How did the interurban survive in Katowice? | Navigating Urban Transit with George Liu

Why do cities need multimodal transport systems?👀 Find out why in the *free online course:* "Multimodal transport: why a diversity of modes for healthy cities?"
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Interurban networks are rapidly disappearing across Europe, but Katowice, Poland, is holding on to one of *the largest tram systems in the country!* 😮 Unlike most cities, where such networks are being phased out in favour of buses or other modes of transport, Katowice's trams continue to connect the city with the surrounding areas and rural regions. But why? What's the story behind this seemingly outdated but still functioning transport network?🤔🚉

▶️ In this video, you will discover the history and current state of *Katowice's interurban tram system and explore why it has survived.* We'll take a closer look at the development of the system, the role it plays in the city and surrounding areas, and why it remains a vital part of local transport.

But we also want to hear from you! *What do you think keeps the interurban network in Katowice alive?* Is there a hidden benefit we haven't thought of? Or is there something about the city's culture, geography or infrastructure that keeps the trams running?👀

We’d love to hear your guesses and ideas below!💡👇

#UMX #Katowice #InterurbanTrams
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*BEHIND THE VIDEO*
👏 Many thanks to George Liu, Angelina Atanova, JR Urbane Network, City UX, Urban Cycling Institute and Technical University of Munich for kindly participating in this video.
*Director:* Jedwin Mok
*Writing:* Jedwin Mok, August Pantitlan and Fern K Hahn
*Editing:* Jedwin Mok
*Production:* Malaurie Chokoualé, Jana Cotillas, Andrea Santín and Jedwin Mok
*Executive Production:* Martin Vendel and Gautam Rao
*Graphic and thumbnail design:* FAVO Studio
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[musicbyimpulse]

So, I live near Katowice. There are some mistakes in the video. The system is still in an awful condition. The majority of the network hasn't had any refurbishments since the fall of communism, this was due to the state-run transportation company which ran the trams being liquidated, every city had to pay to run the trams themselves and the entire system almost went bankrupt due to this. This was only alleviated when all the cities around Katowice formed a metropolis, which led to a single transportation body. However, this didn't result in any new work being done, which meant that large amounts of the network being decommissioned due to the high price of refurbishing the track. The most notable being the city of Gliwice, which abandoned all the tram infrastructure in the city due to it being unprofitable. While the EU funds did help slightly with renovating track. There is still large parts that are in terrible condition. In addition to this, the area around Katowice isn't growing. Even if there has been large amounts of development, the population of the region has been steadily decreasing since the 1980's. This rate of decrease has only become more severe as time goes on. The area is also investing more in bus infrastructure than tram infrastructure. In the past few years, the region has been creating a network of express bus routes that do the same job as the interurbans. These are wildly popular. The trams are too slow due to the bad infrastructure and winding routes. People now just use the trains or buses to travel. In addition to this, the last point, which said that the trams will become a more local form of transport will not work for most places due to the trams running along stroads. Also, you need to work on your pronunciations of the polish cites, and the area is called the Upper Silesian metropolitan area, not Katowice.

[mikiuwu]

Please please please know that Katowice is an agglomeration of many cities, called the Upper Silesian Agglomeration and that the tram network has many central points and doesn’t converge on Katowice (in fact there’s more tram lines in other cities like Sosnowiec). The whole region is still falling apart and the network is in a catastrophic state in many places to this day (tho it’s slowly getting better)

[ЕвгенийБагрянов-нэ]

Do you realize how Americanized a version of history you're telling us is? In 1938, Poland had only 34, 000 motor vehicles and was almost in last place behind all other countries in this respect. And there was no interstate highway system either. And there were no states either. lol

[Brynica]

3:20 How To Pronounce
Katowice and other cities for forgeins:
- Cat-oh-vee-tse
- Ho-Sh-oof
- Sos-no-vye-ts
- B(without "ee")-thom

Also there's more cities where Silesian Trams are operating:
- Będzin (B-eu-tch-yn. The have 1 out of 4 depots)
- Czeladź (Tche-LA-chee)
- Dąbrowa Górnicza (D-ohm-bro-va Goo-r-ni-tcha)
- Gliwice (Gh-lee-vee-tse. Only to Border with Zabrze "Za-Psh-eh". They have 2 out of 4 Tram Depots)
And many more other cities.

[piotrpander]

I love Katowice's trams or trams in general. They're reliable, unlike buses. Warsaw trams are top notch too ☺️

[A_Canadian_In_Poland]

Frequency/Headways are a weakness of the entire GZM public transport system, not just the trams. There are many bus routes less than hourly frequencies, with headways of 75 and 90 minutes quite common, although most areas are served by several different low-frequency services such that there are 3-4 different combinations of bus/tram routes from point A to point B.

[Ocato]

3:20 This 5 seconds are enough of an explanation.
It's not really an interurban, when it serves one continuous urban area. "Cities" within this conurbation are basically glorified districts with no separation between them.

[trwired]

How do you make a documentary about a city without bothering to check how to pronounce its name? Just... How?

[ramzanninety-five]

Honestly, the analysis in the video is broad yet superficial and more applicable to North American urban issues. System in Katowice is a product of optimistic German industrialization (not a word on who built the network in then-German Kattowitz) and ineffective Soviet planning. The video also shows good interurbans being reborn in Germany and Japan, yet omits says that the idea itself is inherently flawed while not mentioning the consistently pro-car and pro-sprawl policies of the post-1989 Polish governments.

[mikadeksjur]

uwielbiam śląskie tramwaje i wszyscy których znam też je uwielbiają. Nikt o zdrowych zmysłach nie przemieszcza się na co dzień samochodem kiedy ma do dyspozycji tak dobrze rozbudowaną sieć, prawdziwy skarb regionalny.
I love silesian trams and everyone i know loves them too. everyone on the right mind isnt commuting in everyday trips by car bcs of the fact how extended this network is, its our regional treasure.

[szymonpifczyk]

Interesting video but I don't think I agree with the premise that the Silesian tram system is an interurban. It does connect multiple cities indeed but it is not really centered on Katowice, the way a classical interurban system would.

Instead (and this is the reason why it's losing ridership) these tram lines were build to shuttle workers from working-class housing estates to large workplaces like steelworks, coal mines and factories. Eventually they got connected between cities, too, but that was a secondary goal. As these workplaces disappeared after 1990, the system today finds itself in a precarious position where the network is connecting places that no longer need to be connected while not connecting housing estates to modern workplaces. It's best visible in Ruda Śląska and Zabrze, which used to have coal mines and steelworks but no longer do. These cities turned into bedroom communities to Katowice and Gliwice, respectively, yet the tram network in them is not oriented towards these two business districts but rather connects neighborhoods within the city.

[ianweniger]

The BC Hydro interurban in Greater Vancouver covered the largest area in North America. It was a victim of Big Auto in 1958. Twenty years later, the main interurban right-of-way became the start of a new S-bahn system called SkyTrain. Katowice's trams were lucky to survive the post-Stalinist shock treatment.

[michdem]

Hi, I'm from this city and I have some things to say, that need clarifying.

First of all, we don't really know what's happening with the passenger numbers since 2010. We have statistics up until then, but not past 2010 and major renovations started in 2010. It might as well be on the rise or remaining still. Hard to tell, what can be told though is that the Silesian Railways are breaking record after record in the number of passengers since their creation in 2011.

Secondly, as you said many cities merged into each other, but still remain separate cities. So if you took an existing tram network in, say Vienna, split the city in half, would it be an interurban? Not really. But are Silesian Trams and interurban? Maybe - they do travel in some not-so-city-center places.

Thirdly, the shown new investment is a very short bypass on the Grundmann street. It's I think 700 meters long. There is a slow going plan for a new line to connect to the southern districts of the city and there is an idea floating around about building a new fast line between Katowice and Sosnowiec, which will have similar speeds to a car (due to, you know - traffic). Both lines are planned as a fast tram, with dedicated right of way. And that's not taking into account what is being build in other cities.

Fourthly - as mentioned in the video the system is massive. Not long ago they made a bid to buy 75 new trams. Network in Częstochowa has 34 total, we're buying over twice as many (probably because we already have about 300 trams). All run not by a single entity, but until recently about a dozen cities.

[michael.shishov]

Pronouncing every Polish city in the video in the wrong way is a talent. How could you prepare the whole video but not google it?

[olver]

You didn't mention that at various times the area has been German, split between Poland and Germany, German again under Hitler and only all Polish since 1945. No wonder it's a mish-mash. I found tram systems to be better in Warsaw, Krakow and Wroclaw.

[mtrmotrio]

trying to apply US transport history to poland doesnt work, bad video

[mateuszgrzybek]

Many people have already written a lot of issues with the video, so I won't repeat them, but still there are a fiew that I want to mention.
Firstly, before 1918 Russio-Prussian border was on the rivers Brynica and Czarna Przemsza. Everything east of them (Sosnowiec, Będzin etc.) was in Russia, and east of them (Katowice, Bytom, Gliwice etc.) was in Germany. Secondly, the most important city in the German part was Bytom, the shift to Katowice is a result of dividing the area between Poland and Germany after WW I. The first tramline in Upper Silesia didn't even go trhough Katowice ( Śl.). Russian part of the region didn't have any proper tramlines until the 1920's iirc

[CZpersi]

If you want to see one of the smallest interurban tram systems in Central Europe, then I recommend the 18 km long Most-Litvínov tramway in North Bohemia, which connects two towns (50 thousand and 25 thousand residents) with a Chemical refinery, which is the main employer in the region.

[reginakudrjavceva]

Благодарю за расклпд.❤Добра вам и здоровья.❤😊

[TheHoveHeretic]

Here in the UK, I'm struggling to think of many examples. In Wales, there was the Swansea & Mumbles (legally a 'railway' and a very early one at that), in England, the Grimsby & Immingham. Both are long gone. On the Isle of Man, there's the Manx Electric Railway (Douglas - Laxey - Ramsey), though that today is a distinctly heritage line with few concessions to modernity!