Liepājas tramvajs is a municipal company that operates a single

tram A tram (also known as a streetcar or trolley in Canada and the United States) is an urban rail transit in which Rolling stock, vehicles, whether individual railcars or multiple-unit trains, run on tramway tracks on urban public streets; some ...

line in

Liepāja Liepāja () (formerly: Libau) is a Administrative divisions of Latvia, state city in western Latvia, located on the Baltic Sea. It is the largest city in the Courland region and the third-largest in the country after Riga and Daugavpils. It is an ...

Latvia Latvia, officially the Republic of Latvia, is a country in the Baltic region of Northern Europe. It is one of the three Baltic states, along with Estonia to the north and Lithuania to the south. It borders Russia to the east and Belarus to t ...

. The current

double-track A double-track railway usually involves running one track in each direction, compared to a single-track railway where trains in both directions share the same track. Overview In the earliest days of railways in the United Kingdom, most lin ...

ed tram line has a length of .

History

1899

The first electric tram line in the

Baltic states The Baltic states or the Baltic countries is a geopolitical term encompassing Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania. All three countries are members of NATO, the European Union, the Eurozone, and the OECD. The three sovereign states on the eastern co ...

was founded in

, September 26, 1899. The first nine trams used by the company were made by

Herbrand Herbrand is a surname. Notable people with the surname include: * Freddy Herbrand (born 1944), Belgian decathlete * Jacques Herbrand (1908–1931), French mathematician * Markus Herbrand Markus Herbrand (born 24 February 1971) is a German poli ...

(based in

Köln Cologne ( ; ; ) is the largest city of the States of Germany, German state of North Rhine-Westphalia and the List of cities in Germany by population, fourth-most populous city of Germany with nearly 1.1 million inhabitants in the city pr ...

Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...

). The first tram line was built to

Karosta Karosta is a former Russian Imperial and Soviet naval base on the Baltic Sea, which today is a neighbourhood in Liepāja, Latvia. History The naval base was originally constructed in 1890-1906 for Tsar Alexander III of Russia, and named Пор ...

1903

In 1903 the company ordered six new trams from Herbrand. The new trams received numbers 10 to 16.

1904

Two-way tram line has been built at Liela street in the city center.

1940

After

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

the old Herbrand trams has been placed to new self-made frames. 18 March 1941 for the first time since 1899 the woman (Anna Cekuse) has become the

conductor Conductor or conduction may refer to: Biology and medicine * Bone conduction, the conduction of sound to the inner ear * Conduction aphasia, a language disorder Mathematics * Conductor (ring theory) * Conductor of an abelian variety * Cond ...

. The company starts to use tree-digit numbering, precessing tram number with 1. In 1949-1956 few trams has been built in

using the details from

Kaliningrad Kaliningrad,. known as Königsberg; ; . until 1946, is the largest city and administrative centre of Kaliningrad Oblast, an Enclave and exclave, exclave of Russia between Lithuania and Poland ( west of the bulk of Russia), located on the Prego ...

and self-made frames.

1957

In 1957 Liepājas tramvajs has received 8

Gotha Gotha () is the fifth-largest city in Thuringia, Germany, west of Erfurt and east of Eisenach with a population of 44,000. The city is the capital of the district of Gotha and was also a residence of the Ernestine Wettins from 1640 until the ...

T57 trams with numbers 125–132.

1960

Liepāja has received 10 new trams

Gotha Т59Е Gotha () is the fifth-largest city in Thuringia, Germany, west of Erfurt and east of Eisenach with a population of 44,000. The city is the capital of the district of Gotha and was also a residence of the Ernestine Wettins from 1640 until the ...

with the numbers 139–148 in 1961. In 1962 has been bought 8 new

Tatra T2-62 Tatra may refer to: * Tatra Mountains, a mountain range in Slovakia and Poland ** Tatra County, an administrative division of Poland in the region of the Tatra Mountains ** Tatra National Park, Poland, a national park in Poland ** Tatra National ...

with numbers 149–156.

1970

In 1974 Liepājas tramvajs has transported 12 million passengers per year.

1990

New tram-stops with add stands has been built in Liepāja by EuroAWK

2007

In Liepāja widely discussed plans to extend the tram line to the

Ezerkrasts Ezerkrasts is one of the largest and most modern neighbourhoods of Liepāja, Latvia. It is located near the southern border of the city, on the western coast of Liepāja lake Liepāja () (formerly: Libau) is a state city in western Latvia, loc ...

district. The company starts to offer new service — payments for the tram tickets by mean of

SMS Short Message Service, commonly abbreviated as SMS, is a text messaging service component of most telephone, Internet and mobile device systems. It uses standardized communication protocols that let mobile phones exchange short text messages, t ...

. This service was developed in cooperation with Riga company Citycredit.

2013

the tram line to the

district is made

2018

In 2018, 12 KONCAR NT2300 low-floor trams were ordered, with first delivery happening in November 2020, and one KONCAR NT2300 trams should be on Liepāja's streets by the end of 2020.

October 2020

The first KONCAR NT2300 low-floor tram is being tested in Zagreb's streets, 2 Liepaja's tram drivers and 2 technicians drive to Zagreb, to learn how to drive KONCAR NT2300 tram, also a plan has been made to extend tram line to go to k-senukai market, to go through Laumas district and go to Karostas bridge.

10 November 2020

The , KONCAR NT2300 delivery has been started to Liepāja, it will go through other countries to Germany by land, then it will be loaded onto a ship and delivered to Liepāja by ship. This is the first Croatian tram to be delivered to another country also the first new Liepāja tram has been numbered as ''250'' which means the other 13 trams will receive numbers from 251 to 262.

17 November 2020

The first KONCAR NT2300 has been delivered to Liepāja and put into Liepaja's tram rails, the old trams are numbered to 247, the number 248 will be given to the "snow white" track cleaner and number 249 will be given to a technical tram when it is purchased in future, also there is a discussion to buy two more trams, so Liepāja will have 14 new trams in total, also the two new tram should come to Liepāja at January 2021 but the first six should all be delivered by May 2021, the new trams are not expected to drive through Liepaja's streets till 2021, when the second KONCAR NT2300 will be delivered to Liepaja.

18 February 2021

The second and third KONCAR NT2300 have been delivered to Liepaja, however as of 18 February, Liepaja's tram drivers have started to train on how to drive KONCAR NT2300 trams. The new trams are expected to be in service sometime in March.

18 March 2021

The KONCAR NT2300 trams enter service during Liepaja's 396th birthday, currently all 6 KONCAR NT2300s are in service

21 November 2022

The last model of KONCAR NT2300 was brought to Liepāja, but now have 14 trams.

Fleet

The current fleet consists of five Tatra KT4SU trams that were newly delivered, eleven type KT4D trams formerly in service in

Cottbus Cottbus () or (;) is a university city and the second-largest city in the German state of Brandenburg after the state capital, Potsdam. With around 100,000 inhabitants, Cottbus is the most populous city in Lusatia. Cottbus lies in the Sorbian ...

Gera Gera () is a city in the German state of Thuringia. With around 93,000 inhabitants, it is the third-largest city in Thuringia after Erfurt and Jena as well as the easternmost city of the ''Thüringer Städtekette'', an almost straight string of ...

and

Erfurt Erfurt () is the capital (political), capital and largest city of the Central Germany (cultural area), Central German state of Thuringia, with a population of around 216,000. It lies in the wide valley of the Gera (river), River Gera, in the so ...

, six KONCAR NT2300's, two of them are in service and a tram track cleaner called 'Snow White', which was built around the 1920s and rebuilt in 1954, and is the only tram from that time which is still in operating condition. This tram fleet is currently the oldest tram fleet in the Baltics.

Tickets & price

Gallery

Liepajastramvajs 3.jpg, Tram station in

Liepajastramvajs 12.jpg, Tram No. 12 at Peldu St. Liepajastramvajs 13.jpg, Tram No. 13 near ''Kursaal'' (Kūrmāja) Tram in Liepāja001.jpg, The current trams in Liepāja

References

External links

*
Unofficial website

gallery of Liepāja's tram
{{DEFAULTSORT:Liepajas Tramvajs Liepāja Transport in Liepāja Tram transport in Latvia Metre-gauge railways in Latvia