First Turkish-built tram arrives in Beograd

 

 

On 29 May a Turkish low-loader truck pulled in to the main GSP depot in the Serbian capital Beograd (Belgrade). On board was the first of 25 five-section 80% low-floor 30.5m trams ordered from Bozankaya for EUR 73.5M and built in Turkey. It was less than a year after the contract was signed. The tram carries a new Byzantine Blue livery. 

 

The 10-line 43.5km metre-gauge tramway system in Beograd, which dates back to 1892, is in need of modernisation, with 100 high-floor Tatra KT4YU, mostly over 30 years old, and second-hand high-floor trams from the Swiss city of Basel that are even older. 30 five-section CAF Urbos low-floor trams dating from 2011-12 seem to be difficult for the GSP engineers to keep on the road. With EXPO 2027 looming, a tender was issued for a further 100 low-floor trams and it was announced that Astra Vagoane in Arad, Romania, was the preferred bidder. However in Serbia there is always the thought that impartial tendering is followed more in breach than the observance, and the Trades Union cried foul (after all Siemens has a tram factory in Serbia that is short of orders), and the exercise is due to be repeated. 

 

Beograd introduced free travel on public transport from 1 January 2025, but with overcrowding common a speedy resolution to the problem of capacity needs to be found. A two-line metro has just started construction using Chinese boring shields, but that is not going to be ready to carry passengers in 2027. One can imagine the thought of Astra offering speedy delivery of new trams outweighed other considerations. 

 

And just in case more controversy was needed, the city council announced in autumn 2024 that the city’s trolleybuses would be closed. In this case public protests prompted a change of heart, but the fleet of BKM (Belarus) vehicles dating from 2004-2011 needs to be replaced.