However, the network owners were primarily interested in the income generated by the existing lines, not in building new ones, which caused conflicts between them and the city council.

The private owners from Belgium were forced to create such a company, named Krakowska Spółka Tramwajowa, and transferred the agreement with the city to it.

In January 1913 the first standard gauge line (number 6) was opened, which ran from Zwierzyniecka Street, through Starowiślna to Trzeci Most.

In addition to that, the supply limitations in the war period and the lack of qualified engineers caused great damage to the rolling stock quality.

Eventually, the city government managed to establish a new tram company, Krakowska Miejska Kolej Elektryczna between 1924 and 1929.

The successful transformation allowed to repair the entire rolling stock and extend the network to the new districts, including Os.

Due to the confiscation of all the buses and private cars by the army, the tram became the only means of transport in the occupied city.

The new German government noticed the problem and imported 10 second-hand MAN Tw cars from Nuremberg and four others from the liquidated network in Eberswalde.

After the nationalisation of Polish industry, the new communist government began construction of the national tram cars in Konstal factory, Chorzów.

In the 1970s, the local authorities began an ambitious project of reorganising the entire public transport in the city.

Despite the crisis, the authorities decided to close down the tracks to Dworzec Główny Wschód (Railway Station East) as a preparation for the next part of the metro construction.

The first line was accepted to connect Krowodrza Górka in the north, with Kurdwanów in the south of the city, and use the existing tunnel under the railway station.

[2] At the same time, the tram network operator, MPK Kraków, began a process of replacing the old and unreliable Konstal cars.

The tracks reached Kurdwanów district, forming the first part of the Kraków Fast Tram network.

However, in 2006 MPK bought a small fleet of second-hand double-ended cars from Nuremberg and Düsseldorf which are used during reconstructions and partial openings of unfinished network extensions.

The first temporary stub-end appeared in 2006 at Politechnika stop, when the new tracks on Pawia street had not been connected yet to the Dworzec Towarowy terminus.

Small stub-ends also exist at Krowodrza Górka, Bronowice Male and Salwator termini, but they are used as spare tracks for defected and replacement cars, while double-ended trams use the balloon loop.

It consists of several modernised or purpose-built tram tracks with radio-controlled absolute priority on crossings, an underground, 1.4 kilometres (4,600 ft) long tunnel under Kraków Główny railway station with two underground stops and a 0.6 kilometres (2,000 ft) long overpass over Kraków Płaszów rail station.

Contrary to many light rail systems, Kraków Fast Tram is not separate from regular tramway lines - the tracks are a part of the wider "classic" tramway network and are used by ordinary lines, which benefit from moving through a fast tram corridor.

The stops at the fast tram tracks are equipped with an electronic passenger information system showing estimated departure times live.

In addition to the ordinary lines, there are two 'fast tram lines' that run at up to 5 minute intervals on the fast tram tracks: The first fast tram line was opened on 12 December 2008,[4] more than 30 years since construction start,[5] however due to the missing tracks through Płaszów, it temporarily used the link through Kazimierz and Podgórze districts, where short pieces of track were not in its own right-of-way but connected to the traffic light control system and passenger information system.

Since 1994, MPK Kraków replaces the Polish rolling stock produced by Konstal with new, modern low floor cars and second-hand trams imported from Germany and Austria.

[8] Due to the unreliability and the poor technical design, they are slowly replaced by second-hand trams from Germany.

[citation needed] The Protram 405N-Kr, manufactured between 2011 and 2012,[7] was rebuilt from three Konstal 105Na cars which have been connected with two new low-floor sections forming a single unit.

The tram is equipped with a complete electronic passenger information system, air conditioning, and two ticket machines.

[12] They are equipped with air conditioning, passenger information system, ticket machines and bike stands.

[7] It is worth noting that the cars retained their own rolling stock numbers from Düsseldorf, which was later unified to Krakows standard in 2015.

[7] All cars are fitted with a partial electronic passenger information system, this was part of the modernisation that MPK did on all the trams and trailers.

[7] Reusing the bogies from C6 trailers, Autosan produced a new low-floor module which was inserted between the two sections of the E6 tram.

These trams (although manufactured by a different company) are structurally similar to the Bombardier NGT8 wagons and consist of 3 sections and are 33.4 m long.