Daugavpils Satiksme

Daugavpils Satiksme
Company type	city municipality owned corporation
Industry	Public transportation
Founded	2014
Headquarters	Daugavpils, Latvia
Area served	Daugavpils
Parent	N/A
Website	www.satiksme.daugavpils.lv

Daugavpils Satiksme (English: Daugavpils Transport) is the public transport corporation which operates tram and bus systems in the eastern Latvian town of Daugavpils.

History

The municipal public transport company was known as a/s "Tramvaju uzņēmums" (Tramway Enterprise JSC) before 1 January 2014 when it took over the city's bus services from SIA "Daugavpils autobusu parks".

Buses

The autobus network currently comprises 29 routes. DS owns a fleet of 47 buses, including 26 Solaris and 11 Volvo vehicles.

Trams

The tram network was opened on 5 November 1946 with a Russian broad-gauge trackage of 1,524 mm (5 ft), along with the tram system of Riga these are the only two systems utilizing such a gauge inside the European Union. An uncommon characteristic is the use of trolley poles for current collection. Grassed track is common throughout the network.

A second line through the town was opened in 1950, and was extended in 1951 and 1958. Further extensions followed in 1965, 1990 and 2020. The system comprises approximately 25 kilometers of track and three lines.

The rolling stock comprises:

UKVZ KTM-5 (ru) and KTM-8 built in Ust-Katav, Russia.
Czech-made ČKD Tatra T3D vehicles purchased secondhand from the tram system in Schwerin, Germany in 2002.
UKVZ partially low-floor KTM-23 (ru) and low floor KTM-31 (ru).^[1]
Transmashholding TVZ 71-911 'City Star' trams supplied by 'Railvec' of Lithuania. Introduced in February 2020.

RVR-6 vehicles (ru) built in Riga have been retired from active service and are used as heritage vehicles.

In 2013 a contract was signed to purchase 12 new Belarusian Belkommunmash trams as part of an infrastructure renovation project.^[2] The new trams were expected to arrive in Daugavpils in August and to start running not earlier than October.^[3] However the contract was cancelled.^[4]

Another tender process for new trams was open until May 2016. PESA, SIA 'Elektrotransports', SIA TMHB Lithuania, SIA Virtus SV and DLRR submitted bids. The contract was for 12 trams.^[5]

Virtus ultimately won the contract to supply trams from belkommunmash. The contract was cancelled and another tender organized in September 2017 when it was realised it did not comply with national procurement rules.

2020 expansion

In February 2016 the Ministry of Transport announced plans for the construction of a realignment servicing the Daugavpils Regional Hospital.^[6] The new line, part of the Forštadte–Station route will bring up the number of tram passengers to around 500 000 per year.^[7] The project also saw the introduction of the first pantograph equipped cars.^[8]