Still no trams over the Ada Bridge in 2015 – project design postponed to the end of June

(Photo: Aleksandar Parezanović)

The metro line over the Ada Bridge will have to wait for another day, not even trams will be using this road to cross the Sava any time soon. The deadline for completing the project for constructing a tram track has been postponed until the end of June, so it is fairly certain that tracks will not go over the Sava this year either, let alone trams.

The project designers are not to blame, rather city bureaucrats with inconsistent demands. The Secretariat for Transport is not asking for the tram tracks be compatible with the future light rail transport route, while the Department of Public Transport anticipates that existing lines will support the future introduction of the metro.

According to the contract, the bidder had 200 days to finish the work, so the first deadline was 28 November 2014. However, because of the difficulties with harmonising views on the project, the deadline was shifted to 20 June 2015.

The inconsistency between various plans was mentioned in the reasoning for amending the contract. The conditions for designing the tram track project require the track to be compatible with the future metro line, including the line to Rakovica. This means that the line Novi Beograd – Rakovica must be redesigned, which would require considerable rescheduling, higher coosts and additional design time.

Since creating the Rakovica line requires reconstructing the railway flyover and an additional EUR 4 million, the responsible commission thinks it necessary to additionally assess the need for these services, and to harmonise the opinions of the various participants.

Work to be done by local companies

The design of the Ada Bridge tram track project has been awarded to local experts, the companies Beograd Put, Enkod, ATM BG, Geonet Inženjering, Geo-Test and Mašinoprojekt-Kopring.

The value of the planned works is RSD 8,995,000, which is approximately EUR 750,000.

Metro line

The three-level Radnička interchange connects the Ada Bridge, the Hippodrome interchange, Radnička street from Belgrade Fair to Jugopetrol and the Belgrade metro line. The metro was planned at the third level. However, only the tram line will be built in the first instance, most probably for lines 11 (Block 45 – Belgrade Fair – Kalemegdan) and 13 (Block 45 – Banovo Brdo).

Translation provided by: www.halifax-translation.com