Stadler Tango on test in Sarajevo

The first Stadler NF3 Tango low-floor trams have been delivered to the Bosnian city of Sarajevo (population 640 000) and can now been seen out on test. 

 

The EUR 34.7M contract for 15 of the new trams was signed with the Swiss manufacturer on 1 September 2021. The 31m trams can carry 180 passengers, 79 seated. 

 

The lead car of the order was first seen at the TRAKO International exhibition in the Polish city of Gdansk in September 2023. In December 2023 the Transport Ministry of Sarajevo Canton agreed to purchase a further 19 trams from Stadler for EUR 29.7M. The purchase is financed through loans from the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (ERBD). The extra trams are needed as work has started on a 6.5km tramway extension from Ilidza to Hrasnica; this EUR 26M project is also underwritten by the ERBD. 

 

The first tram from the original order arrived in Sarajevo in February 2024 after first being tested at night on the Polish tramway system in Poznan and trial runs in Sarajevo started in March. 

 

The first batch of new trams are intended to replace Tatra K2YU articulated trams delivered in 1975-83, and will be the first new trams in the city since that time. After the damage caused by the civil war in the former Yugoslavia, the undertaking Gradski Saobracaj Sarajevo rebuilt its tram fleet with second-hand cars from cities such as Amsterdam, Wien (Vienna) and Köln (Cologne). 

 

The 11km standard-gauge tramway dates from 1960 (760mm gauge trams ran from 1885 until 1960), and is covered by six lines including a short branch to the railway station.