The Swiss Secretariat for Economic Affairs (SECO), within its economic cooperation with Ser-bia, has organized the transport of second-hand trams, trailers and spare parts to the Public transportation Company GSP Belgrade, Serbia. In total 115 vehicles (65 tramcars and 48 trams), have been donated by the two Basel transportation companies Basler Verkehrs-Betriebe (BVB) and Baselland Transport (BLT) and have been transported with the financial assistance of SECO.

This project successfully lasted since 2001 and was officially completed in December 2016. On May 4th, 2017 a formal closing ceremony will be organized in the City Hall of Belgrade as an expression of gratitude of GSP, the City of Belgrade and its citizens. This closing ceremony will be attended by the Major of Belgrade, Sinisa Mali, the General Manager of GSP, Zeljko Milkovic, the Swiss Ambassador, Philippe Guex, the Secretary of the Canton of Basel, Babara Schüpbach-Guggenbühl as well as representatives of BVB, BLT, SECO as well as the Swiss Cooperation Office in Belgrade.

The donated rolling stock is highly appreciated by Belgrade’s Public Transportation Company GSP and allowed them to improve the public transportation system of the Serbian capital. The donation contributed to better frequency and enhanced quality of the City’s transport.

As stated by the General Manager of GSP, Mr. Milkovic the “value of trams, trailers and spare parts surpasses financial value of the donation, since at one time these popular trams called ‘The Swiss’ were the backbone and master link of tram traffic in Belgrade and today are an essential part of tram transport, as well as the most popular type of trams on the streets of Belgrade with our fellow citizens.”

As a result of this 16-year old project, tramway passenger capacity increased by 30%, with 60% increase in traffic measured in km/tramway, which doubled the tramway transportation capacity. According to GSP, Swiss trams make an average of 916’000km/year, transporting more than seven million citizens/year.

The Tram project was funded by SECO with the amount of CHF 4’437’000, while the total value of the project was CHF 4’589’000. Besides the donation of trams, trailers and spare parts, the project included the rehabilitation of trams and trailers, their transportation and a range of measures and activities aiming at the improvement of Belgrade City’s public transportation system.

16 years of tram project to be crowned in Belgrade