A final farewell to the Tatra T5C5 trams of Budapest

April 17th 2026 marked the final day of regular service for the Tatra T5C5 trams in Budapest after 46 years of service. This video shows these trams in the last couple of weeks in service including special runs on route 59 which was part of the ‘farewell party’ To clarify it is only the unrefurbished ones being withdrawn. The refurbished ones will still be in service for many years to come. 322 of these trams were built between 1978 and 1984 in 2 batches with the first ones being delivered to Budapest in 1979. They started service in February 1980. In 1989, 2 were converted to training vehicles which still run today. Between 2002 and 2004, 80 were refurbished. A further 222 were refurbished between 2014 and 2023. The 80 refurbished in 2002 and 2004 were also given a further refurbishment to bring them in line with the later refurbished examples. These refurbished examples are known as T5C5K. This left 18 unrefurbished units which were not given this treatment as the final order for 51 CAF trams was confirmed at the end of 2023. 4 of these (4000, 4171, 4200 and 4349) were set aside for preservation. The remaining 14 examples will likely receive the cutter’s torch treatment.