Trams in Łódź

Trams in Łódź

Tram station "Piotrkowska Centrum"
Overview
Native name	Tramwaje w Łodzi
Locale	Łódź, Poland
Transit type	Tram
Number of lines	17 (excl. regional, seasonal and tourist lines)
Number of stations	230
Annual ridership	~60 million
Operation
Began operation	1898
Technical
Track gauge	1,000 mm (3 ft 3 3⁄8 in)

Trams in Łódź made their first appearance on 23 December 1898. Łódź was the first city to have electric trams in what was then Congress Poland. Initially, there were two fairly short tram lines that both served the city centre area; by February 1899 their number was doubled. Two years later, the first suburban tram lines started – the Pabianice and Zgierz lubes. Both of these initiatives were the result of the activities of private companies in which German manufacturers dominated.

In the years 1910-1931 suburban tram lines connected many important places around the city, creating the largest such network in Poland, which remained unchanged until the end of the 1980s. In the first half of the 1990s, some of them were closed down, but the process has since been halted, leaving Łódź the only city in the country to still have such a system of commuter trams.

After World War II, the network of suburban and urban trams was nationalized and transferred to the Municipal Communication Company of Łódź (MPK), which, as the city of Łódź expanded, expanded the number and length of both urban and suburban lines. Currently MKP operates 16 urban and 4 regional (or suburban) lines. The longest of these, and in fact the longest of all of Poland, is number 46, which has a length of 38 kilometres (24 mi).

The system is characterized by narrow gauge (1,000 mm (3 ft 3 ³⁄₈ in) metre gauge) track. On tramline 10, modern Cityrunner trams run; yet the short distance between stops prevents them from reaching full speed. Currently, the routes of lines 11 and 46 are being upgraded under the Łódź Regional Tram project.

In the 1890s Łódź had over 300 000 inhabitants. It was a large industrial city, characterized by textile industry. Yet it lacked a good public transport system. Especially around Piotrkowska Street the situation was dire; one thousand cabs and carriages drove around the city centre. Both the city government and local industrialists wanted to relieve this situation, and therefore took up the construction of a tram past the city centre. The first attempt was to build a horse tram, which ended in a failure; large stables would be needed in the center of the city, and for hygienic reasons, horse trams were then abandoned. A project with electric trams was then started, which would carry passengers by day, and cargo by night. The Electric Railway Consortium Lodz (KEL) won a tender for construction the line. Julius Kunitzer signed the contract in St. Petersburg in front of Nicholas II on behalf of the KEL. He was backed by the German company AEG, which then started construction in the summer of 1897. The first trams started on Friday, 23 December 1898.