Secretary for Transport Johannes Nitsch and Thuringen Economics & Infrastructure Minister Franz Schuster opened light rail routes serving the expanding suburb of Lobeda in Jena on December 16. A new line branches from north-south trunk route 1 into a housing area just north of Line 1’s Winzerla terminus and runs east to Burgau and then southeast; it splits into a 2 km branch to Lobeda Ost and a 1 km spur to Lobeda West.
When the direct route from Burgau, site of a new depot, to the city centre opens next year, Jena’s tram network will have almost doubled in two years. The new routes, which total 11·6 km with 20 stations and are costed at DM146m, will be operated by low-floor cars from Adtranz (RG 9.96 p 616), replacing some of Germany’s last two-axle trams. o
