The Sarajevo tram network is one of Europe's oldest, having originally served as the test line for Vienna's trams. As of 2010, the Sarajevo tram system consists of seven lines, primarily running along a single track route. The system is long; this includes a -long branch to the city's main railway station . It primarily serves as an east-west link from the city centre to the western suburb of Ilidža. The system is run by KJKP GRAS Sarajevo, who also operate trolleybus and bus routes in the city.
History
Opened on New Year's Day in 1885, the Sarajevo tramway was the testing line for the tram in Vienna and the Austro-Hungarian Empire, and operated by horses. Originally built to, the present system was upgraded to in 1960. The trams played a pivotal role in the growth of the city in the 20th century. During the Siege of Sarajevo in the mid 1990s, trackwork and numerous vehicles were badly damaged. The tram operation has stopped on April 15 1992, 9 days after the siege started and has been resumed despite of dangers still during the siege on April 15, 1994. The vehicles are once again operational though marks remain on some vehicles.
System
The route lies on the main boulevard of Sarajevo, which is named first Bulevar Meše Selimovića, from Vila Čengić then Zmaj od Bosne. From the district Marijin Dvor it runs a loop in a counter-clockwise direction along the Miljacka river on the street called Obala Kulina bana. It proceeds to the terminus Baščaršija. The route then turns back towards Marijin Dvor on the northern parallel road Maršala Tita. Six routes are presently in operation on the system, often only a specific section of the track. Only route 3 operates the entire length.
In the early 1990s, construction work started to expand the tram network from Nedžarići to Dobrinja, which was at the time served by a trolleybus system. Work stopped in 1992 when the siege started, which was also when most of the vehicles and infrastructure was damaged. At Nedžarići, it is possible to see tracks leading towards a planned, but never finished boulevard that would link towards Dobrinja. No work has been done in the said neighborhood to prepare access of trams there due to the start of the war, so these are the only traces of the planned extension.
Rolling stock
In 1958, Sarajevo bought 50 relatively modernPCC-cars from Washington, renumbered in the 1-50 series. 21 more PCC-cars from Washington followed in 1962, numbered 51-71. These 71 PCC-cars were built between 1941 and 1944 by the St. Louis Car Company. Between 1967 and 1969, 20 of these streetcars were transformed into 10 articulated cars series 100-109. The fleet in use on the network are Tatra K2 articulated trams from the Czech Republic, delivered in the 1970s and early 1980s. Later these trams have been joined by more modern vehicles in recent times. In 2008, Amsterdam donated 16 old trams to Sarajevo.
