Delay for tram 19 until autumn 2025

The operation of tram 19 has been delayed with another year and a half. The operator Metropoolregio Rotterdam Den Haag (MRDH) now reckons that tram 19 can be put into operation in the second half of 2025.

Last spring, the Mekelweg tram rails were removed to make way for ‘Europe’s most robust tram line’. But after the summer, work stalled because of delivery problems with the right cable and fibre-reinforced concrete. These were the very components that would minimise mechanical and electromagnetic interference and make the tram the most advanced in Europe.

After a long hibernation, there has been some activity on the tram route recently. MRDH explains that preparatory work has started. It also reports that suppliers have been found for both the cable and the special concrete mix and contracts are being drawn up.

MRDH has now come up with the following schedule: ‘It will take about a year to construct the entire tram route. Then, in the spring and summer of 2025, all the installations will be extensively tested and tram personnel will be trained. This test and trial operation will take about six months. After that, in the second half of 2025, tram 19 can be put into operation.’

Until then, buses will run between the station and campus.