Problems with Turkish tram even before being put into operation – Bozankaya wider than it should be

One of the Belgrade-related news that marked the end of May was the delivery of the first Turkish Bozankaya tram, out of a total of 25 that are due to arrive in our capital. The authorities stated at the time that the first Turkish tram on Belgrade streets would be put into service after the necessary tests. And according to eKapija, the tests themselves indicate that there will be quite a few problems with the Bozankaya trams when they are officially put into service on Belgrade streets. As a source from GSP Beograd, who is familiar with the current tests of the first Byzantine-blue Bozankaya, told us unofficially, the trams ordered for Belgrade traffic are wider than others that run on city rails, and this will cause problems in everyday traffic.

– The width of these trams is such that when they approach from opposite directions in the future, they will not be able to pass at all intersections at the same time, but the tram from one direction will have to let the one from the other pass first, and then continue – our source indicates. As the source adds, this is an omission and oversight that should not have happened during the procurement process for the purchase of new trams for the needs of GSP Beograd.

In addition to all this, according to our findings, during the testing, the first Belgrade Bozankaya already suffered some damage, but not due to poor driving and maneuvering on the part of the driver of the largest city transport company, but rather due to the representative from Turkey who is involved in testing and training GSP employees. Specifically, last weekend, the turn signal and external camera on the new tram were damaged, our source specified.

In addition to all this, in the meantime, when it comes to the tram subsystem of public transport in the capital, it has been determined that during the latest reconstruction of the intersection in Nemanjina Street, on the corner with Resavska Street, the distance between the rails was narrowed, which means that in the upcoming period we will have wider-than-necessary Bozankayas and a narrower distance between the rails at the aforementioned intersection.

One of the first to publicly point out the problems related to the controversial procurement of 25 new trams, traffic engineer and president of the Centar GSP Beograd trade union Ivan Bankovic, tells eKapija that it was clear from the very beginning that the width of the new tram would be greater than all the rail vehicles that have been on Belgrade streets so far, which was required by the technical specifications in the tender.

– You are on the right track when it comes to information regarding the new tram. As you know, the first tram arrived at the GSP Sava depot in New Belgrade less than two weeks ago and the final preparations are underway for the start of test runs, which are expected very soon. For now, representatives of the Turkish manufacturer are training instructors and other GSP employees, and when that is completed, test drives will be a very important part of the process before the new tram is put into service, and this means that the GSP Beograd expert services team will intensively test the vehicle on the city’s tram network during the night hours in the coming period, so that we will then have the first realistic picture of potential obstacles and problems related to the existing infrastructure – says Bankovic.

D. A.

JKP GSP Beograd

Bozankaya

GSP Beograd

Ivan Banković

Centar GSP Beograd trade union

procurement of trams for GSP Beograd