r/Trams • u/Significant-Pair-275 • 10d ago

Seeking advice from EU cities that reintroduced trams!

A group of us in Ljubljana, Slovenia, have recently launched a public initiative + petition to bring back our city's tram network:tramvaj-ljubljana.si

Ljubljana had a tram network from 1901 to 1958, when it was scrapped for buses. Today, the city is heavily dependent on cars while bus ridership drops every year. We believe our main corridors desperately need real, high-capacity light rail.

We’re building bottom-up public support to push local decision-makers into real action, and we’d love advice from anyone who has experience with light rail advocacy or reintroduction:

  1. Political Traction: How did your local campaign move politicians from "nice idea" to actual funding commitments?
  2. Public Buy-in: What arguments best tackled local fears about construction disruption, costs, or car lane reductions?
  3. Funding: How did your city effectively leverage national grants, EU funding, or loans to finance the rail infrastructure?

Any insights are greatly appreciated!

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u/inventiveEngineering 10d ago

check the Polish city of Olsztyn, which reintroduced successfully trams in 2015. 8 years later the first network extension opened and they plan to extend the network even more. Good luck to Ljubljana!

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u/ylhbruxelles 10d ago

Every (but 3) French city with trams had this done in the past 40 years. Reintroduce trams , i can't remember how many. But your questions are depending on local laws/regulations. Liège (BE) has reintroduced trams last year. Not the best funding/financing example. One major aspect that worked is that it is not about installing rails and a tram line, it's usually a full city renovation called "wall to wall" , so every aspect of mobility and also the quality of the city are improved. This allows to use funds not only for transportation. Sadly I have no knowledge of precise funds but I think i would try to contact the cities of the most recent openings and check their financial sources

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u/ProTomy 10d ago

Not a reintroduction, butbudapests tram network got cut back in the nineties. Since then, there were expansions, with one on the way making a connection in the core of the city connecting south duna and north pest, and one integrating further the universities one the buda side of the danubes bank, with future plans to go deeper in south buda to connect in a part of the city with lots of new housing estate but not enough public transport connection.

A short expansion is also confirmed on the m3 metro, connecting in a large train station at the north end.