The first batch of trams to be sent to Konotop was loaded in Warsaw on Wednesday, 22 February. In total, 23 Konstal 105Na tramcars, which are no longer in use in the Polish capital, will be sent to the Ukrainian city to prevent the Konotop tram network from shutting down.
The CFTS portal reported this, citing Warszawski Transport Publiczny (the Public transport authority in Warsaw).
The Konotop authorities recently appealed to the Warsaw tram authority to provide unneeded tramcars. The Warsaw tram authority selected 23 tramcars that are currently being withdrawn from service because of the delivery of new Hyundai tramcars.
Contrary to the initial plans, the tramcars will arrive in Konotop by road and not by rail.
Five wagons will be sent initially.
The Polish side initially doubted whether it was possible to adapt the wheels of the trams to a broad-gauge track (1520 mm), but the Ukrainian side found a way out. The tramcars’ bogies will be converted to operate on 1520-mm tracks in Konotop.
"We already know how to adapt these cars to our tracks. The first car will be ready in 2–3 weeks," Konotop Mayor Artem Semenikhin said. If the Konotop experiment is successful, other cities may apply for help.
"We need these trams to keep traffic going. Without them, we would have to shut it down for a while. We practically have no working cars left, and we cannot upgrade them," the mayor said.
The Konotop tram system has a unique history. It is one of the shortest tram systems in Ukraine (it is only 28 kilometers long and has three routes), and Konotop is the second smallest Ukrainian city with a tram system (after Druzhkivka). The launch of the Konotop tram system was initiated by the city’s residents, who built the tram system in 1949. No less than 3,000 citizens took part in the construction of the tram system, using the "people's construction method" without funding and approved design estimates. The city received the rails, sleepers, tramcars, and transformers for its tram system as gifts from the railway and several cities.
The Konotop tram system stopped operation in 2018 but later resumed operation. The city received nine used Tatra tramcars from Riga in 2019.
