Prague tram system

Name	Prague tram system
Locale	Prague, Czech Republic
Transit type	Tramway
Began operation	1875
System length	- tracks - routes
Lines	33 (9 night routes)
Ridership	980,000 (2008)
Track gauge
Operator	Prague Public Transit

, a modernised variant of the popular T3 tram]] The Prague tram (streetcar) system is the largest tram system in the Czech Republic, consisting of 140 kilometres of track, over 900 tram cars, and 33 lines with a total route length of 540 km. It is operated by Dopravní podnik hlavního města Prahy a.s., a company owned by the City of Prague. The system served 356 million passengers in 2008. The first horsecar tram line was opened in 1875, the first electric tram ran in 1891.

Prague trams today

As of 1 March 2011, the Prague tram network includes:

24 day routes (numbered 1 to 26 [excluding 13 and 23]),

9 night routes (numbered 51 to 59) and

1 historical route, number 91 (in service between April and October, weekends only).

The day lines run from 4:30AM until 1:00AM (Su - Th) 1:30AM (Fr, Sa) the next day. Most of the lines run everyday from early morning to late night. Some lines also only run at selected times (usually workdays) and/or rush hours.

Night trams

Night trams operate between midnight and 5:00 or 6:00. Their routes are different to the daily ones, since in the night the trams have to substitute for the Metro. All lines converge at Lazarská in the city centre, although other interchanges exist. At Lazarská, passengers can change between all routes within 5 minutes, although individual services only run once every 30 minutes. Trams operating on the night lines start their shifts at about 8:00 PM on normal day lines, changing their routes at midnight and returning to their depots at the start of normal operations.

History

Horse tram

The horsecar trams started to operate on September 23, 1875 along the route Karlín - National Theater. The owner and the entrepreneur of this road was Eduard Otlet, from Belgium. This way lead to the theater, along the Národní Třída street. Tracks went approximately in direction of today's Metro Line B. In 1876, the track was extended west of the National Theater, through the Újezd hub to the Smíchov Railway Station. In 1882 the network was extended to Vinohrady and Žižkov. At that time, they were independent suburbs of Prague, but now they are incorporated into city. In 1883, the size of the entire network was 19.43 kilometers.

Electric trams

In 1891 the first electric tram line was opened in Letná, a popular place of recreation in Prague. This line led from the upper terminal of the Letná Funicular to the pavilion of the Jubilee Exhibition through Ovenecká street. After two more years, this line was extended to the Governor's Villa, a further distance of 1.4 km. In 1896, on March 19, František Křižík opened a second, more important tram line, which lead from Florenc to Libeň and Vysočany, joining the industrial suburbs of Prague with its residential area in the center.

In a continuation of the rapid growth of Prague's trams, another new lined was opened in 1897. This time it was a suburban route from Smíchov to Košíře. It was named "Hlaváčkova electric railway". Later, a new passenger railroad in Královské Vinohrady was opened. The Prague to Vinohrady stretch spanned 5.8 kilometers, had 17 stations, and passed through Nové město (New Town).

At another side of the city, thanks to above-listed railway between Anděl and Smíchov, it allowed Prague tram to provide one-seat-ride between Košíře and Vinohrady. Eventually, the municipal enterprise, Prague Transportation Company, was formed.

In 1898 the horse railway was bought by the company. Due to this, construction of new track started along with electrification of the existing tracks.

Early 20th century

In the early 20th century, a monopoly was formed to provide transportation in the city. It began to electrify the horse tram and soon the Otlet Prague trams came under the control of competitors of the electric enterprises. As the monopoly grew, it took over the tracks of the rest of its private competitors. The last private track, the work of František Křižík, was transferred to the city by the year of 1907. In 1905, the electrification works were finished. Even the last horse tram route through the Charles Bridge was electrified (also a project of František Křižík). The tram route through the Charles Bridge operated until 1908.

World War One

The coming of war added new strains to the network. In favor of earlier-coming sanitation trains from a war frontier, sanitation trams were rebuilt too. The lack of horse wagons – then the transportation problems in metropolis construction – by itself, forced the imposition of such tram elaborations as transporting the warfare and fuel, raw materials, and food. During the war, the product of ammunition, warfare should go for every price with an increasing demand, It came also to the melting of trams and falls in capacities (the melted trams were used to produce grenades and bombshells, etc.). This situation ended by the year of 1918, by signing the Peace Treaty noted as Czechoslovak Republic.

First republic

Again, the tram network underwent expansion, mainly to the newly built quarters of the expanded metropolitan Prague, such as Dejvice, Nusle and Žižkov. In 1927 the length of the network exceeded 100 km. At that time the new unidirectional tram types were introduced and the dead-end terminals were rebuilt into loops.

Post-war era

In the sixties, construction began on first underground sections of the Prague's tram network. While the works were already underway, the project was changed to become a full Metro system and the trams were expected to gradually phase-out similarly to most of the western cities. In this time, several important track sections were destroyed, including the line on the Wenceslas Square. However, in the eighties, the communist government understood advantages of a modern tram system and began ordering new tramcars, such as the Tatra KT8D5 as well as more Tatra T3, and started constructing new track sections, most of which were completed soon after the Velvet revolution. There weren't many new tracks opened during the first twenty years after the revolution, since much more attention was paid to modernizations of existing tracks and vehicles. The modernization project is still underway, causing major service disruptions every summer. 3]]

Planned network development

Restoration of some lines cancelled in the 1970s and 1980s, including the construction of new lines, is being considered. Some tracks are already included in the zoning plan, the fate of most of the proposed projects should be regarded as uncertain.

Rolling stock

The Prague public transport company has currently available for standard operations a sizable fleet of 968 trams of varying types, ranging from the classic Tatra T3 cars to the modern Škoda 14 T low-floor trams. These trams are distributed across seven depots across the city. Besides these, the company owns also a fleet of heritage streetcars kept within the transport museum and several trams especially equipped for use for driver training or snowplowing, bringing the total number of vehicles to over 1000.

Tatra T3 and modifications

The various modifications of the Tatra T3 tram cars, which are common all over the former Eastern bloc, form the bulk of the fleet, since they were produced in Prague in large numbers for both domestic use and export. More than half of the classic streetcars have undergone modernization during the first ten years of the 21st century, which equipped them with new engines and electrical equipment, new audiovisual information system for the passengers and refurbished interiors. The renovated trams were named Tatra T3R.P, where R stands for Renovated and P for the used electrical equipment. Both the original design and the modernizations have proved so successful that the transport company has decided to produce newly built trams according to the original design, but with a low-floor section in the middle.

Newer Tatra trams

In the eighties, it was decided to produce a higher-capacity tram vehicle. The result was the Tatra KT8D5 articulated tramcar, of which 49 were delivered. More than a half of these were modernized and equipped with a low-floor section. After the Velvet revolution, the company has decided not to continue with the deliveries and instead ordered a delivery of 150 standard-length Tatra T6A5 cars. Shortly after these deliveries ended, the traditional producer of trams for Prague, ČKD Tatra, went bankrupt, stopping new tram deliveries for several years.

Škoda trams

After strong demands both from the handicapped community and from the general public, the Prague transport company has decided to order new low-floor trams from Škoda Works. 60 Škoda 14 T trams, dubbed Porsche by the locals, were delivered between 2005 and 2009, to be followed by a more modern 100% low-floor Škoda 15 T from 2010.

{|class="wikitable" |- ! Image ! Tram Car Type ! Modifications and subtypes ! Board numbers ! Depot Allocations ! Count |- | | Tatra T3 | Tatra T3, Tatra T3SUCS, Tatra T3M, Tatra T3M.2-DVC, Tatra T3R.P, Tatra T3R.PV, Tatra T3R.PLF |*T3 67xx-69xx *T3SU 7001-7020 *T3SUCS 7021-7292 *T3M 8005-8106 *T3RP 8211-8245, 8300-8554 , *T3R.PV 8151-8181 T3R.PLF 8251-8258 |Hloubětín, Pankrác, Strašnice, Kobylisy, Vokovice, Žižkov | 699 |- | | Tatra KT8D5 | Tatra KT8D5, Tatra KT8D5R.N2P (23 trams modernized till May 2008) | 9001-9048 non-modernized (without 9006 - damaged), 9051-9098 modernized. When a tram gets modernized 50 is added to its board number |Hloubětín | 47 |- | | Tatra T6A5 | Tatra T6A5 | 8600-8750 |Motol, Strašnice, Žižkov | 150 |- | |Škoda 14 T | Škoda 14 T |9111-9170 |Motol | 60 |- | |Škoda 15 T | Škoda 15 T |9201, 9207 (prototypes) |Pankrác |2 |}

References

Official website

External links

A Youtube playlist with videos of Prague trams from the driver's perspective

Journey planner at the operator's official website

A fansite of the prague trams

Category:Transport in Prague Category:Tram transport in the Czech Republic