New Old City Harbor No. 2 tram route now open to the public
After a year and a half of work, the long-awaited new Old Harbor tramline was completed in Tallinn this week.
As part of the launch, "Aktuaalne kaamera. Nädal" took a test ride on the newly finished line, which runs from Suur-Paala to the southeast of central Tallinn, through the city center and via the harbor, and terminates at the end of the Kopli peninsula to the north.
The new route began running Sunday following an opening ceremony on the Friday, which was when the "Aktuaalne kaamera" crew got to ride the line.
Pent Paalberg, who is both a tram driver and Tallinn Transport (TLT) electric transport group leader, gave "Aktuaalne kaamera" the grand tour.
He said: "I drove a regular route for five years, then about a year ago, I was promoted."
"There are no formal 'line supervisors' in the department nowadays, but I still find myself behind the wheel from time to time," he went on – including on Friday.
The job is more varied than it might seem, he added. "No day is the same, and you get to see the cityscape from a completely different perspective, every day."
The route passes along Laikmaa, past the Rotermani quarter and on to the harbor – locations which had previously not been on any tram line, which by itself generated plenty of interest from the public.
Paalberg also noted an uptick in tram enthusiasts in the capital, adding that many had been coming even to film on their phone or take snaps of the new tram route.
"They always wave," he added.
In addition to his duties as a tram driver, Paalberg noted that he sometimes rides trams as a passenger himself. "Especially in the city center," he said.
This perhaps inevitably leads to a form of mental back-seat driving, however.
"When a tram driver rides as a passenger, they're constantly thinking about how the current driver is doing things. But that's kind of an occupational hazard."
The new route picks up the previous line between the Linnahall and Kultuurikatel, and goes on from there to Kopli.
The plan is for it to eventually be extended to the airport, in the opposite direction, too.
Tallinn Airport had its own tram terminal for several years, but this had to be taken offline due to ongoing work on the Rail Baltica terminal.
The line cost around €55 million to build; €36.5 of this came from the EU's NextGenerationEU fund.
Travelers' information on all Tallinn public transport routes is available here.
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Editor: Andrew Whyte, Merili Nael
Source: 'Aktuaalne kaamera,' reporter Ave Lutter.
