LIEPAJA & DAUGAVPILS Trams

Besides the capital Riga, two rather small Latvian cities maintain modest tram systems, which I visited on my Baltic tour in July 2013 in preparation for my Tram Atlas Northern Europe, planned to be released in autumn 2013.

LIEPAJA

Liepaja is a coastal town in western Latvia, once an important Soviet military base, and now more of a seaside resort, home to some 87,000 people. The town's only line is just 7 km long, but as the urban area stretches mostly north-south, the tram can take the role of a primary axis through the town. It runs from the industrial area occupied by a metallurgical factory to the railway and bus station (there are only two passenger trains a week to Riga!), and then south towards the town centre located on the south bank of the so-called Trade Canal. The most central stop is called Kurzeme (Courland) after an adjacent shopping centre, although the square it is placed at is actually called Rožu laukums (Rose Square). It continues south and used to terminate at the central cementary until recently, when a new 1.6 km section was added at the end of May 2013 – this was in fact the first new tram line built in the Baltic States since 1984!

Liepaja's 1000-mm gauge tram line is in a relatively good shape. It is served by an almost homogenous fleet of Tatra KT4 vehicles, some original ones from Soviet times, and some second-hand trams purchased from East German cities such as Erfurt and Cottbus (inside they still display many German stickers like 'Notbremse' or 'Türöffner'). All trams are covered with full adverts, which gives each car a special identity, while it is not clear whether the tram company actually has a colour scheme in its cooperate identity. Some decorative elements at the new stops plus the website make me think that it could be green (there are also some green buses, while most other buses run in their original livery revealing they were purchased from some Swiss and other Western cities).

The new extension was, of course, a clear sign that the modest line will be maintained, and currently also upgrading of the old sections is in full swing (in summer 2013, the section between Kurzeme and Livas laukums is operated only on one track while the trackbed of the other track is completely renewed) but trams still keep running every 7-8 minutes, which I consider quite a good offer for such a small town. Most sections of the line are in fact on a dedicated sort of right-of-way, although this is not always clearly defined and cars may invade the reserved space, but generally the operation was fluid, albeit not too fast. The only sections with mixed traffic are the one across the bridge over the Trade Canal and along Ventas iela on the new section, where the roadway was raised at the Vainodes iela stop to slow down car traffic and allow better boarding. Most stops have (rather low) platforms, but at some boarding is required from street level. In any case, the platforms will still be too low for any kind of low-floor vehicles.

For a mere 1.50 LVL (approx. 2.13 EUR) one can use the tram and all buses during one day. A single ticket without transfer bought from the driver costs 0.50 LVL. Unlike other Baltic cities, which have invested a lot in the implementation of a smartcard system, Liepja maintains a German-style ticket system, i.e. you buy a book of single tickets or a day ticket at a kiosk and stamp it in the tram/bus. Tickets bought from the driver also need to be stamped!



 

 

DAUGAVPILS

Located in the far east of the country, Daugavpils is Latvia's second largest city, with some 100,000 inhabitants. The city is predominantly Russian-speaking (although Latvian remains the only official language), and its tram system is also typical Russian in many ways. I happened to be there on a Saturday, when the rolling stock in service was almost exclusively KTM 5 vehicles seen in many Russian cities as well. Although well-painted on the outside, they looked rather worn out and rusty inside, hoping to be replaced soon by new Belorusian trams ordered. So the future of the Daugavpils tram system seems to be secured, too. The tracks were in a rather bad state, but also here, track renewal work was going on between Ventspils iela and Saules veikals, with only one track available for operation. Line 1 was running pretty frequently for a Saturday afternoon, and even line 3 out to Stropi was quite busy with people going for a swim in the lake there. While line 1 runs every 7-8 minutes on weekdays, the other two lines have rather unusual headways, line 2 every 28! minutes and line 3 every 25 minutes, which results from the existing passing loops on the single-track sections, I suppose.

 

Only opened in 1946, the Daugavpils tram system features several single-track sections, notably the outer sections on lines 2 and 3. Interestingly, the stretch shared by all three lines is not in the city centre (which would be between Tirgus and Universitate), but on a section east of the bridge across the railway line. Most sections are separated from road traffic and features some kind of platform, which like in Liepaja, will not be high enough to allow proper level boarding once low-floor trams have been purchased.

While most passengers on St. Petersburg's trams, which I visited a month ago, now use a plastic smartcard to pay their fare, Daugavpils allowed me to experience a typical Russian tram conductoress selling single-trip paper tickets for 0.30 LVL (0.43 EUR).

 

 

LINKS

 

Liepaja Tram (Official Site)

 

Liepaja Tram at UrbanRail.Net (incl. map)

 

Daugavpils Tram (Official Site)

 

Daugavpils Tram at UrbanRail.Net (incl. map)