Plzen-based Skoda Transportation (
www.skoda.cz/en) has delivered the last of 250 ForCity Alfa trams to representatives of the Prague Public Transport Co, marking the end of one of the largest orders in its history.
Company chairman Petr Brzezina said: “It’s been almost 10 years since the first Skoda-designed red and silver low-floor tram was launched in Prague. Since then, our vehicles have successfully carried passengers for over 50 million km.
"There is much demand for our ForCity trams, as evidenced by last year’s orders for up to 176 ForCity Smart trams for Ostrava and Plzen, as well as the three German cities of Mannheim, Ludwigshafen and Heidelberg.”
The ForCity Alfa Praha tram is the world’s first serially produced 100% low-floor tram with a pivoting bogie, and it is the first featuring permanent-magnet gearless motors driving all the wheels (on four axle-less bogies).
The location of the bogies under the bellows section and under the end of the vehicle allows for maximum ‘flexibility’ in the interior layout.
With a length of 31.4m and a width of less than 2.5m, this uni-directional three-section tram has 61 seats and can carry 180 passengers.
Radek Elhota, project manager at Skoda, said: “The first tram was delivered on 28 January 2011, the 100th tram was delivered in 2014, and the 200th tram was delivered in 2017.
“There was a change in the tram’s design and interior in 2015, and several technical innovations were made that increased travel comfort. Skoda has since delivered 125 of these innovative vehicles.”