Trolleybuses will start running in Prague 5, the transport company will issue a tender for the construction of the line

The Prague Transport Company (DPP) has issued a tender for the construction of trolleys or thirty-seven charging stations for the planned trolleybus line in Prague 5 from the Na Knížecí stop to the U Waltrovky stop. The trolleybus will replace the current bus line number 137. The DPP estimates the costs to be 170 million crowns. The company plans to start construction this year, and the trolleybus will start operating in 2025. Line number 137 will then change to trolleybus number 52. DPP spokeswoman Aneta Řehková informed about this.

“Selected connections of line No. 137 currently go to Jinonice and Mala Ohrad, however, due to the intensity of traffic, only the hilly section Na Knížecí – U Waltrovky will be electrified. Here, the vehicles overcome a long and drawn-out climb from Smíchov towards Malvazinky with an average gradient of up to seven percent,” said Řehková.

The rest of the route to Waltrovka also has a profile with significant ascent and descent. For this reason, the share of the section with trolley lines will be approximately 80 percent. This investment event is part of the project of electrification of bus lines in the Left Bank part of Prague, in addition to number 137, also lines number 131, 176 and 191, which are also in an advanced stage of design preparation.

As part of the construction of this trolleybus line, approximately 4,440 meters of single-track trolleybus line will be created, which will be between the Santoška and U Waltrovky stops. It will be necessary to install 104 traction masts, while the same rule applies as for previous electrification constructions.

“This means that there will not be a forest of new masts just for trolleybuses, but DPP will use combined masts as much as possible, which will be used both for traction lines and for street lighting,” said Řehková.

In addition, it will be necessary to lay approximately two kilometers of cable routes and build a completely new transformer station in Peroutková street, which will feed the catenary line in the Santoška – U Waltrovky section.

“If there are no major complications, either during the public contract for the contractor or in the parallel project of TSK in Peroutková street, we anticipate the start of infrastructure construction in the fall of this year and battery trolleybuses could appear on the line by the end of 2025,” said Jan Šurovský , technical director of DPP.

The company will deploy battery trolleybuses of standard length, i.e. 12 meters, on the line. In October of last year, DPP issued a public contract for the supplier of up to 70 vehicles of this type, and now the signing of the contract with the winner is being prepared.

Part of the investment project for the electrification of bus line No. 137 also includes the construction of seven charging stations in the current Na Knížecí bus terminal, which will be intended both for line No. 137 (trolleybus No. 52) and in the future also for No. 191 (No. 56) . Thanks to the use of synergistic effects and the capacity of the tram network, the charging stations in the Na Knížecí terminal will be powered from the Radlice tram switchyard.

In addition, as part of this public contract, DPP will set up up to 37 outdoor charging stations in the Řepy garage, which will follow on from the infrastructure built as part of the electrification project of bus line no. 119 (now trolleybus no. 59). The new stands will be primarily intended for parking battery trolleybuses with a standard length of 12 meters, which should gradually be deployed on electrified lines No. 137, 131 and 176.