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Poznań plans purchase of Bonn’s R.1.1 Düwag low-floor trams

MPK Poznań is still operating three of the former Frankfurt/ Main GT8ZR Düwag which were built in 1969. After the departure of the ex-Düsseldorf “Helmuts” (as second-hand trams taken over from Germany are called in Poland) in November 2019 (we reported here), the now 54-year-old Frankfurt trams were the last remaining operating Düwags in Poznań. However, the end of the aging ex-Frankfurt GT8ZRs, known there as the O-type in Frankfurt, is expected to come to an end soon.

According to Polish media reports, MPK are planning to procure 10 new bi-directional low-floor vehicles and to buy 24 second-hand Düwag R.1.1 low-floor trams from Bonn, which will be replaced there when the new Skoda trams are delivered (we reported here). The aim is to increase the number of bi-directional vehicles in the MPK network and to replace the ex-Frankfurt vehicles.

Still in service in Poznań with 54 years of service – ex-Frankfurt GT8ZR/ Type O I © UTM

While the tender for the 10 new vehicles (plus 20 optional vehicles) with a length of 32.5 and a passenger capacity of 210 passengers has not yet been decided, intensive talks between MPK and Stadtwerke Bonn are ongoing. The procurement of the Duisburg N10C/NF, which only have a low-floor centre section, was also considered earlier.

MPK negotiates with SWB Bonn

According to an interview published in the Polish trade magazine transport-publiczny, the formal and legal issues between MPK and SWB have already been clarified and MPK hopes that the first R.1.1s from Bonn can be taken over this year.

Technically, the Bonn vehicles from 1994 are the Düwag/ Siemens-built NGT6D (standard-gauge low-floor articulated railcar with six axles and three-phase drive). The three-car vehicles have two powered bogies located under the end cars, which are mounted on the centre section. The centre section rests on two single-axle bogies (in contrast to most NGT/ MGT versions, which were equipped with single-wheel single bogies).

In 2018 – 2019, the MPK procured 20 Modertrans Moderus Gamma LF 03 AC BD bi-directional vehicles in addition to 30 Moderus Gamma LF02AC single-directional vehicles, pictured here – now 10 more vehicles have been re-tendered I © UTM

Similar vehicles were delivered in standard-gauge versions to Kassel, Düsseldorf (Rheinbahn), Leipzig (with small-wheel bogies instead of the EEF), Rostock and in metre-gauge versions to Bochum/ Gelsenkirchen (BoGeStra), Brandenburg an der Havel, Erfurt, Halle/ Saale, Heidelberg, Mülheim an der Ruhr (now Ruhrbahn) and Oberhausen.

Poznań is the second Polish city after Łódź to procure used low-floor trams from Germany. Between 2017 and 2020, Łódź purchased a total of 35 MGT6D trams from Bochum, where the vehicles are in operation to the satisfaction of transport operators and passengers. It will be exciting to see whether the low-floor vehicles from Bonn will also prove themselves in Poznań.

30.04.2023
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