Bucuresti, Romania
<br><b>R.A.T.B. (Regia Autonoma de Transport Bucuresti)</b>
<br>Replacing a small portion of track on Bd. Gloriei (=the Boulevard of Glory). The "new" track is saved from Cal. Plevnei and Cal. Berzei (it was installed in 1998 there; now the 2 streets were rebuilt and the tracks was placed on a new position... of course, they used new track, even if the old one was in a very good condition). The "old" tracks on Bd. Gloriei were installed in 1973, at the major repairs of the street in that year (there were tram tracks on that boulevard before that year, but in 1973 they were renewed). This are the oldest tracks in service in Bucharest and the last ones in service with this technical solution. In the '80s, the system with pre-fabricate concrete elements was adopted (instead of the system used on Bd. Gloriei). The system is very bad (whater gets under the concreate elements and destroy them) and the track profile is litterally square, so it gets damaged very easy and also destroys the wheels. The only advantage of this system was that rails were very easy to lay... you needed only a crane and a few hours. There are portions of track that took only 2 weeks to build (that's because they also build the street together with the rails).
<p><a href="http://transportbucuresti.trei.ro/tramvai/Parc_tramvaie.htm">List of Bucharest trams</a>.
<br>Photo by Dr2005 - transportbucuresti.trei(a)gmail.com; More photos are available at <a href="http://www.transportbucuresti.trei.ro">www.transportbucuresti.trei.ro</a>.