Many passengers and tram supporters of Poland’s fourth-largest city with 670,000 inhabitants have been waiting a long time for this moment: On 1 July, the scheduled operation of the tram line between Łódź and the suburb of Konstantynów, which was shut down in 2019, was resumed. The modernisation of the line was made possible thanks to EU support from the local government of the Łódź voivodeship. The costs amount to around PLN 81 million (approx. EUR 18.84 million), with the Łódź section costing around PLN 56.5 million and the Konstantynów section around PLN 24.4 million. The costs per kilometre amount to around EUR 2.7 million.
On 26 June, a tram made its first test run on the completely rebuilt line. The now reopened section of line 43 runs from the intersection of Ulica Legionów and Włókniarzy Avenue on the western edge of the city in Łódź to Wolności Square in Konstantynów. The trams turn here on the triangular track, which has also been modernised. The journey time for the entire route is roundabout 27 minutes. The basic frequency is 20 minutes and is shortened to 15 minutes in the morning and evening rush hours. Due to a missing direct track connection, it is not yet possible to connect line 43 to the city centre of Łódź. This will remain the case until the track in Ulica Legionów is fully modernised. For this reason, bidirectional vehicles from Bielefeld (M8CN) and Jena (GT6M-ZR) are currently being used. This is the first time that low-floor vehicles are running on line 43.
Tram line 43 between Łódź and Konstantynów Łódzki was one of the oldest in the country and one of the last remaining interurban lines of the once very extensive interurban tram network in Łódź. It was opened in 1910 and closed in March 2019 as the technical condition of the track bed no longer permitted safe operation. The modernisation of the line began in 2022, with the reconstruction being divided into two parts. The authorities of Łódź were responsible for the renewal of the section within the city of Łódź. The local government of Konstantynów was responsible for the track modernisation on the overland section. For both cities, the investment is an important project for improving public transport connections. Whether the remaining 8 km of Line 43 to the village of Lutomiersk further west will ever be revitalised is questionable, however, as the municipalities of Konstantynów and Lutomiersk were unable to agree on funding.
The route has a total length of 7 km. Tracks and substations were completely rebuilt along Konstantynowska Street in Łódź to Wolności Square in Konstantynów Łódzki. Most of the line is single-track and runs laterally on its own railway track. In the centre of Konstantynów, the line runs in the street space. In addition to the renewal of the tracks and stops, several new bridges were also built and the traffic management system modernised.
Also the two suburban tram lines from Łódź to Zgierz (line 44) and from Łódź to Pabianice (line 41) had previously been restored with the support of the voivodeship. Extensive reconstruction of the tracks was also necessary here. The trams returned to the first line in December 2021, with the tram from Łódź to Pabianice already running again in July last year.
We reported on the discontinuation of route 43 in 2019 here:
