Latvian Trams 2 - Daugavpils & Liepaja
Daugavpils is the second largest city in Latvia. It is situated some 200 km south east of the
capital Riga, of which the trams and trolleybuses were featured in our previous
programme. Electric trams began running
as late as 1946, shortly after the Baltic republic was incorporated into the
Soviet Union. There are just three tram
lines and the tram fleet at the time of filming, in May 2017, consisted of the
older style Russian built Ust-Katav
(UKVZ) KTM-5 cars, eight new low-floor
71-623 single-section cars as well as
four new 71-631 three-section cars
from this Russian manufacturer. There is
also a small fleet of Tatra T3D trams
that were acquired from Schwerin in Germany.
Daugavpils trams still operate with trolley poles. Our filming covers the entire tram network,
beginning at Vienības iela where we take a ride on UKVZ-built tram, 005 on Line 1 to Butļerova iela where we see the
small tram depot and where one of the 71-631
trams is being manoeuvred. We then
travel on tram 102 a UKVZ KTM-5 tram
on Line 2 to Saules veikals. The main
road, 18. novembra iela, is our next location, and here we see a preserved RVZ-6 tram, on display in an enclosed
area. We now board tram 108 on Line 3 to
Stropu ezers, which is one of the terminus of Line 3. From here tram 101 takes us to Ventspils iela
for more filming. We then travel on tram
102 to the other terminus of Line 2 at Maizes kombināts. Staying with tram 102 we return to 18.
novembra iela in order to take a ride on board Tatra T3D cars 080+079 on Line 3 back to Stropu ezers and then
return back to Vienības iela for the Tatra
experience! We take a brief look in at
the bus station and see a brand new Solaris
Urbino 12 100% electric bus passing through. We also film at Stacija, which is the other
terminus of Line 1. Our final tram ride
in Daugavpils is on Tatra T3D cars
074+075 to the other terminus of Line 3 at Cietoksnis. Here the trams turn around on a large turning
circle, which is situated next to the historic Daugavpils Fortress. We conclude our visit with some still
photographs taken by Steve Kelly on a journey he made to the city in 2007.
The second visit on
this DVD programme is to the Latvian city of Liepaja, which is situated by the
coast of the Baltic Sea. The electric
tramway was opened in 1899 when Liepaja was part of the Russian Empire. Today there is just one line that runs
north-south past the railway station.
The tram fleet at the time of filming in May 2017 consisted of just 17 Tatra KT4 trams, 12 having been acquired
from the German cities of Cottbus, Gera and Erfurt. Liepaja replaced the trolley pole with the
pantograph as early as 1961. Our filming
covers the entire system, starting at Rīgas iela by the railway station, and
continues as we head towards the city centre.
We take rides on trams: KT4SU
229 and former Cottbus KT4D 236 as
well as former Erfurt KT4D 246,
covering the entire route, stopping off as we travel for shots of the trams
running in this interesting Latvian city.
We hope you enjoy this journey through the Baltic States as much as we
did filming it!
