What the vote decides
The extension runs from the central station along Mühlenweg to a new terminus at Ostpark, with six new stops. The council approved a budget of 212 million euros, of which the federal and state governments carry 75 percent under the transport funding act. The city spreads its share across four annual budgets.
Trams are to run every seven and a half minutes during the day and every fifteen minutes in the evening. The transport company expects 14,000 passengers on a working day once the line is complete.
Why it took eleven years
The first plans from 2015 followed the riverbank, which would have meant felling 160 trees and moving a listed lock house. A citizens’ panel rejected that route in 2019. The new route uses existing streets, which makes it cheaper but means two years of roadworks on Mühlenweg.
What residents and shops can expect
Mühlenweg will be closed to through traffic in sections of about 400 metres at a time. Shops stay reachable on foot throughout, and the city has set aside 1.2 million euros for businesses that can show a drop in turnover during the works.
We have waited long enough. If the city keeps the footpaths open, we can live with two years of dust.
Hatice Demir, who runs a bakery on Mühlenweg
Correction
Updated on 17 October 2026: an earlier version of this article gave the length of the extension as 4.2 kilometres. The correct figure is 3.8 kilometres.