Think Railways

On Monday, April 13^th the first two Solaris Tramino started to run in a regular passenger service in Braunschweig. The city operator, Braunschweiger Verkehrs-GmbH, has ordered eighteen modern trams from the Polish manufacturer. Over the next months, Solaris rail vehicles will successively renew the city’s fleet.

The official departure on a regular route of the first two of eighteen Solaris trams sets a milestone in the major investment that has been undertaken by Braunschweiger Verkehrs-GmbH. The operator thereby enters a new phase of its development aimed at offering almost completely accessible public transport for the citizens. 

Ulrich Markurth, the Mayor of Braunschweig and Jörg Reincke, the CEO of Braunschweiger Verkehrs-GmbH were present when the Solaris trams were officially handed over. At the ceremony, tram drivers along with passengers travelling on lines M3 and M5 changed from old and long serving vehicles built in 1977 to two modern and completely low-floor Tramino. This opened a new chapter in Braunschweig’s public transport history. 

The Solaris Tramino for Braunschweiger Verkehrs-GmbH are uni-directional low-floor vehicles, consisting of four body sections at an overall length of 35.7 metres. They are 2.3 metres wide. Each vehicle section has its own bogie for Braunschweig’s track gauge of 1,100 mm. They are the second batch of trams from Solaris’s GTx family. 

Each air-conditioned tram for Braunschweig has a capacity of 211 passengers, including 87 seated. There are six sets of double doors, each 1,300 mm wide. One of them is located right behind the driver’s cab, where there is also the wheelchair space. The space for prams is located by the fourth and sixth doors.  Every section rests on one centrally-mounted bogie. Consequently, the weight of the tram is evenly distributed. The vehicle is more stable and the forces transmitted through the articulations are much smaller.