The City Hall of Katowice officially confirmed a final route of the new tramline, which will be built to connect southern districts of Katowice with the downtown. The route has been chosen from amongst five alternatives.
The decision about the tramline development was announced by the mayor Marcin Krupa in January this year. In spring, public consultations concerning the routes were conducted among inhabitants of the southern districts. Also, 650 citizens were surveyed to give theirs opinions about the investment. „79% of them were positive about the idea of the new tramline, only 17% were against the project. According to the inhabitants, the accepted time which can be spend to reach a tram stop is 5 minutes and the frequency of trams is 15 minutes” – said Mariusz Bryła from Collect Consulting.
Additionally, a pre-design study has been prepared on behalf of Tramwaje Śląskie (Silesia Trams) – the company will be responsible for the investment process. Traffic analysis, surveys findings, land ownership structure, cost of the investment and technical aspects of all the routes were taken into consideration in the pre-design study.
„The consultations did not give us a clear answer, which of the routes would be accepted by the majority of inhabitants. That is why we have decided to choose the final route basing on the pre-design study” – said Marcin Krupa, Katowice mayor.
The chosen route of the new tramline will run as follows (nine stops): Brynów Kolejowa, Ochojec Leśna, Ochojec Szenwalda, Ochojec Centrum Medyczne, Ochojec Kryniczna, Odrodzenia Łętowskiego, Odrodzenia Kościół, Kostuchna Bażantowo P+R, Armii Krajowej Pętla (terminus). The new route will be 5,2 km long. The travel from the terminus to the city center will take up to 30 minutes. The expected average speed of the tram will be 26 km per hour.
Construction works on the tram track will be started in 2018. The new infrastructure should be delivered in 2020. An estimated cost of the undertaking ranges between net PLN 95-110 million. Tramwaje Śląskie will apply for European Union funds to conduct the project.