{"id":36500,"date":"2025-07-22T00:21:05","date_gmt":"2025-07-21T22:21:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/vremeplov.ba\/2025\/?p=36500"},"modified":"2025-07-22T00:21:10","modified_gmt":"2025-07-21T22:21:10","slug":"sarajevo-trams-through-time","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/vremeplov.ba\/2025\/en\/2025\/07\/22\/sarajevo-trams-through-time\/","title":{"rendered":"Sarajevo Trams Through Time"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

City – Horse-Drawn Traffic in Sarajevo (1885)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The year is 1885. Austrian authorities in Sarajevo, after the construction of the old railway station (1882), come up with the idea of establishing a horse-drawn streetcar transportation. The means of public transport would be a tram<\/em> pulled along narrow-gauge tracks by a horse. Considering that the railway station is three kilometers away from the city center, all goods listed in the railway schedule are transferred by freight wagons. Since this aggravated traffic, the Provincial Government decides to begin work (August 27, 1884) on constructing a streetcar line to the very center of the city.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In addition to transporting people, goods, and construction materials, the construction of the Cathedral (1884\u20131887) and the building of the Regional Government (1884\u20131886) also influenced the introduction of the horse-drawn tram. Vase Miskina Street, now Ferhadija, received the City Tram Depot. The depot is located on Liberation Square \u2013 Alija Izetbegovi\u0107, more precisely from the corner in front of Markale Market (German: Markthalle), all the way to the Serbian National Elementary School (now the Faculty of Economics), which was demolished in 1938 and 1939. In Strossmayer Street, a depot was built that served as a stable for horses and a shelter for the tram.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Officially, the first tram was put into operation on January 1, 1885. Four specially equipped carriages for this occasion stand in front of the station in Ferhadija, with a crowd assembled in front of them, including the provincial governor Ivan Baron Appel, the heads of the provincial government, the City Council, and numerous citizens.<\/p>\n\n\n

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Then this entire entourage gets into a wooden carriage\u2014an electric tram hitched to a white horse\u2014and in thirteen minutes, it is driven to the narrow railway station. Mayor Mustafa Beg Fadilpa\u0161i\u0107, on behalf of the city and its future progress, requests the leader of the Appel to convey special expressions of gratitude to the Minister of Finance and the manager of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Benjamin Kalaj. Immediately after the opening, transportation begins, and the conductor, who, according to the special regulations of the city government, was “modestly dressed,” calls his first passengers. Once the tram, which could hold 28 people, is full, the bell rings, and “tram driver” John Hanke drives his white horse along the tracks towards Marijin Dvor.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The first tram line in Sarajevo was 3.1 kilometers long, starting from today\u2019s Faculty of Economics, extending through Ferhadija and further along the main city street \u0106emalu\u0161a (today\u2019s Titova), crossing Marijin Dvor, and ending at a narrow railway station. The tram ticket was dark red, printed in Serbian-Croatian, German, and Turkish languages, and cost 5 krajcars.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

From horse-drawn to electric tram traffic<\/p>\n\n\n

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