Polish Trams 1 - Warsaw
Warsaw is the capital
city of Poland. The city extends on both
sides of the Vistula River with the largest part and the city centre on the
western bank of the river. The city was
badly damaged during the Second World War, but has been rebuilt to a very high
standard including the old town. Horse
trams began operating as far back as 1866 in Warsaw. Electric trams did not begin operating until
1908. Network expansion began in the
1920s and continued up until 1942 before the Germans in response to the ‘1944
Uprising’ destroyed the city. After the
war the system was converted to standard gauge as was extended to a great
extent and is still being added to.
During 2018 the independent transport videos cameras made
an extensive visit to Poland to capture the tram systems operating in this
interesting country. This, the first
programme in the series concentrates on Warsaw taking in the city centre and
the suburbs served by the trams. At the
time of filming the trams were operated by Tramwaje Warszawskie that is
part of the ZTM Warszawa transport system. This includes the Metro, SKM urban trains, KM
regional trains and WKD local trains and buses.
The tram fleet is made
up of some 400 Konstal high-floor vehicles in various forms of
modernisation. These trams date from
1975 to 2001. Subsequently some early
part low-floor trams were built by Alstom Konstal (Konstal became part of
Alstom). PESA has been the main supplier
since 2007 with their Tramicus, Swing, Jazz Duo and Jazz types
(The Jazz Duo is double-ended and the current Jazz type are short
19.3m vehicles). Tram 3001, a Konstal
112N, is unique to the fleet and can be seen on this programme as well as all
of the types listed above. Our filming
takes place over three days covering most of the system. Some of the city centre locations include
Marszalkowska, Centrum, Al. Jerozolimskie, Dworzec Centralny, Plac Narutowicza,
Plac Zawiszy, Solidarnosci, Bankowy, Nowowiejska, and Stare Miastro (Old
Town). Our cameras take eleven rides on
most types of tram to various suburbs and intersections. These include tram 3253, a PESA Swing
on Line 1 to Okopowa, tram 3632, a PESA Jazz Duo on Line 23 to Park
Praski, Konstal 105N tram 1243 on Line 28 to Rondo Radoslawa, tram 3807, a PESA
Jazz (19.3metre) on Line 27 to Metro Marymont and tram 2029 a Konstal
105N2k/2000 (rebuilt and redesigned) on line 27 to Okopowa. A ride on tram 3272 a PESA Swing along
line 4 takes us to Marszalkowska in the city centre. Further rides are on tram 3216 a PESA Swing
on line 9 to Gocławek, tram 3123 a PESA Swing on line 3 to Al.
Zieleniecka, trams 1402+1401 Konstal 105Nb on line 25 to Annopol, trams
1388+1389 similar Konstal 105Nb vehicles on line 25 to Kijowska and trams
1358+1357 Konstal 105Na type on line 28 to Osiedle Górczewska. You will also see a couple of preserved buses
on this programme! Warsaw is a large
capital city and has a tramway system to match it - we hope you enjoy your
visit!