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Čeština
Starting on Saturday, the 25th March 2017, in the streets of Prague, you can encounter the nostalgic No. 23 line which is fully serviced by our legendary historic T3 trams.
The new nostalgic line is in operation in the Královka – Malovanka – Pražský hrad – Královský letohrádek – Malostranská – Malostranské náměstí – Újezd – Národní divadlo – Národní třída – Karlovo náměstí – I. P. Pavlova – Vinohrady – Zvonařka section.
On this line the standard fare in accordance with the PID Tariff is valid. The new line is scheduled to operate daily between cca. 8.30 a.m. and 7 p.m. at 30-minute intervals (on weekends and holidays in the period from late April to mid-October at intervals of 15-20 minutes). You can find the timetable for this line here.
The History of the T3 tram in Prague
Prior to the Second World War the modernisation of the tram rolling stock had become an issue for the Electrical Companies (the PPT Co’s predecessor). In 1951 the Tatra Smíchov factory came-up with the prototype of a new T1 tram. The tramcar was built based on a completely new concept of the Presidents’ Conference Committee Car (PCC), and it is equipped with two two-axle chassis. Between the years 1951 and 1956, 133 T1 trams that were very elegant for their time were delivered to Prague. From the second half of the 1970’s, the number of trams of this type began to decline. The actual termination of the T1s came about on the 25th January 1983 when the last ride on line No. 23 was dispatched from the Střešovice depot.
Despite the fact that the T1 trams did not actually become imaginary rulers of the Prague streets the development of the PCC type tram continued. The cramped interior of the T1 tramcars and the impossibility of adjusting this type of tram to a 1000 mm gauge led to the development of the T2 tram. In 1955, two prototype tramcars were delivered, but the increased dimensions and the more heavy design of the vehicle meant an enormous increase in weight and therefore also in related energy demands. The serial production of this type of tram commenced in 1957 but no other T2 tramcars were delivered to Prague.
Synonym of the tram
At the international fair in Brno in the summer of 1960 the first T3 tram was introduced to the public. After the fair finished the employees of the Tatra Smíchov national enterprise initiated the first test rides on the Prague rails, without passengers in the first months, however. The prototype was continually “fine-tuned” and various adjustments were made.
Regular operation of the T3 trams was initiated on lines Nos. 4 and 27 on the 22nd November 1962. Every new vehicle has its own “childhood illnesses” of course, and even the trams of this type were no exception. In spite of this they turned out to be reliable tramcars and supplies of them started heading to Prague. The final farewell to the T3 trams took place in Prague on the Open Doors Day in Hostivař in 2011. At present, passengers can encounter modernised trams of this type on the nostalgic No. 23 line.
