interurban transport body. At the end of the 1990s the Bytom – Chorzów – Katowice line was to be upgraded to light-rail (LRT) standards. Due to a lack of funds, the investment was only partially carried out. In February 1998, an agreement was signed with the French-British concern GEC Alsthom (currently Alstom) for the delivery of Citadis 100 streetcars. The new trams were built in Chorzów's Alstom plant (after Konstal was sold to Alstom in 1997). Further track modernization was also tendered. The new streetcars were to be delivered by the end of 1999 and the track renovation was to be completed by 18 October 2000. However, there were obstacles to that schedule: On 1 January 1999, as part of an administrative reform the Silesian Voivodeship was established, which resulted in transferring the management of the investment to the Office of the Marshal of the Silesian Voivodeship and in limiting budget funds for the execution of the investment. First Citadis tram entered service on 3 May 2001 and deliveries of all trams were complete by 11 October 2001. These new trams gained the endearing nickname Karlik during a public vote in 2001. On 5 December 2002, the Ministry of Treasury signed the notarial deed of commercialization of Przedsiębiorstwo Komunikacji Tramwajowej. A sole shareholder company of the State Treasury - Tramwaje Śląskie - was created and it started its operation on 1 January 2003. The changes included only formal matters such as the name or the graphic symbols; the rules of financing the streetcar transport were not changed. Liquidation of the state-owned WPK Katowice back in 1991 caused an organizational mess: bus lines were financed by individual gminas across the region, the issue of subsidizing intercity connections was unclear and tram transport was limited by funds from the state budget. This led the tram system to the brink of bankruptcy. To alleviate these issues, presidents of Upper Silesian cities signed an agreement in Gliwice on 9 December 2005 which aimed to centralize transport and establish Upper Silesia conurbation as a metropolis. Austerity measures for the network At the beginning of the 21st century due to the unprofitability of the network and the move towards buses, a second wave of line decommissioning began on the Silesian Interurban network which saw closure of five lines: On 1 April 2006 the line between Bytom and the terminus in Dąbrówka Wielka (a district of Piekary