Prague Public Transit Company (DPP) has signed an eight-year contract with Škoda Group for the purchase of up to 200 new Škoda ForCity Plus Praha 52T trams.
This is one of the largest investments in new trams in the modern history of DPP, with a total value of nearly 675 million EUR.
The first 20 new trams are expected to arrive in Prague in December 2025, and another 20 vehicles a year later, by the end of December 2026.
Get set, Prague, for a significant upgrade in your daily commute with our new trams! Together with the @DPPOficialni, we bring the Škoda ForCity Plus Praha 52T. pic.twitter.com/1DL7p8ULLS
— Škoda Group EN (@SkodaGroupEN) January 10, 2024
“We have approached this public contract for the purchase of up to 200 new trams with the utmost care, just like other tenders,” said Petr Witowski, Chairman of the Board of Directors and CEO of DPP. “It was preceded by preliminary market consultations and the chosen form of negotiated procedure with publication allowed us to specify the requirements for the offered vehicles with the bidders and to verify that they can produce them in the required time and according to the required technical specification.”
“We have drawn on our long experience of operating 14T and 15T articulated trams,” Witowski continued. “We were able to award the contract to the winner on schedule within one year of the contract announcement without any obstruction or appeals to the Office for the Protection of Competition.
“The first passengers could ride the new trams in a test run as early as next year. We should take delivery of the first 20 vehicles no later than 2 December 2025, and the second 20 by 31 December 2026.
“The option allows us to purchase up to 160 additional vehicles and gradually replace a substantial part of the current high-floor vehicles if we can secure financing for the purchase with the City of Prague. If we were to exercise the contract in full, delivery of the last vehicle would fall in 2032.”
“We have managed to develop and prepare a tram that is not only technically adapted to the demanding operation in Prague streets and fits into the overall appearance of the city, but at the same time elevates the overall travel experience to a higher level,” said Tomáš Ignačák, Vice-Chairman of the Board of Directors and President CZ&SK and Central East Regions at Škoda Group.
The new vehicles will be equipped with air conditioning, an anti-collision system, automatic passenger counting, energy-efficient LED lighting, and 70 padded seats.
Alongside those specifications, the design of the new trams will combine a multi-link vehicle with two pivoting bogies under the outermost links and two partly pivoting bogies under the inner chassis. This combination should lead to the tramcar being more accessible as well as helping adapt to any track profile also.
This solution will have an impact on the longer service life of the vehicles, assuming, for example, up to 50% more-wheel mileage than the 15T trams, and ultimately lower maintenance costs for the bogies and its most expensive components.
Photo Credit: Skoda Group
