Ploiești Tramway is a
light rail
Light rail (or light rail transit, abbreviated to LRT) is a form of passenger urban rail transit that uses rolling stock derived from tram technology National Conference of the Transportation Research Board while also having some features from ...
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 ...
system serving
Ploiești
Ploiești ( , , ), formerly spelled Ploești, is a Municipiu, city and county seat in Prahova County, Romania. Part of the historical region of Muntenia, it is located north of Bucharest.
The area of Ploiești is around , and it borders the Ble ...
, Romania. It began operation in 1987, the first tram system in Ploiesti. It is owned by
TCE Ploiești. The system is 100% modernised.
History
The tram in Ploiești was built in 1987 (some sources cite start of construction in 1986) as part of the tram systems that opened in 1980s Romania, and it had at its opening 6 routes. The tram was built in a hurry due to
Elena Ceaușescu
Elena Ceaușescu (; born Lenuța Petrescu; 7 January 1916 – 25 December 1989) was a Romanian communist politician who was the wife of Nicolae Ceaușescu, General Secretary of the Romanian Communist Party and leader of the Socialist Republic o ...
's visit to the town, explaining the bad quality of the tram tracks and the "destruction" of the asphalt next to the tram tracks, according to the town's last communist mayor, Alexandru Apostol. The late 1990s marked an end to most of these tram lines, starting with the removal of tram line 105 in 1998, by 2003 only lines 101 and 102 were existing. In 2009, the mayor of Ploiești, Andrei Volosevici proposed the closure of line 101 but the proposal was met with strong opposition from the locals. In the 2010s the quality of the tram tracks was considered so bad, that modernisation works were started around 2014. In 2016 the tram system was reopened, with modernised and up to date infrastructure.
Fleet
At the opening in 1987 the fleet consisted of
Timiș 2
Timiș 2 were a series of tram engine, tram vehicles built in Timișoara, Romania, initially by the Societatea de Transport Public Timișoara, Timișoara Transport Company, and later by ''Electrometal Timișoara'' (also known as ''Eltim'').
Tram ...
(made by Electrometal
Timișoara
Timișoara (, , ; , also or ; ; ; see #Etymology, other names) is the capital city of Timiș County, Banat, and the main economic, social and cultural center in Western Romania. Located on the Bega (Tisza), Bega River, Timișoara is consider ...
) and
V3A (made by
ITB București Main Workshops) trams, but most were retired by the late 1990s and early 2000s. Also starting with the 1990s the tram network received a few
Tatra KT4
Tatra KT4 is the name of a GT4 (tram), four-axle type articulated tramcar developed by the Czech firm ČKD Tatra. The first pre-production vehicles entered service in Potsdam in 1975, with the first production vehicles in 1977. A total of 1,747 uni ...
D trams from the town of
Potsdam
Potsdam () is the capital and largest city of the Germany, German States of Germany, state of Brandenburg. It is part of the Berlin/Brandenburg Metropolitan Region. Potsdam sits on the Havel, River Havel, a tributary of the Elbe, downstream of B ...
, Germany. These still run today, and trams numbered from 070 to 099 are unmodernised KT4D whilst trams from 100 to 106 are KT4DM modernised. Most of them retained their original Potsdam livery up to 2014, but as of today, they have their own livery after a refurbishment done in 2016.
Photogallery
File:Ploiești 2017 tram 7.jpg, KT4D tram, 2017 (modernised in Ploiesti)
File:Ploiești 2017 tram 9.jpg, KT4D tram (number 093), 2017 (modernised in Ploiesti)
File:PLOIESTI 1994-001.jpg, V3A tram (number 7030), 1994 (retired)
File:Ploieşti May 1994.jpg, Timiș 2 tram (number 7089), 1994 (retired)
File:ITB V3A 051, tram line 102, Ploiești, 2006.jpg, V3A-FAUR tram (number 55051), 2006 (retired)
External links
official websiteTransPloiesti
{{DEFAULTSORT:Ploiesti Tramway
Ploiești
Tram transport in Romania