In the 19th century, the city of Chisinau developed rapidly, transforming from a rather rural locality into a real city. New streets appeared new buildings were built, and the city's population grew. Under these conditions, the city needed to have a modern public transport network, which was already indispensable for a European city the size of Chisinau at that time. From the end of the 19th century until the middle of the 20th century, public transport in Chisinau was represented by a tram network.
The history of the Chisinau tram begins in April 1888, when the city duma decided to build a horse-drawn tram line. The agreement for the construction and maintenance of the tram line was concluded with the businessmen Rogazinski, Romanovici and Switalski. The construction works were slow because the city administration did not carry out the paving works of the city streets in time, and the quality of these works left much to be desired. The financial losses incurred caused Rogazinski, Romanovici and Switalski to sell the tram line to the merchant Bacalu and the engineers Lozinski and Sîrbu. To develop the tram lines, the new owners decided to set up the „Joint Stock Company of the horse-drawn tram line in Chisinau”. At the same time, in Belgium, the „Joint-stock company of horse-drawn tram lines in Chisinau” was established. For some unknown reason, the Tsarist Ministry of Finance decided to support the Belgian organization. Thus, the merchant Bacalu and the engineers Lozinski and Sîrbu only had to sell the tram line to the joint-stock company from Belgium.
The construction and development of the tram lines were accompanied by many conflicts between the city administration and the „Joint Stock Company of horse-drawn tram lines in Chisinau”. However, by 1910 the length of the tram line was 12.5 km.
In 1911, a new 40-year concession agreement was concluded between the local administration and the „Horse-drawn Tramway Company of Chisinau”. The agreement provided for the following:
- Chisinau will switch to the electric tram in 18 months;
- The rolling stock had to be filled with 30 new wagons, and another 20 had to be re-equipped;
- The costs for the electricity used by the tram had to be paid by the „Horse-drawn tram company of Chisinau”;
- The „Horse-drawn tram company” from Chisinau was responsible for the incidents that occurred on the tram lines.
The electric traction tram started operating in 1913. There were four tram lines in the city, with a total length of 14 kilometres. About 30 wagons came out on the lines at the same time.
During the interwar period, the tram lines remained the property of the „Horse-drawn tram company of Chisinau”. But after the annexation of Bessarabia in 1940, the tram became the property of the Soviet state.
It is worth mentioning that in the interwar period the tram lines developed very slowly. For example, between 1913 and 1939, the city's tram park was expanded by only five motor wagons and 15 towed wagons.
During the military actions of the Second World War, the tram lines, wagons and the tram depot in Chisinau were severely damaged. After the completion of the fighting actions in Bessarabia, the works for the restoration of the tram infrastructure started. At that time, the Soviet industry did not produce narrow-gauge trams. Therefore, the restoration of the tram infrastructure was very slow. However, with the strength of the tram depot staff, it was possible to restore several wagons and tram lines. However, the tram in Chisinau could not be fully restored after the war. By 1952, there were only 17 wagons in Chisinau, as well as a hangar and rolling stock repair shops. Due to the insufficiency of the wagons, the people of Chisinau had to endure more inconveniences. In 1956 the city's tram „park” was completed with 14 wagons (both motorized and towed) brought to Chisinau from Germany.
Regular tram traffic was resumed in 1946. The total length of the tramlines at that time was approx. 17 kilometres. The number of passengers transported annually reached 9 million people. With the appearance of trolleybuses on the streets of Chisinau, the gradual decommissioning of the tram infrastructure began. In May 1961, the last tram passed through the streets of Chisinau.
Did you know that:
- In tsarist times the prices for a tram trip were as follows: student - three kopecks, directly - 5 kopecks, if you changed two transport units you paid 6 kopecks, and students who changed two transport units paid 4 kopecks. During 24 hours he managed to collect about 12-18 thousand rubles. To understand better, 16 kg of flour at that time cost one ruble and 45 kopecks.
- The staff of the tram line worked in fairly poor conditions. The press of that time writes that the salaries of the workers of the tram line were very low, and the system of fines applied in this organization, even more, affected the material condition of the staff. Studying the press in Chisinau at that time, we can see that the dissatisfaction of the tram line workers manifested itself in a strike in 1917, which was perfectly in the atmosphere of Chisinau at the time, full of strikes and revolutionary rallies.
- The tram depot was designed in 1912 in St. Petersburg. In 1913, the depot was built on the outskirts of the then city, near the end of the tram line. The depot complex consisted of seven buildings, which housed both spaces for repairing rolling stock and workshops, a canteen for depot workers, warehouses, a stable and an administration. The buildings were built of red brick, and the elements of the decor were painted white. Currently, the warehouse building has been preserved, it is an officially recognized architectural monument of Chisinau.
- At the end of the '80s, it was planned to restore the tram line in Chisinau by building a light metro with a depot at Ciocana. Discussions about the construction of a light rail in Chisinau were resumed in 2011, but to date, no steps have been taken to achieve these ideas.
- The tram in Chisinau is the subject of the short story „The Last Wagon” by the writer George Meniuc. This literary work describes the passage of the last tram car on the streets of Chisinau and the feelings of the people of Chisinau in connection with the history of the tram.
Niciun comentariu:
Trimiteți un comentariu