412 - Prague, Czechia: Prague's Tatra T3SUCS tramcars

Описание: The beautiful City of Prague is Czechia's capital city and its transport company, Dopravní podnik hlavního města Prahy, (dpp)runs one of the busiest tram networks in the world utilising almost 900 trams to cover 27 daytime routes, 3 heritage routes and 9 all night services.

Still the biggest class of tram is based on the Eastern-bloc's principal tram - the Tatra T3 - and the T3SUCS was a class of 272 trams purchased by Prague in the late 1980s, after normal production of the class had ceased and dpp persuaded CKD Tatra to built this variant - T3 Soviet Union Czechoslavakia (SUCS) when no other suitable tram could be found that satisfied the requirements of the operator. They varied from previous batches of T3 inasmuch as they featured full height enclosed cabs from new. The heating system was much improved on the T3 due to the harsher weather conditions in the Soviet Union.

All Tatra T3 trams in Prague, and most of the rest of Eastern Europe were built by CKD Tatra whose massive tramcar building plant was in Smichov in the area now known as Andel. Much of the tramcar plant is now the modern Novy Smichov shopping mall so anyone who has been there will realise how big it was. The plant also spilled over into Stroupeznickeho (across the tram tracks from the shopping centre) and this now embodies shops, a plaza, a large cinema and the Andel's Hotel - a fine hotel that we use as our base in Prague.

The T3SUCS class were allocated fleet numbers 7021-7292 and were delivered in batches: 7021-7070 in 1983; 7071-7150 in 1985; 7151-7190 in 1986, 7191-7252 in 1987; 7253-7292 in 1989 though 7253 and 7272-7292 did not enter service until 1990. None of the class is left in regular revenue earning service though a few remain in the heritage fleet and can usually be found on Line 23.

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a Podbaba Transport presentation.
3rd January 2024