Bratislava: Tram in Petrzalka Starts Running to End of City Borough (2)

Bratislava, 27 July (TASR) - A new tram line has been launched into operation in Bratislava's borough of Petrzalka on Sunday, with the tram now running all the way to the end of the borough. This happened after more than 3.5 years since the beginning of the construction of the tramway in the Jungmannova-Janikov dvor section and after nine years since the launch of the first stage of this chief transportation system. The new tram line in Petrzalka is the largest transportation project in Bratislava. "The launch of the new tram line in Petrzalka is a great thing for our city. After 50 years, Petrzalka has received its chief transportation system, which will radically change the life of the inhabitants of Bratislava's largest borough," said Bratislava mayor Matus Vallo at a press conference on Sunday. However, the launch of the tramline is not the end of the work. According to him, some parts of the construction should be completed in a few days, some within weeks and some will need months. Transport Minister Jozef Raz (a Smer-SD nominee) also speaks about good news. "Despite the fact that we found the tramway project in a very bad state and significantly delayed, we did our best to move forward with it," said Raz in a video on a social network, adding that after decades of planning and years of preparation and construction, it was possible to open the new tramway. A total of €8.6 million was paid from the state budget as co-financing, another €73 million from EU funds. During the weekday morning rush hour during the school year, tram No. 3 should run at 2.5-minute intervals, and during the afternoon rush hour it should run every four minutes. On weekends and holidays, its interval is expected to be every five minutes. A new segregated six-kilometre cycle path has also been created alongside the tram line. In addition, new sidewalks and new crossings were built, including modifications to the old ones. The project also includes four new bridges over the Croatian arm of the Danube River. The construction of the line in the Jungmannova-Janikov dvor section started at the end of November 2021. The project is financed from EU funds. The construction faced several problems from the beginning. The works were also temporarily significantly slowed down in the past. The expected completion date of the line has been postponed several times. Work on some of the structures will continue even after the tram has been launched. am