In the early hours of Tuesday 29 October, the first tram carrying passengers arrived at the new terminus in Miasteczko Wilanów in the south of Warsaw. This is the longest new section of the Warsaw tram network since the 1950s. The line, which connects Wilanów in south-east Warsaw with the city centre, Żoliborz, Bielany and Ochota, was built with the help of funding from the European Union.
The newly opened section, which runs for 6.5 km along Ulica Belwederska, Sobieski and Aleja Rzeczypospolitej, from the junction with Ulica Spacerowa to Miasteczko Wilanów, is double-tracked throughout and has its own railway track. 12 new stops have been installed. The journey time between Wilanów and the city centre has been halved compared to the bus. Tramwaje Warszawskie (TW) announced that the target journey times on the new line cannot yet be achieved, as not all traffic lights are yet equipped with the planned priority switching for the trams.
First long new tram line since the 1950s
The focus of public transport expansion over the past 10 – 15 years has been on extending the metro. The M1 metro line, which opened in 1995, has been extended several times and is now 22.6 kilometres long. The M2 metro line was opened in 2015 and has since been extended four times.
In the last 10 years, there have only been five smaller tramway extensions, each 1 to 2 kilometres long, making the new line the longest new line in several decades. And more lines are to follow in the coming years (see below).
The new line was opened in several stages: The first 2.1 km section from Goworka to the branch to Sielce, which is served by line 11, went into operation on 14 May 2024.
The 6.5 km long main line from Spacerowa to Miasteczko Wilanów, which is served by lines 14 and 16, followed on 29 October. On the same day, the R-5 Annopol depot was also put into operation. This is the fifth depot in the Warsaw tram network.
A branch to Stegny will be opened in the middle of next year (see map).
To mark the inauguration, there was a small opening ceremony with representatives from politics and the transport operator TW. Mayor Rafał Trzaskowski thanked everyone who had contributed to the construction of the line. He also mentioned the financial support from the European Union budget.
The total cost of the route amounts to 1.201 billion złoty (around 280 million euros) including vehicles. The EU is contributing 554.6 million złoty (around 128.41 million euros).
Operation and vehicles
Wilanów is now served by two tram lines: Line 14, which runs to the Polytechnic and Ochota, and Line 16, which takes passengers to Marszałkowska and on to the Radosław roundabout and Piaski Loop (half of the services only run as far as Muranowska). During rush hour, trams on line 14 run every 8 minutes and those on line 16 every 4 minutes. This means that there are 22-23 departures per hour.
As both the terminus in Sielce and in Wilanów are designed as stub terminuses, only Hyundai Rotem Warsolino low-floor trams of type 140N are used on the new line, of which the TW (Tramwaje Warszawskie) have 85.
Currently (as of the end of 2023), the TW has a total of 772 trams, of which almost 56% are low-floor or at least partially low-floor. With the commissioning of the new line, up to 465 trams will be in operation on weekdays. The difference to the total number of 772 results from the fact that there are still 342 105N high-floor railcars and corresponding replicas from the 1990s in service, each of which is used as double traction.
What comes next?
And the story will go on. The new tram line along Ulica Kasprzaka on the section between Ulica Skierniewicka and Wolska was put into operation on 5 March 2024.
This line serves as an access route for the connection to the completely rebuilt Western Railway Station (Dworzec Zachodnie). For this purpose, two lines are being built as a spur, with the western railway station being tunnelled underneath.
Together with the line to Wilanów, the tram network in Warsaw has grown by 10 kilometres this year. In total, the tram network in the Polish capital now has a length of 133 kilometres.
A historical review
50 years ago, trams and a light railway already ran to Wilanów. The ‘Kolej Wilanowska’ was in operation from 1891 to 1971 and initially had a track gauge of 800 mm and was converted to 1000 mm in 1935 – 36. It connected the south-western part of Warsaw and ended in Piaseczno. At the time of its greatest expansion, the line network had a length of 24 kilometres. One line also ran to Wilanów.
A tram line also ran parallel to the small railway to Wilanów from 1921 and was extended several times. After the war damage, the line was initially not rebuilt after 1945. It was not until 1957 that it was completely rebuilt. The new line was discontinued in 1973 after just 16 years as part of the worldwide ‘discontinuation fervour’ of tram lines, which did not even stop in Poland.
07.11.2024
