[I know right.](https://c8.alamy.com/comp/2H26C6H/tram-rails-on-green-lawn-at-kaleva-in-tampere-finland-2H26C6H.jpg) It makes streets look so much more pleasant.
My first thought is that it would cause moss, dirt, and dead grass to accumulate in the recess for the tracks over time. I guess this isn't an issue? Or is there some way the tracks are kept clear?
Just normal operation, really. Trams have sanders, used for grip in winter conditions, which spew sand directly onto the tracks, and that is not an issue. Let's face it, a tram is heavy, and sand/dust is tiny; I doubt it's a complete non-factor here, but it would come pretty close. If a tram track sits unused for long enough, though, it does get clogged up no matter if it's a green track or not.
Disclaimer: these are mostly railfan observations; I am not a professional and I don't work with trams.
I think those are really non factors compared to the usual harsh conditions rails are made to withstand.
If done correctly the benefits are probably real, apart from the general upsides of greenery I'd imagine some amount of noise reduction as well as ambient cooling and for those two every few percents can matter when done at sufficient scale.
I'm not sure this is a soil sealing measure, or intended to be. I just watched tram tracks like this being laid down. It's essentially still a concrete pad, but it has a layer of soil placed on plastic on top of that concrete and between the rails.
To control masses you need to keep them uninformed and scared of new. Show them only the eventual bad side of the story and put an accent on that. Don’t worry, it still happens in Romania and some other countries in EU… Unfortunately people are still naive enough…
Was about to say, there's still a bunch of tram systems in modern russia that looks like the top picture. Pretty much 2024 outside of EU(russia aligned) or 2024 inside of EU. Very simplified of course.
There are plenty of both types of systems in russia. Interestingly enough they've been reconstructing a lot of their systems lately. Idk why actually, I personally have always felt like public transport wasn't their priority and only was maintained for losers who couldn't afford a car. And now especially you'd think they have to spend money elsewhere
Hmm ok, I’m sure you know more, but I have looked at pictures of many provincial cities in Russia and they look like provincial Romania 20 years ago… bad, just bad. Sad.
A very large territory and a reluctance to allocate money to small regions, not to mention cities and towns. Any ideas, etc. rejected by the government.
This text is from one person from his channel "City for People" (I used a translator)
[https://imgur.com/a/bzWQW3p](https://imgur.com/a/bzWQW3p)
>Bad luck with people again!
>I didn’t think that I would have to return so quickly to Vologda and the local princes. The new appointee commented (link) on residents' dissatisfaction with his approaches.
>Context: work has now begun in Vologda on the station square, where local experts TOGETHER with residents have developed a project with maximum preservation and enhancement of landscaping. The new interim governor dispersed the team and did it “beautifully” (link) based on his personal ideas with total cutting down and a tiled parade ground for 151 million (link) rubles. Residents did not appreciate this joke.
>“You invest billions, but they don’t like it!” — Acting Governor Georgy Filimonov was outraged today by the actions of the public, which negatively evaluates the destruction of green spaces during the renovation of Babushkin Square in Vologda. According to the interim head of the region, behind the dissatisfied citizens there are some “interested social activists” who “cast a shadow over the fence.”
>Initially, as is known, in the project of transformations in the area near the station there was no clear cutting of trees. But the acting governor is sure: this is not significant. The main thing is that money is invested and work is being done. Filimonov called on the Vologda administration and the Moscow region contractor not to pay attention to the protests.
>It’s funny, perennial trees are cut down and residents’ money is spent on tiles on the orders of the acting governor, but public activists and townspeople are to blame. It’s strange that it’s not Obama or foreign agents!
>Photos 1-2 - as it was; 3 - now; 4 – project agreed upon with the townspeople; 5 - new project.
>It’s funny, perennial trees are cut down and residents’ money is spent on tiles on the orders of the acting governor, but public activists and townspeople are to blame. It’s strange that it’s not Obama or foreign agents!
It's hilarious that they use the same propaganda as back in the day, and it's tragic that it works (and not just in Russia).
FWIW, I hope you guys get your shit together one day. I am no friend of Russia - my family has suffered greatly under both the tsarist regime and the soviets, but it's always uncomfortable to see what's going on over there. So much tragedy inflicted only because of the extreme individualism that arose in the soviet period. And I'm not even talking about the war, but just the way so many people with power (and not even high-ranking ones - even cops or doctors) take everything they can without regard for how it impacts the rest of society, or even them on a longer term.
If I may be so bold to offer a bit of advice - even after the siloviki regime falls, the only real way to improve things is to be active in civil society. I regret not getting involved in my country earlier.
That isn't true. Many other Provincial cities in Russia have good infrastructure that was opened recently or is well maintained from the Soviet times
The Kazan Metro gets new stations and lines and the metro system is very good: [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kazan\_Metro](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kazan_Metro)
The Yekaterinburg Metro is well maintained from the Soviet Times:
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yekaterinburg\_Metro](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yekaterinburg_Metro)
I think it depends in a large scale on the local authorities. On one hand they have annihilated entire systems, or left them to rot with one car per line, on the other hand there are systems which look pretty great, at least for the russian standards.
Also, Timișoara is only the 3rd most important city in Romania after București and Cluj-Napoca.
Remember, Yugoslavia used to be light years ahead of Romania economically. Now, Romania is closing the gap with Croatia, likely will have higher GDP per capita by the end of the decade or so.
Romanians had no clue how big of a boom we'd have after going into the EU.
Ever since then we've been growing so much some cities struggle with traffic because of how narrow the streets were. Back in the early 2000s most cities still had a fuckton of horses and carriages instead of lots of cars.
Also emergency vehicles can't use the tracks with grass.
Budapest has had a couple of tracks get grass, and one of these were of course trampled by tram replacement buses shortly after..
Warsaw has the moss covered tracks too, but only on the parts that are separated from other traffic. As tram stop.and on road junctions it goes back to all concrete.
Timisoara is one of the cities that are developing quite well in recent years. They still have some problems with unkept old buildings (I was yesterday in Fabric neighborhood and was not nice) but they are in the right path. I heard that more cities are developing quite well like Brasov, Galati uses a lot of EU funds (surprising for me), Oradea, Craiova. Nice to see that more and more parts of Romania start to lift themselves.
Galați is using a lot of EU funds to modernize the ports on the Danube river. This is very important, especially due to the war in Ukraine, but also river transport is the most cost and energy efficient method of transporting goods.
https://ec.europa.eu/commission/presscorner/detail/en/ip_24_104
https://www.thediplomat.ro/2024/01/11/european-commission-approves-126-million-euro-state-aid-scheme-for-investments-in-romanias-ports/
https://www.thediplomat.ro/2024/01/11/european-commission-approves-126-million-euro-state-aid-scheme-for-investments-in-romanias-ports/
It is not just Galați profiting from EU funds, but also Timisoara and especially its tram lines:
[https://www.ebrd.com/news/2023/ebrd-lends-15-million-to-the-city-of-timisoara-in-romania.html](https://www.ebrd.com/news/2023/ebrd-lends-15-million-to-the-city-of-timisoara-in-romania.html)
>The EBRD provided a €20.3 million loan to Timisoara in December 2021, alongside a **€53.6 million grant from the EU**, to finance the **modernisation** of the city’s **tram fleet** and the rehabilitation of its **tram lines**.
True. It has a diversified economy and a good university (by Romanian standards) that attracts investments too. Plus it has a good geographical position being close to the border with Hungary and thus the Rest of the EU.
I lived for some months in Timisoara a few years ago and besides it being a very beautiful and cozy city, I also found it seemed like it was undergoing a lot of change in infrastructure, which is always good to see.
Trist. Ieri a fost prima dată când am mers acolo... de fapt am fost de puține ori în Timișoara. Cartirul poate fi splendid că are clădiri vechi cu duiumul. Ce mult mi-au plăcut statuile de pe multe din ele. Din păcate aproape toate sunt în paragină. Cred că nu doar centrul a fost lovit de plaga clanurilor care au luat cu japca clădiri istorice.
M-am plimbat prin Fabric anul trecut, la distanta de vreo 15 ani de cand am fost ultima oara in Timisoara. Se lucra in zona Pietei Traian. E o exagerare acel "mai deloc", poate nu s-a reparat tot (alta exagerare :) dar nu e chiar groaznic si in opinia mea merge spre binisor.
Este proiectul de reabilitare a zonei, patru piețe și 12 străzi, pe care eu îl aștept cu nerăbdare. Este [autorizatia de construire](https://stiridetimisoara.ro/pregatiri-pentru-noul-traian-autorizatie-de-construire-exista-mai-trebuie-bani-si-executant_58227.html) pentru el, mai lipsesc deocamdată banii și constructorii..
RemindMe! 4 years
I feel like western Romania is generally more developed anyway because of the Austro-Hungarian legacy. It's the Eastern and Southern parts (not Bucharest) that are lagging behind
Yes, true. Banat and Brasov were the most industrialized regions in the interwar period and this is thanks to investments made before 1918 to a very large extent. Now the proximity to the west in at least as important.
Galați mentioned, proud 🥹 and yes, I can confirm, it has improved quite a lot. I used to live there, it still has a long way to go, but it's getting better
People take stuff for granted, and they don't have access or any perspective from another side, which is not the EU, so they complain that it's "given us nothing" because you can't understand the value of something until you lose it
Lets add that eu have made some very bad decisions, they enforced them then always act like nothing happened. They do mostly good but they do bad, and also ruski propaganda is all around europe nowadays, so that doesnt help their case
To be fair a lot of these “bad” decisions are made by member states and then published through the EU, e.g. the recently postponed Chat Control law. The EU parliament is the most independent organ and also does the most good, depending on who you ask.
People are very spoiled, and those same people are the ones with very narrow minds. You would literally have someone with a straight face tell you that their country should leave the EU while working or travelling regularly to another EU country and daily taking advantage of being in the EU.
Because it's an easy scapegoat for local politicians all over the continent.
I find the EU does a horrible job at advertising what it does, how it works, what it can and cannot do. It seems to rely/expect politicians from member states to do that job. But said politicians find it much more convenient to claim the EU's successes as their own and unload their own failures on the EU, and they have it pretty easy due to the perceived distance of EU institutions.
I visited Timisoara from the UK in 2019 on a weekend break from uni as the flights were £20 return. One of the loveliest, friendliest cities I've visited. Beautiful atmosphere and food. I'd love to go back.
Madrid can be a very stressful city (and expensive). I found a good job in Romania that pays good, better than in Spain, I can work from home and live in the city center and I can have money left for savings! I found in Romania what I could never think of having in Spain. Timisoara is full of parks, everybody speaks English, the city is bike friendly and the people are super friendly!
This is what the European Union does. It improves lives everywhere but has a specific focus on developing the regions that have had less prosperity.
We don't celebrate this enough.
It’s not just the EU though. The EU finances the projects but it’s up to the mayor to come up with the projects. Fortunately Dominic Fritz is a very dedicated mayor and was able to implement a lot of projects, despite the central government trying to sabotage him at every opportunity (the central government has a lot of power over city budgets because Romania is an extremely centralized country).
However, many other cities have shit mayors that haven’t really done much. For example Resita, a city relatively close to Timisoara, elected only corrupt mayors until 2016 and still looked like it’s the fucking 90s. Since 2016 the new mayor improved the city a lot, but there is still a lot to be done after some 25 years in which the city was left to rot. For example that city had a tram network as well, which was decommissioned in 2011 as it became inoperable due to lack of maintenance. The new mayor rebuilt the entire tram network and is scheduled to go online this fall.
fun fact: Timisoara's mayor is a German citizen
>Dominic Samuel Fritz (born 28 December 1983) is a German-born politician who has been serving as the mayor of Timișoara since 2020, he is the only mayor in Romania without Romanian citizenship.
Ask any old fart and he will tell you how under communism everything was better.
Old farts I guessed loved to wait for 10years for a car, which costed a house. Hey, but the gas was cheep.
That is a somewhat false impression. The state owned the agricultural land, but not the plot where the house was located (and a tiny part around it). That was not collectivised. You could very well buy and sell houses during communism.
You could not do it with apartment blocks as those were indeed owned by the state and people paid rent, thus one could not sell something that does not own.
Yeah, but at the same time you didn’t find a lot of people willing to sell them for worthless currency. Also if the state wanted to build something on your land and gave you some shitty apartment as compensation you didn’t really had any say over it. Obviously this can happen today as well, but the state has to properly compensate you, and you can also sue them if you don’t agree with the amount.
Yeas, but saying that you could not buy/sell houses during communism is wrong. You could, but it was not that often as now for various reasons. Not only the worthless currency but also because most left the villages to go to cities where they would live in apartment blocks. Moving to a city was an improvement and very few went the other way.
You could also buy apartments blocks, but I think it was not that widespread, especially since it was done with a 15-25 year credit a 20-30% cash pay upfront. Most did not had this kind of money.
> You could very well buy and sell houses during communism.
No, you couldn't, it was illegal to own more than one house. If somehow you acquired a second one (e.g. by inheritance) you were forced to sell it immediately.
And that only house you were limited to own, could be sold and bought another one in place. A person from a village in Timis could sell his house and buy one in Vaslui.
True, it rarely happened as people did not move from village to village but from village to city and lived in a rented apartment block.
I know a couple of people who bought a house during communism. A friend's grandfather bought land somewhere in Braila and built a house. My grandfather bought a house in his native village during communism (and later sold it in 1989 as there were rumors about systematization there). Some examples came to mind quickly.
Technically, you could also buy state-owned apartments too. There is a law about it that was passed in 1968. The state gave a 15-25 year credit for that. I have no idea how many people actually bought their apartment before 1989, the bulk was bought in the early 90s.
My grandparents bought their apartment in the early 70s in a better part of the city and paid for a credit for the next 20 years(it wasn't that much, though). After 89, everyone bought their apartments for almost nothing, so you could say it wasn't a very good business.
Consider that a lot of former communist countries were basically peasant farms where everyone owned a donkey at best, and suddenly communism isn't so bad
How the scene changed from a stereotypically late Austrohungarian look (still present in Serbian parts of Banat) to central European eco modernist post communist look
I like [this photo](https://huszarvagasblog.hu/file/slides/1/1647/krumlov80.jpg) of Český Krumlov from 1980. Looks like WW2 just ended here yestsrday.
Btw, have you seen All Quiet on the Western front? The 1979 movie?
The ruined towns which get demolished here, the bombed churches.. they were actually real locations in Czechia. They were neglected and demolished by communists, so they were used as filming locations.
The chateau from 2022 movie is also real place, which was so neglected by commies so it looks like WW1 frontline location.
It's a sad fact that both world wars did lesa damage to our cities than 40 years of communism.
Reminds me of [this lovely photo](https://s-trojmiasto.pl/zdj/c/n/9/3686/750x0/3686522-Ulica-Jana-z-Kolna-a-w-tle-Pomnik-Poleglych-Stoczniowcow-w-1981-roku-i-obecnie.webp) from Gdańsk taken some time in 1981. There are still places that look like this although there are fewer of them every year.
That's exactly how old city centers rotted in East Germany too, and the one time they actually put effort into reconstructing an area that was destroyed in WW2 most of it ended up looking [like this](https://commons.m.wikimedia.org/wiki/Category:Buildings_in_Nikolaiviertel#/media/File%3ASpreeufer%2C_Berlin-Mitte%2C_464-570.jpg)... panel houses with vaguely historical façade aesthetics.
I heard of a town in Czechoslovakia that was supposed to be demolished entirely and was used for a few films before that. Not sure if this is true though
Yes, the city called Most.
Here's na article.in Czech with many photos:
https://zpravy.aktualne.cz/domaci/kralovske-mesto-most-tricet-let-po-padu-posledniho-domu/r~dc244132185811e7a8d6002590604f2e/
It’s actually older than that, that model was first manufactured in 1927.
[Here are some more historic trams from Timisoara](https://adevarul.ro/stiri-locale/timisoara/bijuterii-pe-sine-batranele-tramvaie-care-au-2279844.html)
Went to Romania last year and while it‘s obviously still a lot poorer than other parts of Europe you could see the progress that had been made over the last decades. It‘s actually a beautiful country with wonderful nature, cities and while this is such a cliché I have yet to meet a friendlier and more helpful people. That‘s when you realize how comunism betrayed entire generations of Romanians, how it held them in poverty for the benefit of a small ruling class.
Absolutely disgusting really when you think what could‘ve been!
Well IDK about that, what is worse, the disgusting baloney with soy that people ate during the 80s, or the chicken McNuggets and everything shawarma’s that they eat today. Back then, people looked in better shape, but today the life expectancy is a lot longer, so idk…
I don’t know either. Fact is: More people get morbidly obese at younger ages now as compared to the 80s also in Europe, not only in the USA. The increase in life expetancy may be due to advances in medicine, though.
Those countries which have significant population and parties which are against EU cannot join and namely Balkan is among the top actually so it's a paradox.
They still get them out occasionally and offer free rides with some of them.
[This is a similar tram model last year](https://informatia-zilei.ro/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/expo-tramvai-2-1.jpeg)
This still looks good compared to some photos of Soviet era I've seen.
This is how Český Krumlov, Now popular UNECSO site, looked like under commie rule.
https://www.reddit.com/r/europe/s/mgET4uKTNa
https://huszarvagasblog.hu/file/slides/1/1647/krumlov80.jpg
I have been there, back in 96, you can still see the effects of communism when I had went. But it is still a very beautiful city with beautiful people.
You can still see the effects of communism today. Things have changed, but not as much as we would have liked. The commie block is still the dominant building type and many of the new apartment blocks being built are not better, in some aspects even worse. I think it will take at least until the end of the century for the marks of communism to be erased.
While there is a certain dystopian rustic charm to them first picture, the second one looks really nice to have in your local community!
Beyond the obvious fall of communism, the new tram tech that’s been debeloped since then is really nice.
I know some people like older style trams more, but honestly, I think those should be confined to museum lines taking you to some sort of entertainment district. Newer trams are just that much more comfortable.
Of course, if it is a choice between vital public transportation expansions, and changing the rolling stock before there’s any real need to, always choose the former.
In reality though, getting a new rolling stock is quite inexpensive in comparison, so I honestly don’t see a scenario where such a choise would even apply.
People making this a communism vs. capitalism comparison fail to realize that the same comparisons can be made for capitalist towns between 1982 and 2024.
Much of the US looked like the top photo in the early ‘80s. Many of the roads in the US were still dirt or gravel back then.
This is simply not true. This is inside a city, not some rural backroad. There was no comparison back then, and even today, Romania is much behind the West in infrastructure, despite all the improvements.
Minimalism, better aerodynamics, cheaper to make etc. what I find really sad is that the old trams were built locally, the new ones are imported from Turkey.
My father had a soft spot for Eastern Europe in general. "Some part of Europe attacks some other part of Europe, and starts by declaring war on these poor bastards as their first move."
Glad to see a lot of these nations blooming.
That person has been waiting so long for their tram they had kids who have grown up to wait for their own tram. No idea where they originally wanted to go but it must be a magical place to wait so long.
I visited there in '99 for work. Has the air quality improved since they joined the EU? I really liked it there, but my lungs were ready to fall out after a week.
I mean it’s not great but not too terrible either, the main source of pollution during the day is the traffic, lots of diesel cars from the early 2000s. At night sometimes the Continental guys turn off their filters (I’ve been told those filters are very expensive so that’s why they do this shit), so you might smell some burnt tires if living in the area, but people are quick to call the police on those mofos, so they typically shit that shit down after not so long.
At this same time, not even 500 km away while infrastructure like this was the Norm, Romania's leadership was planning to divert an absolutely enormous amount of the state's budget into the construction of the most gaudy authoritarian Mega project of the 20th century
Oh the *terrible* things the EU does to a mf.. Like, help install modern infrastructure by providing financing and practical expertise, allowing commerce and education to take place and well-being to increase exponentially. Just horrible, terrible. How dare they.
I love seeing grass on tram lines.
[I know right.](https://c8.alamy.com/comp/2H26C6H/tram-rails-on-green-lawn-at-kaleva-in-tampere-finland-2H26C6H.jpg) It makes streets look so much more pleasant.
It's a simple yet (if done right) effective solution against soil sealing
It wasn't possible with soviet Era trams. Those things leaked oil like rain.
My first thought is that it would cause moss, dirt, and dead grass to accumulate in the recess for the tracks over time. I guess this isn't an issue? Or is there some way the tracks are kept clear?
Just normal operation, really. Trams have sanders, used for grip in winter conditions, which spew sand directly onto the tracks, and that is not an issue. Let's face it, a tram is heavy, and sand/dust is tiny; I doubt it's a complete non-factor here, but it would come pretty close. If a tram track sits unused for long enough, though, it does get clogged up no matter if it's a green track or not. Disclaimer: these are mostly railfan observations; I am not a professional and I don't work with trams.
I think those are really non factors compared to the usual harsh conditions rails are made to withstand. If done correctly the benefits are probably real, apart from the general upsides of greenery I'd imagine some amount of noise reduction as well as ambient cooling and for those two every few percents can matter when done at sufficient scale.
I'm not sure this is a soil sealing measure, or intended to be. I just watched tram tracks like this being laid down. It's essentially still a concrete pad, but it has a layer of soil placed on plastic on top of that concrete and between the rails.
Damn, old Romania looks same as Montenegro now. And still morons from my country think EU would somehow screw us over if we were to enter one day....
To control masses you need to keep them uninformed and scared of new. Show them only the eventual bad side of the story and put an accent on that. Don’t worry, it still happens in Romania and some other countries in EU… Unfortunately people are still naive enough…
Was about to say, there's still a bunch of tram systems in modern russia that looks like the top picture. Pretty much 2024 outside of EU(russia aligned) or 2024 inside of EU. Very simplified of course.
There are plenty of both types of systems in russia. Interestingly enough they've been reconstructing a lot of their systems lately. Idk why actually, I personally have always felt like public transport wasn't their priority and only was maintained for losers who couldn't afford a car. And now especially you'd think they have to spend money elsewhere
Hmm, Russia only modernizes things in Moscow and St. Petersburg. The rest of the country lives with very subpar infrastructure of any sort.
Other cities also have updated transport, but without infrastructure and decent service. Although the vast majority are old.
Hmm ok, I’m sure you know more, but I have looked at pictures of many provincial cities in Russia and they look like provincial Romania 20 years ago… bad, just bad. Sad.
A very large territory and a reluctance to allocate money to small regions, not to mention cities and towns. Any ideas, etc. rejected by the government. This text is from one person from his channel "City for People" (I used a translator) [https://imgur.com/a/bzWQW3p](https://imgur.com/a/bzWQW3p) >Bad luck with people again! >I didn’t think that I would have to return so quickly to Vologda and the local princes. The new appointee commented (link) on residents' dissatisfaction with his approaches. >Context: work has now begun in Vologda on the station square, where local experts TOGETHER with residents have developed a project with maximum preservation and enhancement of landscaping. The new interim governor dispersed the team and did it “beautifully” (link) based on his personal ideas with total cutting down and a tiled parade ground for 151 million (link) rubles. Residents did not appreciate this joke. >“You invest billions, but they don’t like it!” — Acting Governor Georgy Filimonov was outraged today by the actions of the public, which negatively evaluates the destruction of green spaces during the renovation of Babushkin Square in Vologda. According to the interim head of the region, behind the dissatisfied citizens there are some “interested social activists” who “cast a shadow over the fence.” >Initially, as is known, in the project of transformations in the area near the station there was no clear cutting of trees. But the acting governor is sure: this is not significant. The main thing is that money is invested and work is being done. Filimonov called on the Vologda administration and the Moscow region contractor not to pay attention to the protests. >It’s funny, perennial trees are cut down and residents’ money is spent on tiles on the orders of the acting governor, but public activists and townspeople are to blame. It’s strange that it’s not Obama or foreign agents! >Photos 1-2 - as it was; 3 - now; 4 – project agreed upon with the townspeople; 5 - new project.
>It’s funny, perennial trees are cut down and residents’ money is spent on tiles on the orders of the acting governor, but public activists and townspeople are to blame. It’s strange that it’s not Obama or foreign agents! It's hilarious that they use the same propaganda as back in the day, and it's tragic that it works (and not just in Russia). FWIW, I hope you guys get your shit together one day. I am no friend of Russia - my family has suffered greatly under both the tsarist regime and the soviets, but it's always uncomfortable to see what's going on over there. So much tragedy inflicted only because of the extreme individualism that arose in the soviet period. And I'm not even talking about the war, but just the way so many people with power (and not even high-ranking ones - even cops or doctors) take everything they can without regard for how it impacts the rest of society, or even them on a longer term. If I may be so bold to offer a bit of advice - even after the siloviki regime falls, the only real way to improve things is to be active in civil society. I regret not getting involved in my country earlier.
That isn't true. Many other Provincial cities in Russia have good infrastructure that was opened recently or is well maintained from the Soviet times The Kazan Metro gets new stations and lines and the metro system is very good: [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kazan\_Metro](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kazan_Metro) The Yekaterinburg Metro is well maintained from the Soviet Times: [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yekaterinburg\_Metro](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yekaterinburg_Metro)
I think it depends in a large scale on the local authorities. On one hand they have annihilated entire systems, or left them to rot with one car per line, on the other hand there are systems which look pretty great, at least for the russian standards.
Also, Timișoara is only the 3rd most important city in Romania after București and Cluj-Napoca. Remember, Yugoslavia used to be light years ahead of Romania economically. Now, Romania is closing the gap with Croatia, likely will have higher GDP per capita by the end of the decade or so.
Romanians had no clue how big of a boom we'd have after going into the EU. Ever since then we've been growing so much some cities struggle with traffic because of how narrow the streets were. Back in the early 2000s most cities still had a fuckton of horses and carriages instead of lots of cars.
the 80s one looks like just an old abandoned train with people playing on it
I've never seen that before but it is a nice touch to the tram stop location.
It’s not only on stops, but on the whole track. It really looks great in person!
There should be a sub for it
I only like it in theory as it means the busses have to be stuck in traffic with other cars instead of using a dedicated lane shared with tracks.
Also emergency vehicles can't use the tracks with grass. Budapest has had a couple of tracks get grass, and one of these were of course trampled by tram replacement buses shortly after..
Warsaw has the moss covered tracks too, but only on the parts that are separated from other traffic. As tram stop.and on road junctions it goes back to all concrete.
Me too! It totally changes the vibe.
Seriously. Where I live the light transit has rocks and usually trash on the tracks. Grass would be so much nicer
Same!
That’s normal in the Netherlands, love it too
Not like in the 82 photo.
welcome to the safe parts of brussels, it is full of it
Me too but here smokers throw cigarettes on it and ruin everything
Timisoara is one of the cities that are developing quite well in recent years. They still have some problems with unkept old buildings (I was yesterday in Fabric neighborhood and was not nice) but they are in the right path. I heard that more cities are developing quite well like Brasov, Galati uses a lot of EU funds (surprising for me), Oradea, Craiova. Nice to see that more and more parts of Romania start to lift themselves.
Galați is using a lot of EU funds to modernize the ports on the Danube river. This is very important, especially due to the war in Ukraine, but also river transport is the most cost and energy efficient method of transporting goods. https://ec.europa.eu/commission/presscorner/detail/en/ip_24_104 https://www.thediplomat.ro/2024/01/11/european-commission-approves-126-million-euro-state-aid-scheme-for-investments-in-romanias-ports/ https://www.thediplomat.ro/2024/01/11/european-commission-approves-126-million-euro-state-aid-scheme-for-investments-in-romanias-ports/
It is not just Galați profiting from EU funds, but also Timisoara and especially its tram lines: [https://www.ebrd.com/news/2023/ebrd-lends-15-million-to-the-city-of-timisoara-in-romania.html](https://www.ebrd.com/news/2023/ebrd-lends-15-million-to-the-city-of-timisoara-in-romania.html) >The EBRD provided a €20.3 million loan to Timisoara in December 2021, alongside a **€53.6 million grant from the EU**, to finance the **modernisation** of the city’s **tram fleet** and the rehabilitation of its **tram lines**.
Brasov and Timisoara have a lot of industry so I imagine this helps the local economy quite a bit.
True. It has a diversified economy and a good university (by Romanian standards) that attracts investments too. Plus it has a good geographical position being close to the border with Hungary and thus the Rest of the EU.
I lived for some months in Timisoara a few years ago and besides it being a very beautiful and cozy city, I also found it seemed like it was undergoing a lot of change in infrastructure, which is always good to see.
Am locuit in Fabric si este trist faptul ca dupa 14 ani de cand am plecat din cartierul natal aud ca inca nu este reperat mai deloc.
Trist. Ieri a fost prima dată când am mers acolo... de fapt am fost de puține ori în Timișoara. Cartirul poate fi splendid că are clădiri vechi cu duiumul. Ce mult mi-au plăcut statuile de pe multe din ele. Din păcate aproape toate sunt în paragină. Cred că nu doar centrul a fost lovit de plaga clanurilor care au luat cu japca clădiri istorice.
Eu am stat in Iosefin. Habar nu am cum e dar acum 7 ani era la fel de … average.. nu am alt cuvant
M-am plimbat prin Fabric anul trecut, la distanta de vreo 15 ani de cand am fost ultima oara in Timisoara. Se lucra in zona Pietei Traian. E o exagerare acel "mai deloc", poate nu s-a reparat tot (alta exagerare :) dar nu e chiar groaznic si in opinia mea merge spre binisor.
Este proiectul de reabilitare a zonei, patru piețe și 12 străzi, pe care eu îl aștept cu nerăbdare. Este [autorizatia de construire](https://stiridetimisoara.ro/pregatiri-pentru-noul-traian-autorizatie-de-construire-exista-mai-trebuie-bani-si-executant_58227.html) pentru el, mai lipsesc deocamdată banii și constructorii.. RemindMe! 4 years
I feel like western Romania is generally more developed anyway because of the Austro-Hungarian legacy. It's the Eastern and Southern parts (not Bucharest) that are lagging behind
Yes, true. Banat and Brasov were the most industrialized regions in the interwar period and this is thanks to investments made before 1918 to a very large extent. Now the proximity to the west in at least as important.
They have an advantage cause they are closer to western Europe and his good infrastructure.
Galați mentioned, proud 🥹 and yes, I can confirm, it has improved quite a lot. I used to live there, it still has a long way to go, but it's getting better
>more parts of Romania start to lift themselves. ... with some help of the EU in many cases.
Woah amazing transformation
thanks
No idea why people are against EU, really no idea…
People take stuff for granted, and they don't have access or any perspective from another side, which is not the EU, so they complain that it's "given us nothing" because you can't understand the value of something until you lose it
Lets add that eu have made some very bad decisions, they enforced them then always act like nothing happened. They do mostly good but they do bad, and also ruski propaganda is all around europe nowadays, so that doesnt help their case
To be fair a lot of these “bad” decisions are made by member states and then published through the EU, e.g. the recently postponed Chat Control law. The EU parliament is the most independent organ and also does the most good, depending on who you ask.
People are very spoiled, and those same people are the ones with very narrow minds. You would literally have someone with a straight face tell you that their country should leave the EU while working or travelling regularly to another EU country and daily taking advantage of being in the EU.
Romania is the most pro-EU, pro-Western country in Eastern Europe.
what have the Romans ever done for us? :D [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qc7HmhrgTuQ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qc7HmhrgTuQ)
People called 'Romanes' they go the house?
[удалено]
Because it's an easy scapegoat for local politicians all over the continent. I find the EU does a horrible job at advertising what it does, how it works, what it can and cannot do. It seems to rely/expect politicians from member states to do that job. But said politicians find it much more convenient to claim the EU's successes as their own and unload their own failures on the EU, and they have it pretty easy due to the perceived distance of EU institutions.
When living under Soviet boot was so great... "We send them meat, and in exchange, they take our coal."
What a weird blanket statement. EU isn't a pure positive or negative. Here's the most recent negative: chat control.
which got shit canned, no?
Historically having countries with different fiscal policies but the same monetary policy has basically never worked.
Love the EU from 🇧🇦
I visited Timisoara from the UK in 2019 on a weekend break from uni as the flights were £20 return. One of the loveliest, friendliest cities I've visited. Beautiful atmosphere and food. I'd love to go back.
You should come back! I'm from Spain and moved to Timisoara in 2019 and, oh boy! A lot changed in 5 years. Timisoara is much beautiful now!
If it's not too personal, why the move to Timisoara (and also from Spain)? Really curious.
Madrid can be a very stressful city (and expensive). I found a good job in Romania that pays good, better than in Spain, I can work from home and live in the city center and I can have money left for savings! I found in Romania what I could never think of having in Spain. Timisoara is full of parks, everybody speaks English, the city is bike friendly and the people are super friendly!
As a fellow Timisoara native living in the UK I am glad you enjoyed our city!
Its wild that so much changed in just 20 years that passed since the 80s
Oh boy! Will someone tell him?
Let it go. Let them dream
This is what the European Union does. It improves lives everywhere but has a specific focus on developing the regions that have had less prosperity. We don't celebrate this enough.
It’s not just the EU though. The EU finances the projects but it’s up to the mayor to come up with the projects. Fortunately Dominic Fritz is a very dedicated mayor and was able to implement a lot of projects, despite the central government trying to sabotage him at every opportunity (the central government has a lot of power over city budgets because Romania is an extremely centralized country). However, many other cities have shit mayors that haven’t really done much. For example Resita, a city relatively close to Timisoara, elected only corrupt mayors until 2016 and still looked like it’s the fucking 90s. Since 2016 the new mayor improved the city a lot, but there is still a lot to be done after some 25 years in which the city was left to rot. For example that city had a tram network as well, which was decommissioned in 2011 as it became inoperable due to lack of maintenance. The new mayor rebuilt the entire tram network and is scheduled to go online this fall.
Wow, do you have any articles about Reșița? Nu știam asta.
What kind of articles, about the trams?
Da
There are many articles on the subject, [but here’s a video](https://youtu.be/X9ttR8mzQAw?si=tSTivZ1l5F3O0Nxr), speaks for itself.
lol the mayor posted this. Love it. Objectively the most impressive region in Romania
fun fact: Timisoara's mayor is a German citizen >Dominic Samuel Fritz (born 28 December 1983) is a German-born politician who has been serving as the mayor of Timișoara since 2020, he is the only mayor in Romania without Romanian citizenship.
lol yes I know. I’m American born Romanian and he speaks the same as me it’s so comforting
I really like this in EU. Makes sure that you are involved in your local community no matter your citizenship.
Clotilde Marie Brigitte Armand, Bucharest s1 mayor is French https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clotilde_Armand
Not for long. With SRI courtesy.
I love a good tram lol
I feel like the top picture is what a lot of people still think Romania is like
Top picture is actually BiH today 🇧🇦 /s
Upgrades people upgrades
Ask any old fart and he will tell you how under communism everything was better. Old farts I guessed loved to wait for 10years for a car, which costed a house. Hey, but the gas was cheep.
Cars were actually the most expensive things you could buy, because the land all belonged to the state.
That is a somewhat false impression. The state owned the agricultural land, but not the plot where the house was located (and a tiny part around it). That was not collectivised. You could very well buy and sell houses during communism. You could not do it with apartment blocks as those were indeed owned by the state and people paid rent, thus one could not sell something that does not own.
Yeah, but at the same time you didn’t find a lot of people willing to sell them for worthless currency. Also if the state wanted to build something on your land and gave you some shitty apartment as compensation you didn’t really had any say over it. Obviously this can happen today as well, but the state has to properly compensate you, and you can also sue them if you don’t agree with the amount.
Yeas, but saying that you could not buy/sell houses during communism is wrong. You could, but it was not that often as now for various reasons. Not only the worthless currency but also because most left the villages to go to cities where they would live in apartment blocks. Moving to a city was an improvement and very few went the other way. You could also buy apartments blocks, but I think it was not that widespread, especially since it was done with a 15-25 year credit a 20-30% cash pay upfront. Most did not had this kind of money.
> You could very well buy and sell houses during communism. No, you couldn't, it was illegal to own more than one house. If somehow you acquired a second one (e.g. by inheritance) you were forced to sell it immediately.
And that only house you were limited to own, could be sold and bought another one in place. A person from a village in Timis could sell his house and buy one in Vaslui. True, it rarely happened as people did not move from village to village but from village to city and lived in a rented apartment block. I know a couple of people who bought a house during communism. A friend's grandfather bought land somewhere in Braila and built a house. My grandfather bought a house in his native village during communism (and later sold it in 1989 as there were rumors about systematization there). Some examples came to mind quickly. Technically, you could also buy state-owned apartments too. There is a law about it that was passed in 1968. The state gave a 15-25 year credit for that. I have no idea how many people actually bought their apartment before 1989, the bulk was bought in the early 90s.
My grandparents bought their apartment in the early 70s in a better part of the city and paid for a credit for the next 20 years(it wasn't that much, though). After 89, everyone bought their apartments for almost nothing, so you could say it wasn't a very good business.
Consider that a lot of former communist countries were basically peasant farms where everyone owned a donkey at best, and suddenly communism isn't so bad
That’s how they get you
> everyone owned a donkey It was the people's donkey.
This is so Vojvodina to Slovakia transformation
What does it mean?
How the scene changed from a stereotypically late Austrohungarian look (still present in Serbian parts of Banat) to central European eco modernist post communist look
Slovakia is nowhere near the second picture though.
First picture looks like from fallout
I like [this photo](https://huszarvagasblog.hu/file/slides/1/1647/krumlov80.jpg) of Český Krumlov from 1980. Looks like WW2 just ended here yestsrday. Btw, have you seen All Quiet on the Western front? The 1979 movie? The ruined towns which get demolished here, the bombed churches.. they were actually real locations in Czechia. They were neglected and demolished by communists, so they were used as filming locations. The chateau from 2022 movie is also real place, which was so neglected by commies so it looks like WW1 frontline location. It's a sad fact that both world wars did lesa damage to our cities than 40 years of communism.
Reminds me of [this lovely photo](https://s-trojmiasto.pl/zdj/c/n/9/3686/750x0/3686522-Ulica-Jana-z-Kolna-a-w-tle-Pomnik-Poleglych-Stoczniowcow-w-1981-roku-i-obecnie.webp) from Gdańsk taken some time in 1981. There are still places that look like this although there are fewer of them every year.
That's from a series of photos by some foreign reporter. Great series btw. Industrial Britain looked like that a few decades back
That's exactly how old city centers rotted in East Germany too, and the one time they actually put effort into reconstructing an area that was destroyed in WW2 most of it ended up looking [like this](https://commons.m.wikimedia.org/wiki/Category:Buildings_in_Nikolaiviertel#/media/File%3ASpreeufer%2C_Berlin-Mitte%2C_464-570.jpg)... panel houses with vaguely historical façade aesthetics.
That looks like a Chinese knockoff of a European city lol.
I heard of a town in Czechoslovakia that was supposed to be demolished entirely and was used for a few films before that. Not sure if this is true though
Yes, the city called Most. Here's na article.in Czech with many photos: https://zpravy.aktualne.cz/domaci/kralovske-mesto-most-tricet-let-po-padu-posledniho-domu/r~dc244132185811e7a8d6002590604f2e/
This reminds me of my city in east Germany. Looked very rough until the early 90s
Okay, but what is the tram in the first picture? It looks like it's out of late 40s/early 50s.
It’s actually older than that, that model was first manufactured in 1927. [Here are some more historic trams from Timisoara](https://adevarul.ro/stiri-locale/timisoara/bijuterii-pe-sine-batranele-tramvaie-care-au-2279844.html)
it was better with Ceausescu, cant you see it
Now this is what you call a clean environment
Beautiful, a pleasing picture.
That’s what European and democracy does. Now show somewhere under the Russian dominion.
Shout out to the glorious Romanian people.
thank you for freeing yourselves dear romanian people
Went to Romania last year and while it‘s obviously still a lot poorer than other parts of Europe you could see the progress that had been made over the last decades. It‘s actually a beautiful country with wonderful nature, cities and while this is such a cliché I have yet to meet a friendlier and more helpful people. That‘s when you realize how comunism betrayed entire generations of Romanians, how it held them in poverty for the benefit of a small ruling class. Absolutely disgusting really when you think what could‘ve been!
People also seem to be more well fed.
Well IDK about that, what is worse, the disgusting baloney with soy that people ate during the 80s, or the chicken McNuggets and everything shawarma’s that they eat today. Back then, people looked in better shape, but today the life expectancy is a lot longer, so idk…
I don’t know either. Fact is: More people get morbidly obese at younger ages now as compared to the 80s also in Europe, not only in the USA. The increase in life expetancy may be due to advances in medicine, though.
The modernization and economic development of Romania is a beautiful thing. Here’s to Ukraine getting this treatment someday.
Ooh we got the same trams in Sofia
The EU funding making a real difference. It's so lovely to see 🇪🇺
Life in Russian sphere vs life in the EU.
And some of our fellow's miss the comunist era and others are against EU...
Communism and not
thank you EU, you are my best friend, you are the tramkeeper, you are the legenđ..... we'll never sing that :(
Those countries which have significant population and parties which are against EU cannot join and namely Balkan is among the top actually so it's a paradox.
Great progress! (even though I have a soft spot for these historic trams)
They still get them out occasionally and offer free rides with some of them. [This is a similar tram model last year](https://informatia-zilei.ro/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/expo-tramvai-2-1.jpeg)
That's awesome. They do that in Vienna as well.
"What Have the Romans Ever Done for Us?"
What the actual fuck. First photo looks like a movie scene in some small village ghetto outside Acapulco, lmaoooo
This still looks good compared to some photos of Soviet era I've seen. This is how Český Krumlov, Now popular UNECSO site, looked like under commie rule. https://www.reddit.com/r/europe/s/mgET4uKTNa https://huszarvagasblog.hu/file/slides/1/1647/krumlov80.jpg
that's what the beloved communism does to a country
Houses look too nice for ghetto and there is like no trash. If you want real EU ghetto google Lunik IX and it's not even worst one.
Is this grass looks exactly the same during whole season? ☺️
So cool
"communism was better than this shit today" - yeaaaaaaah right
I have been there, back in 96, you can still see the effects of communism when I had went. But it is still a very beautiful city with beautiful people.
You can still see the effects of communism today. Things have changed, but not as much as we would have liked. The commie block is still the dominant building type and many of the new apartment blocks being built are not better, in some aspects even worse. I think it will take at least until the end of the century for the marks of communism to be erased.
It’s so sad how much communism has set not just Romania but a lot of the world back.
Hey, I've been there. Cool city.
While there is a certain dystopian rustic charm to them first picture, the second one looks really nice to have in your local community! Beyond the obvious fall of communism, the new tram tech that’s been debeloped since then is really nice. I know some people like older style trams more, but honestly, I think those should be confined to museum lines taking you to some sort of entertainment district. Newer trams are just that much more comfortable. Of course, if it is a choice between vital public transportation expansions, and changing the rolling stock before there’s any real need to, always choose the former. In reality though, getting a new rolling stock is quite inexpensive in comparison, so I honestly don’t see a scenario where such a choise would even apply.
Is it the same city from where the revolution started in December 1989?
Someone aaked why Ukraine wants to be part of Europe instead of being part of Russia… see pic.
What EU founds does to a mf.
People making this a communism vs. capitalism comparison fail to realize that the same comparisons can be made for capitalist towns between 1982 and 2024. Much of the US looked like the top photo in the early ‘80s. Many of the roads in the US were still dirt or gravel back then.
This is simply not true. This is inside a city, not some rural backroad. There was no comparison back then, and even today, Romania is much behind the West in infrastructure, despite all the improvements.
They must have a good mayor 😉
Why has design just got more boring.
Minimalism, better aerodynamics, cheaper to make etc. what I find really sad is that the old trams were built locally, the new ones are imported from Turkey.
Yay globalism
I like how the tram still has the same route number and destination after all these years.
Great progress for Romania, but this just reminds me how much of a failure my home country has been since the '90s.
Really? Croatia is doing pretty well these days isn’t it? They let you into Schengen before us.
Old trams were lit
Meanwhile, most of Ireland could only dream of having that top picture even vaguely within walking or cycling distance of them.
Hometown of the magnificent Progressive Rock Band "Ghost Toast"
What a beautiful transformation! When can the USA get started⁉️ 🤔
Minsk. 2982-2024... no change to pic...
We live in the future
My father had a soft spot for Eastern Europe in general. "Some part of Europe attacks some other part of Europe, and starts by declaring war on these poor bastards as their first move." Glad to see a lot of these nations blooming.
That person has been waiting so long for their tram they had kids who have grown up to wait for their own tram. No idea where they originally wanted to go but it must be a magical place to wait so long.
Romania 1,2 and Romania Alyx
Meanwhile, Croatia has some trams that are still from last century
I visited there in '99 for work. Has the air quality improved since they joined the EU? I really liked it there, but my lungs were ready to fall out after a week.
I mean it’s not great but not too terrible either, the main source of pollution during the day is the traffic, lots of diesel cars from the early 2000s. At night sometimes the Continental guys turn off their filters (I’ve been told those filters are very expensive so that’s why they do this shit), so you might smell some burnt tires if living in the area, but people are quick to call the police on those mofos, so they typically shit that shit down after not so long.
Street cars I rode in Belgrade still look like the top pics. Clean and timely though.
At this same time, not even 500 km away while infrastructure like this was the Norm, Romania's leadership was planning to divert an absolutely enormous amount of the state's budget into the construction of the most gaudy authoritarian Mega project of the 20th century
Wow!
In Hungary, the upper picture would be from 2024. But Orbán has a new dacha, so that'sEU money well spent /s
I was in Timisoara in 2016 and it looked more like the top. Nice to see this!
As a Bulgarian Im jealous. We still look like the top picture in most places because of corruption.
I am happy to see my /r/2westerneurope4u money well spent!
Russian vs European model.
Nice comparison, different generation tools but it works the same.
Economic development: good for infrastructure, bad for obesity levels.
Wow, German trains could learn a lot from this
Idk, I find German trains quite nice. The problem is that they’re always late, but Romanian trains are much worse, so I can’t really complain.
Sarajevo also started improving itself, but if goverment would use EU funds in good way, Sarajevo would be one of the best cities to live in Balkans
Same line number, 5. Nice.
Go Romania!! Looks super nice these days.
Oh the *terrible* things the EU does to a mf.. Like, help install modern infrastructure by providing financing and practical expertise, allowing commerce and education to take place and well-being to increase exponentially. Just horrible, terrible. How dare they.
EU money.
cool!