Solaris Tramino (Leipzig)

Updated: August 2026 – Smooth cab shape, continuous flat floor, wide doors: the Solaris Tramino represents, on the Leipzig network, the step from the first low-floor generation to the modern tram. This page shows you how to recognise it, why the manufacturer question isn’t quite so simple, and how to find it on the network in a targeted way.

What is the Solaris Tramino?

The Tramino is a tram platform from the Polish manufacturer Solaris – a company most people know for city buses. Vehicles from this platform were procured for Leipzig, tailored to the local network. In Poznań, incidentally, sits Modertrans Poznań, a second Polish tram builder.

The manufacturer question is an instructive special case here: Solaris sold its rail vehicle division to Stadler in 2015. Vehicles built after that continue to run technically as Tramino, but are built within the Stadler group. Depending on the date, you’ll find both manufacturer names in different sources. For identification in the field this doesn’t matter – what counts there is the body shape, not the company nameplate.

How to recognise the modern generation

Several vehicle generations run alongside each other on the Leipzig network. The quickest dividing line doesn’t run across the front, but across the vehicle floor.

The comparison with older types on the same network makes this vivid: the NGT8 Leipzig and the NGT12 Leipzig represent the first low-floor generation, while the Leoliner is a distinct Leipzig solution in between. The Leoliner was built in Leipzig itself, by HeiterBlick. Older cars from the network are also preserved at the Leipzig-Möckern Tram Museum. If you want to memorise the order of checking steps – body shape, counting features, number – you’ll find it in the guide to identifying rolling stock classes.

Gauge, network binding, and what it means for spotting

Leipzig runs on a 1,458 mm gauge, just above standard gauge. This peculiarity reaches right into vehicle procurement.

Aspect	Effect	Consequence for spotters
Special gauge	no second-hand vehicles from other networks	closed, manageable fleet
Network-specific vehicle width	vehicles are custom-built	every type is city-specific
Platform and boarding heights	matched to the network	boarding profile is a good feature
Operational fleet numbers	only unique within the network	always note the number together with the city
Ongoing new procurement	fleet composition keeps shifting	current sightings beat old lists

Low-floor share as a generational feature

If you only want to remember one single feature to tell modern trams from older ones, make it this: how much of the vehicle floor is actually walkable flat?

The first low-floor generation of the 1990s achieved the low entry only between the bogies. Over the bogies the floor stayed high, and inside there are raised platforms there, sometimes with steps. The reason is structural: axles, drive and suspension need space, and you can’t shrink that arbitrarily.

Modern vehicles solve this differently – with more compact bogies and a design where a continuous flat floor was the goal from the outset. You see the result the moment you look inside the vehicle: no raised platforms, no steps, one continuous aisle.

From the outside there’s a reliable clue for this too: the window sill line. On the first generation it jumps upward over the bogies, because the interior floor sits higher there. On modern vehicles it runs at the same height along the whole length. This feature also works in photos where you can’t see inside – and it’s independent of livery, manufacturer and network.

This is especially useful because modern low-floor trams from different manufacturers look increasingly alike. Cab shapes are converging, doors look similar, and everyone now has LED lighting. The floor construction, by contrast, separates generations cleanly – and identification can be built on that even on an unfamiliar network.

Photo tips for modern trams

Modern vehicles are photographically more demanding than older ones: large smooth surfaces, lots of glass, dark window bands. They reflect – and they show up every bit of blur.

• Consider a polarising filter. Large glass areas and painted flanks reflect sky and buildings. A polariser calms the image noticeably.
• Avoid harsh midday sun. Smooth surfaces without structure need soft, directional light, otherwise the vehicle looks flat.
• Expose for the front. Dark window bands tempt the metering to overexpose the bright surfaces. A slight negative exposure compensation rescues the detail.
• Keep the fleet number sharp. It’s small and often sits at the edge of the front – better to stop down a bit than to guess afterwards.

For how to track a moving tram and catch the right moment, see the guide to following a moving tram. Examples of successful compositions are collected in the article on tram spotter photos.

Common mix-ups

The hardest cases today are no longer old versus new, but new versus new. Modern low-floor trams from different manufacturers are converging visually: large windscreens, smooth surfaces, LED technology, wide doors. If you only compare the cab shape, you can easily reach the wrong conclusion with two vehicles from different manufacturers.

The network approach is more reliable. Because Leipzig has its own gauge, the number of possible types is small from the start – and within that short list, the fleet number decides. That’s exactly why, with trams, it’s worth consistently noting the city and the number together rather than just the type name.

Verdict

The Solaris Tramino is a good example of how, with trams, the manufacturer question can sometimes be more complicated than the vehicle identification. In the field, one look inside and at the cab shape is enough to tell it apart from the older Leipzig generation. Anyone documenting properly should note the fleet number and date – the manufacturer attribution can be looked up later.