“We are starting to build an eleven-kilometer line. This will bring trolleybus traffic back to the streets of Prague, “said Adam Schreinherr, Deputy Mayor for Transport and Chairman of the Supervisory Board of DPP (Prague Sobě). The company is the largest city company and operates Prague’s public transport.

The construction of an overhead contact line for the line is provided for the Prague transport company for 283.7 million crowns by the association of companies Elektrizace Praha and OHLA ŽS. The construction of the line should take about ten months, in October, according to DPP estimates, it should be put into trial operation. The company has the advantage of already built, about a kilometer long in Prosecká street. A new line will be established between Palmovka and Kundratka, Kelerka and the Prosecká stop, and between the Letňany terminal and the Čakovice shopping center, as previously announced by DPP representatives.

The cars will be powered from the trolleys about half of the track, the rest will run on battery power. According to the technical director of DPP – Surface Jan Šurovský, the addition of batteries to trolleybuses brings the most sustainable form of electromobility for cities such as Prague. Schreinherr is provided similarly. According to him, emission-free trolleybuses will be more environmentally friendly and will ensure a smoother and quieter ride compared to bus transport.

“We are reducing emissions in public transport and thus fulfilling the climate plan of Prague,” added Petr Hlubuček, Deputy Mayor for the Environment, Infrastructure, Technical Equipment and Safety (STAN).

New vehicles will operate on the line. In 2021, the DPP announced a public contract for the supply of fifteen articulated battery trolleybuses. According to Schreinherr, the winner of the tender should be known in the coming days. According to Šurovský, deliveries of cars will affect the date of start of operation of the new line 58.

Trolleybuses ran in the locality from 1952 to 1965, Šurovský informed. The then line started at the U Kříže stop and led along Prosecká Street through Krocínka to the railway station in Čakovice. It was used primarily to transport workers to factories. Since 2018, line number 58, connecting Palmovka and Letňany, has been in trial operation. Most of the route, the car was powered by batteries.

Plan of other tracks

The capital, together with the DPP, is preparing to electrify other routes as well. “Internal combustion engines in transport are one of the biggest polluters of the environment and cause a number of respiratory diseases. By 2030, at least 75 percent of the DPP bus fleet will be replaced by emission-free electric buses, battery trolleybuses and low-emission buses, ”promises Hlubuček.

Trolleybuses should run, for example, on line 119 at the airport in Ruzyně. According to Petr Witowski, Chairman of the Board of Directors and CEO of DPP, the suppliers are now competing to ensure operation on the line. Electric cars should also run on lines 131, 134, 137, 176 and 191.

Trolleybuses took to the streets of Prague in August 1936. The first line led from the Střešovice tram depot through Ořechovka and Hanspaulka to the Church of St. Matthew near Šárka. The last trolleybus line that ran in Strahov ended in the autumn of 1972.