The CSMG series was Ganz's, and thus the Hungarian machine industry's first foray into articulated rail vehicle production as the obsolete
CSM Bengáli tramcars made by
FVV's in-house Árpád Füzesi Workshop, and Ganz's own lower capacity
UV series proved to be inadequate for the growing demands of Budapest's tram network. Thus two CSMG prototypes, sometimes referred to as CSMG-0, were manufactured between 1964 and 1965. These had only one articulation, but were expanded with another body section later to resemble the production variants, as they were in passenger service for some years. After the first CSMG production run however, features were scaled back, this resulted in tramcars having less comfort, but after years of repairs and refurbishments, almost all CSMG cars converged to a general set of specifications referred to as CSMG-E (
Csuklós Motorkocsi, Ganz – Egységesített, "Articulated Motor Coach, Ganz – Unified"). Eventually 3 main variants of CSMG tramcars were produced, these variants are shown in the following table. Between 1991 and 1994, a CSMG car damaged in the 1980s was rebuilt and modernized by Ganz and got the designation KCSV-5 (
Korszerűsített Csuklós Villamos, 5-ös típus, "Modernized Articulated Tram, type 5"). Based on the experiences with this car, 30 CSMG cars were refurbished between 1996 and 1999, these were designated as KCSV-7 (
Korszerűsített Csuklós Villamos, 7-es típus, "Modernized Articulated Tram, type 7"). These shouldn't be confused with Ganz's last articulated tram type, the similarly designated
KCSV-6. CSMG-related prototypes, refurbishments and other related vehicles are shown in the following table. == See also ==