Big demand for old Budapest trams

Purchasers have been queuing up to purchase obsolete tramcars put up for sale by Budapest Transport Company BKV, company spokesman Karoly Szilagyi said on Friday.

BKV is giving priority to prospective buyers who are willing to restore the vehicles, some of which went into service over 50 years ago. Buyers have included NGOs, businesses and private individuals as well as museums. The Institute for the Blind and Vision Impaired purchased one - BKV is charging 100,000-900,000 forints (430-3,800 euros) for the vehicles - which it plans to use to teach vision-impaired people how to use the public transport system. The Szeged (SE Hungary) Municipal Transport Company bought one, which it will run as a tourist attraction. Others plan to set up cafes or restaurants in them, and still others simply want one in their yards.

Some prospective buyers were thwarted by their local governments, which refused to grant permits to set them up.

The tramcars are Hungarian made and were the first post World War Two trams manufactured by the Ganz factory. They debuted on Budapest's streets in April 1956, and the last were withdrawn from service in August 2007.

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