e. between 5 a.m. and 11 p.m. In the morning and in the evening she drove an hour longer than the horse-drawn tram. In addition, it ran twice as often: while the horse-drawn tram only made a connection between the inner city and the suburbs five times an hour, the electric one made ten trips in 60 minutes.
The newly acquired passengers also benefited from the somewhat shorter travel times . While the horse-drawn tram still drove at an average of around nine and a half kilometers per hour, the electric train was already around a tenth faster with an average travel speed of 10.3 (line I) and 10.4 (line II) kilometers per hour. In addition, there was the more direct alignment. From now on, the section Piața Alexandru Mocioni – Gara de Nord was almost a kilometer shorter, but passengers also saved themselves the detour they had previously made in the approach to the Piața Sfântul Gheorghe and between Piața Romanilor and Prințul Turcesc. Above all, however, travelers between the suburbs did not have to change trains in the inner city. Furthermore, after electrification, the electric tram only stopped at fixed stops, while the horse-drawn tram could also be used to get on and off between two stations. At the same time, the company set up new bus stops . Here, standardized iron-glass constructions in prefabricated construction were used, which had already been developed exclusively for the Viennese tram in the 1870s . These shelters were 1.60 meters wide and in the basic version 3.00 meters long, they could - except in Temesvár - be found in exactly the same construction in other cities of the dual monarchy.
In addition, with electrification, society also reformed the transport tariff . Instead of single tickets for one line or transfer tickets for both lines, there was a partial route tariff with a total of four payment limits . There were thus five price levels, all of which allowed up to two transfers that were necessary to reach any point on the network. In the course of this tariff change, the fares fell significantly on all routes:
| until 1899 | from 1899 | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| Single ticket: | 20 fillers | a section: | 8 fillers |
| Transfer ticket: | 30 fillers | two sections: | 12 fillers |
| three sections: | 14 fillers one-way, 24 fillers there and back | ||
| four sections: | 20 fillers | ||
| five sections: | 24 fillers | ||
The total of ten sections, created in 1899, were defined as follows, the Piața Sfânta Maria and the Piața Alexandru Mocioni were subject to equal treatment:
| Beginning | The End |
|---|---|
| Gara de Est | Piața Traian |
| Parcul Uzinei | Piața Traian |
| Banatim | Piața Traian |
| Piața Traian | District boundary between the factory town and the inner city (Podul Decebal) |
| District boundary between the factory town and the inner city (Podul Decebal) | District boundary between Inner City and Josefstadt or Elisabethstadt (Podul Traian) |
| District boundary between Inner City and Josefstadt or Elisabethstadt (Podul Traian) | Piața Sfânta Maria / Piața Alexandru Mocioni |
| Piața Sfânta Maria / Piața Alexandru Mocioni | Strada Memorandului |
| Piața Sfânta Maria / Piața Alexandru Mocioni | Piața Iuliu Maniu |
| Piața Sfânta Maria / Piața Alexandru Mocioni | Splaiul Tudor Vladimirescu / Strada Mangalia |
| Piața Sfânta Maria / Piața Alexandru Mocioni | Gara de Nord |
Relocation of the railway line to Caransebeş (1902)
An operational peculiarity of the electric tram - as with the horse-drawn tram - was the level crossing with the state railway Magyar Államvasutak . In 1899, the intersection with the industrial track on the station forecourt was omitted because trams no longer ran there after electrification. However, as a result of the network expansion in 1899 - in addition to the two intersections at today's Cathedral of the Three Holy Hierarchs and the third intersection at today's Liceul Pedagogic Carmen Sylva - a fourth was added in Strada Gheorghe Doja. There the new tram line to Elisabethstadt crossed the existing railway line to Karasjeszenö at today's Parcul Carmen Sylva , which was also used in this section by the trains on the line to Buziás .
These crossings increasingly became a problem, especially for the most heavily loaded double crossing at today's cathedral. There were up to 40 trains daily on both routes. They caused the barriers to close for a long time , waiting times of between three and 15 minutes were the order of the day. This led to severe disabilities in trams and road traffic, especially because tram traffic had increased significantly with electrification. The three existing crossings have been passed by 20 trams every hour since 1899, the new crossing in Strada Gheorghe Doja still eight times an hour. In addition, the delays - due to the numerous single-track sections - were also carried over to the oncoming tram routes. The lack of buffer times at the terminals made things even more difficult. In contrast to the horse-drawn tram, where sufficient breaks were planned at the ends of the route to relax and feed the horses, the electric cars drove back immediately after the passenger change. This resulted in bulk formations . Regardless of this, the two main lines also regularly shared part of their timetable routes, i.e. in so-called follow - up train operations . Every third course on Line I in the area of the common main line ran together with a course on Line II and every second course on Line II ran together with a course on Line I.
As a result of the progressive demolition of the fortifications , the state railway was able to relocate its route in the direction of Karánsebes north around the inner city, not least because of pressure from the city and the tram company , on which the trains in the direction of Máriaradna also ran. This relaxed the situation noticeably. The intersection between the inner city and the factory town was completely eliminated, from now on only the trains in the direction of Karasjeszenö and Buziás crossed the tram tracks at today's cathedral.
Municipalization (1904)
By contract dated December 31, 1903, the city administration bought the private tram company for 2,571,150 kroner , whereupon it was officially in liquidation from February 14, 1904 and was deleted as a company from April 13, 1904. Thereupon, after extensive scrutiny by the ministry, the municipality also received the license on August 24, 1904. The book-entry transfer of the vehicles and real estate followed on November 26, 1904, before the process was completed on December 29, 1904, when the previous joint-stock company was converted into a municipal company . The - at that time still deputy - Temesvár Mayor József Geml founded the municipalization of the tram, at that time a general trend in Europe, as follows:
"For years the city council has endeavored to use for its own economic purposes those branches of business which directly affect the social and economic interests of a large part of the city's population and which increase in size as the population grows excludes tendencies aimed at profit-seeking of private enterprises, on the other hand the income to be achieved is used to reduce the public burden. "
As a result of municipalization, the city also took over the power supply for the tram on November 1, 1904. The power station in the factory town, which was commissioned for street lighting in 1884, was used for this purpose ; this coal-fired power station had been owned by the city since 1893. Temesvár was one of the first European cities with electric lighting; The tram also benefited from this technological lead. In 1904 the first rectifier plant went into operation. In contrast, the company sold the old power plant site from 1899 in 1905 to Wollindustrie AG, which was founded in the same year and set up its head office on the site.
Lloyd line layout (1905)
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Just six years after electrification and the double-track expansion, the tram route between the State Theater and the level crossing at today's cathedral had to be rebuilt over a length of around 350 meters. After the demolition of the ramparts that went fortress foreland 1905 in urban possession. As a result, the avenue into Josefstadt was straightened and widened. The so-called Lloyd line , today's Piața Victoriei, was created . From then on, the tram there no longer ran like a regional tram next to the street, but in the middle of the new boulevard , in the area of today's green area. In addition, the tram company took the opportunity to make another route correction in the neighboring section between today's cathedral and Podul Traian. There she laid the rails over a length of about 300 meters out of the pavement onto a separate route, to the left of the street when looking out of town.
Two-track expansion and third diameter line (1906)
The continuously increasing number of passengers required further expansion measures just a few years after electrification. In order to be able to transport more passengers, the TVVV expanded additional sections to double tracks by April 1906. In addition to the passage of the inner city between the Piața Balaș and the opera house, this concerned the route from the Piața Alexandru Mocioni to Gara de Nord and the route of Line II on today's Bulevardul Regele Carol I.
The routing in the area of Bulevardul Regele Carol I, on which the tracks again ran separately according to the direction of travel, was new in two ways. From 1906, between Piaţa Alexandru Mocioni and the intersection with Strada Iancu Văcărescu, the tram had its own track on each side of the street, while on the remaining section to Bulevardul Iuliu Maniu, it was not on the edge of the road, but to the left and right of a wide median passed. This was used as a promenade and to hold a weekly market . In later years, this arrangement served as a model for the reconstruction of further sections, for example in the factory town and the inner city such routes with usable space in between were created.
On the other hand, the approximately 500-meter-long section of Line II between Bulevardul Regele Carol I and the agency of the First Danube Steamship Company was not part of the expansion program . This connection was mainly used to connect the inland port to the Bega and the state tobacco factory on the opposite bank. The latter was the largest employer in Temesvár at the time; it could be easily reached on foot via Király hid. The closure of the route in April or May 1906 with just under seven years of operation, it was so that the short-lived Tramway Timişoara at all. The tracks, which were still in mint condition, were also used in the vicinity. They were used to build a new line that was also around 200 meters long in the neighboring Strada Ioszef Preyer, on which line II ran from June 2, 1906. It was also single-track and led on the right-hand side of the street to the intersection with today's Strada Mangalia. Until the rails were relocated, Line II briefly ended at today's Bulevardul Iuliu Maniu stop, at the beginning of Strada Ioszef Preyer.
Actually, the discontinued line to the agency of the First Danube Steamship Company was supposed to be replaced by a one-kilometer long, single-track new line on the opposite right Begaufer, but this could no longer be realized. This would have branched off from the route to the train station at the Ștefan cel Mare bridge and would have led past the tobacco factory to the alcohol factory, which later became the Combinatul Petrochimic Solventul . The confluence of Strada Nufar was planned as the end point. A short expansion planned at the same time at the other end of the city could not be realized either. There the line I should lead over the Piața Sarmisegetuza following the left bank of the Bega to the trand , named after the popular river swimming pool there, alternatively also called Plajă . This line finally went into operation in 1923.
As a result of the sections that were expanded until 1906, the TVVV was able to link the two radial lines III and IV to form a third diameter line. This new line III has been running every 15 minutes on the Gara de Est – Strada Memorandului route since 1906; the IV line signal was discontinued. The new line offered the residents of Elisabethstadt direct connections to the inner city and the factory city for the first time, and the residents of the northern factory city no longer had to change at Piața Traian. At the same time, the offer on Line II improved from the previous 15-minute intervals to ten-minute intervals. As a result of this and the new routing of line III, in 1906 the offer on the main Piața Traian – Piața Sfânta Maria line rose from ten to 16 trips per hour and each direction. As a result of the increase in frequency on line II and the new diameter line III, the number of cars withdrawn increased from 13 to 17 cars in 1906, six each on lines I and II, four on line III and one shuttle car on line V. As a result of the increase in frequency and the use of larger cars temporarily ceased to be used with sidecars from May 21, 1906.
In addition, the direct north-south connection, which was initially single-track until 1915, was also built on the Piața Traian in 1906. It was initially required for entry and exit journeys on line II to and from the depot, and from 1915 it was also used for freight traffic. In 1906, the company also expanded the track system on the Piața Sfânta Maria from one to three points, previously the route on line III there was only connected to the out-of-town track.
Street May 9: A B-car reaches the Piaţa Libertăţii, at that time still driving on the left . This section has also had two tracks since 1906.
The 1906 redesigned Bulevardul Regele Carol I: the wide median between the tracks, which serves as a promenade and marketplace, is new ...
... while between Piaţa Alexandru Mocioni and Strada Iancu Văcărescu there was a separate track on each side of the street.
The now also double-track line to the Timișoara Nord train station, in the picture a Weitzer multiple unit traveling into town on the Ștefan-cel-Mare bridge.
Theater Track (1907)
In 1907 the tram company laid a new butt track for the theater carriages in front of Hunyadi Castle ; this was connected to both tracks by changing tracks on the theater forecourt. The old siding on the edge of the Piața Sfântul Gheorghe, however, repeatedly caused complaints from the local business owners, which is why it was shortened in 1911 and relocated to the center of the square and finally abandoned entirely in 1926 on the occasion of an extensive track renewal in the inner city.
Further double tracks (1908–1915)
In the years 1908 to 1915 the double-track expansion of the most important lines continued, the additional double-track sections went into operation as follows:
| September 26, 1908 | Piața Sfânta Maria - Strada Gheorghe Doja / Strada Romulus | about 500 meters | Line III |
| November 26, 1909 | Piața Romanilor - Piața Traian | about 100 meters | Lines I, II and III |
| Piața Traian - Parcul Uzinei | about 800 meters | Line I. | |
| Piața Traian - Piața Badea Cârțan | about 600 meters | Line III | |
| 1915 | Piața Traian - Banatim | about 800 meters | Line II |
| Piața Badea Cârțan - Gara de Est | about 500 meters | Line III |
After the completion of the expansion measures from 1908 to 1915, 8,177.60 meters of the 10,877-meter-long network at that time were double-tracked, i.e. 75.2 percent. The entire track length - including all depot tracks - was 22,348.40 meters. As the first Temesvár tram line, line I was consistently double-tracked since 1909. The daily number of wagons was increased several times in those years: in 1908 from 17 to 19, in 1910 to 24, 1911 to 25 and in 1912 finally to 28 wagons. Through the two-track expansion of those years, it was possible to achieve several densities. Initially, line III ran every ten minutes from 1908, before all three main lines ran every seven and a half minutes instead of every ten minutes before from 1910. However, the short line V had to be temporarily discontinued in the years 1910–1911, because otherwise there would not have been enough reserve cars for the main lines that have just been compressed.
Canalisation of the Bega in the factory town (1909)
After the Bega had been navigable as far as Josefstadt since the 19th century - coming from the mouth - the section through the factory town followed in 1909. This measure had an impact on the tram in seven places:
- From August 5, 1909, the trams reached the factory town coming from the inner city via the newly built Podul Decebal. Together with the bridge, a new connecting road between the Piața Balaș and the Parcul Poporului was built . This today's Bulevardul Revoluției 1989 facilitated the planned settlement of the fortress foothills in this area as well. The new tram tracks were again arranged in a lateral position, as a side effect of the approximately 700 meter long new route, the route to the factory town was shortened by a good 100 meters. In return, the trams no longer passed the main entrance of the Franz-Joseph-Park .
- At the synagogue in the factory town or today's Bulevardul 3 August 1919 stop, the small bridge over the Mühlkanal, a former Bega branch that was drained in 1909, was dropped.
- Between the Piața Traian and the Piața Badea Cârțan, the new Podul Dacilor bridge was handed over to its destination in the course of the canalisation ; this measure was carried out together with the double-track expansion of this section. The new crossing replaced two smaller bridges over the Mühlkanal and the Holzschwemmkanal.
- In today's Strada Ion Mihalache, the bridge over the local Bega branch was omitted; it was located between the Piața Traian and the Strada Constantin Titel Petrescu.
- In the course of the Strada Andrei Șaguna, the tram no longer followed the Bega on a single track, after a wide boulevard with a double track on the side of the road had also been created on the former river bed .
- On the Mihai Viteazul Bridge , which was also completed in 1909, rails were laid from the beginning as a preliminary construction work , although trams did not run there until 1929.
- In the area of the former parish island , today Piața Alexandru Sterca Șuluțiu, there was no need to cross line II twice.
The boulevard into the factory town, completed in 1909, with Podul Decebal in the background and the somewhat younger Neptunbad , with today's Prefectură Județului Timiş stop in front.
The Podul Decebal 2015.
The former bridge over the Mühlkanal by the synagogue in the factory town.
Opened in 1909, Podul Dacilor had two tracks from the start, here shortly after it was put into operation.
Reintroduction of the sidecar (1909)
With the reactivation of the former horse-drawn tram cars, which had previously been temporarily parked, trailer trains were again running on the - now three - main lines from 1909 at the latest. The short line V, however, still operated exclusively with solo cars. For the winter season 1909/1910, after a three-year break, the statistics show that two sidecars were used all year round. It is not known whether the tram company may have used trailers again for excursion traffic in the summer months of 1907 and 1908. After passenger numbers fell slightly from 1912 - for the first time since electrification - there were again no sidecars in the winters of 1914/1915 and 1915/1916.
New construction of the Hunyadi híd (1912–1918)
The Podul Traian bridge between the inner city and Josefstadt, which was still called Hunyadi híd at the time, was an operational difficulty at that time. Since the old steel truss bridge was replaced by the concrete structure that still exists today, the Bega tram had to use a temporary one from November of the same year pass a single-track transition. Since there was no buffer time available at the end of the line, the TVVV planned an additional ninth round trip on each of the three main lines, so that the delays caused by the bottleneck could be cushioned.
However, the completion of the new bridge was delayed due to the war, and it took until 1917 before it was opened - initially only for pedestrians. And it was not until November 1918 that the tram could finally be swiveled from the provisional to the final route. The old bridge has been preserved, it was reopened as a pedestrian bridge in 1915 about 500 meters downstream . However, the additional circuits introduced in 1912 on the three main lines were retained even after the single-track temporary bridge was dismantled in order to ensure punctual operation with appropriate time reserves.
Extension to Strada Crizantemelor and unrealized expansion plans
As the last network expansion in the Hungarian period , the extension from Strada Mangalia to Strada Crizantemelor - only about 200 meters long - went into operation in the 1910s. Its exact opening date has not been recorded, but it is not yet recorded on the 1913 city map. Apart from that, there were far more extensive expansion plans, which together were longer than the network that existed at the time. Among them, for example, the connection of the Mehala, which was incorporated in 1910, as well as various cross connections and ring connections. Due to the war , however, some of the projects could not be implemented until decades later or they were canceled entirely:
- Piața Libertății - Strada Macilor - Strada Războieni - Ronaț - Strada Gelu - Gara de Nord
- Strada Macilor - Mehala, intersection Strada Munteniei / Strada Martir Cernăianu / Strada Basarabia
- Strada Gelu - Strada Crizantemelor - Piața Iuliu Maniu
- Opera - Gara de Nord, direct connection via Bulevardul Republicii
- Piața Nicolae Bălcescu - Banatim
- Parcul Uzinei - Gara de Est
First World War
The First World War also affected the tram personnel. Because the military called men of military age to the front, women had to help out as conductors for the first time in the first years of the war. They were supported by young people under the age of 18 as well as men who were not previously employed by the tram company and who did not have to join the army. At the end of the war, the former soldiers returned to their jobs - the temporary conductors were dismissed. The outside of the war was also recognizable by the tram cars. For example, the tram company replaced the iron entrance grilles with wooden panels. Furthermore, to improve the income situation, it reintroduced outdoor advertising on its vehicles, as was already the case with the horse-drawn tram. Initially, advertisers only had access to roof signs on the side for this purpose, before hull advertising was introduced below the windows in the interwar period . Traditional advertising partners are Philips , Tungsram , Odol , the local shoe factory Turul Czipőgyár , the brewery with its beer brand Casino and the retailer Kecskeméti .
As early as the first year of the war in 1914, the tram had to reduce the number of daily car stops - for the first time since it opened in 1869. At the end of 1914, only 26 instead of 28 courses ran before the situation finally stabilized in the course of 1915 and the company was able to offer the standard program from the pre-war period again. This condition lasted until the last year of the war, when the power station suffered from a lack of coal. In order to save electricity, the daily number of cars had to be cut from 28 to 26 cars in 1918. In the end, nothing changed for the passengers; all three main lines stayed at 7.5-minute intervals. However, the deduction of the ninth round trip on lines I and III meant that - as was already the case until 1912 - they had no buffer times at the terminals.
In order to cover the operating costs, at the end of the war, for the first time since electrification, the fare had to be raised twice. The tram thus returned to the price level from the horse-drawn tram era:
| Sections | since 1899 | from August 1, 1917 | from July 1, 1918 |
|---|---|---|---|
| a: | 8 fillers | 10 fillers | 14 fillers |
| two: | 12 fillers | 14 fillers | 18 fillers |
| three: | 14 fillers | 16 fillers | 20 fillers |
| three there and back: | 24 fillers | 26 fillers | 30 fillers |
| four: | 20 fillers | 22 fillers | 26 fillers |
| five: | 24 fillers | 26 fillers | 30 fillers |
In order to cope with the skyrocketing passenger numbers during the war, from 1916 - after a two-year break - the company again offered trailers all year round.
Beginning of the Romanian Period (1919)
On August 3, 1919, the city of Temesvár fell under Greater Romanian administration as a result of the lost World War I and the associated division of the Banat . The Temesvári Villamos Városi Vasút became the Tramvaiele Comunale Timișoara, abbreviated TCT . Eight new ones were added to the four existing Romanian tram operators in Bucharest, Galați , Iași and Brăila . In addition to the network covered here, these were Arad , Cernăuți , Chișinău , Lipova , Satu Mare , Sibiu and Oradea . After the Peace Treaty of Trianon , the Banat and thus also its capital Temesvár, officially called Timișoara since 1919, then officially belonged to Romania from June 4, 1920.
The new balance of power also had practical consequences for the tram, at that time it was switched from left-hand traffic to traditional right-hand traffic in Romania. However, the exact time and the practical implementation of the conversion are not known. Structural changes were not necessary - at that time there were no turning loops and all cars were bidirectional vehicles with entrances on both sides. However, for safety reasons , the company rebuilt the track changeover on the Piața Libertății in such a way that no frontal collisions were possible in the event of an incorrectly set point - that is, it was rotated 180 degrees. In addition, the passengers had to get used to the new Romanian stop names and destination signs as well as the display of fares in Romanian currency . Previously, the tram company's own emergency notes were temporarily in circulation. These already bore Romanian labels, but were still shown in Hungarian currency.
Economic problems in the post-war period
In the first few years after the First World War, rampant inflation and the then prevailing lack of railcars presented the trams with enormous problems. Most importantly, the number of passengers had more than doubled in just five years. While in 1914 8,153,695 people took the tram, in 1919 there were already 21,040,097, which at first could only be managed with increased use of sidecars. Fares also continued to rise sharply at that time, although the first increase after the war also brought about a simplification of the tariff. From then on there were only two instead of five price levels, and the reduced return tickets introduced in 1895 were no longer applicable. The inner city functioned as the only remaining number limit from 1919:
| from April 1, 1919 | from January 1, 1920 | from July 1, 1920 | from September 9, 1920 | from currency reform in November 1920 | from January 1, 1921 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| between a suburb and the inner city: | 30 fillers | 50 fillers | 80 fillers | 100 fillers | 100 fillers = 0.50 lei | 0.75 lei |
| between any two points: | 46 filler | 80 fillers | 120 fillers | 150 fillers | 150 fillers = 0.75 lei | 1.00 lei |
In order to at least partially cushion the last-mentioned increase, the TCT introduced a favorable third price level for short-haul journeys just over a month after it came into force:
| from February 12, 1921 | from January 1, 1923 | from January 1, 1924 | from January 1, 1925 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| within a city district: | 0.50 lei | 1.00 lei | 2.00 lei | 3.00 lei |
| between a suburb and the inner city: | 0.75 lei | 2.00 lei | 3.00 lei | 4.00 lei |
| between any two points: | 1.00 lei | 3.00 lei | 4.00 lei | 5.00 lei |
The dismantling of numerous railcars that had been worn out during the war into sidecars also led to a glaring shortage of vehicles. Furthermore, one (1919, 1922) or two (1920 and 1921) round trips had to be canceled on lines I and III. Only in the course of 1923 was it possible to return to normal operation with sufficient buffer times at the terminals.
Extension to the Ștrand (1923)
The stabilization of the economic situation enabled the tram company to open the first new line under Romanian management four and a half years after the end of the war. On July 1, 1923 - as planned in 1906 - the extension of line I to the new terminus Ștrand went into operation. The extension in the course of the Strada Frédéric Chopin was 390 meters long and consistently single-track, it ended at the confluence of the Strada Cezar Bolliac. When looking out of town, the new route ran to the left of the street on its own track with Vignole rails, the end of which had an 87 meter long transfer track.
As a special feature of this route, line I initially only ran to the new terminal in the summer months. Outside of the bathing season, however, it ended, as before, at the Biserica română , which is also the name of today's Parcul Uzinei stop. Due to this seasonal operation, the Ștrand terminal was also the only one in the network that was not listed on the tickets at that time. In addition, until 1925 there was a reduced special tariff for trips to the lido.
Extension to the Mehala (1923)
From November 23, 1923, the technical acceptance of a completely new radial line IV between the Piața Libertății and the Piața Avram Iancu in the Mehala took place before this 2,465 meter long connection began regular operation on Saturday, November 24, 1923. It did not take the direct route over the connecting road into the Mehala - today's Strada Gheorghe Lazăr - but led through the Calea Bogdăneştilor and finally past the Balta Verde marshland on the right . This detour served to connect the previously created Colonia Blașcovici residential area . Contrary to what was planned in the 1910s, the new route did not follow Strada Macilor, but led through Bulevardul Cețății and Strada Cloșca and ended at the western edge of Piața Avram Iancu, at the confluence of Strada Munteniei - which only ran between 1925 and 1937 The Church of the Resurrection did not exist at that time. The new line into the Mehala was a single track throughout and, when viewed out of town, was on the right-hand side. It ran up to Piața Timișoara 700 on grooved rails in the street area, from there on its own track body with Vignole rails. Only in the area of the railway underpass after the confluence of Strada Dr. Iosif Nemoianau, the tram had to share its route with private transport for a few meters. Catenary masts made of reinforced concrete were used for the first time on the route into the Mehala .
However, line IV was initially only able to run at a reduced speed and every 25 minutes, with two cars driving behind each other within sight. In addition to the lack of wagons at the time, this was due to the lack of a supply line. Only in the course of 1924 could full operation with a 7.5-minute cycle and three trains be started. For this purpose - in addition to the two transferring terminals - there were two other turnouts at Calea Circumvalaţiunii on the one hand and on today's Strada Madrid on the other hand, both of which were still in the open at the time. The city-side dome end point was in the northwest corner of Piața Libertății, at a right angle between Strada Coriolan Brediceanu and Strada Ungureanu, that is, in place of the baroque Franciscan church that was demolished in 1911 . The transfer track on the Piața Avram Iancu was also fenced in and thus enabled the peripheral storage of sidecars that were not required.
As between 1899 and 1906, five tram lines operated again from 1923:
| I. |
Summer operation : Ștrand - Gara de Nord Winter operation : Parcul Uzinei - Gara de Nord |
7.5-minute intervals | 9 courses, some with sidecars |
| II | Banatim - Strada Crizantemelor | 7.5-minute intervals | 9 courses, some with sidecars |
| III | Gara de Est - Strada Memorandului | 7.5-minute intervals | 9 courses, some with sidecars |
| IV | Piața Libertății - Piața Avram Iancu | 10-minute intervals | 3 courses, some with sidecars |
| V | Piața Alexandru Mocioni - Piața Iuliu Maniu | 15-minute intervals | 1 course |
In addition, the TCT changed the tram tracks on the Lloyd line again in 1923 after the renovations in 1899 and 1905, thus implementing another project from the Hungarian era. From then on, they ran - analogous to the sections in Josefstadt and Fabrikstadt that had been converted a few years earlier - separated according to the direction of travel at a distance of around 30 meters from one another. The green area that still exists today was built in the middle. With this conversion, the theater track set up in 1907 at Hunyadi Castle and the associated track change at Palais Lloyd were also omitted .
Modernization and acceleration program (1925)
As a first modernization measure after the war, the tram company began to replace the Dickinson roller pantographs with the more modern bracket or Lyra pantographs as early as 1922 . This enabled a more flexible operation at the branches of the network, the manual repositioning of the pantograph poles was no longer necessary. Before that, the catenary masts from the early days also had to be rebuilt; instead of the artfully curved ones, they were given simple straight booms. These were a little longer, the overhead line now ran exactly between the two rails. However, the changeover took a while, so the last DII railcar built still had an old roller pantograph when it was commissioned in 1924. It was not until the F-cars delivered in 1925 that pantographs were used from the start, completing this part of the modernization program.
Also with the commissioning of the new F-cars, the company abolished the line symbols previously used and the internal distinction using Roman numerals. From then on, the lines were uniformly labeled with Arabic numerals . As is customary to this day, the line numbers were also written on the outside of the car; for this purpose, round line signals that could be illuminated at the front and rear were used with white lettering on a black background. In addition, the TCT has now also equipped its cars with destination signs below the windscreen, analogous to the so-called chest wall panels on the Viennese tram. These plug-in signs with black writing on a white background were not changed, that is, the actual destination was written on the front, but the end stop in the opposite direction was written on the back.
In order to further accelerate the tram, some less frequented intermediate stops from the era of electrification were also omitted in 1925 - the distance between stations was originally much smaller than today. At that time, for example, the stop on the Piața Romanilor was omitted.
In 1925, the company also introduced special late-night services on all lines. While operations previously ended all year round at 10:00 p.m., from now on around a third of the wagons ran until around 11:30 p.m. in the summer half-year. In the winter half-year, regular operation ended at 9:00 p.m. from that year, and late-night traffic ended at 10:30 p.m. For the use of these late courses, double the fare had to be paid.
The end of the modernization program of the 1920s was the introduction of electrically controlled turnouts based on the Oerlikon machine factory system . The first such system went into operation in 1927 at Piața Sfânta Maria, the second in the same year at today's Bulevardul Regele Carol I stop, the third in 1928 at the shoe factory and finally three more in 1929 on Piața Traian. As a result of the acceleration measures, line 1 was able to be changed from a seven-and-a-half-minute cycle to a five-minute cycle from 1927, while the number of cars on the other two main lines was reduced somewhat while the cycle remained the same.
The stops that were closed in 1925 alone made it possible to increase the average speed from ten to twelve kilometers per hour. Overall, this improved from 9.5 kilometers an hour in 1920 to 13 kilometers an hour in 1936.
Extension beyond the city limits to Fratelia (1926)
The next network expansion followed on December 1, 1926, and since then line 5 has been going via Piața Iuliu Maniu to Fratelia . The new single-track line was 1676 meters long, met the current route at the Piața Veteranilor and ended at today's Strada Chișodei stop, next to the Church of St. Joseph . Fratelia - also known as Chișoda Nouă - was still independent at that time, the incorporation as VI. Timișoara district did not take place until 1948. The line to Fratelia was from 1926 to 1948 the only line so far on which the Timișoara tram left the city. The boundary of the district ran at the height of today's Strada Gavril Musicescu, that is, about half a kilometer was in the area of Fratelias. A fourth price level at 6.00 lei had to be introduced for the new connection to Fratelia. It applied to the long relations between the Mehala or the factory town and the new destination or back from there.
The new line, which was completely on the right-hand side, was integrated into the street area by means of grooved rails up to the confluence of the Strada Glad; from there, it had its own route with Vignole rails. In addition, the concrete bridge at the city limits, which led over a Bega arm, had to be widened for the tram. With the extension, the frequency of line 5 also improved. From now on, it ran every seven and a half minutes, which required three round trips. In addition, it was now also operated with a sidecar, which means that trailers were used on all lines for the first time in the history of the Timișoara tram.
The first turnout was 64 meters long and was located between the fire brigade in Josefstadt and Piața Iuliu Maniu, i.e. in the area of the previous terminal. The second meeting point was 64.5 meters long and was, at that time still in the open, between today's Strada Vulturilor and the Bulevardul Dămbovița, which also did not exist at the time. While a 71 meter long transfer track was available in Fratelia, an additional push rail car had to be planned on the Piața Alexandru Mocioni - where the infrastructure was not adapted .
Closing the gap between Elisabethstadt and Fabrikstadt (1928)
In the interwar period, the tram company also resumed planning for a direct connection between the Piața Nicolae Bălcescu in Elizabeth City and the Banatim shoe factory in the factory city. Contrary to what was planned in the Hungarian period, the new route should no longer take the 150-meter detour through Strada Vâlcea, Bulevardul Eroilor de la Tisa and Strada Johann Guttenberg - that is, past the main entrance of the slaughterhouse - but on Follow the entire length of the Strada 1 Decembrie 1918. At that time, however, this was not completely paved and the city administration refused to take out a loan of four million lei in 1926 for the necessary construction work. As a result, the tram company began building its own track north of the road in the same year.
First, in 1927, the TCT opened a 750-meter-long section between Piața Nicolae Bălcescu - where there was a connection to line 3 - and Strada Mitropolit Varlaam, where there is no longer a stop today, in advance operation. This extension was - as the very first line of the Timișoara tram - double-track from the beginning and was assigned the new line signal 6. For the first time since 1923 there was a continuous double-track line in Timișoara, on which two solo cars initially commuted every five minutes.
The final 2515 meter long new Piața Nicolae Bălcescu – Banatim line was finally opened on July 29, 1928. In fact, only the 1350 meter long section between the Strada Mitropolit Varlaam and the Strada Johann Guttenberg was new at the time . The approximately 400 meter long eastern section between Strada Johann Guttenberg and the shoe factory, on the other hand, was in operation as a freight line from 1918 and only had to be expanded by a second track in 1928. From the summer of 1928, line 6 finally ran with four solo cars every ten minutes and drove over the eastern end of the new line to Piața Traian. On the latter section, it added to the existing line 2.
The central section of the new connection originally had the character of an overland route, between Strada Cluj and Strada Cerna it ran through largely undeveloped areas. The Sala Olimpia stop located in this area, for example, did not go into operation until January 28, 1970, not least in order to better develop the Dan Păltinişanu Stadium , which opened in 1964, and the Olympic sports hall completed in 1968. In 1973 the route was also extensively rebuilt when the track towards the factory town became the opposite track and the old track towards Elisabethstadt became a green strip - while the new track in the direction of the factory town has since been integrated into the planum of the Strada 1 Decembrie 1918, which was converted into a one-way street .
In addition to the expansion plans from the Hungarian period, some of which have not yet been implemented, further projects were added in the interwar period. In 1928, for example, there were concrete plans for a direct connection between Elisabethstadt and the inner city via the Podul Mitropolit Andrei Șaguna and for a line to the area north of the center. The latter was supposed to connect the Piața Libertății via Strada Vasile Alecsandri, Strada Sergent Constantin Mușat, Calea Alexandru Ioan Cuza, Calea Aradului and Cala Sever Bocu with the Heroes Cemetery - Cimitirul Eroilor in Romanian. This would also have been the first time on the central Piața Unirii rails, but it was no longer implemented.
Extension to the stadium (1929)
In 1929, line 3 in the factory town was finally expanded to a 1060 meter long, continuous double-track extension over the Gara de Est in a north-easterly direction, on its own track to the left of the Aleea Avram Imbroane and running parallel to the railway. From then on, the trams ran to the current UMT stop at the level crossing, at the end of which there was an additional 36-meter-long transfer track.
The extension mainly served the spectators of the former football club Progresul Timișoara , founded on October 20, 1929 , which started playing on May 10, 1930 at Aleea Avram Imbroane and was also known as the tram club - Tramvaiștii in Romanian . For this reason, a year before the site was expanded into the Stadionul Progresul - the later Arena Electrica - a 200-meter-long siding was added in the area of the terminal in 1934 , on which the additional cars for the football fans could wait for the game to end.
In addition, the extended line 3 also provided an improved connection to the local recreation area Jagdwald , Romanian Pădurea Verde and the factory town residential area Telegrafului . The new line also replaced the first urban bus line, which did not yet have a line number. This provisional connection consisted of a lorry that had been converted to transport passengers and that began commuting between the Ostbahnhof and the level crossing on Sundays and public holidays on June 20, 1926. Today's UMT stop has had numerous names over the years. Initially it was called Casa verde after the nearby forestry school , later alternatively Aleea Dumbravei , Aleea Octavian Goga , Aleea CFR or Barieră CFR At times, the trains going there were also signposted with Progresul .
New line to Spitalul Dr. Victor Babes (1930)
In 1930, TCT took a new line from Piața Sarmisegetuza in a northerly direction to Spitalul Dr. Victor Babeș in operation, this was the last network expansion before the Second World War . The new section was 920 meters long and from the beginning was mostly double-tracked, only the 60-meter-long terminal itself was single-track. The use of a push trailer was therefore also necessary there. The new route also led over the Mihai-Viteazul Bridge, the youngest of the five Bega tramway crossings, and originally ended at the intersection with Strada Lorena. It was not until March 8, 1980 that the tram company moved this stop to the north - directly in front of the main entrance of the hospital - and at the same time opened the Piața General Virgil Economu station a little further south. The operation of the new line was taken over by the new line 7, which from then on connected the Gara de Nord with the hospital. For the first time, two lines served the city's most important train station.
In addition, line 1 ran to the Ștrand all year round. Not least because of this, this destination was called Uzina Hidroelectrică from around the mid-1930s , named after the 1910 hydroelectric power station that was also located there . Due to the year-round operation, the service in the factory town of Lunei was improved . This meant that in 1930 the old remote terminal on Piața Sarmisegetuza, which came from the year of electrification and had only been in use in the winter half-year since 1923, was finally closed. In addition, the company saved the push sidecar there. Thus in 1930 the following network existed:
| 1 | Ștrand - Gara de Nord | 10-minute intervals | 5 courses, some with trailers |
| 2 | Banatim - Strada Crizantemelor | 7.5-minute intervals | 8 courses, some with trailers |
| 3 | UMT - Strada Memorandului | 7.5-minute intervals | 9 courses, some with trailers |
| 4th | Piața Libertății - Piața Avram Iancu | 7.5-minute intervals | 3 courses, some with trailers |
| 5 | Piața Alexandru Mocioni - Strada Chișodei | 7.5-minute intervals | 3 courses, some with trailers |
| 6th | Piața Nicolae Bălcescu - Piața Traian | 10-minute intervals | 4 courses |
| 7th | Hospital Dr. Victor Babes - Gara de Nord | 10-minute intervals | 6 courses, some with trailers |
The numerous new lines built in the inter-war period also required an extensive renovation of the municipal power station, which dates back to the 19th century and was already out of date at the time. To continue to meet the increased demand for electricity tram reliable, the city government therefore upgraded its power station in 1924 and 1930, eight steam generators of Babcock & Wilcox after holding a Rateau - steam turbine drives.
Double railcars, 24-hour operation and tram mailboxes (first half of the 1930s)
On January 19, 1931, the Timișoara tram - based on the Hungarian model - took the first double multiple unit into operation. Such Gemene , the Romanian translation for twins , came in 1924 with the tram Budapest used. Another Romanian name was dublă comandă , which means double command . Outside of Timișoara, on the other hand, only a single twin railcar operated in Romania in Arad. In particular, the Gemene saved the need to maneuver the sidecars at the end of the line. They were initially only used on lines 1 and 7 and alternated between conventional trailer trains and solo cars. In 1931, with the double multiple units, the cars were also fitted with pantographs . In contrast to the hoop pantographs, these no longer had to be turned at the end points, which resulted in further time savings. In the case of a permanently coupled unit, this is not easily possible either, because the conductor at one end of the car is in the way of the coupling and the high-voltage connection cable. In the case of the single multiple units, however, the changeover to such pantographs was not a priority; it only took place between 1956 and 1960.
In addition - also in 1931 - line 2 received a new transfer system in the Strada Crizantemelor at its western end of the line. This meant that the shunting work in the narrow Strada Ioszef Preyer no longer hindered the rest of the road traffic. The two new, together 160 meters long, tracks in Strada Crizantemelor reached up to the confluence of Strada Alexandru Vlahuță - whereby line 2 was slightly lengthened. In addition, line 3 ran every five minutes from 1931.
In 1932 - according to another source as early as 1931 - the company ran the 3.5-kilometer section Piața Libertății - Spitalul Dr. Victor Babeș on line 7 operates 24 hours a day. On the Piața Libertății, the cars turned over the track change there. How long this night traffic existed is not known.
Another innovation introduced in the first half of the 1930s was the Poșta Română tram mailboxes attached to the front right of the railcars . They made it possible for citizens to post their letters at any of the stops on the main lines 1, 2, 3 and 7, all of which passed the Great Post Office . This service disappeared again in the 1940s.
The last level crossings were abandoned (1932)
December 1, 1932 was the last day of operation of the railway line past the inner city and through Elisabethstadt, the next day the Romanian state railway Căile Ferate Române (CFR) opened the new line that still exists today. Since then, the trains in the direction of Vršac and Buziaș have left Gara de Nord in the opposite direction and bypassed the urban area to the south. The two remaining level crossings with the railway at today's cathedral (lines 1, 2, 3 and 7) and in Strada Gheorghe Doja (line 3) were therefore eliminated. This made tram traffic easier and allowed the lines affected - all important cross-city routes - to operate more smoothly from now on. In addition, the abandonment of the last-mentioned level crossing in 1933 enabled the double-lane expansion on the 182-meter-long section between Parcul Carmen Sylva and Piața Nicolae Bălcescu.
First ring line and punctuality offensive (1936)
In 1936, the ring traffic on line 6 began, the corresponding destination signs for the cars read Circuit A for the counterclockwise courses and Circuit B for those clockwise. It also mutated into an important main line, the corridor Piața Sfânta Maria – Piața Libertății – Piața Traian now served four lines in parallel. At the same time, line 6, now 7,235 meters long, was the first to run one-way traffic. However, the end of 1936 was only a single correspondingly adapted device cars available, the complete withdrawal of two-way car was made as late in the 1960s. The Piața Traian continued to function as the - now only nominal - terminal of line 6, from where the courses from the nearby depot started or moved there. In addition, line 6 could now also be operated with a sidecar, which means that this type of operation could be found again on all lines after an eight-year break.
The conversion of line 6 into a ring line meant the discontinuation of the 294-meter-long section of the Piața Nicolae Bălcescu – Strada Memorandului without replacement. As a result, the number of lines could be reduced from seven to six again - as it had been up to 1930 - the new route of line 2 corresponded exactly to line 7, which was repealed in 1936:
| 1 | Uzina Hidroelectrică - Gara de Nord | 10-minute intervals | 5 courses | Bidirectional operation | Double railcars, trailer trains, solo cars |
| 2 | Hospital Dr. Victor Babes - Gara de Nord | 10-minute intervals | 6 courses | Bidirectional operation | Double railcars, trailer trains, solo cars |
| 3 | UMT - Strada Crizantemelor | 5-minute intervals | 12 courses | Bidirectional operation | Trailer trains, solo cars |
| 4th | Piața Libertății - Piața Avram Iancu | 7.5-minute intervals | 3 courses | Bidirectional operation | Trailer trains, solo cars |
| 5 | Piața Alexandru Mocioni - Strada Chișodei | 7.5-minute intervals | 3 courses | Bidirectional operation | Trailer trains, solo cars |
| 6th | Ring line in both directions: Piața Traian - Piața Traian | 5-minute intervals | 12 courses | Furnishing operation | Trailer trains, solo cars |
In order to increase the punctuality of the trams and to guarantee connections at the most important junctions, the company installed - also in 1936 - electrically controlled normal clocks at important points in the network , which had been in operation for several decades. The locations were the tram depot and the stops Piața Badea Cârțan, Piața Traian, Uzina Hidroelectrică, Piața Sfântul Gheorghe, Piața Libertății, Piața Victoriei, Piața Sfânta Maria and Bulevardul Iuliu Maniu. On the Piața Traian, it was a cube clock that hung on wires in the air and could therefore be seen from all four stretches towards the square. All clocks were from a central clock imported from Switzerland in the office of the then operations manager Dr. Ing.Corneliu Micloși controlled.
Another measure as part of the punctuality offensive of 1936 was the posting of timetables at all terminus and the five most important junctions Piața Traian, Piața Libertății, Piața Sfânta Maria, Piața Alexandru Mocioni and Piața Nicolae Bălcescu. Operations manager Micloși determined at the time that the trams in Timișoara - with a speed deviation of two seconds in 24 hours - were on average 36 seconds late. However, he was dissatisfied with this result. Especially since he learned from the director of the Nuremberg tram that the average delay there was only 17 seconds at the time. He considered this difference of almost 20 seconds to be unsatisfactory for a city with a great technical tradition and continued to work successfully to improve the stability of the timetable.
The trolleybus in competition with the tram (1942)
In the interwar period, a direct tram connection between Elisabethstadt and the inner city and the long-planned tram route between the inner city and the north station became more and more urgent. After these plans could not be realized either, Timișoara received a second electrically operated means of transport in addition to the tram at the beginning of the 1940s - the trolleybus . At the end of the 1930s it was even planned to completely replace the then outdated tram with this one. The first trolleybus line connected the inner city directly with the Elisabethstadt on the one hand and the Gara de Nord on the other hand, that is, without a detour via the Piața Sfânta Maria in the Josefstadt. The most important argument for the trolleybus was its much higher average speed. While the tram only reached a travel speed of 13 or 13-15 kilometers an hour at that time, the new means of transport could already travel 20 kilometers an hour. This would have made it possible to shorten the journey time by eight minutes on Main Line 1, which was around five and a half kilometers long at the time.
However, the company, which was renamed on April 1, 1938 as a result of the merger with the electricity company in Întreprinderea Electromecanică Timișoara ( IET ) - the term tram was no longer part of the company name for the first time since the company was founded in 1867 - was only able to manage its trolleybus plans due to the war partially implement. On November 15, 1942, trolleybus line 7 - which was named after the six tram lines at the time - went into operation one year late. However, the southern Elisabethstadt, which was expanding rapidly at the time, had to forego its trolleybus connection, because the originally planned trolleybus ring route could only be realized halfway. Together with the bus service that began in 1934, citizens were now able to use three urban modes of transport for the first time.
The introduction of the trolleybus had a direct impact on tram traffic. Because some of the passengers to and from the Gara de Nord were now using the new means of transport, the high-capacity double multiple units could be withdrawn from lines 1 and 2. They migrated to line 3, but from now on it only ran every seven and a half instead of every five minutes before. However, not enough double railcars were available, so that one of the - now only nine - round trips of line 3 still had to be served by a single car.
Second World War
The city and tram survived the Second World War largely unscathed, and Timișoara was largely spared from fighting as a result of the royal coup in August 1944 . Nevertheless, tram traffic was interrupted for ten days in the summer of 1944 because the management had the trams brought to safety from Allied air raids . At that time, the disused wagons were parked 50 meters apart on the route on line 6 between Banatim and Strada Cluj. In this way, those responsible prevented major losses from bombing. However, the Royal Air Force bombing raid on June 16, 1944 - which particularly affected the North Station and which largely destroyed it - also damaged the tram route leading there. As a result, lines 1 and 2 had to temporarily turn around at the intersection with Splaiul Nicolae Titulescu, that is, about 300 meters from the train station. There was a provisional track change there.
Extension into the Ronaț (1948)
On January 7, 1948 - still based on plans from the Hungarian period - construction work began on the first new line after the Second World War. It branched off from line 4 in the direction of Mehala at the Balta Verde stop and opened up the Ronaț railway settlement. Originally a construction period of nine months was planned. However, more than 4,000 citizens took part in the work in the form of so-called volunteer brigades - in Romanian Brigada de Voluntari - so the new route could be completed on April 15th. However, the start of scheduled operations in the Ronaț was delayed somewhat. Only after important politicians inspected the new route on April 28th, the opening ribbon was cut on April 29th.
The route into the Ronaț, which was initially 2.0 kilometers long, is still single-track today and follows the entire length of the Calea Bogdăneştilor, which at the time was only an unpaved dirt road in the rear. Between the Blașcovici settlement and the Ronaț there was still largely undeveloped area at the time, so that the new line in the middle section had the character of an overland tram. The final stop was originally at the intersection with Strada Războieni - that is, about 250 meters before today's turning loop. The connection has remained a torso to this day. The originally planned continuation over the tracks of the railway to Gara de Nord was omitted, in this way another ring line would have been created. Later, this gap was also served with trolleybuses in the course of the Strada Gării, only the railway tracks themselves still have to be crossed on foot.
The Ronaț was initially operated by the new line 8, which took over its line number from the bus line that has been operating there since 1934, with a solo car every 30 minutes. It ran from the Piața Libertății and supplemented the existing line 4 to Balta Verde. Because the two lines shared the still single-track route between the inner city and the Blașcovici settlement - with only one switch at the Calea Circumvalaţiunii - the railcar had to go the Ronaț cover the jointly served section together with one of the three courses of line 4 within sight. As in 1930 to 1936, seven tram lines operated again. The new line 8, like the replaced bus line, also ran every 30 minutes. However, the former bus line did not lead to the inner city, but to Gara de Nord and also had a different route in the Ronaț to the Church of the Holy Trinity . It was unsuccessful because the bus could not keep to its schedule due to the long closing times of the level crossing at the end of Calea Bogdăneştilor.
The new rail connection soon proved to be much more successful than the previous bus. Therefore, as early as June 1948, line 8 was subsequently given a switch between the Strada Banul Mărăcine and the Strada Zalău, which allowed two solo cars to run every 15 minutes. In addition, in July 1948, the terminal on Strada Războieni was given a transfer track, which meant that line 8 could also be operated with a trailer. However, since only one transfer track was still available on the Piața Libertății, the sidecars there permanently switched between lines 4 and 8.
First turning loops and conversion of line 1 into a short pendulum line (1949)
In 1949 the company - renamed Întreprinderea de Transport, Apă și Salubritate ( ITAS ) in the same year - took over the forecourt of Gara de Nord and at Spitalul Dr. Victor Babeș put the first two reversing loops on the Timișoara tram into operation. With that, the operation of push sidecars finally ended after 50 years. The turning systems were built in view of the commissioning of the first open-plan cars , which was planned for May 1, 1949 , but was then delayed by a year. For these one-way vehicles - independent of the ring line 6 - an adequate route should be created with line 2. However, the turning loop in front of the Gara de Nord reception building did not yet correspond to its current state, the loop on the edge of the ELBA factory premises has only been used since July 9, 1972.
As early as 1949 it was also planned to serve the Gara de Nord exclusively with open-plan cars in the future. However, due to lack of space, no turning loop could be built at the hydropower plant, which is why a large part of the previous courses on Line 1 were integrated into Line 2 and henceforth also to the Dr. Victor Babes drove. From now on, this ran every five minutes instead of every ten minutes before. However, line 1 was retained as a short pendulum line between Piața Sarmisegetuza and Uzina Hidroelectrică. A railcar was sufficient for this, with a route length of only about 350 meters it was the shortest line in the history of the Timișoara tram.
With the open-plan cars, a third variant with a large capacity was now available in addition to the trailer trains and the double railcars. The tram company also took the facility operation on line 2 as an opportunity to dispense with the chest wall panels at the front and rear as well as the lateral route signs on the roof edge in the entire network. This should keep the change effort for the personnel at the terminal points within limits. From now on, small rectangular route boards in the windows next to the entrances served as a replacement. In addition - also in 1950 - the driver took over the supervision of the passenger change and then drove off at his own discretion. The prerequisite for this was the retrofitting of all railcars with rear-view mirrors . The conductors did not have to report that they were ready to leave, which meant that the classic bell ropes and whistle signals had become obsolete.
Extension to Strada Lidia (1951)
In 1951 - as a second extension after the Second World War and as a replacement for the trolleybus route that was not implemented in 1941 - a continuous, single-track and approximately 800-meter-long new route through the Strada Drubeta went into operation in 1951. It began at the former terminus Strada Memorandului and led - also in the further course on the right-hand side - to the intersection with Strada Lidia. At the same time, the Piața Nicolae Bălcescu – Strada Memorandului section, which was closed in 1936 - which was once served by line 3 - was reactivated after a 15-year break in operation. The new route was operated by the new line 7, which shuttled with three solo cars every ten minutes between Piața Libertății and Strada Lidia. This was the first time that eight tram lines operated. After 52 years, the new branch line to Strada Lidia also sealed the strict division into main and branch lines, since from then on both line groups shared the same infrastructure between Piața Nicolae Bălcescu and Piața Libertății.
Connection of the Besenyei workers' colony (1953)
Two years after the extension to Strada Lidia, the company extended its newest route on November 7, 1953 - on the occasion of the 36th anniversary of the October Revolution of 1917 - by a further 1.5 kilometers to Strada Progresul. Extended line 7 followed Drubeta and Ivan Petrovici Pavlov streets south to the Church of the Assumption . There the new line turned sharply to the west and reached the new terminal via Strada Aluniș, which was then temporarily called Strada Kalinin - now seen outwards from the city. This also gave the eastern part of Fratelia - the Fratelia B district that emerged from the former workers' colony Besenyei - its tram connection. The municipality of Fratelia, which was incorporated only five years earlier, has since been connected on both sides with the rest of the city.
Closure of the route to the hydropower plant (1954)
In 1954, the then newly established bus line in the 8th district of Plopi, which was incorporated in 1951, also took over the operation of the hydropower plant. This led - after 31 years of operation - to the abandonment of the short tram branch line Piața Sarmisegetuza - Uzina Hidroelectrică. As a result, there was temporarily no tram line 1, instead the new bus connection took over this line designation.
Ring closure Fratelia (1954)
To further improve the traffic situation in Fratelia, the tram company connected the terminals of lines 5 and 7 on August 21, 1954 by means of an approximately 900 meter long and also single-track new line on the Strada Victor Hugo. This cross-connection between Strada Progresul and the terminus of line 5 at the Church of St. Joseph, which had existed since 1926, also connected the two sub-areas Fratelia A in the west and Fratelia B in the east directly with one another.
The gap closure in 1954 finally led to the integration of line 7 into line 5, which from then on served the horseshoe-shaped route Piața Alexandru Mocioni – Strada Chișodei – Strada Memorandului – Piața Nicolae Bălcescu. At that time there were seven railcars on it, two of which were push-pull cars at the two end points, and five trailer cars. These were - including the two double-track terminals - six turnouts available. Due to its continuous single-track route - apart from the diversion - the now 5956 meter long line 5 was considered unpunctual. In addition, the southern Elisabethstadt and the Besenyei colony lost their direct connection with the inner city again after only one year.
Extension to Freidorf (1954)
On December 30, 1954, the municipality of Freidorf, which was incorporated in 1950, also received its tram connection, although the place had been connected to Timișoara by rail since 1897. For this purpose, ITAS built a new 3450 meter long single-track line. It began at the end of line 3 - that is, at the intersection of Strada Ioszef Preyer and Strada Crizantemelor - and ended at the Freidorf exit towards Utvin. The new terminus was on Strada Răscoala din 1907. Freidorf was served by the new line 8, which had a connection to line 3 on Strada Crizantemelor. In return, the previous line 8 in the Ronaț was assigned the new line number 9 at that time.
The Freidorfer line was originally single-tracked throughout and on the right-hand side. It had grooved rails in the street area up to Strada Căpitan Damșescu, from there it had its own route with Vignole rails. For the initial ten-minute cycle with three solo cars, two swerve were available, one on Strada Vaslui - which is now called Strada Martir Gogu Opre - and one in the open field between the Liceul Auto stop, which was later set up, and the entrance to Freidorf.
The delivery of additional open-plan cars also made it possible, from 1954, to gradually convert line 6 to longer units. However, this measure dragged on until the first half of the 1960s.
New construction of the Ștefan-cel-Mare bridge (1956–1958)
In 1956, the city began to rebuild the dilapidated Podul Ștefan cel Mare, the ailing bridge had been closed to private traffic since 1939. As a result, line 2 was temporarily unable to serve Gara de Nord. It therefore ran to Bulevardul Iuliu Maniu, the then Strada Reșița, until 1958. During this time, the north station was connected exclusively by trolleybuses and the only route on the specially set up replacement bus line that shuttled between the north station and the cathedral. The company withdrew the bus required for this from the bus route to Plopi that was only opened in 1954. Due to the bridge renovation, Plopi had to get by temporarily without public transport links. For the diversion of line 2, another turning loop went into operation - also in 1956 - at Bulevardul Iuliu Maniu.
From the time the new loop went into operation, line 3 only ran to Bulevardul Iuliu Maniu, and since then there have been no rails in Strada Crizantemelor. In return, the tram company extended line 8 from Freidorf to Bulevardul Iuliu Maniu. Since the loop there could only be approached from the inner city, the latter ended bluntly at the end of Strada Ioszef Preyer. For this extension, line 8 received an additional third turnout at the previous terminus Strada Crizantemelor and was henceforth operated with four courses. For the time being, there was no change in the use of vehicles on line 3 - which from then on managed with one less round trip - the operation of the other terminal, Aleea CFR, initially continued to require bidirectional vehicles.
Second ring line (1959)
In October 1959, line 5 mutated into the second ring line in Timișoara. To this end, since 1957 as was Întreprinderea Comunală Oraş Timişoara ( ICOT firmierende) streetcar company before branching on the Piaţa Sfânta Mary by the construction of a connecting curve to a between the Strada Gheorghe Doja and Bulevardul 16 Decembrie 1989 Gleisdreieck expand. From then on, one-way wagons could also be used on the Fratelia route. At the same time, after 33 years, the operation with push rail cars ended, whereupon the car exit of line 5 - despite the extension from 5956 to 7300 meters - only increased by one course. The Piața Nicolae Bălcescu continued to function as the - now only nominal - terminus of line 5, from where the courses from the depot started or moved there.
Closure of the factory town (1959)
At the end of 1959, the opening of an approximately 500-meter-long, continuously double-tracked new line along the Jagdwald and the railway to Caransebeş enabled the gap between the terminus of line 2 at Spitalul Dr. Victor Babes and the one on line 3 at what is now the UMT stop. This was also a late realization of a project from the time before the First World War. In the meantime there were also plans for partial commissioning. For example, on a city map from 1941, a planned extension of Spitalul Dr. Victor Babeş – Staţia Meteo recorded, which could no longer be realized due to the war.
The new route, the construction of which began in October 1959, primarily served to improve the connection to the Uzinele Mecanice Timișoara ( UMT ) heavy machinery construction combine , which was created on January 1, 1960 from the merger of two metalworking companies. As a result, ring traffic was also introduced in the northern factory town. Line 2 served the loop from now on - analogous to today's line 1 - counterclockwise , i.e. in the order Piața Traian - Spitalul Dr. Victor Babes - UMT - Piața Traian. Line 3 ran in the opposite direction - analogous to today's line 2. De facto, there has been a 4.8 kilometer long block loop or block bypass in the factory town since 1959 , the only one in Timișoara.
A special feature of this route was the overtaking or stacking track for the counterclockwise trams that operated until the 1990s . It was about 250 meters long, branched off to the right immediately after the Staţia Meteo intermediate stop, which was also newly established in 1959, and then rejoined the regular track directly in front of the UMT station. The UMT station originally served as the nominal final stop of the ring line; the Staţia Meteo stop has only been shown as such in the network and timetables since 2012.
From 1959, line 3 could also be operated with one-way traffic and thus also with open-plan cars, and from then on it ran again - as it did until 1942 - every five minutes. Line 2 was the first direct tram connection between the city's two main train stations. The double multiple units released on line 3 found a new field of activity from 1959 on the branch lines 4, 8 and 9, which meant that the last three coupling terminals of the network on the Piața Libertății, on the Strada Războieni and on the Piața Avram Iancu were eliminated. With the latter, the peripheral parking of unneeded sidecars, which had been practiced since 1923, was no longer necessary. On the Freidorf route, the double multiple units were used for the first time to serve a terminal with longer units without the possibility of relocating. Previously, they only helped to avoid the shunting effort at the transfer terminals. Thus in 1959 the following line network existed:
| 2 | UMT - Gara de Nord | 5-minute intervals | 12 courses | Furnishing operation | Open-plan car |
| 3 | UMT - Bulevardul Iuliu Maniu | 5-minute intervals | 12 courses | Furnishing operation | Open-plan car |
| 4th | Piața Libertății - Piața Avram Iancu | 7.5-minute intervals | 3 courses | Bidirectional operation | Double railcar |
| 5 | Ring line in both directions: Piața Nicolae Bălcescu - Piața Nicolae Bălcescu | 10-minute intervals | 8 courses | Furnishing operation | Two-car trains |
| 6th | Ring line in both directions: Piața Traian - Piața Traian | 5-minute intervals | 12 courses | Furnishing operation | Two-car trains, open seating cars, two-axle solo cars |
| 8th | Bulevardul Iuliu Maniu - Strada Răscoala din 1907 | 12-minute intervals | 4 courses | Bidirectional operation | Double railcar |
| 9 | Piața Libertății - Strada Războieni | 15-minute intervals | 2 courses | Bidirectional operation | Double railcar |
At an unknown time between 1956 and 1962, however, the routes to Freidorf and Mehala exchanged their line numbers. For a while, line 4 went to Strada Răscoala din 1907 and, in return, line 8 went to Piața Avram Iancu.
Continuous increase in capacity (1960s)
The 1960s were characterized by the increasing industrialization of the city, which required the introduction of longer trains on almost all lines as well as additional trips in rush hour traffic. In that decade a one-way trip cost 0.25 lei, transfer tickets - they also allowed you to switch to the trolleybus - cost 0.50 lei. The two types of tickets were separated by rolls, and the transfer tickets were also perforated. In 1968 the first remote-controlled substation went into operation; it was imported from the German Democratic Republic . In addition, outdoor advertising on the vehicles temporarily disappeared in the 1960s.
First reinforcement courses at peak times and first three-car trains (1961–1962)
The increasing growth of the UMT company, which at times employed 8,100 people, repeatedly pushed the Timișoara tram to the limits of its capacity from the 1960s - especially during rush hour. Since all lines since the tram started operating in 1869 have always run at the same pace throughout the day, the company therefore introduced amplifier courses during rush hour on April 1, 1961 for the first time. This was the case on main lines 2, 3 and 6, with six additional courses in the morning and six in the afternoon on all three lines. They expanded the range of journeys between 4:30 and 8:30 a.m. and between 1:00 p.m. and 5:00 p.m. by 50 percent, i.e. from twelve to eighteen journeys every hour. In the following year, the transport company also introduced units on Line 2 that were extended by around 50 percent. On the one hand, three-car trains, consisting of a two-axle railcar and two two-axle trailer cars, ran for the first time. On the other hand, the first teams of open-plan cars and a two-axle sidecar went into operation.
Due to the infrastructure, such reinforcement courses were still not possible on the other lines. However, in the months of January to March 1961, the existing turnouts on the Fratelia route were relocated and two new ones were created. Due to the increased frequency, which was also implemented on April 1, 1961, the transport company was able to better cope with the increasing number of passengers on this route. From then on, ten trains were in use on Line 5 all day at 7.5-minute intervals, and they met as follows:
- on the Piața Nicolae Bălcescu (end of the double track section)
- in Strada Drubeta, at the intersection with Strada Eneas (turnout, relocated)
- in Strada Drubeta, at the intersection with Strada Mureș (slip road, relocated)
- in Strada Aluniș, at the confluence with Strada Ivan Petrovici Pavlov (turnout, new)
- in Strada Victor Hugo, at number 60 (turnout, relocated)
- in Strada Ana Ipătescu (turnout, new)
- on Bulevardul 16 Decembrie 1989, at the Artă Textilă textile factory (switch, laid)
- on Bulevardul 16 Decembrie 1989, at Piața Iuliu Maniu (turnout, relocated)
- on the Piața Alexandru Mocioni (beginning of the double track section)
- in Strada Gheorghe Doja (double lane section)
In 1963, the delivery of more new trains enabled the end of the use of two-axle solo cars on line 6, so that from then on only two or three-car trains or open-plan cars were used on all seven lines.
Line number reform from 1962
The pure transport company Întreprinderea de Transport Timișoara ( ITT ), which emerged from the former municipal mixed company Întreprinderea Comunală Oraș Timișoara in the summer of 1962 , carried out one of its first official acts on October 1, 1962, to carry out an extensive line number reform for the three urban means of transport. Ultimately, a systematic scheme with no gaps replaced the names that had evolved over time. In return, the individual numbers were assigned up to three times for almost a decade:
| Line numbers up to October 1962 | Line numbers from October 1962 | |
|---|---|---|
| tram | 2-6, 8, 9 | 1-7 |
| Trolleybus | 7, 10, 11, 12 | 1-4 |
| Bus | 1, 13-17 | 1-6 |
Thus, at the beginning of October 1962, six of the seven tram lines at that time were given a new number, only line 6 kept its name:
| old | New |
|---|---|
| 2 | 1 |
| 3 | 2 |
| 4th | 3 |
| 5 | 7th |
| 6th | unchanged |
| 8th | 4th |
| 9 | 5 |
The amplifier line 6 barat (1965)
Despite the reinforcement courses introduced in 1961 on the three main lines and the three-car trains on Line 1, traffic to and from the Metallkombinat continued to cause problems. That is why ITT introduced Timișoara's first independent amplifier line in 1965. This new line 6 barat differed from the regular line 6 by a crossbar and was the first so-called canceled line - Romanian linia barat - of the Timișoara tram at all.
The new line only ran in the morning between 4:30 and 8:30 a.m. every ten minutes with five courses on the route Piața Traian - Piața Sfânta Maria - Piața Nicolae Bălcescu - Piața Traian - UMT - Spitalul Dr. Victor Babes - Piața Traian. That is, it was shaped like a figure eight, but it was only operated in one direction. In particular, Elisabethstadt also received a direct connection with the UMT. Furthermore, the daily carriage exit - with a maximum of 80 courses in the morning peak - reached a new high in 1965.
At the end of the decade, the 6 barat amplifier line was finally dropped again. The exact date of its task has not been recorded - on December 31, 1968 it is still listed in the business statistics, in spring 1972 it was no longer in operation.
First two-way trains with one-sided doors (1966)
Starting in 1964, the city of Timisoara in the district Mehala with the construction of which began large housing estate Circumvalatiunii , where first the subarea Circumvalatiunii I was born. This is bordered in the south by the Calea Bogdăneștilor, in the east by the Bulevardul Cetăţii, in the north by the Strada Mircea cel Bătrân and in the west by the Strada Macilor and is now known as Zona Mircea cel Bătrân .
The new settlement caused capacity problems on tram line 4 from the start. In order to relieve this, the ITT extended bus line 4 Săcălaz –Piaţa Avram Iancu to Piața Unirii in the inner city on December 1, 1964 , so that its passengers in the Mehala no longer had to change to the tram. In addition, from the same date, a new bus line 4 barat operated between Piața Unirii and the intersection of Strada Grigore Alexandrescu / Strada Ovidiu Balea during rush hour.
In order to be able to do without the latter again, tram line 4 also ran with three-car trains from 1966. In the absence of turning options, however, in contrast to the main lines, bidirectional trains were used. These were to temporarily formed teams of two railcars of type F on the non-drive Mittelbeiwagen Type C AII respectively That is, the tramway company chose the shortest vehicles from the former stock to the extension of the - to the extent of the two-car trains previously used on line 4 - to spare. Furthermore, the type F motor vehicles were one-way vehicles, which at that time became double-judges. Instead of installing these additional entrances on the doorless side, the company decided as an alternative to arranging all platforms on the route into the Mehala - looking out of town - on the left. Line 4 was the first on which two-way operation with one-sided doors took place.
Shortening of lines 4 and 5 (1969)
In 1967, the city administration connected Strada Gheorghe Dima with Strada Sfântul Ioan to create a new bypass on the western edge of the former fortress, and two years later built the new Piața Timișoara 700 there. However, this new traffic management increasingly hindered the continuous single-track tram lines 4 and 5, which were therefore linked to each other in terms of timetables. In order to avoid waiting times at the intersection with the new street, the tram company shortened the two lines mentioned from March 8, 1969 for traffic reasons by around 200 meters and one stop, i.e. when coming from Balta Verde they already ended at the Piața Timișoara 700. Passengers transferring between lines 4 and 5 on the one hand and lines 1, 2 and 6 on the other hand had to reach Piața Libertații, two blocks away, on foot; the route through the eastern Strada Coriolan Brediceanu was temporarily only used as an operating line.
Partial suspension of line 7 (1969)
At the end of the 1960s, three different causes led to the fact that the single-track and laterally laid 2.2-kilometer section between the Piața Alexandru Mocioni and the Piața Veteranilor in the Fratelia district was permanent and the approximately 350-meter-long section Piața Veteranilor – Strada Chișodei temporarily had to be given up. On the one hand, the management of the University Clinic for Gynecology and Obstetrics, Dr. Dumitru Popescu on the noise development on Line 7, which runs directly past the hospital, with negative effects on the newborns, their mothers and the medical staff. On the other hand, line 7 played an important role in the plans to develop the residential areas of Cartierul Dâmbovița , Șagului Vest I and Șagului Vest II , which were then under construction , for which purpose it had to be relocated. A third reason for the route closure was the increasing traffic on the arterial road towards Șag, which is part of national road 59 and also part of European route 70 . At that time it was expanded to four lanes at the expense of the tram route. As a result, from April 7, 1969, the ring traffic on line 7 was interrupted. From then on, it commuted between the intersection with Strada Iancu Văcărescu and Gara de Nord, which was thus directly connected to Fratelia for the first time.
However, this new route required bidirectional cars, which at that time were not available in sufficient numbers. As with Line 4 three years earlier, one-way cars had to be provisionally converted into bidirectional cars for the modified Line 7. Again, the tram company decided to only adjust the driver's cabs . For this reason, from December 1, 1969, line 7 only shuttled between Piața Nicolae Bălcescu and today's Strada Chișodei stop, then known as Strada Ana Ipătescu. Five courses were necessary for this, with four evasions available.
The northern end point on the Piața Nicolae Bălcescu was therefore due to technical reasons; a continuation on the double-track line towards Gara de Nord would not have been possible for safety reasons due to the only one-sided doors of the adapted wagons. Viewed in the direction of Piața Nicolae Bălcescu, it was only possible to get on and off the trains in question on the left side. In contrast to line 4, however, not all platforms on line 7 were on the same side. As a result, passengers on the streets of Victor Hugo and Aluniș had to leave the car towards the lane or were forced to board directly from the street.
The disused route in the course of the Bulevardul 16 Decembrie 1989 and the Calea Șagului served the new bus line 13 from then on, it went one stop beyond the Piața Veteranilor to the Dermatina company .
Development towards mass transport and expansion of the secondary lines (1970s)
In the 1970s there was a massive settlement of the city of Timișoara, with numerous new satellite towns and high-rise settlements based on the model of the Soviet microrajons . For example, the number of inhabitants of the city increased from 174,243 in 1966 to 266,353 in 1977. The settlement structure and the traffic flows of Timișoara also changed significantly at that time. The tram played an important role here; it acted as a means of mass transportation for the new residential areas.
Shortage of cars and temporary suspension of line 4 (1970)
The increasing number of passengers at the end of the 1960s and the beginning of the 1970s brought the comparatively infrequent secondary lines in particular to the limit of their capacity. After the last sidecars with open platforms were withdrawn from the inventory in 1970, the already existing lack of cars worsened. Two-way cars in particular were in short supply at the time, a consequence of the ring traffic on line 7 that had been closed the previous year. For this reason, the tram company decided to take an emergency measure and temporarily stopped line 4 in Mehala from March 11, 1970 to provide cars for the lines 3, 5 and 7 to be won. This was made possible by the simultaneous extension of trolleybus line 3 to Piața Avram Iancu, so that all stops on line 4 could continue to be served by local electric transport.
The vehicles released on line 4 were used by the Întreprinderea de Transport Timișoara to form three-car trains on lines 3, 5 and 7. At that time, the tram company put together a long train for each of these three lines. This was again an emergency solution, as the turnouts were actually only designed for two-car trains. In this way, however, at least every second course on line 5, every fourth course on line 3 and every fifth course on line 7, a 50 percent higher capacity could be offered. Similar to a fallback connection point while the shorter coatings were in the avoidance of the long train included . Since all three three-car trains only had doors on one side, this type of operation was temporarily found on all branch lines from 1970. In the direction of Ronaț the entry and exit were on the left, in the direction of Freidorf on the right. While this was not a problem on the Freidorf route, almost all platforms between Balta Verde and Ronaț were on the right-hand side at that time. For example, passengers also had to enter the three-car train directly from the ground at the terminus Strada Războieni. These conditions were also criticized by the local press at the time, they suggested turning the train in question in the depot before it was used on line 5.
New line through the Cartierul Dâmbovița (1972)
On January 26, 1972, the tram company opened a 1550 meter long new line through the Cartierul Dâmbovița, it connected the Freidorfer line with the Piața Veteranilor. At the same time, the approximately 300-meter-long section between Piața Veteranilor and Strada Chișodei went back into operation after a two-year break. As a result, Fratelia was once again connected to the tram network on both sides, as it had been until 1969. When it opened, the new line was initially single-track and led across the country through the new development area in the south of the city, which was still under construction at the time. However, the planum for the future second track was already in place as a preliminary construction work. Two new turnouts were also available on Strada Frunzei and Strada Vasile Lupu. In addition to the reopened Piața Veteranilor station, the three completely new stops Strada Grădini, Strada Frunzei and Strada Dreptatea went into operation, but were replaced in later years by the two stations Strada Banatul and Strada Transilvania.
From then on, line 7 shuttled between Piața Nicolae Bălcescu and Bulevardul Iuliu Maniu and served the - still single-track - section through Strada Ioszef Preyer together with line 3. For this reason, it had to go to one - on line 7 since 1961 - Eight-minute intervals are compressed. For this purpose, she received three additional turnouts at Strada Rahovei, at Strada Păcii and in Freidorf shortly after the confluence of Strada Constantin Nottara, in return the previous turnout at Strada Martir Gogu Opre could be dispensed with.
However, the chosen timetable did not work, which is why the next change took place on April 17, 1972. At that time, line 3 got its usual ten-minute cycle back, whereupon line 7 had to be divided into a regular and a canceled line:
| Line 7 : | Piața Nicolae Bălcescu - Strada Chișodei | 4.4 kilometers | Eight-minute intervals | seven courses |
| Line 7 barat : | Strada Chișodei - Bulevardul Iuliu Maniu | 1.8 kilometers | Ten-minute intervals | two courses |
Introduction of large sidecars (1972)
After the authorities approved the use of the Timiș 2 prototype train - which was completed in 1970 - in passenger traffic on January 18, 1972, the first unit went into regular operation at the end of 1972. The new wagons were initially only used on line 2, and only from August 15, 1975 were they also used on the other two main lines 1 and 6. The four-axle large sidecars in particular were new for Timișoara, while all sidecars used so far were two-axle. Due to the almost doubled transport capacity on Line 2 - in contrast to the previously common two-axle trains - the capacity problems in traffic to and from UMT also eased further. The new open-plan trains finally replaced the last three-car trains on the main lines in the mid-1970s.
In order to relieve the tram on the one hand and to spare commuters from the surrounding area the time-consuming journey through the inner city on the other hand, a CFR double-decker train also ran directly from Gara de Nord to 6:30 a.m. in the 1970s for a few years into the UMT factory premises and back in the afternoon.
In return, the new large-capacity trains also freed up older two-axle vehicles, so that line 4 - after an interruption of more than two years - could go back into operation. Unlike when it was hired in 1970, it was now running again - as it had been until 1966 - with the usual two-car trains, as passenger demand had significantly decreased as a result of the trolleybus route 3, which was extended in 1970. It is not known when exactly the line went back into operation, but it certainly ran again during the Mehalaer Kirchweih in September 1972.
Modernization of the line to the Mehala (1972)
From November 20, 1972, the transport company began to expand the until then continuously single-track line 4 in order to be able to adequately serve the large residential area Circumvalațiunii , which is expanding further north . In order to be able to expand the 600 meter long section between Balta Verde and the intersection of Bulevardul Cetății / Strada Cloșca / Strada Gheorghe Lazăr to two tracks, line 4 had to be completely closed again. It was temporarily replaced by the specially set up bus ring line 35 Piața Timișoara 700 – Balta Verde – Calea Torontalului – Piața Consiliul Europei – Piața Timișoara 700, which only ran clockwise. In the first quarter of 1974, line 4 - after completion of the construction work on Bulevardul Cetății - was back in operation, with bus line 35 remaining until the extension of line 4 to Calea Torontalului in 1976.
To compensate for line 4, which was temporarily canceled, line 5 was also given an additional siding on Strada Grigore Alexandrescu on March 31, 1973, with which a third train could be used on the Ronaț during rush hour. This resulted in an asymmetrical 7.5 / 7.5 / 15-minute cycle in rush hour traffic. By 1980 at the latest, four trains were already in service.
New line as part of the Calea Buziașului (1973)
In July 1973 the ITT opened a tram- like, double-track new line in the south of the city in the middle of Calea Buziașului. Reinforced concrete sleepers were used for the first time ; they corresponded to a type of the state railway CFR. It connects to the existing network at the Banatim and from there leads dead straight to today's Piața General Gheorghe Domășnean. The main reason for the construction of this route was the company Intreprinderea de Aparate Electrice de Măsurat (IAEM), founded in 1970, or later Aparate Electrice de Măsurat (AEM) and the company Electrotimiș, founded in 1971. The new route was operated by the newly introduced line 8. It initially operated only as a provisional shuttle line with a three-car train in two-way operation between the new terminus and Banatim, where it was possible to change to line 6. On September 19, 1973, it finally went into full operation and has since connected the Calea Buziașului with the Gara de Nord in one-way operation - on a route that has not changed to this day. As a special feature, the turning loop at the end of the route is integrated into the roundabout there .
Brief reintroduction of ring traffic on Line 7 (1974)
In the summer of 1974, line 7 mutated back into a ring line after more than four and a half years in shuttle traffic. In contrast to the old route from 1959 to 1969, their new route over the Bulevardul Regele Carol I was 8.4 kilometers longer, but a little over a kilometer. In addition, the tram company now selected the Bulevardul Dâmbovița stop as the nominal terminus, which is located directly next to the new depot that has meanwhile opened. Initially, line 7 ran exclusively clockwise from mid-July 1974, before finally starting full operation in both directions on July 29, 1974. In each direction, a train ran every eight minutes, which required ten courses. In return, line 7 barat, introduced in 1972, was dropped again.
However, this new operating concept did not prove itself either, so on September 26, 1974 the tram company returned to shuttle service on line 7. However, they did not reintroduce line 7 barat, that is, line 7 served from then on - as it did temporarily in 1972 - the route Bulevardul Iuliu Maniu – Piața Nicolae Bălcescu.
New line to Strada Matei Basarab (1974)
From September 12, 1974, line 4 in the Mehala received a new route. Coming from the inner city, it served from the Bulevardul Cetă Haltestelleii stop on an approximately 850-meter-long, double-track new line. The two new stops Strada Amforei and Strada Matei Basarab were located in the process. This also gave the new development area Circumvalațiunii III , now called Zona Bucoviniei or Zona Bucovina , its connection to the tram network. The temporary final stop Strada Matei Basarab, however, was only provisional; the trains turned there at a blunt track change. Therefore, only bidirectional cars could still be used on Line 4, but the new line made the use of real bidirectional vehicles with doors on both sides necessary. The two-way trains with doors on one side that had previously been partially used on Line 4 could no longer be used. The approximately 450 meter long section Bulevardul Cetății – Piața Avram Iancu was shut down after almost 51 years of operation. The trolleybus, which had operated there since 1970, served as a replacement.
Introduction of the conductors-less operation (1974)
After the trolleybuses in Timișoara had been driving without a conductor since the 1960s , the passengers had to pay their fare to the driver using a pay box , the increasing pressure to rationalize in the 1970s also led to the introduction of one-man operation on the tram. A first attempt with conductorless cars took place on September 27, 1971. This involved a few three-car trains on lines 2 and 6, where the first vehicle was reserved exclusively for season ticket holders. This saved at least one in three conductors.
Complete self-handling by passengers, known in Romanian as autotaxare or autoservire , was finally introduced by the tram company on branch lines 3 and 5 on December 1, 1974. Branch line 7 followed on March 6, 1975, before all lines finally ran without conductors from October 1, 1975. Since then, tickets can be purchased in advance. However, sales outlets only exist at a few highly frequented stops. At that time, the trams received five nine- field punched cancellers per car, each vehicle was assigned a specific cancellation pattern with three punched fields each. For the first time in many decades, passenger numbers fell slightly from 1975 onwards, but this was associated with the increasing number of fare dodgers .
Timișoara was the first tram company in the country to get by permanently without a conductor, before there was only one temporary attempt on Bucharest Line 5 in 1965 and 1966.
Improved connection of the Cartierul Dâmbovița (1975)
From April 27, 1975, the tram company finally expanded the almost one kilometer long stretch of branch lines 3 and 7 between Bulevardul Iuliu Maniu and Bulevardul Dâmbovița to two tracks in order to be able to extend main line 2 to the end of the same name. When construction began, the company initially shortened line 7 to the Piața Nicolae Bălcescu – Bulevardul Dâmbovița section. With the completion of the construction work on August 21, 1975, the new development area Cartierul Dâmbovița finally received a frequent direct connection with the inner city and the factory city through line 2. The extended line 2 and the line 3, which was shortened to the Bulevardul Dâmbovița – Freidorf section at the same time, turned in a new turning loop that was adjacent to the new depot number 2. The former stump end of line 3 in Strada Ioszef Preyer, however, had to be abandoned because the courses turning there would otherwise have hindered the trains on line 2. The Wendeschleife there, in turn, was retained for the time being, but from then on there was no scheduled traffic.
Rebuilding of the Balta Verde branch and first island operation (1975)
The next stage in the expansion of the line to the Mehala was the double-track expansion of the Balta Verde junction in the summer of 1975. The first 100 meters of the route into the Ronaț, i.e. up to the confluence of the Strada Ion Pop-Reteganul, were also built with two lanes. Since then, the trains on line 5 have been able to meet there without obstructing traffic on the main line to the Mehala. In return, the neighboring turnout between Strada Banul Mărăcine and Strada Zalău was no longer available. This measure meant that between May 16 and August 8, 1975, line 4 could only commute between Strada Matei Basarab and the construction site at the Balta Verde stop. It therefore had no connection with either of the two depots; this was the first island operation in the history of the Timișoara tram.
Reintroduction of the 6 barat amplifier line (1976)
After rush hour traffic to and from UMT had largely normalized in the first half of the 1970s, the connection of the then strongly prosperous industrial area along Calea Buziașului presented the tram company with new challenges from the mid-1970s. Line 8, introduced in 1973, was no longer able to cope with demand on its own. Since, from 1975 to 1977, line 6 was gradually switched to the new Timiș 2 high-capacity trains, the reinforcement courses introduced in 1961 on this route lost importance. Therefore, the company - operating as Întreprinderea de Transport și Construcții Vagoane de Tramvai Timișoara , or ITCVTT for short - used the opportunity at the beginning of 1976 to convert these additional trips into an independent amplifier line called 6 barat. This was the second time that this line signal was introduced after 1965. The new line operated from January 19, 1976 on the route Piața General Gheorghe Domăşnean - Banatim - Piața Libertații - Piața Sfânta Maria - Piața Nicolae Bălcescu - Banatim - Piața General Gheorghe Domăşnean. This gave the inner city, at least during rush hour, its direct connection to the new industrial zone in the south of Timișoara.
Two-track expansion between Piața Libertații and Balta Verde (1976)
From January 29, 1976, the tram company finally expanded the Piața Libertații – Balta Verde section to two tracks, with it being completely closed for the next seven months. The result was another network division. Line 4 was closed for the duration of the construction work, while line 5 only ran between Balta Verde and Strada Războieni. A temporary bus line 24 took over the replacement of the rails.
Extension of line 4 to the diameter line (1976)
On September 1, 1976, at the same time as the Piața Libertații – Balta Verde section was put back into operation, the new line between the provisional terminal Strada Matei Basarab, which had been opened two years earlier, and the new loop at Calea Torontalului went into operation. This also gave the youngest and northernmost Mehalaer development area Circumvalațiunii IV , today known as Zona Matei Basarab or Zona Torontalului , its tram connection. This section of line 4 is around 300 meters long and has a single track for reasons of space - the two platforms of the terminus are also in the single-track area. The route originally ran out of town on the left edge of the road, it was not until the mid-1980s that it received its current central alignment between the two lanes of the Bulevardul Cetăţii. The turning loop in the Mehala is also the only one in Timișoara that is driven clockwise. A stump track is also available inside the loop. At the same time, the double-track expansion of the Piața Libertății – Balta Verde section, which began on January 29, 1976, was completed.
The new terminus at Calea Torontalului as well as the existing double-track line to the Mehala finally made it possible for the ITCVTT to extend Line 4 from a radial line to a diameter line. As a result, this also mutated into an important main line and from then on operated via the Piața Libertății to the Piața General Gheorghe Domăşnean - on the latter section of the route it supplemented line 8 and line 6 barat, which was introduced a few months earlier.
On the occasion of its extension, line 4 was also converted to one-way operation and henceforth served by Electroputere V54 railcars. These old wagons were no longer allowed to drive along the central inner city route past the prefecture due to their noise . Therefore, line 4 first had to run via Piața Sfânta Maria, for this purpose it used the new track triangle on Piața Libertății, which was created in 1975, which replaced the previous diagonal crossing. But after the passengers coming from Gara de Est urgently requested a direct connection between the Piața Traian and the Piața General Gheorghe Domășnean, line 4 ran from December 12, 1976 - regardless of the above-mentioned requirement - via the factory town instead of the Elisabethstadt .
The simultaneous introduction of a new amplifier line 4 barat between Calea Torontalului and UMT also enabled a direct connection between the new residential areas in the west and the largest employer in the city from September 1, 1976. Again, it only ran at rush hour in the morning and served the large loop in the factory town - like the earlier amplifier line 6 barat from 1965 - clockwise. In addition, from the same day, line 5 - after an interruption of more than seven years - could be led back to Piața Libertății. From then on, it ended there on the track that served as a transfer track from 1923 to 1959 and was reactivated in 1976 - now as a dead-end track. However, line 5 now also required real two-way cars with entrances on both sides, which means that after five years the use of the single three-car train on the Ronaț also ended.
Modernization of the Freidorfer line (1976–1978)
The planned construction of the chemical combine Combinatul Petrochimic Solventul on the outskirts of Freidorf also ensured the modernization of line 3 between 1976 and 1978, although the company ultimately settled next to the alcohol factory in Josefstadt. During this time, the entire length of the rail replacement service was served by bus route 31, which was specially set up for this purpose. At that time, the tram company expanded its line to double-track to the Liceul Auto stop at the entrance to Freidorf. The Freidorfer local transit itself remained single-track, apart from the existing siding on Strada Constantin Nottara. In Freidorf, a turning loop with an integrated siding went into operation, which lengthened the route by around 150 meters. The terminus itself, however, remained at the confluence of Strada Răscoala din 1907. In order to be able to connect line 3 at its other end to the Josefstädter Bahnhof, a connecting curve was also built between Bulevardul Regele Carol I and Strada General Ion Dragalina in those years. When the construction work was completed on March 13, 1978, Freidorf and Cartierul Dâmbovița also received a direct connection to the city's most important train station. In addition, line 3 could now also be operated with one-way wagons. This ended - six years after its introduction - the use of the individual three-car train on Line 3. In return, from 1978 onwards, additional repeater trains also ran to Freidorf during rush hour.
Reconstruction of the underpass in Strada Coriolan Brediceanu (1977–1978)
After line 6 - the third line of the network - could be completely converted to the modern Timiș 2 trains in the course of 1977, line 4 was the next. At that time, however, the modern cars could not be used on it because the railway underpass from 1902 on the Strada Coriolan Brediceanu would have been too low for their single-arm pantographs . In contrast, the pantographs of the old wagons did not cause any problems there. In addition, there had been a single-track bottleneck there since 1976. In order to solve the problem, the tram company started on October 17, 1977 to build a new double-track separate route next to the previous underpass, which was used jointly by road traffic and trams. For this purpose, the railway viaduct had to be extended accordingly. During the construction work there was a temporary network division. Lines 4 and 5, coming from the direction of Balta Verde, ended shortly before the viaduct and thus temporarily had no connection to one of the two depots. Line 4 barat in turn shuttled between the other side of the viaduct and the Piața Libertății and thus established the connection with the other lines. As a replacement for the shortened line 4, there was also a temporary line 2 barat on the Bulevardul Iuliu Maniu – Piața Libertății – Piața General Gheorghe Domăşnean route.
Price increase from 1978 and extensive line changes
After completion of the construction work on the railway underpass in Strada Coriolan Brediceanu, continuous tram traffic in the Mehala could be resumed on June 1, 1978. Lines 4 and 5 got their regular routes back, the temporary lines 2 barat and 4 barat were no longer needed. Thus, after 22 years of operation, the traffic-poorly located turning loop on Bulevardul Iuliu Maniu was finally eliminated, it was in the middle of the busy intersection and gave way to the four-lane expansion of the boulevard mentioned.
In addition, from June 1, 1978 - after just over two years of operation - line 6 barat was no longer an independent line. The reason for this was the fact that from now on line 4 could also be served with the high-capacity Timiș 2 trains. This meant that there was a sufficient supply of traffic to and from Calea Buziașului with only two lines. As a result, the wagons temporarily used on line 6 barat ran again from spring 1978 as reinforcement courses during rush hour on the regular ring route of line 6.
Also on June 1, 1978, the then Întreprinderea de Transport în Comun Timișoara also increased fares comparatively sharply, for example the price for a single trip by tram rose by 30 percent from 0.50 to 0.65 lei. Above all, it introduced separate tariffs for trams (red tickets), trolleybuses (green tickets) and buses (blue tickets). From then on, a trolleybus trip cost 1.00 lei and a bus trip even 1.25 lei, making the tram the cheapest of the three urban modes of transport. The tiered fares for the three modes of transport - which were also introduced in other Romanian cities at the time - also meant that the tickets could no longer be used flexibly and, in particular, passengers transferring often had to have several types of ticket ready.
Similar to season tickets : instead of between monthly tickets for two lines at 10.00 lei, for four lines at 20.00 lei or for all lines at 30.00 lei, passengers could only choose between monthly tickets for one line at 20.00 lei or choose for all lines at 60.00 lei. In order to keep the effects of the tariff increase at least on the numerous workers and employees of the UMT within limits, monthly tickets for line 1 were henceforth also valid for line 2 and vice versa. Otherwise, the UMT employees would have needed an expensive monthly pass for all lines from June 1978 in order to be able to continue to reach and leave their workplace flexibly with both lines operating there - which would have led to a six-fold increase in the price.
For this reason, the previous line 2 - also on June 1, 1978 - was renamed "1 red" (1 roșu), while the previous line 1 was now called "1 black" (1 negru) for better differentiation. Colloquially, one usually spoke of the red 1 and the black 1 . The signs on the stop boards and on the vehicles themselves were accordingly given with a red or black number on a white background. On the other hand, the abbreviations 1R and 1N were to be found on black and white line maps. For a short time, the alternative designations Line 1D ("Dâmbovița") and Line 1G ("Gara de Nord") were used, for example on a city map from 1979. In addition, the amplifier line 4 barat, which had been introduced two years earlier, received line signal 2, which had become free .
As a result, seven of the eleven lines at that time received a new route or a new number on the specified date, only lines 3, 6, 7 and 8 remained unchanged:
| line 1 | renamed to line 1 black |
| Line 2 | renamed to line 1 red |
| Line 2 barat | omitted |
| Line 4 | Return to the regular route |
| Line 4 barat (1977–1978) | omitted |
| Line 4 barat (1976–1977) | reintroduced with new line number 2 |
| Line 5 | Return to the regular route |
| Line 6 barat | not applicable, reintegration in line 6 |
The extensive changes prompted the tram company to temporarily introduce route boards behind the windshield of the Timiș 2 trains too, which the daily press asked for their attention.
Modernization of line 7 (1978–1980)
From 1978 to 1980, line 7 between Piața Nicolae Bălcescu and Bulevardul Dâmbovița - and thus continuously - was expanded to double-track. In doing so, however, it lost its own route on the roadside between Strada Lidia and Strada Mureș. The Strada Drubeta, which is very narrow in this area, made it necessary to integrate both directional tracks into the carriageway using grooved rails. Due to the construction site, line 7 ran from July 1978 only between Piața Nicolae Bălcescu and Strada Frunzei. This enabled the construction work on the collecting canal there to begin in the remaining section - which was necessary in advance of the track construction . This was followed by the expansion of the Strada Izlaz – Strada Chisodei section, with which line 7 could only commute between Piața Nicolae Bălcescu and Strada Izlaz from February 1979. In a third construction phase from March 1980, the line was then temporarily divided into two parts due to the ongoing expansion work:
- Line 7: Piața Nicolae Bălcescu - Strada Mureș
- Line 7 barat: Bulevardul Dâmbovița - Strada Ivan Petrovici Pavlov
The construction work did not end until August 1980. As a result, line 7 repeatedly mutated into the ring line via Piața Sfânta Maria, so that one-way wagons could also be used on this route again. Line 5 was henceforth the only two-way line in Timișoara. With the conversion of line 7, bi-directional operation with one-sided doors finally ended after 14 years.
Under the sign of the energy crisis (1980s)
In the 1980s, the final phase of the Ceaușescu era , Romania was hit by a severe energy crisis. This also had a full impact on the transport sector. Because electricity had to be saved, the IJTL Timiș stretched the intervals of the tram. Long waiting times and massively overcrowded trains were the result, crowds of people at the doors - as in all Romanian cities - were part of everyday life.
At the same time, the general shortage economy led to permanent spare parts problems. This resulted in a high failure rate, and the few ready-to-use vehicles were stressed all the more. This was especially true for the brand-new, but qualitatively inferior Timiș 2 sets. Smaller repairs had to be postponed because the management needed every car, which often made the condition of the vehicles even worse. Dented, rusted and poorly painted cars were the order of the day - in winter, broken heaters reduced driving comfort. Frequently, damaged trains also blocked the entire tram traffic of a section of the route, resulting in severe schedule deviations.
Because petrol was also heavily rationed in that era, the tram had to carry additional passengers at the same time. Including both motor vehicle owners who could not use their cars, as well as passengers on the bus routes that were only running sporadically at the time or were completely discontinued or shortened.
The energy crisis also had an impact on the state of the infrastructure. The tracks were only inadequately maintained and hardly changed anymore, slow driving and longer travel times were the result. The vehicles used also suffered from the poor condition of the tracks. The consequence was greater stress, which in turn exacerbated the maintenance problems described above.
In addition, the tariff reform of June 1978 intensified the above-mentioned shift to the tram, which has since been the cheapest mode of transport. However, as a result of two further tariff changes in the early 1980s, fares approached somewhat again:
| tram | Trolleybus | Bus | |
|---|---|---|---|
| From July 14, 1980 | 1.00 leu | 1.00 leu | 1.25 lei |
| From September 1, 1981 | 1.00 leu | 1.25 lei | 1.50 lei |
Irrespective of this, as early as June 1, 1981, instead of single tickets, the company was only issuing multi-journey tickets for four or ten journeys, but no volume discount was granted. Despite the massive economic problems, shortly before the political change in 1989, four new lines were put into operation.
As early as August 28, 1979, tram traffic in the factory town was interrupted because construction of the new Podul Mihai Viteazul began at that time. Lines 1 black, 1 red and 2 therefore ran from Piața Traian via UMT to Piața General Virgil Economu, where a temporary turning loop was available to them, and from there back on the same route. A double multiple unit commuted between Piața Traian and Piața Sarmisegetuza, so that only the Strada Laleleor stop could not be served. This condition lasted until December 23, 1981, from that day onwards the three affected lines were able to drive over the new bridge and return to their traditional routes.
On June 18, 1986, extensive road and canal construction work began in the Ronaț, which is why the route leading there had to be shortened on that day by around 200 meters to today's stop Strada Adam Müller-Guttenbrunn, which at that time was still - after the neighboring parallel street - Strada Belgrade was called. The increasing construction progress finally led to the temporary suspension of the entire line 5 at the beginning of 1988. This ended the era of the two-axle old wagons on the Timișoara tram, and since then there have been no more bidirectional lines.
In the factory town, too, tram traffic was impaired for several months from February 14, 1988, where the old Podul Dacilor from 1909 was demolished and replaced by a reinforced concrete bridge. As a result, the lines "1 black" and "1 red" coming from the inner city both ran from Piața Traian via UMT to Gara de Est and from there back on the same route. The courses in and out of depot 1 also had to take the detour via UMT. At that time, a turning loop was created at the Ostbahnhof for the three lines mentioned - initially only usable from the east. This was retained as an operational loop even after the new bridge was completed. Since its renovation in the mid-2000s, it can also be approached from both directions.
Extension to Ciarda Roșie (1987)
As the first new construction project since 1976, the IJTL Timiș extended line 4 on November 4, 1987 via the Piața General Gheorghe Domășnean by about 800 meters into the Ciarda Roșie district , the new terminal is also called that. The route follows the district road DJ592 towards Buziaș on the left-hand side on its own track structure, the turning loop has a central siding. In addition, two new intermediate stops were built at that time. These were originally called Electrotimiș - whereupon the former terminus Electrotimiș was renamed IAEM - and IOT The latter company, IOT stands for Întreprinderea Optica Timișoara , was ultimately the main reason for the expansion. Not least because of this, the trams running to Ciarda Roșie were partially marked with IOT in the 1990s.
At the same time as the extension, the tram company renamed the repeater line 2 - only offered in the morning rush hour - to line "4 red" (4 roșu). This also ran from Calea Torontalului no longer to UMT, but supplemented the extended line 4 to Piața General Gheorghe Domăşnean. The latter was henceforth referred to as "4 black" (4 negru) for better delimitation, so that there were temporarily two in Timişoara Line signals with different colors. As with Line 1, passengers with a subscription for Line 4 could now also use both color variants. In addition, line 4 ran red, in contrast to line 2, even in the afternoon peak time.
Extension to sugar factory and slaughterhouse (1988)
On March 21, 1988, line 3 was expanded beyond Freidorf and past the sugar factory to the new Abator terminus, sometimes also called Platforma Industrială IMAIA. Trial operation there began on January 11, 1988. This measure was made possible by the construction of the bridge on the DJ591 district road to Cenei , which has since crossed the railway line to Cruceni at no level. For the first time ever, the Timișoara tram crossed a railway line. In addition, the two new intermediate stops Strada Polonă and Fabrica de Zahăr were built, the former was directly on the bridge mentioned. In order to be able to create it at all, the tram had to be routed on the bridge at the roadside instead of in the middle of the road. The predominantly two-track new section was 1550 meters long and ended with a loop including siding. Shortly before the terminus, there was an approximately 100-meter-long, single-track section. The old Freidorfer Wendeschleife remained connected to the track network, but was henceforth without operation.
Conversion of Bulevardul 30 Decembrie into a pedestrian zone (1989)
In 1988 and 1989, the city administration converted today's Piața Victoriei - at that time still called Bulevardul 30 Decembrie - and the narrow Strada Alba Iulia into pure pedestrian zones . After the private transport , the tram had to give way in the first half of 1989, the disused section between the cathedral and the Piața Libertății was a total of 600 meters long. As an alternative, the transport company built a 650-meter-long new line on the western edge of the inner city for lines 1 black, 1 red and 6, which was already in operation on June 22, 1989. Since then, the trams have been running from Josefstadt through Bulevardul Regele Ferdinand, past the Piaristengymnasium , and finally through Strada Dr. Iosif Nemoianu to reach the existing route of lines 4 and 5 in Strada Coriolan Brediceanu. The junction there was designed as a triangular track from the start. Before the tram through Strada Dr. Iosif Nemoianu was able to drive, but the trolleybus route set up there in 1979 had to be relocated to the parallel Strada Sfântul Ioan.
As a result of the new route, the three affected lines have been lengthened by around 500 meters in each direction. In addition, they have been serving the Piața Timișoara 700 since then, in return the Piața Libertății lost its function as a traditional transfer hub in the inner city. Instead of the central stop on Bulevardul 30 Decembrie, the new Catedrala Mitropolitană stop was built around 200 meters south.
The new tangential line 9 (1989)
Also in the course of 1989, the IJTL Timiș finally opened a 2.8-kilometer cross-connection between Strada Drubeta and Piața General Gheorghe Domășnean in the south of the city. It runs continuously on its own track and is served by the then newly introduced tangential line 9. This initially ran on the new line in addition to line 7 via Fratelia to Bulevardul Dâmbovița. In the area of the new line were the four new stops Strada Salcâmilor, Calea Girocului (today Calea Martirilor 1989), Spitalul Județean and Bulevardul Sudului.
After the revolution (1990-1995)
The Romanian Revolution of December 1989 - which started in Timișoara - also had a significant impact on the Timișoara tram. In addition to direct influences - trams were used as barricades and the ticket kiosk on Piaa Libertății went up in flames - these were primarily of an economic nature. In addition, the tram company changed its name again. It initially traded temporarily from September 1990 under the name of Întreprinderea de Transport Local Timișoara ( ITL ) before it was renamed Regia Autonomă de Transport Timișoara ( RATT ) on January 1, 1991 .
As everywhere in the former real socialist states of Central Eastern Europe , passenger numbers fell sharply after the upheaval. The main reason for this was the closure or downsizing of numerous combines and other large companies. At the same time, private motorized traffic rose sharply, not least because used cars from Western Europe were now available. This also made the overcrowded trams of the 1980s a thing of the past. Other problems were the high inflation of those years, the high rate of fare dodgers and the fact that from 1990 onwards no brand-new trams were produced in Romania - despite the great need for renovation. Furthermore, after the fall of the Berlin Wall, the tram began increasingly employing men as tram drivers, while in the 1980s - with a few exceptions - this was still a purely women's domain.
As a result of cost-cutting measures, lines 6 and 7 even had to be completely closed from June 28, 1990. Almost all the stops served by them were covered by other lines, but the section Strada Drubeta – Piața Nicolae Bălcescu - and thus also the intermediate stop Strada Memorandului - was completely without tram traffic at the time. Line 7 only went into operation again on November 10, 1990, and then line 6 as well on December 1, 1990.
Furthermore, after the revolution - for the first time since 1980 - the company increased its fares again. Ultimately, the hyperinflation of those years also ended the tariff differentiation between the three modes of transport. In return - for the first time ever in the history of the tram - day tickets for 10 lei were also on offer from December 1, 1990 . Right from the start, they were universally valid on all lines of the company, so initially they tended to be more profitable for trolleybus or bus trips than for the tram. After the overturn, prices developed as follows:
| tram | Trolleybus | Bus | |
|---|---|---|---|
| From December 1, 1990 | 2.00 lei | 2.50 lei | 3.50 lei |
| From June 1, 1991 | 5.00 lei | 7.00 lei | |
| From November 16, 1992 | 18.00 lei | ||
| From March 1, 1993 | 25.00 lei | ||
| From May 1, 1993 | 50.00 lei | ||
| From November 1, 1993 | 60.00 lei | ||
| From January 1, 1994 | 85.00 lei | ||
| From April 30, 1994 | 110.00 lei | ||
| From November 20, 1995 | 220.00 lei | ||
| From August 22, 1996 | 300.00 lei | ||
| From March 5, 1997 | 750.00 lei | ||
The transition from a planned economy to a market economy was also noticeable externally . As was common up until the 1960s, outdoor advertising on trams began again in 1991. Including conspicuous full advertisements for the first time from 1992 , they advertised Western cigarette brands. A tentative modernization also began after the revolution. For example, in 1991 - as a novelty for Romania - flight roofs were installed at numerous bus stops as weather protection.
In the second half of 1991 what was then RATT put into operation the second construction section of line 9 along the Bulevardul Dâmbovița. The new route between the Strada Transilvania and Strada Drubeta stops was 2.0 kilometers long and opened up the three new stops Calea Șagului, Strada Gheorghe Ranetti and Bulevardul Constantin Brâncoveanu - the provisional route of line 9 via Fratelia could be abandoned again. 22 years after the abandonment of the old route of line 7 through Calea Șagului, the area around the Artă Textilă textile factory was connected to the urban rail network again. Independently of this, the company also renamed line “1 red” in line 2 back in the second half of 1991, after line signal 2 had been free again since 1987.
In the spring of 1992 - after a four-year break and still single-track - the line in the Ronaț finally went back into operation. In fact, however, it was a new building because the track that used to be in the middle moved five meters to the right - where the open sewer used to run - and thus gave way to the new paved roadway in the middle. In addition, the tram has been running since then via the former terminus Strada Războieni to today's terminus Ronaț. This also single-track extension is about 250 meters long, at its end there is a turning loop.
Because no two-way wagons were available to operate the stump track on the Piața Libertății, the reopened line 5 ran from then on as a cross-city line across the inner city to the Piața General Gheorghe Domăşnean. At the same time it replaced the largely parallel amplifier line "4 red". Their cars were also needed for line 5 because there were no new trams available at the time. When it reopened, the route into the Ronaț still had two diversions: one that has now been closed at the Strada Alexandru Lăpușneanu stop and the one that still exists today at Strada Madona. The turnout on Strada Grigore Alexandrescu, which was operated until 1988, was omitted due to the renovation.
Reconstruction of the track systems and further innovations (since 1995)
In 1995, what was then RATT began to gradually replace the worn track systems from the socialist era with financial support from the World Bank . Beginning in the suburbs and from 2004 also in the inner city, section by section was completely reconstructed according to Western standards. In fact, these are new buildings with replacement of the substructure . State-of-the-art construction methods such as the so-called mass-spring system were used. The most important advantages of these investments are the improvement of the operational safety, the increased driving comfort for the passengers, as well as the higher driving speed on the prepared sections and the associated shortening of the travel times.
In addition to this, the substations and overhead line systems were also renewed, in some cases the RATT of the time replaced the bracing using overhead line rosettes with overhead line masts erected between or next to the tracks. In some places they even installed modern overhead contact lines . In addition, traffic calming was carried out on individual modernized sections , for example in Strada Gheorghe Doja and in Strada Ioszef Preyer. Around the Piața Traian, the city administration installed special barriers for the same purpose, they only open for the tram. In addition, new steel barriers separate the sidewalks from the track area in certain narrow streets, for example in Strada 9 Mai and Strada Coriolan Brediceanu.
The sections in question were usually completely closed for the construction work, resulting in large-scale and long-lasting diversions. Some lines were temporarily set completely. It was not always possible to offer replacement rail services, because most of the time the affected streets were also closed to private traffic.
In other cases, the then RATT preferred single-track provisional arrangements. In some cases, in the absence of bidirectional cars, it used rear-to-rear coupled motor coaches in shuttle traffic. This took place for the first time from November 28, 2004 on line 1 barat, which was set up in addition to the regular line 1 and which shuttled between Gara de Est and Stația Meteo until September 16, 2005. Finally, between June and August 2005, line 4 also ran on the Ciarda Roşie – Piața Libertății section with such vehicles. From April 2006 to January 2007 there was finally a line 1 barat with rear-to-rear coupled railcars between Gara de Est and Bulevardul 3 August 1919. Between June and October 2004 there was also a temporary turning loop on the Piața Romanilor - using a climbing track - it was on the forecourt of the Millennium Church . To date, the general renovation has included the following sections:
| 1995 | Strada Ștefan cel Mare between Strada Ștefan Octavian Iosif and Bulevardul Eroilor de la Tisa | Lines 4, 5, 6 |
| 1996 | Piața Traian - Baia Publică Neptune | Lines 1, 2, 4, 5, 6 |
| 1997 | Strada Ștefan cel Mare between Piața Traian and Strada Ștefan Octavian Iosif | Lines 4, 5, 6 |
| 1998 | Bulevardul Regele Carol I - Gara de Nord | Lines 1, 3, 8 |
| 1999 | Piața Alexandru Mocioni - Bulevardul Regele Carol I | Lines 1, 2, 7, 8 |
| 1999 | Bulevardul Regele Carol I - Bulevardul Dâmbovița | Lines 2, 3, 7 |
| 2001 | Piața Sfânta Maria - Piața Nicolae Bălcescu - Strada Drubeta - Strada Mureș | Lines 6, 7, 8 |
| 2002 | Piața Alexandru Mocioni - Piața Sfânta Maria - Podul Traian | Lines 1, 2, 6, 7, 8, 11 |
| 2003 | Piața Nicolae Bălcescu - Banatim | Lines 6, 8 |
| from July 8, 2004 | Piața Timișoara 700 - Balta Verde | Lines 4, 5, 10 |
| from November 28, 2004 | Piața Traian - Stația Meteo | Lines 1, 2, 5 |
| from January 19, 2005 | Piața Timișoara 700 - Podul Traian | Lines 1, 2, 6, 11 |
| from March 1, 2005 | Strada Transilvania - Strada Drubeta | Line 9 |
| from June 19, 2005 | Intersection area Strada Drubeta | Lines 7, 9 |
| from September 16, 2005 | Piața Traian - Gara de Est | Lines 1, 2, 5 |
| from April 21, 2006 | Piața Timișoara 700 - Băile Neptune | Lines 1, 2, 4, 5, 6, 10 |
| 2009 | Strada Drubeta - Piața General Gheorghe Domăşnean | Line 9 |
Since 1992 there have only been a few smaller new construction measures or route corrections:
- In 2001, the track system on the Piața Nicolae Bălcescu was extended to a triangular track as part of the renovation. Since then, direct service trips have been possible between the route of lines 6 and 8 through Strada 1 Decembrie 1918 and the route of line 7 through Strada Independenției.
- In 2004/05, the then RATT also rebuilt the turning loop at Gara de Est so that trains coming from the direction of Piața Traian can also turn there since then. Furthermore, the Fabrica de Ciorapi stop was canceled and the Piaţa Badea Cârţan stop was shifted a little north to compensate for this.
- In 2009, another connecting curve was added in the area of Strada Drubeta, it allows direct journeys from the direction of Strada Transilvania in the direction of Piața Nicolae Bălcescu and vice versa.
- In addition, the node at the beginning of the Bulevardul Dâmboviţa was redesigned, including a new exit from the depot. Previously, this was only connected to the line 3.
Furthermore, Vignol tracks were replaced in sections by grooved rails, for example along the Calea Bogdăneştilor or Strada Ioan Barac. Likewise, almost all of the remaining double-track sections with a lateral alignment or with a green area between the two direction tracks disappeared. For example on the Piața Iosefin, where instead a sweeping S-curve was created.
In addition, what was then RATT installed dynamic passenger information at some stops . Another innovation was the cashless payment introduced in 2008 . It is based on the principle of the electronic wallet , the conventional validators have since been supplemented by appropriate reading devices. In addition, what was then RATT had been equipping its drivers with uniform corporate clothing since the mid-1990s . This consists of gray trousers, a white shirt, a red tie and a dark blue blazer - the appropriate uniforms from Bremer Straßenbahn AG served as a model .
On March 1, 1998, electronic validators were also introduced, which were acquired second-hand from Bremer Straßenbahn AG. The old punching machines were superfluous from then on; the transport company replaced the four- and ten-trip tickets that had been common since then for technical reasons, i.e. due to the way the new validators worked, with two-trip tickets.
Parallel to the route adjustments due to the construction site, some permanent line changes have been made since the mid-1990s. For example, line 5 received a new route on January 8, 1997. Instead of the Piața Traian – Piața General Gheorghe Domăşnean route, it served from the Ronaț for a few years the factory town loop analogous to line 2 in a clockwise direction. To compensate for the omission of line 5 in the section mentioned, the then RATT revived the red repeater line 4 between Calea Torontalului and Piața General Gheorghe Domășnean, which had been discontinued five years earlier, while the regular line 4 continued to run every ten minutes. However, the reintroduced line signal 4 red caused confusion among passengers, especially because some drivers did not sign their cars correctly. As early as January 13, 1997, the then RATT renamed line 4 red to line 10. After 19 years, the color differentiation of line signals in Timișoara finally ended.
On December 1, 2000, the then RATT introduced a new line 11, it connected the Calea Torontalului with the Gara de Nord and from then on enabled direct travel between the Josefstadt and the Mehala. For this purpose, the triangular track, which had been in existence since 1989, was used on the Piața Timișoara 700. Another new route, line 9 barat, connected the Bulevardul Dâmbovița with Ciarda Roşie from March 5, 2007. However, it only ran on weekdays and only during rush hour, and only one course was in use. Originally, this was a test run over 30 days, which ultimately proved its worth due to the sufficient number of passengers.
Stagnation as a result of the global financial crisis from 2007
Due to the effects of the global financial crisis from 2007 , the further modernization of the tram came to a standstill. In 2009 the renewal of the network came to an abrupt end, particularly with regard to the planned use of low-floor wagons. At that time, the following nine sections had to be rehabilitated, for which a total cost of 600 million Romanian lei (RON) was determined in December 2009:
| section | course | length | Cost in RON | construction time |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Strada Ștefan cel Mare | 0.860 km | 23,500,000 | 4 months |
| 2 | Calea Ioan Vidrighin | 1.707 km | 83,000,000 | 10 months |
| 3 | Calea Buziașului | 1.278 km | 34,000,000 | 4 months |
| 4th | Bulevardul Cetății | 1.554 km | 80,800,000 | 10 months |
| 5 | Calea Bogdăneştilor | 2.357 km | 95,000,000 | 11 months |
| 6th | Aleea Avram Imbroane - Strada Gheorghe Adam | 2.812 km | 58,200,000 | 8 months |
| 7th | Strada Ana Ipătescu - Strada Victor Hugo - Strada Aluniș - Strada Drubeta | 3,032 km | 108,000,000 | 12 months |
| 8th | Strada Ardealului | 1,872 km | 39,500,000 | 8 months |
| 9 | Strada Ioan Slavici - Strada Polonă | 2.940 km | 89,000,000 | 24 Months |
Sewer work along the Freidorfer route resulted in the shortening of line 3 on January 21, 2009 to the Gara de Nord – Bulevardul Dâmbovița section. Due to the poor condition of the track and the lack of financial resources for the modernization, the Bulevardul Dâmbovița – Abator line was no longer in operation after the construction of the canal, which meant that eleven tram stops were no longer available. Instead, the then RATT switched line 3 entirely to rail replacement traffic on November 16, 2009. Since then, bus line 3 has been running continuously to and from Gara de Nord, the change required between January and November 2009 at Bulevardul Dâmbovița was omitted. Of the remaining sections, only measure number 1 has been implemented in the course of Strada Ștefan cel Mare, this section between Fabrica de Bere Timișoreana and Bantim was renovated by the tram company in the course of 2014.
On February 1, 2009, what was then RATT also closed line 10, and at the same time the company renamed line 11, which ran all day, to line 10.
On November 2, 2009, line 9 was temporarily extended to Ciarda Roșie, initially instead of line 4. Line 9 barat, introduced in 2007, was then dropped. As early as December of the same year, however, line 9 only ran on weekdays to Ciarda Roșie, on non-working days it continued to end at Piața General Gheorghe Domășnean - while line 4 initially returned to its old one with certain and finally from March 2010 with all courses Route drove. The differentiation on line 9 was a novelty for the Timișoara tram, before all lines always served the same route regardless of the day of the week. The extension did not work, as early as June 2010 all courses on line 9 turned again at the Piața General Gheorghe Domăşnean. The 9 barat line remained permanently closed.
From March 1, 2010, what was then RATT modified the routing of line 5 in the factory town area after 1997 again. Coming from the direction of Ronaț, it then turned right at the Piața Traian and reached its main route into the Ronaț again via Banatim, Piața Nicolae Bălcescu and Piața Sfânta Maria. In return, ring line 6 temporarily operated its route from March 1, 2010 for reasons of rationalization - alternating with line 5 - only in an anti-clockwise direction.
On July 1, 2010, line 10 was closed. To compensate for this, line 6 ran from and to Calea Torontalului from this point in time and was therefore temporarily no longer a ring line. Because lines 5 and 6 could temporarily only serve Piața Timișoara 700 in one direction from 2010, the RATT at that time was directed a little further west, at the end of Strada Dr. Iosif Nemoianu set up a new stop as a replacement. It is called Strada Coriolan Brediceanu / Piața Timișoara 700 and lines 1 and 2 pass through it without stopping. In the Strada Dr. Iosif Nemoianu, another new station was built just 100 meters further south, but it is served by all lines there. It is located at the confluence of Strada Colonel Ion Enescu and is called - after the neighboring children's clinic Louis Țurcanu - Spitalul de Copii . In addition, line 5 - also in 2010 - was given a new stop on Strada Zalău.
Line changeover 2015
In January 2015, the then RATT modified its route network again on a larger scale. Line 6 was then given the route of an eight and temporarily operated on the route Calea Torontalului - Piața Sfânta Maria - Piața Nicolae Bălcescu - Piața Traian - Gara de Est - Stația Meteo - Piața Traian - Piața Libertății - Calea Torontalului. Line 5 in turn continued coming from the direction of Ronaț - as in the 1990s - from the Piața Traian also to Stația Meteo, but served the large loop in the factory town in an anti-clockwise direction. The route 5 introduced in 2010 via Elisabethstadt was therefore dropped again.
However, this line concept led to protests in the population, which is why the RATT at that time renamed line 6 to line 10 on March 1, 2015 and at the same time temporarily reintroduced the old ring line 6. From now on this will run again in both directions, according to its traditional route between 1936 and 2010. However, instead of the Piața Traian, the Piața Sfânta Maria served as the nominal end point, where the courses leaving the depot reached their regular route or left it again when they entered.
Line changeover in 2016
Since October 1, 2016, line 7 is no longer a ring line and no longer serves the direct route between Bulevardul Dâmbovița and Piața Sfânta Maria. Instead, however, since then it has also operated on the Piața Sfânta Maria – Calea Torontalului section and thus mutated into a diameter line. In order to replace at least some of the direct connections that have been lost as a result, line 9 has been running since November 28, 2011 from the direction of Piața General Gheorghe Domășnean via Bulevardul Dâmbovița to Gara de Nord.
Termination of lines 5, 6 and 10 in 2017 and further development
Due to a lack of staff, line 6 initially had to be discontinued in April 2017 and finally also line 10 in June 2017, although the official discontinuation of line 10 did not take place until September 2, 2017. For the same reason, the STPT also replaced line 5 - also on September 2, 2017 - with buses with the same line number, whereby the poor track condition in the Balta Verde – Ronaț section also played a role here. This line is only to go back into operation after a comprehensive renovation including double-track expansion and extension to Bulevardul Dâmbovița. However, at least line 6 went back into operation on July 1, 2018.
Since June 15, 2019, lines 8 and 9 have also been running via Piața General Gheorghe Domăşnean to Ciarda Roşie. On June 15, 2020, the short new line between Piața Veteranilor and the Shopping City Timişoara - also known as the City Mall - went into operation, which is served by Line 2, which has been extended there.
Current lines
| line | route | length | Stops | Travel time | Tact | Courses | Remarks |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Gara de Nord - Stația Meteo |
7.43 km (towards Stația Meteo) 6.92 km (towards Gara de Nord) |
18 (towards Stația Meteo) 17 (towards Gara de Nord) |
35 minutes | 18-30 minutes | 4th | partly round traffic |
| 2 | City Mall - Stația Meteo |
? | 24 (towards Stația Meteo) 25 (towards Bulevardul Dâmbovița) |
? | 15-28 minutes | 7th | partly round traffic |
| 4th | Calea Torontalului - Ciarda Roșie |
8.64 km (towards Ciarda Roșie) 8.53 km (towards Calea Torontalului) |
22nd | 37 minutes | 14-27 minutes | 6th | partly single track |
| 6th | Piața Sfânta Maria - Piața Sfânta Maria |
7.71 km (clockwise) 7.76 km (counterclockwise) |
18 (clockwise) 17 (counterclockwise) |
39-79 minutes | 39-79 minutes | 2 | Ring line in both directions |
| 7th | Bulevardul Dâmbovița - Calea Torontalului |
10.10 km (towards Calea Torontalului) 10.17 km (towards Bulevardul Dâmbovița) |
26th | 43 minutes (towards Calea Torontalului) 41 minutes (towards Bulevardul Dâmbovița) |
13-30 minutes | 6th | partly single track |
| 8th | Gara de Nord - Ciarda Roșie |
? | 18th | ? | 12-30 minutes | ? | |
| 9 | Gara de Nord - Ciarda Roșie |
? | 20th | ? | 11-32 minutes | ? |
- In 2020, the tram ran between 4:22 a.m. and 11:40 p.m., night traffic does not take place - even on weekends.
- Only lines 4, 8 and 9 are operated with sidecars, while lines 1, 2, 6 and 7 only use solo cars.
Planned new line to Moșnița Nouă
In the medium term, the Timișoaras city council is planning a new tram line to the independent municipality of Moșnița Nouă on the DJ592 district road to Buziaș . As of 2011, the approximately six-kilometer route is expected to cost 50 million euros and will be served by Line 8.
Renamed stops
The following stops have been given new names over the years:
| today's / last name | Former Romanian names | Hungarian names until 1919/1920 |
|---|---|---|
| Abator | Platforma Industrială IMAIA | - |
| AEM / Piața General Gheorghe Domăşnean | AEM, IAEM, Electrotimiş, Piața General Gheorghe Domăşnean | - |
| Balta Verde | Colonia Blaskovits | - |
| Banatim | Cimitir Fabrică, Calea Buziaș (ului), Strada Buziaș (ului), Fabrica Nikos Beloianis , Fabrica Banatul | Buziási út |
| Brithouse | Electrotimiș | - |
| Bulevardul Dâmbovița / Depoul de Tramvaie | Bulevardul Dâmbovița | - |
| Bulevardul Iuliu Maniu | Piața Iosefin, Piața Dragalina, Piața Scudier, Piața Tolbuhin, Strada Reșiţa, Strada Fröbl | Scudier tér, Fröbl utcza |
| Bulevardul Regele Carol I / Piața Iosefin | Bulevardul Tinereţii, Bulevardul General Henri Berthelot, Bulevardul Regele Carol I | Kossuth utcza |
| Bulevardul Sudului / Hotel Lido | Bulevardul Sudului | - |
| Calea Bogdăneştilor | Strada Dimitri Ivanovici Mendeleev | - |
| Calea Circumvalaţiunii | Arena sportivă RGMT (TMTE), Arena sportivă TMTE | - |
| Calea Martirilor 1989 | Calea Girocului | - |
| Calea Șagului / professional | Calea Șagului, Bulevardul Liviu Rebreanu, Artă Textilă, Macaz | - |
| Catedrala Mitropolitană | Bufetul Express, Capitol | - |
| E.ON Gaz / Strada Memorandului | Strada Memorandului, Strada Coroana de Oțel | Király utcza |
| Fabrica de Bere Timișoreana | Fabrica de Bere | - |
| Fabrica de Ciorapi | - | Kötött és Szövött Iparárugyár |
| Facultatea de Theology | Strada Zalau | - |
| Gara Timișoara Est | Gara de Est, Gara Fabrica | Gyárvárosi Indóház |
| Gara Timișoara North | Gara de Nord, Gara Mare, Gara Domnița Elena | Józsefvárosi Indóház |
| Şcolar Spiru Haret Group | Strada Macilor | - |
| Hotel Continental / Poşta Mare | Hotel Continental, Parchetul Tribunal, Poşta | Balázs tér |
| IOT | Colegiul Tehnic Electrotimiș | - |
| Parcul Doina / Strada Gheorghe Doja | Parcul Doina, Parcul Carmen Sylva | Erzsébet liget |
| Parcul Poporului | Bulevardul 3 August 1919, Strada 3 August 1919, Strada 12 Aprilie 1961, Baia Centrala, Parcul Regina Maria | Városliget, Andrássy út |
| Parcul Uzinei | Piața Sarmisegetuza, Biserica română, Strada Andrei Șaguna | Malom tér |
| Piața Alexandru Mocioni / Sinaia | Piața Ștefan Furtună, Piața Axente Sever, Cafeaua Elite, Piața Küttl, Piața Alexandru Mocioni | Küttl tér |
| Piața Avram Iancu | Mehala, Principele Mihai | - |
| Piaţa Badea Cârţan | - | Széna tér |
| Piața General Virgil Economu | Filty, Fabrica Modern | - |
| Piața Iuliu Maniu | Strada Fröbl, Strada Cimitirului, Piaţa Reșiţa | Temető utcza |
| Piața Libertății | - | Jenő Herceg tér |
| Piața Nicolae Bălcescu | Piața Mareșal Tito, Piața Alexandru Lahovari | Telekház tér |
| Piața Romanilor | Piața Coronini | Coronini tér, Angol Királynő |
| Piața Sfânta Maria | Piața Maria, Statuia Sfânta Maria, Strada Gheorghe Doja | Dózsa utcza, Hunyadi út |
| Piaţa Sfântul Gheorghe | Piaţa Vasile Roaită, Piaţa Ion Constantin Brătianu | Szent György tér |
| Piaţa Timișoara 700 | Strada Sfântul Ioan | - |
| Piaţa Traian | - | Kossuth tér |
| Piaţa Veteranilor | Calea Șagului, Strada Grădinii | - |
| Poliţia Locala | Arena Electrica, Stadionul UMT, Stadionul Progresul, Arena Progresul | - |
| Prefectură Județului Timiș | Prefectură | - |
| Prințul Turcesc | Împăratul Turcesc | Török Császár |
| Procter & Gamble | Fabrica de Detergenţi, Detergenţul | - |
| Hospital Dr. Victor Babes | Spital, Spitalul Epidemic, Spitalul de Stat, Calea Dorobanților | - |
| Strada Adam Müller-Guttenbrunn | Strada Belgrade | - |
| Strada Baba Novac | Strada Armata Roșie | - |
| Strada Chișodei | Strada Ana Ipătescu, Fratelia | - |
| Strada Constantin Brâncoveanu | - | Helvet utcza, Svájczi utcza |
| Strada Coriolan Brediceanu / Piaţa Timișoara 700 | Strada Coriolan Brediceanu | - |
| Strada Crizantemelor | Strada Cameliei, Strada Ioszef Preyer | Preyer utcza |
| Strada Deliblata | Strada Someșul | - |
| Strada Gheorghe Lazar | Bulevardul Cetății | - |
| Strada Lidia | Strada Mareșal Alexandru Averescu | - |
| Strada Mangalia | Strada Alexandru Mocioni | Preyer utcza, Csillag utcza |
| Strada Răscoala din 1907 | Freidorf | - |
| Strada Războieni | Ronaț | - |
| UMT | Aleea Dumbravei, Aleea Octavian Goga, Aleea CFR, Barieră CFR, Casa verde, IMT, Ștrandul UMT | - |
| Uzina Hidroelectrică | Uzina Electrică, Ștrand, Plajă | - |
Depots
Bulevardul Take Ionescu
On the occasion of electrification, the tram company gave up its horse-drawn tram depot on Piața Aurel Vlaicu in 1899 . As an alternative, a new remise was built - also in the factory town - on the property at Bulevardul Take Ionescu number 56, west of today's Piața Badea Cârțan. The company also had its new administration building built there. At that time, the area there was still largely undeveloped, the car shed was on the outskirts. The city previously left the depot property to the tram company free of charge - just like the site of the first horse-drawn tram shed at the time. The five-track wagon hall was designed for a capacity of 25 wagons and was connected to line III via a short operating route as part of the Bulevardul Take Ionescu.
The existing depot had to be expanded in 1909 to accommodate the new wagons acquired in the course of the ongoing double-track expansion. A second, also five-track shed was built next to the existing wagon hall - that is, the existing depot was mirrored once. However, as depot number 2, the new part of the depot was organizationally separated from the existing facility. For the first time since electrification, all existing cars could now be parked under a roof.
On the evening of October 30, 1920, a major fire broke out at the company's headquarters around midnight, as a result of which the two depots 1 and 2 had to be rebuilt. At that time they got their present form.
The commissioning of the type F (from 1925) and FII (from 1927) wagons required a further expansion of the storage capacity in the second half of the 1920s. Therefore, in 1925 the tram company planned an additional steel structure on the 2169 square meter area Bulevardul Take Ionescu number 83 - opposite the two already existing wooden car halls from 1899 and 1909, i.e. on the north side of the street. This was built from 1926 and finally went as Depot number 3 in operation, the new six-track shed provided space for 36 cars. In later years, the company's buses (from 1934) and trolleybuses (from 1942) were temporarily housed on the premises of tram depot number 3. In contrast, the explosive power unit built in 1925, which was owned by the city, was not stationed in one of the tram depots, but in a special locomotive shed on the neighboring site of the municipal water supply and disposal on Strada Enric Baader.
Between 1964 and 1966, depot number 3 was extensively expanded, when the trolleybus operation, the bus operation and the municipal water supply and disposal were each assigned new areas at different locations in the city. At that time, eleven new outdoor sidings were built with a total length of 1000 meters. In addition, the turning loop used for shunting trips on Bulevardul Take Ionescu and the second depot access through Strada Drăgășani went into operation. Both measures served the smoother operation. With the start of rush-hour traffic for UMT in 1961, the daily number of wagons suddenly increased from 55 to 75 courses within a year - which meant that the depot was operating at its capacity limit.
On March 31, 2010, the then RATT gave up depot number 1, since then all prices have been provided by the only remaining depot on Bulevardul Dâmbovița. The area in the factory town is to be partially built over with apartments; the orthodox church of Sfânta Paraschiva was built in 2009 in the area of the former open-air sidings . A new depot on the south-eastern outskirts is being planned for the near future.
Depot number 1 from 1899 on the left, depot number 2 from 1909 on the right.
The third car shed from 1927, closed at the end of March 2010.
The different areas of the former depot number 1.
Bulevardul Dâmbovița
In 1969, preparations began for a new depot on the Bulevardul Dâmbovița 1–3 property. This was created in the years 1971–1972, and the main tram workshop has been located there since then . Furthermore, serial production of the Timiș 2 trains began on Bulevardul Dâmbovița in 1972, but the depot and production facilities were always administratively separate. The previous depot numbers 1, 2 and 3 on Strada Take Ionescu were combined under the name Depot number 1, the new depot on Bulevardul Dâmbovița has since been referred to as depot number 2.
The Dâmboviţa depot, opened in 1972, today referred to as depot number 2.
Track plan of the only remaining depot.
Freight transport
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Freight transport on the horse-drawn tram (1872–1899)
In-house transport of fuels (1899–1904)
After electrification took place in 1899, Temesvári Villamos Városi Vasút Részvénytársaság temporarily used its concession for freight transport on tram tracks, which dates back to the horse-drawn tram era, only for its own use, as the company transported the fuels required for the company's own steam power plant on the last section on its own. In order to link the tram and the railway , there was a 300-meter-long connecting track to the state railway on the Gara de Est from 1899 - in addition to the lines operated by passenger traffic. It was laid out as a hairpin, where the tram company took over the freight cars with the heating material. Subsequently, the route III to Piața Badea Cârțan was used over a length of almost half a kilometer. There the operating line branched off to the depot area, on which the power plant was also located. This was connected directly in the direction of Gara de Est, so that the freight trains - unlike the entering and leaving cars - could reach their destination without any further change of direction. Whether the freight wagons reached their destination with a tram, a state railway machine or in some other way is not known, the tram company didn't have its own locomotives at that time. With the takeover of the power supply by the municipal electricity company in 1904, these trips were no longer necessary.
Resumption of commercial freight traffic (1916)
On August 8, 1916, after a 17-year break, commercial freight tram operations were finally resumed . As the first company, today's Timișoreana brewery - locally usually called the beer factory - was connected to the tram network at Strada Ștefan cel Mare number 28. In contrast to the earlier freight transport on the horse-drawn tram, however, the laborious reloading of the goods was saved. Instead, the brewery's own refrigerated trucks were loaded directly on site and continuously transported to their destinations. For this purpose, the company had its own siding from Strada Ștefan cel Mare. This branched off from the line II at the junction with Strada Iohan Heinrich Pestalozzi. At Gara de Est, the tram handed over the freight wagons to the state railroad using the connecting track that had been in place since 1899 and was unused between 1904 and 1916.
The commercial operation of rail freight cars on urban standard-gauge tram networks was widespread in Austria-Hungary at that time, and in the Hungarian half of the empire this was even the case for all standard-gauge operations. Timișoara was the last city in the dual monarchy to opt for this type of business. Initially, only a small two-axle locomotive without a company number was available for freight transport , the later L1. In the five months of the first year of operation, the tram company with its revitalized branch already achieved a transport performance of 26,973 ton kilometers .
Shoe factory, wool industry and water supply and disposal (1917)
In 1917 the tram company expanded its freight transport to include three other companies:
- the shoe factory Turul Czipőgyár Részvénytársaság - after the nationalization of Uzinele Industriale de Stat Nikos Beloiannis or Banatul , since 1991 Banatim - in Strada Ștefan cel Mare number 58 received a siding from Strada 1 Decembrie 1918. The track ended shortly before the confluence of Strada Johann Guttenberg and was thus a preliminary construction work for the direct tram connection between the factory town and Elisabethstadt, which was planned before the First World War, but only opened in 1928. As the only line at all, it was initially only used for freight traffic and only later for passenger traffic.
- the siding for the Wollindustrie Aktiengesellschaft founded in 1905 - Hungarian Gyapjúipari Részvénytársaság , Romanian Industria Lânii Societate Anonimă or ILSA - at Bulevardul Take Ionescu number 46B was an extension of the operating line to the tram depot and turned left onto the Werksirii at the level of Strada Înfrățirii.
- the urban water supply and disposal, from 1919 Întreprinderea de Apă și Canal a Orașului Timișoara - ACOT or in the socialist period Întreprinderea de Gospodărie Orășenească Timișoara - IGOT had its premises in the corner between the Strada Enric Baader and the Stradașani of the tram depot. Their connection branched off to the right at the level of Strada Enric Baader from the track to the wool industry and led - within the company premises - to Strada Drăgășani.
Slaughterhouse and chocolate factory (1918)
In the course of 1918, the municipal slaughterhouse opened in 1905 - later Abatorul Comunal or Întreprinderea regională de industrializarea cărnii ( IRIC ) - on Bulevardul Eroilor de la Tisa number 24 and the Kandia chocolate factory on Strada Iohan Heinrich Pestalozzi number 22 were also included in freight traffic included. The connection to the main entrance of the slaughterhouse was an extension of the Turul connection and led through Strada Johann Guttenberg and Bulevardul Eroilor de la Tisa. It was also a preliminary construction work for the later stretch in the direction of Piața Nicolae Bălcescu, although this later, deviating from the original plan, led south past the slaughterhouse. The slaughterhouse track initially ended in front of the main entrance, at the junction with Strada Daliei. It was not until 1931 that the slaughterhouse was extended by 325 meters. The extension followed the Bulevardul Eroilor de la Tisa to the confluence of Strada Caraș, where it turned left into the slaughterhouse and finally led to Strada 1 Decembrie 1918. The slaughterhouse was also the only goods customer in neighboring Elisabethstadt, while all the other sidings were in the factory town.
With regard to freight traffic, more stable rails were used for the first time in 1915 on the sections Gara de Est – Piața Badea Cârțan and Piața Traian – Banatim, which were then double-tracked . These weighed 59.2 kilograms per meter of rail, while the previous ones weighed only 20 kilograms. The last old rails on the middle section Piața Badea Cârțan – Piața Traian, which had not yet been expanded, were then replaced by the spring of 1918. In addition, the routes used for freight traffic had a larger track spacing and a different rail profile , suitable for the wider wheel tires of the railroad cars . In order to meet the usual dimensions in rail traffic, the grooves of the grooved rails had to be 60 millimeters wide.
Between and after the war
In 1919 the municipal power station on Strada Iohan Heinrich Pestalozzi number 3–5 was also connected; this siding branched off from the existing track leading to the chocolate factory. The tram company's seventh freight customer was the local electricity company Temesvári Városi Vízierőmű és Villanytelep , which received the new name Uzina Electrică Timișoara - UZET in the same year due to the annexation of the Banat to Romania .
In 1927 the rail freight operator had already achieved a performance of 240,830 tonne kilometers before the oil refinery OLEA also received a 110 meter long siding in 1928 - as the eighth customer . The company had a fuel store (Romanian Combustibil ) at Calea Buziașului number 6 - which is now called Calea Stan Vidrighin - which TCT served with tank wagons from Strada Cerna . As a result of the great success of freight transport, a second freight locomotive went into operation - also in 1928 - with the help of which the freight volume rose to 309,698 tonne-kilometers in 1928. The ninth connection in 1929 in the Tipografilor district was the company's own track, which was directly connected to the hairpin used for handover to the CFR and which led across Strada Enric Baader. The tram company maintained a ballast store there for track construction , in Romanian Depozit de Piatră . It is not known when this was connected to the network.
Independently of this, the Kandia company left its premises, including the siding, to the Leda paint and varnish factory as early as 1924 because it moved to Josefstadt. The Leda company, in turn, gave its area to the Dura battery factory in 1936 , which did not require a connection.
In 1947, the 300 meter long connection for the Guban shoe factory, founded in 1937 at Bulevardul Eroilor de la Tisa 30-40, sometimes called Victoria in the socialist era , followed. This company was offered by Strada Johann Guttenberg. Independently of this, the tram company reported a further increase in freight transport performance of six percent in April 1947. After the Second World War, the freight locomotives - popularly known as Muki - also helped to operate various construction sites in the city.
Further connections to the Calea Buziașului (1964)
After the area of the municipal water supply and disposal on Bulevardul Take Ionescu had to give way to the expansion of the tram depot in 1964, IGOT was allocated a new area at the angle between Strada 1 Decembrie 1918 and Strada Cerna. From the beginning, this had a siding, which also served the bus depot - opened at the same time on the neighboring property. This means that the rail line coming from Strada Cerna first crossed the IGOT area before finally reaching the area of the bus depot at number 2 Calea Buziașului. The continuation was necessary in order to be able to supply the company's own bus filling station on the new depot area with diesel fuel . Analogous to the water supply and disposal, in 1964 the parking spaces for buses had to give way to the enlarged tram depot.
In the following years, the construction company TRCB Timișoara, founded in 1951 (later Direcţia Regională de Drumuri și Poduri Timișoara , now Drumco ) came to Strada Prof. Dr. Aurel Păunescu Podeanu number 147 as well as the mechanical engineering company Tehnometal , also located on Calea Buziașului, were added. The latter operated temporarily from 1985 as Întreprinderea de Autoturisme Timișoara ( IAT ) and has been called Tehnomet since 1991 . Thus, in the southern factory town - independent of the actual tram network - an approximately one kilometer long industrial main track was created on the Johann Guttenberg and Cerna streets, which had its own track structure throughout. For the companies that were added after the Second World War, another machine, the Locomotive 3, went into operation in 1956 .
At the end of the 1960s, ten of the 13 connections established over the years were still available. After the Leda connection was omitted in 1936, the wool industry no longer had a rail connection from October 1967. Its 420 meter long track fell victim to the four-lane expansion of the Take Ionescu Bulevardul that was carried out at the time. Thus, the total length of all freight tracks in 1969 was 4.215 kilometers.
New connection line to the state railway (1975)
In the years 1970 to 1971 the Institutul de Proiectare Timiș found serious damage to the Dacilor Bridge, the structural condition of which deteriorated as a result of the heavy freight wagons. As a replacement, a new, approximately seven-kilometer-long, non-electrified connecting line between the existing industrial mainline in Strada Cerna and the Timișoara – Buziaș railway line was therefore built in the southeast of the city. At that time , the Semenic separation station was set up specifically for this purpose in the open field near the hamlet of Rudicica . At the Mecatim stop, the new line also crossed the line 8 line opened two years earlier, and the existing freight line of the tram company was transferred south of Strada Prof. Dr. Aurel Păunescu Podeanu reached. A small double-track transfer station was built there , at which the ITCVTT handed over the freight wagons to the CFR, bypassing the Dacilor bridge. In addition, the predecessor of today's company Ecosysteme on Calea Buziașului also received a new connection there in 1975 , which the CFR served directly from the transfer station with diesel locomotives .
Independently of this, new rail connections of the state railway were added in the area of the new railway line both east and west of the Calea Stan Vidrighin, for example for the companies Spumotim and Petrom . The connecting track on Gara de Est, which was no longer required, went out of service in 1975, but the gravel storage area, which was now owned by another company, retained its direct connection to the CFR network until the 1990s.
Locomotive 1, which was no longer required from 1975, then served the local tram factory as a shunting locomotive until 1990 , while the two remaining locomotives 2 and 3 then became the property of the brewery. From then on they were also stationed on the brewery premises because the way to the tram depot was also blocked by the ailing Podul Dacilor.
In 1975 the beer factory also received a new connection from the south, which replaced the old access road from 1916. The approximately 400-meter-long new line along Strada Nicolinț branched off the slaughterhouse track at the level of Bulevardul Eroilor de la Tisa, after crossing Strada Gloriei it reached the brewery site and met the existing shunting tracks. On the one hand, the freight traffic to and from the beer factory no longer hindered the regular trams in Strada Ștefan cel Mare, on the other hand, the brewery wagons would have had to change direction twice without the new connection to reach the railway network.
On the new connection route to the beer factory - as the last new customer for tram freight transport - a material depot was added on the corner lot at 63 Bulevardul Eroilor de la Tisa. The warehouse there served the freight railroad from Strada Nicolinț.
Decline and residual operation by the CFR
After the slaughterhouse had already moved to Freidorf in the course of 1989, where there was a direct connection to the railway line to Cruceni, as a result of the economic decline after the revolution, freight transport under the responsibility of the tram company ended completely. The last connection was the Banatim shoe factory on Strada 1 Decembrie 1918 until 1993. The approximately 100-meter-long driveway there was the last section on which passenger and freight traffic shared a common track.
From then on, CFR served the brewery and the Guban shoe factory directly with diesel locomotives. From then on, locomotives 2 and 3 were only used as shunting locomotives on the brewery premises. The main industrial track was therefore still electrified with direct current from the tram network after 1993 and thus served as a feed line for shunting operations on the brewery site. The connecting curve between the freight railway in Strada Johann Guttenberg and the route on lines 6 and 8 was also retained. Although there has been no scheduled traffic on it since 1993, it was still used in 2000 for the delivery of trams purchased used in Germany. These were unloaded on the main track and transferred to the tram network with the help of locomotive 3.
As the last former customer of the tram freight transport, CFR finally drove to the beer factory once more every day, and in 2003 this remaining operation also ended. Also in 2003 - when the tram route was modernized by Strada 1 Decembrie 1918 - the connecting curve between the main industrial track and the tram network was also omitted.
The tram cars from 1869 to the present day
Horse tram
From electrification to the First World War
On the occasion of the electrification of the tram in 1899, the then Temesvári Villamos Városi Vasút Részvénytársaság purchased 17 short single-engine two-axle vehicles from Weitzer János Gép, - Waggongyár és Vasöntöde from Arad , these Weitzer railcars were also called small cars from 1906 . 13 of them were needed for the scheduled operation in the beginning, four served as a reserve. In addition, ten sidecars made from horse-drawn trams were available.
With the progressive double-track expansion, the associated increase in frequency and the introduction of a third diameter line, the rolling stock was gradually expanded from 1906 to include the somewhat larger twin-engine railcars of the later type B , initially referred to as large cars . The new railcars were initially only used on main line I, but this released the additional Weitzer railcars required for lines II and III. By 1915 the tram company had procured a total of 26 type B vehicles in four delivery lots. Fourteen of them were manufactured by Schlick Vasöntő és Gépgyár in Budapest, the remaining twelve came from Magyar Waggon-és Gépgyár from Győr .
During the First World War, the tram company finally also produced its first own cars, the three 01-03 sidecars . In return, in 1919 the last of the - originally ten - horse-drawn tram cars that were still in use after 1899 were removed from the inventory.
Interwar period
The disintegration of Austria-Hungary after the First World War also influenced the Timișoara tram sector. The Weitzer railcars from the opening year were worn out due to the war and urgently needed to be replaced. But the main suppliers of the last few years were suddenly abroad. So the tram company called TCT from then on decided to also manufacture motor vehicles itself. After initially two small Weitzer railcars were converted into larger D railcars in 1921 , seven completely new DII railcars were also built between 1922 and 1924 . But new trailers were also built, for example the two type AII sidecars in 1921 and the 14 type C sidecars between 1922 and 1926 . In 1928 and 1929 the four type CII sidecars followed , with two of them being converted into the type Fa railcars as early as 1931 .
1925 TCT engineers have created an entirely new railcar series, the type F . A total of six cars were produced by him by 1927, after which a total of 19 vehicles of the somewhat larger successor type FII were built by 1943 . With the F and Fa cars, the era of the twin railcars in Timișoara finally began in early 1931. By 1969, the workshop had a total of 29 pairs of seven different types - but they were never all in use at the same time.
1925 also two special went trolley tram in operation, these were the explosive railcars owned by the city and the resulting in self-made snow plow and freight railcars . In addition, the company's own workshop converted the type F bi-directional cars into one-way cars for use in ring traffic on Line 6 at the end of the 1930s . These were the first to set up the Timișoara tram.
Modern open seating cars in the 1950s
The new routes into the Ronaț, to Fratelia and to Freidorf resulted in an increased demand for wagons, for which the seven four-axle type Gb 2/2 were produced between 1948 and 1954 . The modern vehicles were the first large capacity trams in Romania, even before the Bucharest Festival V951 series, which only went into operation in 1951. They offered some unusual innovations such as upholstered seats, a steel car body, illuminated destination sign boxes or the passenger flow method - which passengers were already familiar with from the trolleybus that opened in 1942. The new one-way vehicles could initially only be used on lines 2 and 6, but released older vehicles for the new routes.
In the years 1955 to 1959, 20 open- plan cars of the type V54 purchased from Electroputere in Craiova ; similar cars also operated in Bucharest and Oradea. They were procured mainly in view of the 1959 conversion of line 3 to one-way operation. Like the Gb 2/2, the V54 initially operated solo.
Conversion cars and new two-axle vehicles in the 1960s
Instead of producing more new buildings, the transport company - called ICOT since 1957 - concentrated from 1958 on the reconstruction of a large part of their older wooden two-axle vehicles of the B, C, F, CII and DII series, which were built between 1906 and 1928. Five sidecars were also converted into railcars. Only types AII, D, Fa and FII were completely excluded from this program. A total of 44 wagons from the five aforementioned series received new steel superstructures at the time, with the help of which the capacity could be increased at the same time. Model here were in some ways the Bucharest transport companies, there already in 1956 the first of these so-called developed Umbauwagen type V56 .
In this way, four new types were created in Timișoara. Initially, between 1958 and 1961, the 26 Pionier T.4 and T.5 railcars , outwardly corresponding to the Gb 2/2. Subsequently, in the years 1962 to 1966, nine two-car trains from Timiș 1 multiple units and R.1 sidecars, their new car bodies were structurally based on the Electroputere cars. With the Timiș 1 series, the opportunity was first used to draw attention to the production location of the vehicles with the type designation. Timiș is a Banat river, its German name is Temesch . What is meant in this case, however, is the Timiș County , named after the river , whose capital is Timișoara.
In the years 1961 to 1966, the Bucharest transport company Întreprinderea de Transport București ( ITB ) delivered a total of 24 two-axle V58 railcars and 41 matching V12 trailer cars to Timișoara. The surplus sidecars were intended for use behind the V54 open-plan cars from Electroputere. The one-way steel railcars were the Romanian standard type par excellence, they were to be found in all Romanian tram operators in the 1960s and 1970s.
As early as 1960, the ITB also handed over ten two-axle type V08 sidecars with wooden bodies that were no longer needed in the capital to Timișoara, of which only nine went back into operation. These trailers, known in Timișoara as type R.4 and built in 1911, were the first used cars on the Timișoara tram.
The Timiș era 2
1970 began with the presentation of the Timiș 2 prototype with the later number 231 a new era of the Timișoara tram, the approval for the passenger service issued the authorities on January 18, 1972. By 1990 a total of 134 railcars and 123 sidecars of these open-plan cars were brand new for Timișoara produced. In addition, the city received another Timiș 2 set in 1990, when Reșița gave his train 41-42 for lack of its own needs to Timișoara, where it was classified as a train 360-130 in the inventory. Little by little, the new trains replaced all old vehicles. Including all two-axle vehicles and the comparatively young open-plan cars of the types Gb 2/2 and Electroputere V54.
After the articulated car 230 was parked , which had already taken place in 1992, the entire fleet of trams for the Timișoara tram consisted of this series for a short time until 1995. As a rule, the Timiș 2 ran as a composition of railcars and sidecars, but during the energy crisis of the 1980s and in the last few years of operation they could also be found solo on certain lines.
The Timiș 2 prototype and the first series vehicles were created independently by ITT (until 1973) and ITCVTT (from 1973). The later mass production was finally taken over from 1977 by the mechanical engineering company Electrometal Timișoara , or Eltim for short, founded in 1959 . In principle, the Timișoara tram benefited from the spatial and organizational proximity to the manufacturer with regard to the Timiș 2 trains. The supply of spare parts and the know-how were therefore significantly better than in the other operations in this series.
The production of articulated vehicles , however, never got beyond the production of two prototypes completed in 1982 and 1985 . The first of them, car 230, was owned by the IJTL Timiș and was used permanently in scheduled passenger service. This was the first articulated tram on the Timișoara tram. The second test vehicle with the internal designation 229 , however, always remained in the possession of Eltim and mostly only carried out test drives without passengers. In regular passenger service he was only to be found briefly on line 7; he was retired in 1990.
After the revolution - procurement of used cars from Germany
The political upheaval of 1989 also brought new perspectives in the vehicle sector. Since brand new trams have not been available in Romania since then - and new cars from abroad could not be financed until the 2000s - the Romanian tram companies concentrated on the procurement of used cars from Germany, Austria, Switzerland and the Netherlands from 1993 onwards. This mediation was initiated by the now deceased private man Günter H. Köhler from Hofheim am Taunus , supported by the Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development and the German Society for Technical Cooperation (GTZ). Because of his merits, the city of Timișoara made Koehler an honorary citizen on April 16, 1996 .
After Belgian buses had been used in Timișoara as early as 1991, the city also took over used trolleybuses and trams from the west from 1995. The first two second-hand trams arrived from Karlsruhe in May 1995 , where Timișoara had been twinning since 1992 . Karlsruhe delivered both cars from Verkehrsbetriebe Karlsruhe (VBK) and those from Albtal-Verkehrs-Gesellschaft (AVG). In August 1995, the first used trams from Bremen finally reached Timișoara. Some of them have already changed hands for the second time, some of them had previously been taken over by Bremer Straßenbahn AG from the Bremerhaven tram that was discontinued in 1982 . In later years trains from the Münchner Verkehrsgesellschaft , the Stadtwerke Verkehrsgesellschaft Frankfurt am Main and the Düsseldorf Rheinbahn followed . In detail, these came to Timișoara as follows:
| year | Karlsruhe | Bremen | Munich | Frankfurt | Dusseldorf | Total stock |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1995 | 10 railcars |
15 railcars 14 sidecars |
- | - | - |
25 railcars 14 sidecars |
| 1996 | - | 13 railcars 12 sidecars |
- | - | - |
38 railcars 26 sidecars |
| 1997 | - |
8 railcars 8 sidecars |
- | - | - |
46 railcars 34 sidecars |
| 1998 | - |
6 railcars 5 sidecars |
- | - | - |
52 railcars 39 sidecars |
| 2000 | 15 railcars |
- |
9 railcars 9 sidecars |
- | - |
76 railcars 48 sidecars |
| 2001 | - | - |
8 railcars 7 sidecars |
- | - |
84 railcars 55 sidecars |
| 2002 | - |
5 railcars 5 sidecars |
- | - | - |
89 railcars 60 sidecars |
| 2003 | - | - |
4 railcars 4 sidecars |
- | - |
93 railcars 64 sidecars |
| 2004 | - |
3 railcars 3 sidecars |
- | 4 railcars |
- | 100 railcars, 67 sidecars |
| 2005 | - | - |
2 sidecars |
- | - | 100 railcars 69 sidecars |
| 2006 | - | - | - | - | 4 railcars 1 sidecar |
104 railcars 70 sidecars |
| 2007 | - | 20 railcars 20 sidecars |
- | - | - | 124 railcars 90 sidecars |
| 2009 | - |
5 railcars 5 sidecars |
- | - | - | 129 railcars 95 sidecars |
| 2010 | - |
5 railcars 6 sidecars |
- | - | - | 134 railcars 101 sidecars |
| total |
25 railcars |
80 railcars 78 sidecars |
21 railcars 22 sidecars |
4 railcars |
4 railcars |
134 railcars 101 sidecars |
The first old vehicles were given as a gift , so the original companies saved the costs of scrapping . Initially, GTZ and the Federal Republic of Germany as well as the European Union took over the costs for the transport by rail flat wagons as a contribution to the economic development of Romania. In later years, for example with the Munich coaches, the Romanian side had to pay for the transport itself. Frankfurt in turn sold its trams for a symbolic purchase price of one euro. In the case of the last railways taken over, the then RATT also reimbursed the donor for the scrap value , at that time 1700 euros per car.
The German trams were initially very popular with passengers, not least because - for the first time in decades - they again included cars with comfortable upholstered seats and functioning heaters. Other innovations in the German carriages were doors that could be operated by the passenger and the comparatively high proportion of seats due to the 2 + 1 seating that is common in West Germany, whereas previously all the cars purchased since 1869 had longitudinal benches or 1 + 1 seating. The RATT at the time also indicated the origin of the trams externally, so some of them ran through the city with the inscriptions Bremen greets Timișoara and Karlsruhe greets Timișoara . Apart from the Romanian inscriptions in the interior, the retrofitted punching machines and the new target films , the vehicles came into operation largely unchanged, that is, in the old paintwork and with their German advertising labels. However, in accordance with Eastern European practice, all railcars were given closed driver's cabs. This in turn meant that the front door leaf no longer serves to switch passengers . Before they were used in Romania, the wheel tires also had to be adapted to the local conditions; in the case of the Karlsruhe wagons, this was done at home.
The used cars from Germany gradually replaced the local Timiș 2 trains within ten years. The last scheduled use of this series took place in September 2005. Between April 1995 and June 2010, the then RATT received a total of 134 railcars and 101 sidecars from Germany, with the exception of a Düsseldorf sidecar exclusively articulated cars. The takeovers also led to an obsolescence of the car fleet - the oldest cars were from 1956, the youngest were built in 1976. All vehicles in Timișoara kept their old car number from Germany. In their new home, the first German cars were initially only used on the important lines 4 and 9, before all the other routes could gradually be equipped accordingly in the following years.
However, not all German railways came into regular use. Six of them, the Frankfurt railcar 829, the Düsseldorf sidecar 1639 and the Munich sidecar 3022, 3023, 3032 and 3038, only served as spare parts donors from the start. In addition, numerous serious traffic accidents decimated the population. In view of the low residual value , heavily damaged second-hand trams are not repaired. In autumn 2010, for example, the then RATT only had 93 railcars. In order to maintain a largely uniform fleet of vehicles and to avoid high maintenance costs, the RATT at that time concentrated above all on maintaining the Bremen wagons. In contrast, she retired most of the cars from other cities relatively early. This was especially true for the Karlsruhe wagons with electropneumatic control , which were difficult to maintain because spare parts were no longer available , the last of which was withdrawn from stock in 2007 (formerly AVG) and 2012 (formerly VBK). The Frankfurt wagons followed a few years later, and since 2017 the last Düsseldorf wagon and the last two Karlsruhe wagons with direct control have also been out of service. Apart from the Bremen vehicles, only vehicles from Munich are now in operation.
Failed procurement of low-floor wagons (2007-2013)
From 2007, those responsible were concerned with buying contemporary low-floor wagons . The acquisition of Citadis multiple units from the French manufacturer Alstom was planned for 2011 . 50 units were planned, which together would have cost 175 million euros. With the exception of a few Bremer Wegmann trains from the 1970s, the new vehicles were intended to replace a large part of the old vehicles taken over from Germany. After Oradea, Bucharest and Cluj-Napoca, Timișoara would have been the fourth Romanian city to use low-floor wagons. As early as December 2007, two sections of a Citadis tram from Nice were exhibited for demonstration purposes in front of the Timișoara shopping center Iulius Mall . For financial reasons, however, the plans to procure new cars had to be abandoned in 2013.
Reconstruction of German used cars (2015-2018)
As an alternative to the failed procurement of low-floor vehicles, the then RATT decided in 2013 to have German used vehicles completely reconstructed. As a result, the 30 Armonia cars were built between 2015 and 2018 , the design of which is based on the Bremer Wegmann urban rail car.
Test use Astra Autentic (since 2016)
Irrespective of the reconstruction of the German used cars, the Arad company Astra is testing a two-part, six-axle and consistently low-floor motorcar of the Autentic type in Timișoara between March 2016 and January 2018, and again since October 2018 . This is necessary because at the company location - the Arad tram is meter-gauge - no standard-gauge vehicles can be tested. From September 11, 2017, the vehicle was also used in regular operation on line 9, and for the first time in the history of the Timișoara tram, passengers had low-floor entrances.
Procurement of low-floor wagons (2019)
At the beginning of July 2019, a contract was signed with the manufacturer Bozankaya from the Turkish capital Ankara , according to which 16 consistently low-floor cars will be delivered for a total of 33 million euros and a further 24 optionally. All 40 vehicles would cost a total of 80 million euros. The plan is to have 32.7 meter long, five-part multi-articulated wagons with six axles. They should reach a top speed of 70 km / h and offer space for 170 passengers. As a special feature, the vehicles should be able to travel over 60 kilometers using battery power, i.e. without contact with the overhead line. The first new wagons are scheduled to go into operation 18 months after the contract has been signed, i.e. in January 2021. This procurement is related to the title of European Capital of Culture , which Timișoara will have in 2021. The delivery of all 40 wagons is expected to take 48 months, i.e. by July 2023.
Vehicle tables
Passenger cars
Railcar
| Manufacturer | Type | axes | origin | Use from | number of pieces | Numbers |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Weitzer János | Weitzer railcar | 2 | 1899 | 17th | 1-17 | |
| Schlick (14 pieces) MWG (12 pieces) |
B (from 1922) | 2 | 1906 | 26th | 18–43, from 1964 partly different numbers | |
| Self-made (reconstruction) | D (from 1922) | 2 | 1921 | 2 | 44, 46 | |
| Self-made | DII | 2 | 1922 | 7th | 45, 47–52, from 1964 partly different numbers | |
| Self-made | F. | 2 | 1925 | 6th | 101-106 | |
| Self-made | FII | 2 | 1927 | 19th | 107–125, from 1964 111–129 | |
| Self-made | fa | 2 | 1931 | 2 | 82–83, from 1964 107–108 | |
| Self-made | Gb 2/2 | 4th | 1950 | 7th | 201-207 | |
| Electroputere | V54 | 4th | 1955 | 20th | 208–227, from 1964 210–229 | |
| Self-made (reconstruction) | pioneer | 2 | 1958 | 26th | 131-156 | |
| ITB | V58 | 2 | 1961 | 24 | 177-200 | |
| Self-made (reconstruction) | T1-62 / Timiș 1 | 2 | 1962 | 9 | 71-79 | |
| Self-made / Eltim | TM 69 E / Timiș 2 | 4th | 1972 | 134 | 231-311, 312 I , 312 II , 313-359, 361-364 | |
| Eltim | V2 | 6th | 1982 | 1 | 230 | |
| Eltim | TM 69 E / Timiș 2 | 4th | Reșița | 1990 | 1 | 360 (ex Reșița 41) |
| DUEWAG | GT8-EP | 8th | AVG | 1995 | 4th | 102, 105-107 |
| DWM | GT6-EP | 6th | VBK | 1995 | 4th | 143-146 |
| DWM | GT6-D | 6th | VBK | 1995 | 10 | 152, 153, 160, 163, 166, 168-172 |
| Hansa | GT4b | 4th | BSAG | 1995 | 12 | 3420-3422, 3426, 3429, 3432, 3434, 3435, 3439, 3441, 3443, 3444 |
| Hansa | GT4c | 4th | BSAG | 1995 | 25th | 3447-3455, 3457-3459, 3461, 3463-3474 |
| Hansa | GT4c | 4th | BSAG, ex VGB | 1995 | 5 | 3475–3479 (ex Bremerhaven 80–84) |
| DWM | GT8-D | 8th | VBK | 2000 | 3 | 109 (ex 175) , 167 (ex 177) , 174 (ex 176) |
| Rastatt | GT8-EP | 8th | AVG | 2000 | 4th | 110, 111, 114, 115 |
| Rathgeber | P 3.16 | 4th | SWM | 2000 | 21st | 2003, 2004, 2013, 2017, 2020, 2023, 2024, 2026, 2030, 2032, 2034-2044 |
| Wegmann | GT4d | 4th | BSAG | 2002 | 10 | 3502-3511 |
| DUEWAG | N | 8th | VGF | 2004 | 4th | 825, 827, 829, 830 |
| DUEWAG | GT6 | 6th | Rheinbahn | 2006 | 4th | 2418, 2502, 2504, 2518 |
| Wegmann | GT4e | 4th | BSAG | 2007 | 10 | 3512-3521 |
| Wegmann | GT4f | 4th | BSAG | 2007 | 18th | 3523, 3525, 3527, 3529, 3531, 3534, 3536, 3539, 3540, 3543, 3546, 3547, 3550-3554, 3559 |
|
Astra Vagoane Călători / VFU Paşcani |
Armonia | 4th | RATT / STPT | 2015 | 30th | 3502, 3504, 3509-3521, 3525, 3527, 3529, 3531, 3534, 3536, 3539, 3540, 3543, 3547, 3551-3554, 3559 |
sidecar
| Manufacturer | Type | axes | origin | Use from | number of pieces | Numbers |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Spiering | Spiering car | 2 | 1869 | 21st | initially without numbers, the remaining ten cars from 1899 numbers 1–10 | |
| Graz wagon factory | Graz car | 2 | 1891 | 5 | no | |
| Self-made | E (from 1922) | 2 | 1914 | 3 | 01-03 | |
| Self-made (demotorization) | A (from 1922) | 2 | 1919 | 13 | 1, 2 I , 2 II , 3, 5, 9-12, 14-17 | |
| Self-made (reconstruction) | AII (from 1922) | 2 | 1921 | 2 | 7 and 13, new numbers 1 and 2 from 1964 | |
| Self-made | C. | 2 | 1922 | 14th | 4, 8, 11, 17, 64–73, from 1964 partly different numbers | |
| Self-made | CII | 2 | 1928 | 4th | 80-83 | |
| ITB | V08 | 2 | ITB | 1960 | 9 | 1, 2, 3, 5, 6, 9, 10, 12 and 14, from 1964 11–19 |
| ITB | V12 | 2 | 1961 | 41 | 30–70, until 1964 partly different numbers, from 1975 430–470 | |
| Self-made (reconstruction) | R.1 (from 1964) | 2 | 1962 | 9 | 21–29, until 1964 other numbers, from 1975 421–429 | |
| Self-made / Eltim | TR 69 E / Timiș 2 | 4th | 1972 | 123 | 1-96, 107-129, 131-134 | |
| Eltim | TR 69 E / Timiș 2 | 4th | Reșița | 1990 | 1 | 130 (ex Reșița 42) |
| Hansa | GB4 | 4th | BSAG | 1995 | 1 | 3601 |
| Hansa / MAN | GB4a | 4th | BSAG | 1995 | 13 | 3602-3604, 3607-3612, 3615-3617, 3619 |
| Hansa | GB4c | 4th | BSAG | 1995 | 21st | 3620-3632, 3635-3642 |
| Hansa | GB4c | 4th | BSAG, ex VGB | 1996 | 4th | 3644–3646, 3648 (ex Bremerhaven 218–220, 222) |
| Rathgeber | p 3.17 | 4th | SWM | 2000 | 22nd | 3008, 3009, 3015, 3016, 3019-3024, 3026-3029, 3031-3036, 3038, 3040 |
| Wegmann | GB4d | 4th | BSAG | 2002 | 10 | 3701-3710 |
| Wegmann | GB4e | 4th | BSAG | 2007 | 11 | 3712-3722 |
| Wegmann | GB4f | 4th | BSAG | 2007 | 18th | 3725, 3729-3732, 3735, 3737-3739, 3742, 3743, 3748-3753, 3755 |
Type designations from 1964
In 1964, the then ITT temporarily introduced a systematic typification of all series used in Timișoara at that time. The railcars were given the code letter "T" for tramvai, the sidecar an "R" for remorcă:
|
|
Baggage and freight cars
| Manufacturer | Type | axes | Use from | number of pieces | Numbers |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Spiering | closed luggage trolley | 2 | 1869 | 2 | no |
| Spiering | open luggage trolley | 2 | 1869 | 1 | no |
| Simmering | Simmeringer carriage | 2 | 1872 | 7th | no |
Special vehicles
In addition to the regular passenger cars, various work cars , prototypes or historical vehicles exist or existed , some of which were owned by the Banat Tram Club . These special vehicles shown in the following table were never used in Timișoara for scheduled passenger traffic:
| Manufacturer | designation | Art | axes | origin | Construction year | number | Remarks |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Simmering / self-made | Tower car | Tower car | 2 | - | 1899 | no | converted from a former horse-drawn freight car from 1872 |
| Ringhoffer | Viennese type T | Railcar | 2 | MTM | 1900 | 07 | since 1998 in Timișoara, formerly WLB , scrapped in August 2010 |
| Graz wagon factory | Viennese type GP | Freight railcars | 2 | MTM | 1902 | 6411 | since 1998 in Timișoara, formerly Wiener Linien |
| Simmering | Viennese type SP | Freight railcars | 2 | MTM | 1912 | 6010 | since 1998 in Timișoara, formerly Wiener Linien |
| János Weitzer / AEG | Locomotive 1 | locomotive | 2 | - | 1915 | initially none, later L1 | Scrapped in the early 1990s |
| Astra | Explosive units | Freight railcars | 4th | - | 1925 | no | owned by the city of Timisoara, scrapped in the early 1990s |
| Self-made | snow plow | Freight railcars | 2 | - | 1925 | VS1 | |
| Self-made / SSW | Locomotive 2 | locomotive | 2 | - | 1928 | L2 | today as a memorial owned by the Timișoreana brewery |
| Self-made | Locomotive 3 | locomotive | 4th | - | 1956 | L3 | Museum reconditioning intended |
| ITB | Grinding trolley | locomotive | 2 | - | 1960 | initially 4, later none | Used taken over from Bucharest in 1965, today a museum vehicle |
| SGP | Viennese type L4 | Railcar | 2 | Wiener lines | 1960 | 524 | in Timișoara since 2005, donation from the City of Vienna |
| DUEWAG | B4 open seating car | sidecar | 4th | Rheinbahn | 1960 | 1639 | in Timișoara since 2006, served exclusively as a spare parts dispenser |
| Schörling | Viennese type SS2 | Freight railcars | 2 | Wiener lines | 1971 | no | Grinding car , since 2003 in Timișoara, formerly Wiener Linien number 6054 |
| BSAG own construction | Salt spreader | Freight cart | 2 | BSAG | 1975 | no | since 1998 in Timișoara, earlier number in Bremen was SW2 |
| Self-made | Horse-drawn carriage | Passenger cars | 2 | - | 1994 | 1869 | Replica based on the historical model from 1869 |
| Electroputere | V54 | Railcar | 4th | - | 195x | 229 | 1999 from Bucharest, there number 6026 |
| ITB | V12 / V3A | sidecar | 4th | - | 19xx | no | 198x conversion from V12, 1999 from Bucharest, there number 6207, intended for scrapping |
| Eltim | V2C prototype | Railcar | 6th | - | 1985 | 229, not written to | owned by Eltim , test use, also with passengers, scrapped in the mid-1990s |
| Self-made | no | Flat car | 2 | - | 199x | no | on a former Timiş 2- bogie constructed |
| Astra | Autentic prototype | Railcar | 6th | - | 2016 | no | Test use, also with passengers |
In front of the McDonald’s restaurant at the intersection of Strada Arieș and Bulevardul Dr. Iosif Bulbuca used a former L-railcar of the Frankfurt am Main tram as an additional guest room in the 1990s and 2000s . However, this was never in use in Timișoara, originally it was intended for the Bucharest tram. Similar cars are or were in front of eight other Romanian branches of the chain.
Current vehicle inventory
Railcar
- 30 Armonia (3502, 3504, 3509-3521, 3525, 3527, 3529, 3531, 3534, 3536, 3539, 3540, 3543, 3547, 3551-3554, 3559)
- 22 GT4c from Bremen (3447–3455, 3457, 3461, 3465, 3466, 3469, 3471, 3472, 3474–3479)
- 8 P 3.16 from Munich (2003, 2013, 2030, 2034, 2039, 2041, 2042, 2044)
- 6 GT4b from Bremen (3420, 3426, 3432, 3434, 3435, 3443)
- 1 GT4f from Bremen (3523)
Another GT4f, car 3546, is used as a rolling restaurant exclusively for special trips, at times it was also used as a so-called beer tram in the advertising paintwork of the local brewery.
sidecar
- 15 GB4c from Bremen (3620, 3623, 3624, 3626, 3627, 3631, 3632, 3635, 3637–3640, 3645, 3646, 3648)
- 4 p 3.17 from Munich (3019, 3021, 3024, 3027)
- 1 GB4f from Bremen (3738)
Painting schemes
Over the decades, the Timișoara tram vehicles were painted in a wide variety of colors:
- 1869: There is no reliable knowledge about the paintwork of the horse-drawn tram.
- 1899: On the occasion of electrification, the company introduced a new color scheme, the cars were now painted red and white. The platform cladding below the window edge and the fuselage between the lower edge of the window and the trim strip were red, the window band and the lower half of the fuselage - that is, between the trim strip and the chassis, were painted white. In order to ensure a uniform appearance, the company transferred this scheme to the former horse-drawn tram cars that were still used as sidecars.
- 1925: With the new F series, the company switched to extending the white belly band to the lower half of the platform cladding, which had previously been painted uniformly red. This resulted in a surrounding white contrasting stripe, which also improved the frontal visibility of the vehicles. All cars built after 1925 received this paint job, older vehicles, however, were only occasionally adapted accordingly.
- 1927: With the new FII series, the company introduced a yellow paint scheme. Similar to the existing carriages, the window ribbon and the belly band were white, only the area below the window edge was yellow instead of red. In some cases, older cars were also repainted in this way, according to which system this was done is not known. Ultimately, most of the vehicle fleet retained the tried and tested red paintwork.
- 1950: With the introduction of the first new type Gb 2/2 steel wagons, the white belly band was dropped. All other vehicles with a steel car body were initially painted completely red below the window edge.
- 1960: With the second-hand V08 sidecar, which was taken over from Bucharest and refurbished and repainted in Timișoara, a new paint scheme was introduced. The ribbon of windows, roof and aprons were cream-colored, the large area below the windows was light blue. The new scheme was supplemented by thin purple dividing strips. The V58-V12 trains purchased from 1961 and the Timiș 1 trains produced from 1962 also received this scheme from the start. In addition, the company also repainted almost all other wagons with a steel superstructure, as well as those wooden sidecars of types R.2 and R.4 that were used behind steel superstructures. In return, the yellow paintwork from the 1930s disappeared for a few years, the few yellow-painted cars - all two-axle vehicles with a wooden body - also received the traditional red and white design.
- 1968: As early as 1968 the paintwork was changed again. At that time, the company replaced both the cream-light blue paintwork of the steel superstructures and the red and white paintwork of the wooden superstructures with the yellow and white variant - first used in 1927 - supplemented by white aprons. The decorative stripes were henceforth black instead of purple. For the first time since 1925, this resulted in a uniform appearance for all vehicles used in regular passenger transport.
- 1986: In the second half of the 1980s, a new variant appeared temporarily, the Timiș 2 wagons, which were delivered until 1990, were painted mustard yellow in the area of the hull, the window band and aprons were light gray, the black decorative stripes were omitted. However, this scheme did not prevail, and in the first half of the 1990s the cars in question were repainted in the design that had been common since 1968. As a special feature, the Timiș 2 train taken over from Reșița also drove through Timișoara for several years in the colors of the local tram from 1990.
- 2006: In the spring of 2006, what was then RATT finally introduced the current purple-white paint scheme, based on the colors of the ACS Poli Timișoara football club .
As the only tram operator in Romania, the then RATT also consistently repainted its second-hand vehicles from Western Europe in their corporate colors from 1999 onwards. However, this only happened in the course of the upcoming main inspections, so that used trams in Timișoara also ran in the color scheme of their original operation in the first few years of use.
The color scheme in use from 1968 to 2006.
Temporary design from the late 1980s.
The football club ACS Poli Timișoara was the inspiration for ...
... the color scheme used since 2006.
A Wegmann train, still painted in Bremen.
Banat Tram Club and Tram Museum
The Tram Club Banat (TCB) is a nonprofit organization that was founded in Timişoara on 18 October 2000th The aim is to preserve museum cars and to carry out special trips with historical vehicles. The latter took place in Timișoara for the first time every fortnight in summer 2001. The TCB is also active - in close cooperation with the transport companies - in Arad and Reșița , the other two tram cities in the Banat. There are also close relationships with foreign tram associations. The association is the first of its kind in Romania.
The transport companies themselves did not conserve any historically significant cars until the revolution of 1989; the old-timers that exist today only survived in their function as work cars. In the first half of the 1990s, for example, a number of historically valuable trams were scrapped. In 2017, the STPT finally opened a tram museum in the former depot on Bulevardul Take Ionescu, which bears the name of the former director Corneliu Micloși.
Others
- The Romanian-German population of Timișoara used to call the local tram “ Elektro” , “ Tschanga” or “ Tranka” .
- The different courses of a line are traditionally differentiated using Roman numerals. These course numbers are displayed on small pin boards behind the windshield.
- In order to ensure the establishment of Timiș 2 production according to Western European standards, 40 skilled workers, technicians and engineers from the Federal Republic of Germany were guests in Timișoara for a period of two years from 1970. In return, workers from the Timișoara tram were also loaned to the Munich transport company in the early 1970s. They helped convert the local M-cars to conductors-less operation.
- Between 1962 and 1971 and between 2000 and 2009 it was common to assign tram, trolleybus and bus routes the same route numbers in some cases; an overview of the double occupancy can be found under Societatea de Transport Public Timișoara # route numbers
- The former Strada Baba Novac stop on line 3 was the only stop for the Timișoara tram. It was only served out of town.
- The Spumotim stop, located in an industrial area, is a so-called facultative station , in Romanian staţie facultativă . It is only operated during rush hour, i.e. between 5:00 am and 8:30 am and between 1:00 pm and 5:30 pm. In the 1990s and 2000s, this also applied in a similar form to the Strada Mangalia stop, where only from 5:30 a.m. to 8:30 a.m., from 1:30 p.m. to 4:30 p.m. and from 9:30 p.m. to 11:30 p.m. and could get out. Otherwise, the trolleys generally stop everywhere, the Timișoara tram does not know where to go.
Line chronicle
| Factory town line | 07/08/1869 | Piața Sfântul Gheorghe - Piaţa Romanilor |
| 10/26/1869 | Piața Sfântul Gheorghe - Prințul Turcesc | |
| 07/27/1899 | set | |
| Josefstadt Line | 10/25/1869 | Piața Sfântul Gheorghe - Strada Iancu Văcărescu / Splaiul Tudor Vladimirescu |
| 09/29/1871 | Piața Sfântul Gheorghe - Gara de Nord | |
| 07/27/1899 | set | |
| I. | 07/27/1899 | Piața Traian - Gara de Nord |
| 1899 | Parcul Uzinei - Gara de Nord | |
| 07/01/1923 | (Uzina Hidroelectrică -) Parcul Uzinei - Gara de Nord | |
| 1925 | renamed to line 1 | |
| II | 07/27/1899 | Banatim - Bulevardul Iuliu Maniu / Splaiul Tudor Vladimirescu |
| 1899 | Banatim - Splaiul Tudor Vladimirescu / Strada Mangalia | |
| 06/02/1906 | Banatim - Strada Mangalia | |
| 191x | Banatim - Strada Crizantemelor | |
| 1925 | renamed to line 2 | |
| III | 07/27/1899 | Gara de Est - Piața Traian |
| 04.1906 | Gara de Est - Strada Memorandului | |
| 1925 | renamed to line 3 | |
| IV | 07/27/1899 | Piața Sfânta Maria - Strada Memorandului |
| 1906 | set | |
| 11/23/1923 | Piața Libertății - Piața Avram Iancu | |
| 1925 | renamed to line 4 | |
| V | 07/27/1899 | Piața Alexandru Mocioni - Piața Iuliu Maniu |
| 1910 | set | |
| 1911 | Piața Alexandru Mocioni - Piața Iuliu Maniu | |
| 1925 | renamed to line 5 | |
| 1 | 1925 | (Uzina Hidroelectrică -) Parcul Uzinei - Gara de Nord |
| 1930 | Uzina Hidroelectrică - Gara de Nord | |
| 1949 | Uzina Hidroelectrică - Parcul Uzinei | |
| 1954 | set | |
| 10/01/1962 | UMT - Gara de Nord | |
| 08/28/1979 | Piața General Virgil Economu - Gara de Nord | |
| December 23, 1981 | UMT - Gara de Nord | |
| 1989 | UMT - Piața Timișoara 700 - Gara de Nord | |
| 2012 | Staţia Meteo - Piața Timișoara 700 - Gara de Nord | |
| 1 barat | 05/15/1972 | UMT - Catedrala Mitropolitană |
| 07/01/1972 | set | |
| 09/24/1975 | Bulevardul Regele Carol I - Gara de Nord | |
| 09/30/1975 | set | |
| 08/28/1979 | Piața Traian - Parcul Uzinei | |
| December 23, 1981 | set | |
| 11/28/2004 | Gara de Est - Stația Meteo | |
| 09/16/2005 | set | |
| 04/21/2006 | Gara de Est - Bulevardul 3 August 1919 | |
| 01.2007 | set | |
| 1 | 06/01/1978 | UMT - Bulevardul Dâmbovița |
| 08/28/1979 | Piața General Virgil Economu - Bulevardul Dâmbovița | |
| December 23, 1981 | UMT - Bulevardul Dâmbovița | |
| 1989 | UMT - Piața Timișoara 700 - Bulevardul Dâmbovița | |
| 1991 | renamed to line 2 | |
| 2 | 1925 | Banatim - Strada Ioszef Preyer / Strada Crizantemelor |
| 1931 | Banatim - Strada Crizantemelor / Strada Alexandru Vlahuță | |
| 1936 | Hospital Dr. Victor Babes - Gara de Nord | |
| 1956 | Hospital Dr. Victor Babes - Bulevardul Iuliu Maniu | |
| 1958 | Hospital Dr. Victor Babes - Gara de Nord | |
| 12.1959 | UMT - Gara de Nord | |
| 10/01/1962 | UMT - Bulevardul Iuliu Maniu | |
| 08/21/1975 | UMT - Bulevardul Dâmbovița | |
| 06/01/1978 | UMT - Calea Torontalului | |
| 08/28/1979 | Piața General Virgil Economu - Calea Torontalului | |
| December 23, 1981 | UMT - Calea Torontalului | |
| 04/11/1987 | set | |
| 1991 | UMT - Piața Timișoara 700 - Bulevardul Dâmbovița | |
| 2012 | Staţia Meteo - Piața Timișoara 700 - Bulevardul Dâmbovița | |
| June 15, 2020 | Staţia Meteo - Piața Timișoara 700 - Bulevardul Dâmbovița - City Mall | |
| 2 barat | 10/17/1977 | Bulevardul Iuliu Maniu - Piața Libertății - Piața General Gheorghe Domăşnean |
| 06/01/1978 | set | |
| 3 | 1925 | Gara de Est - Strada Memorandului |
| 1929 | UMT - Strada Memorandului | |
| 1936 | UMT - Strada Crizantemelor / Strada Alexandru Vlahuță | |
| 1956 | UMT - Bulevardul Iuliu Maniu | |
| 12.1959 | UMT - Bulevardul Iuliu Maniu, return via Spitalul Dr. Victor Babes | |
| 10/01/1962 | Strada Răscoala din 1907 - Bulevardul Iuliu Maniu | |
| 08/21/1975 | Strada Răscoala din 1907 - Bulevardul Dâmbovița | |
| 1976 | set | |
| March 13, 1978 | Strada Răscoala din 1907 - Gara de Nord | |
| 03/21/1988 | Abator - Gara de Nord | |
| 01/21/2009 | Bulevardul Dâmbovița - Gara de Nord | |
| 11/16/2009 | set | |
| 4th | 1925 | Piața Libertății - Piața Avram Iancu |
| 19xx | Strada Răscoala din 1907 - Bulevardul Iuliu Maniu | |
| 10/01/1962 | Piața Libertății - Piața Avram Iancu | |
| 03/08/1969 | Piața Timișoara 700 - Piața Avram Iancu | |
| 03/11/1970 | set | |
| ? | Piața Timișoara 700 - Piața Avram Iancu | |
| 11/20/1972 | set | |
| 1974 | Piața Timișoara 700 - Piața Avram Iancu | |
| 09/12/1974 | Piața Timișoara 700 - Strada Matei Basarab | |
| May 16, 1975 | Balta Verde - Strada Matei Basarab | |
| 08/08/1975 | Piața Timișoara 700 - Strada Matei Basarab | |
| 01/29/1976 | set | |
| 09/01/1976 | Piața General Gheorghe Domăşnean - Piața Sfânta Maria - Calea Torontalului | |
| 12/12/1976 | Piața General Gheorghe Domăşnean - Piața Traian - Calea Torontalului | |
| 10/17/1977 | Calea Circumvalaţiunii - Calea Torontalului | |
| 06/01/1978 | Piața General Gheorghe Domăşnean - Piața Traian - Calea Torontalului | |
| 04/11/1987 | Ciarda Roșie - Piața Traian - Calea Torontalului | |
| 02/01/1996 | Piața General Gheorghe Domăşnean - Piața Traian - Calea Torontalului | |
| 06/12/1996 | Ciarda Roșie - Piața Traian - Calea Torontalului | |
| 11/02/2009 | Piața General Gheorghe Domăşnean - Piața Traian - Calea Torontalului | |
| 12.2009 | (Ciarda Roșie -) Piața General Gheorghe Domășnean - Piața Traian - Calea Torontalului | |
| 03.2010 | Ciarda Roșie - Piața Traian - Calea Torontalului | |
| 4 barat | 09/01/1976 | UMT - Calea Torontalului |
| 10/17/1977 | Piața Libertății - Strada Coriolan Brediceanu / Strada Dr. Iosif Nemoianau | |
| 06/01/1978 | renamed to line 2 | |
| 4th | 04/11/1987 | Piața General Gheorghe Domăşnean - Piața Traian - Calea Torontalului |
| 1992 | set | |
| 01/08/1997 | Piața General Gheorghe Domăşnean - Piața Traian - Calea Torontalului | |
| 01/13/1997 | renamed to line 10 | |
| 5 | 1925 | Piața Alexandru Mocioni - Piața Iuliu Maniu |
| December 01, 1926 | Piața Alexandru Mocioni - Piața Iuliu Maniu - Strada Chișodei | |
| 08/21/1954 | Piața Alexandru Mocioni - Piața Iuliu Maniu - Strada Chișodei - Piața Nicolae Bălcescu | |
| 10.1959 | Ring line in both directions Piața Nicolae Bălcescu - Strada Chișodei - Piața Iuliu Maniu - Piața Alexandru Mocioni - Piața Nicolae Bălcescu | |
| 10/01/1962 | Piața Libertății - Strada Războieni | |
| 03/08/1969 | Piața Timișoara 700 - Strada Războieni | |
| 01/29/1976 | Balta Verde - Strada Războieni | |
| 09/01/1976 | Piața Libertății - Strada Războieni | |
| 10/17/1977 | Calea Circumvalaţiunii - Strada Războieni | |
| 06/01/1978 | Piața Libertății - Strada Războieni | |
| 06/18/1986 | Piața Libertății - Strada Adam Müller-Guttenbrunn | |
| 1988 | set | |
| 1992 | Piața General Gheorghe Domăşnean - Piața Traian - Piața Libertății - Ronaț | |
| 01/08/1997 | Ronaț> Piața Traian> Gara de Est> UMT> Piața Traian> Ronaț | |
| 03/01/2010 | Ronaț> Piața Traian> Banatim> Piața Nicolae Bălcescu> Ronaț | |
| 01.2015 | Ronaț> Piața Traian> Staţia Meteo> Gara de Est> Piața Traian> Ronaț | |
| 02.09.2017 | set | |
| 6th | 1927 | Piața Nicolae Bălcescu - Strada Mitropolit Varlaam |
| 07/29/1928 | Piața Nicolae Bălcescu - Strada Mitropolit Varlaam - Piața Traian | |
| 1936 | Ring line in both directions Piața Traian - Piața Libertății - Piața Sfânta Maria - Piața Nicolae Bălcescu - Banatim - Piața Traian | |
| 1989 | Ring line in both directions Piața Traian - Piața Timișoara 700 - Piața Libertății - Piața Sfânta Maria - Piața Nicolae Bălcescu - Banatim - Piața Traian | |
| 03/01/2010 | Counter-clockwise ring line Piața Traian> Piața Libertății> Piața Timișoara 700> Piața Sfânta Maria> Piața Nicolae Bălcescu> Banatim> Piața Traian | |
| 07/01/2010 | Calea Torontalului> Piața Sfânta Maria> Piața Nicolae Bălcescu> Banatim> Piața Traian> Piața Libertății> Calea Torontalului | |
| 01.2015 | Calea Torontalului> Piața Sfânta Maria> Piața Nicolae Bălcescu> Banatim> Piața Traian> Gara de Est> Staţia Meteo> Piața Traian> Piața Libertății> Calea Torontalului | |
| 03/01/2015 | Ring line in both directions Piața Sfânta Maria - Piața Nicolae Bălcescu - Banatim - Piața Traian - Piața Libertății - Piața Sfânta Maria | |
| 04.2017 | hired due to lack of staff | |
| 07/01/2018 | Ring line in both directions Piața Sfânta Maria - Piața Nicolae Bălcescu - Banatim - Piața Traian - Piața Libertății - Piața Sfânta Maria | |
| 6 barat | 1965 | Piața Traian> Piața Libertății> Piața Sfânta Maria> Piața Nicolae Bălcescu> Banatim> Piața Traian> Gara de Est> UMT> Piața Traian |
| ? | set | |
| 01/19/1976 | Piața General Gheorghe Domăşnean> Banatim> Piața Traian> Piața Libertății> Piața Sfânta Maria> Piața Nicolae Bălcescu> Banatim> Piața General Gheorghe Domăşnean | |
| 06/01/1978 | set | |
| 7th | 1930 | Hospital Dr. Victor Babes - Piața Libertății - Gara de Nord |
| 1936 | renamed to line 2 | |
| 1951 | Piața Libertății - Piața Nicolae Bălcescu - Strada Lidia | |
| 07/11/1953 | Piața Libertății - Piața Nicolae Bălcescu - Strada Lidia - Strada Progresul | |
| 08/21/1954 | set | |
| 10/01/1962 | Ring line in both directions Piața Nicolae Bălcescu - Strada Chișodei - Piața Iuliu Maniu - Piața Alexandru Mocioni - Piața Nicolae Bălcescu | |
| 04/07/1969 | Gara de Nord - Piața Alexandru Mocioni - Piața Nicolae Bălcescu - Strada Chișodei - Piața Iuliu Maniu - Bulevardul 16 Decembrie 1989 / Strada Iancu Văcărescu | |
| December 01, 1969 | Piața Nicolae Bălcescu - Strada Chișodei | |
| 01/26/1972 | Piața Nicolae Bălcescu - Strada Chișodei - Bulevardul Dâmbovița - Bulevardul Iuliu Maniu | |
| 04/17/1972 | Piața Nicolae Bălcescu - Strada Chișodei | |
| 07.1974 | Ring line clockwise Bulevardul Dâmbovița> Piața Alexandru Mocioni> Piața Nicolae Bălcescu> Strada Chișodei> Bulevardul Dâmbovița | |
| 07/29/1974 | Ring line in both directions Bulevardul Dâmbovița - Piața Alexandru Mocioni - Piața Nicolae Bălcescu - Strada Chișodei - Bulevardul Dâmbovița | |
| 09/26/1974 | Piața Nicolae Bălcescu - Strada Chișodei - Bulevardul Iuliu Maniu | |
| 04/27/1975 | Piața Nicolae Bălcescu - Strada Chișodei - Bulevardul Dâmbovița | |
| 07.1978 | Piața Nicolae Bălcescu - Strada Chișodei - Strada Frunzei | |
| 02.1979 | Piața Nicolae Bălcescu - Strada Izlaz | |
| 03.1980 | Piața Nicolae Bălcescu - Strada Mureș | |
| 08.1980 | Ring line in both directions Bulevardul Dâmbovița - Piața Alexandru Mocioni - Piața Nicolae Bălcescu - Strada Chișodei - Bulevardul Dâmbovița | |
| 10/01/2016 | Bulevardul Dâmbovița - Strada Chișodei - Piața Nicolae Bălcescu - Piața Sfânta Maria - Calea Torontalului | |
| 7 barat | 04/17/1972 | Bulevardul Iuliu Maniu - Strada Chișodei |
| 07.1974 | set | |
| 03.1980 | Bulevardul Dâmbovița - Strada Chișodei - Strada Ivan Petrovici Pavlov | |
| 08.1980 | set | |
| 8th | 04/29/1948 | Piața Libertății - Strada Războieni |
| 12/30/1954 | Strada Răscoala din 1907 - Strada Crizantemelor | |
| 1956 | Strada Răscoala din 1907 - Bulevardul Iuliu Maniu | |
| 19xx | Piața Libertății - Piața Avram Iancu | |
| 10/01/1962 | renamed to line 4 | |
| 07.1973 | Banatim - Piața General Gheorghe Domăşnean | |
| 09/19/1973 | Piața General Gheorghe Domăşnean - Gara de Nord | |
| 02/01/1996 | Ciarda Roșie - Gara de Nord | |
| 06/12/1996 | Piața General Gheorghe Domăşnean - Gara de Nord | |
| June 15, 2019 | Ciarda Roșie - Gara de Nord | |
| 9 | 12/30/1954 | Piața Libertății - Strada Războieni |
| 10/01/1962 | renamed to line 5 | |
| 1989 | Piața General Gheorghe Domăşnean - Strada Chișodei - Bulevardul Dâmbovița | |
| 1991 | Piața General Gheorghe Domăşnean - Strada Gheorghe Ranetti - Bulevardul Dâmbovița | |
| 11/02/2009 | Ciarda Roșie - Strada Gheorghe Ranetti - Bulevardul Dâmbovița | |
| 12.2009 | (Ciarda Roșie -) Piața General Gheorghe Domășnean - Strada Gheorghe Ranetti - Bulevardul Dâmbovița | |
| 06.2010 | Piața General Gheorghe Domăşnean - Strada Gheorghe Ranetti - Bulevardul Dâmbovița | |
| 11/28/2016 | Piața General Gheorghe Domăşnean - Strada Gheorghe Ranetti - Bulevardul Dâmbovița - Gara de Nord | |
| June 15, 2019 | Ciarda Roșie - Piața General Gheorghe Domășnean - Strada Gheorghe Ranetti - Bulevardul Dâmbovița - Gara de Nord | |
| 9 barat | 03/05/2007 | Ciarda Roșie - Bulevardul Dâmbovița |
| 11/02/2009 | set | |
| 10 | 01/13/1997 | Piața General Gheorghe Domăşnean - Piața Traian - Calea Torontalului |
| 02/01/2009 | Gara de Nord - Calea Torontalului | |
| 07/01/2010 | set | |
| 03/01/2015 | Calea Torontalului> Piața Sfânta Maria> Piața Nicolae Bălcescu> Banatim> Piața Traian> Gara de Est> Staţia Meteo> Piața Traian> Piața Libertății> Calea Torontalului | |
| 06.2017 | set | |
| 11 | December 01, 2000 | Gara de Nord - Calea Torontalului |
| 02/01/2009 | renamed to line 10 |
From the mid-1980s, the tram company also differentiated the respective travel directions of the two ring lines 6 and 7 by the colors red and black. Analogous to the looping of lines 1 red and 1 black in the factory town, red stood for “clockwise” and black for “counterclockwise”. However, this differentiation no longer existed in the early 1990s. In later years, additional code numbers or letters appeared in the timetable documents, but these were not written on the vehicles:
| clockwise | counter clockwise |
|---|---|
|
6 7 |
6 7 |
| 6/1 7/1 |
6/2 7/2 |
| 6A 7A |
6B 7B |
| 6a 7a |
6b 7b |
literature
- 60 de ani de la înființarea tramvaiului în Timișoara, monograph 1869–1929 . Timișoara 1929.
- Vasile Deheleanu, Sabin Indrieşu: Monografia întreprinderilor electromecanice municipale Timişoara . Timișoara 1944.
- Dorin Sarca, Gh. Radulovici: Centenarul tramvaielor din Timișoara, monograph 1869–1969 . Timișoara 1969.
- 1869–1994, 125 de ani de circulație cu tramvaiul în Timișoara, monograph . Timișoara 1994.
- Regia Autonomă de Transport Timișoara, 130 de ani de activitate, 1869–1999, monograph . Timișoara 1999.
- Hans Lehnhart and Claude Jeanmarie: Tram Companies in Eastern Europe II . Verlag Eisenbahn, Villingen 1977, ISBN 3-85649-032-9 .
- Hometown community Temeschburg-Timisoara: Timisoara-Timisoara, a south-east European city in times of change . Karlsruhe 1994.
- Mihály Kubinszky, István Lovász and György Villány: Régi Magyar Villamosok . Budapest 1999.
- A. Günther, S. Tarkhov, C. Blank: Tram atlas Romania 2004 . Working group Blickpunkt Straßenbahn e. V., Berlin 2004, ISBN 3-926524-23-5 .
- The tram companies in Romania by Hans Lehnhart, special print from the trade journal Der Stadtverkehr - Issue 11–12 / 1966 and 3/1967
- Tram Timișoara by Hans Lehnhart, in Tram Magazin number 10, November 1973, pages 285-292
Web links
- Official website of the operator Societatea de Transport Public Timișoara
- Tram club Banat
- Picture galleries of public transport in Timisoara on ratt.stfp.net
- Varga Ákos Endre, The trams from Timișoara / Temesvár / Temeschburg
- On the go: Local transport in Timișoara (RO)
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b tramclub.org
- ↑ Timișoara presents modernized trams , article on railwaygazette.com from July 14, 2015
- ↑ a b Linii de tramvai reabilitate pe 9 trasee: peste 600 milioane de lei
- ↑ a b c d e f g h Heimatortsgemeinschaft Temeschburg-Temeswar: Temeschburg-Temeswar, A Southeast European City in Times of Change . Karlsruhe 1994.
- ^ Yearbook of the railways and transport companies Austria-Hungary 1902/03, edited by Rudolf Hanel, Vienna, 1902, page 332
- ^ Yearbook of the railways and transport companies Austria-Hungary 1904/05, edited by Rudolf Hanel, Vienna, 1904, page 363
- ↑ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y z aa ab ac ad ae af 60 de ani de la înființarea tramvaiului în Timișoara . Timișoara 1929.
- ↑ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v Regia Autonomă de Transport Timișoara, 130 de ani de activitate, 1869–1999, monograph. Timișoara 1999.
- ↑ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x Dorin Sarca, Gh. Radulovici: Centenarul tramvaielor din Timișoara, monograph 1869–1969 . Timișoara 1969.
- ↑ Temesvar newspaper , edition of July 28, 1899
- ^ The line system of the Viennese tram on www.vef.at
- ↑ Inner city - I. District of Timisoara on www.banaterra.eu, accessed on August 13, 2014
- ↑ Exploatarea transportului în comun în Timisoara
- ↑ Kovácsyné dr. Medveczki Ágnes: Vidéki városaink tömegközlekedésének kialakulása és fejlődése 1914-ig, pp. 190–196, online at elektro.tudomanytortenet.hu, accessed on July 23, 2019
- ↑ Peter Payer: Be Modern and Just Not Shine , article from May 15, 2015 at http://diepresse.com, accessed on August 7, 2016
- ↑ Dr. Hans Wiegand: The German City, Volume 6, Urban Planning - Urban Development , Reinhard Welz Vermittler Verlag Mannheim e. K., ISBN 978-3-86656-535-7 , page 497
- ↑ Întâiul tramvai din România, nu la Timișoara, ci în Lipova at www.historia.ro
- ^ Yearbook of the railways and transport companies Austria-Hungary 1905/06, edited by Rudolf Hanel, Vienna, 1905, page 353
- ^ A b c Hans-Heinrich Rieser: Timisoara: geographical description of the Banat capital . Franz Steiner Verlag, 1992. ISBN 3-7995-2501-7
- ↑ Urban Development Plan from 1913 to www.banaterra.eu
- ↑ a b Dacia newspaper , year 1923
- ↑ a b c d e f Vasile Deheleanu, Sabin Indrieşu: Monografia întreprinderilor electromecanice municipale Timişoara . Timișoara 1944.
- ↑ Dr. Emil Grădinariu, Ion Stoia-Udrea: Ghidul Banatului, Partea II: Timișoara, Editura Oficiului de Turism al Județul Timiș-Torontal, Timișoara, 1936, pages 156-157
- ↑ Vasile Rămneanţu: Activitatea Primăriei Timișoara în perioada 1926–1927, online at muzeulbanatului.ro ( Memento of the original from January 3, 2016 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.
- ↑ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y z aa ab ac ad ae af ag ah ai aj ak al am an ao ap aq ar as at au newspaper Drapelul roșu
- ↑ Vali Corduneanu: 120 de ani la nașterea unui personaj legendar al Timișoarei: academicianul Cornel Miklosi , article on agenda.ro, accessed on October 4, 2015
- ↑ a b special print from the trade journal Der Stadtverkehr - issues 11 / 12-1966 and 3/1967
- ↑ a b c Tram Timișoara by Hans Lehnhart, in Tram Magazin number 10, November 1973, page 290
- ↑ a b c d e f g 1869–1994, 125 de ani de circulație cu tramvaiul în Timișoara, monograph . Timișoara 1994.
- ↑ Un nou mijloc de transport in Comun . In: Adevărul from January 1, 1941
- ↑ Newspaper Luptătorul Banatean , edition dated April 7, 1948
- ↑ a b c d e f newspaper Luptătorul Bănăţean
- ↑ Retrospectivă asupra istoriei cartierului VI al orașului Timișoara on fratelia-tm.blogspot.de
- ↑ Description of the UMT company on www.banaterra.eu ( Memento of the original from December 3, 2013 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.
- ↑ a b c Brief history of the Timisoara public transport company - origin and development of local public transport in Timisoara ( Memento from April 1st, 2008 in the Internet Archive )
- ↑ UMT company website ( Memento of the original dated December 3, 2013 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.
- ↑ History Mehalas on www.mehala.de, accessed on February 10, 2014
- ↑ cjtimis.ro
- ↑ a b c d e Blickpunkt Straßenbahn, issue 6/1992, pages 234–237
- ↑ a b Hans Lehnhart and Claude Jean Marie: tram operations in Eastern Europe II . Verlag Eisenbahn, Villingen 1977, ISBN 3-85649-032-9 .
- ↑ Drapelul roşu newspaper , March 9, 1974 edition
- ↑ a b Modern Tramway, August 1975, pages 276-281
- ↑ Sa ales praful de multe dintre vechile fabrici si uzine din Banat. Ce se mai produce acum in Timis? Article on www.agenda.ro from June 4, 2010
- ↑ www.mehala.de
- ↑ www.aem.ro
- ↑ www.electrotimis.ro ( Memento of the original from May 17, 2014 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.
- ↑ Drapelul roşu newspaper , July 11, 1978 edition
- ↑ Drapelul roşu newspaper , February 21, 1979 edition
- ↑ Drapelul roşu newspaper , March 5, 1980 edition
- ↑ Drapelul roşu newspaper , August 25, 1980 edition
- ↑ Drapelul roşu newspaper , June 22, 1989 edition
- ^ Richard Wagner , Helmuth Frauendorfer (Ed.): The fall of the tyrant . Reinbek 1990 ISBN 3-499-12839-X , page 12
- ↑ a b newspaper Renasterea banateana
- ↑ Newspaper Renasterea banateana , edition of 28 June 1990
- ↑ Newspaper Renasterea banateana , edition dated November 10, 1990
- ↑ phototrans.eu
- ↑ Stadtverkehr 6/92, page 17
- ↑ Overview of the modernized route sections on tramclub.org
- ↑ Stadtverkehr 11-12 / 96, page 34
- ↑ a b newspaper Ziarul Timisoara
- ↑ RATT website as of April 23, 2007 ( Memento of April 23, 2007 in the Internet Archive )
- ↑ Din 21 January 2009, traseul liniei 3 va fi deservit de autobuze on www.ratt.ro ( Memento from January 31, 2009 in the Internet Archive )
- ↑ Linia 3 de tramvai se desfiinteaza, iar 4 isi schimba capatul
- ↑ Timișoara opens new tram route , article by Robert Schwandl on urban-transport-magazine.com, published on July 7, 2020, accessed on July 9, 2020
- ↑ transporturban.ro
- ↑ Intervale circulație on ratt.ro , accessed on November 19, 2017
- ↑ tramvai până la moşniţa nouă? Renașterea bănățeană from August 26, 2011 ( page can no longer be accessed , search in web archives ) Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ↑ Fabrica de tramvaie nu se poate face. Dar o sa fie muzeu de 1,681,216.44 euro la Timisoara ... , article on timisoaraexpress.ro, published on May 11, 2015
- ↑ Tram magazine 1/2009
- ↑ Kandia, de la ciocolata la moloz on www.e-timisoara.info, article from October 8, 2009 ( Memento from November 29, 2014 in the Internet Archive )
- ↑ TIMIȘOARA UITATĂ Povestea fabricilor emblematice pentru economia bănățeană, în imagini de colecție: Guban, Elba, Dura, Filt, Fabrica de zahăr , article of November 30, 2014
- ↑ Muki, popularul tramvai-locomotivă care trăgea vagoanele de marfă prin Timişoara on adevarul.ro, article from December 27, 2017, accessed on November 1, 2018.
- ↑ drdptm.ro
- ↑ Tram magazine 6/2003, page 61
- ^ Der Weichenbengel - Information brochure of the meeting point for rail transport Karlsruhe e. V., edition 4/98
- ↑ Cum sa transformat cea mai veche fabrica de bere din Romania intr-un colos care produce 900,000 de litri de bere pe zi
- ↑ phototrans.eu
- ↑ "Eltim" mizeaza pe dezvoltarea satelor romanesti , article from April 13, 2007 on romanialibera.ro
- ^ Der Weichenbengel - Information brochure of the meeting point for rail transport Karlsruhe e. V., edition 5/96, p. 37
- ↑ 15 tram cars given away . In: der Weichenbengel - information brochure of the meeting point for rail transport Karlsruhe e. V., edition 4/00, pp. 40–43
- ↑ P-railcar and p-sidecar on strassenbahn-muenchen.de
- ↑ Timișorenii before avea încă cinci tramvaie “second” de la nemţi , article from July 3, 2009 on www.tion.ro, accessed on June 7, 2015
- ^ Transport to Timișoara . In: der Weichenbengel - information brochure of the meeting point for rail transport Karlsruhe e. V., edition 3/00, p. 42
- ↑ banateanul.gandul.info: Consilierii locali, deranjaţi de preţul prea mare al tramvaielor noi | Bănăţeanul ( Memento of the original from July 14, 2014 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , Accessed May 11, 2010
- ↑ Citadis, un tramvai de vis pentru Timișoara ( page no longer available , search in web archives ) Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ↑ Autentic: Astra Vagoane isi testeaza noul tramvai la Timisoara , article from March 15, 2016 on debanat.ro, accessed on September 19, 2017
- ↑ Bozankaya wins Timișoara tram order on themayor.eu accessed on August 8, 2019
- ↑ Bozankaya wins Timisoara tram order on railjournal.com, accessed on August 8, 2019
- ↑ Timisoara Chose Bozankaya Trams , press release on bozankaya.com.tr, accessed on August 8, 2019
- ↑ Tram atlas Romania 2004, page 124
- ↑ Tram friends Munich e. V. - Review of the year 2000
- ↑ Former stop sign on Strada Mangalia at www.ratt.ro
- ↑ Trasee tramvaie și intervale de circulaţie , route overview on timisoara-info.ro, accessed on March 3, 2016
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