Funding from the EU is contributing to the comprehensive modernisation and extension of the tram network in Łódź, Poland’s third-largest city and capital of the Łódzkie region. The project should help to promote the use of low-emission public transport both in the city itself and in the wider metropolitan area.
- 18 September 2019
Several sections of tram line with an overall length of 12.88 km will be modernised or extended and 30 new trams will be bought by 2021. The trams will be put into service on the Wschód-Zachód, or W-Z, route, the main east-west transport artery in Łódź, as well as on other routes.
Further elements of the project include the modernising the Chocianowice tram depot. The road network is also being modified as necessary and essential technical infrastructure is being installed along the tram lines included in the work.
Smooth traffic flows and environmental benefits
The main objective of this investment is to make traffic flow more smoothly, raise levels of safety and mitigate the negative impacts of transport on the natural environment in Łódź – which has 700 000 inhabitants – and the surrounding area. Moreover, the upgrades are being carried out in a way that ensures the tram network is easily accessible for people with reduced mobility.
As a result, public transport in Łódź will become more reliable and comfortable, and both the risk of accidents and levels of atmospheric pollution will be reduced. This will have a positive impact on the quality of life of local residents, as well as helping to attract visitors and inward investment to the city.
Moves towards low-emission public transport
This work is complementary to that carried out under a previous EU-funded action, implemented during the 2007-2013 programming period and aimed at developing and modernising the Łódź tramways on the W-Z route. Extensively upgraded during the late 1970s, the route comprises two roads in addition to the tram line and connects the districts of Widzew Wschód in the east and Retkinia in the west.
More than EUR 151 million is being spent on this project, of which about EUR 94 million comes from the EU’s Cohesion Fund through the Infrastructure and Environment Operational Programme for the 2014-2020 programming period. The Programme has a global budget of more than EUR 32 billion and of this, around EUR 27 billion comes from the Cohesion and European Regional Development Funds.
One of the Programme’s principal priorities is developing low-emission public transport in Poland’s cities as part of efforts to support the shift towards a low-carbon economy in all sectors. In this respect, it is providing funding for building of or improvements to metro and tram lines totalling 86 km.
Total investment and EU funding
Total investment for the project “Comprehensive integration programme for the low-emission public transport system in Łódź Metropolitan Area, including the purchase of means of transport for service on the W-Z (East-West) and other communications routes, as well as the modernisation of tram depots in Łódź” is EUR 151 759 547, with the EU’s Cohesion Fund contributing EUR 94 424 151 through the “Infrastructure and Environment” Operational Programme for the 2014-2020 programming period.