Skoda–Solaris consortium to supply trolleybuses for Prague airport line
This is the first contract in the Czech Republic for double-articulated trolleybuses. The tender for the manufacturer took over a year and the first trolleybuses will be taken over by the Prague Public Transit Company (DPP) next year.
The Czech-Polish-Spanish consortium of Skoda Electric, Solaris Bus & Coach and Solaris Czech won the tender to supply new double-articulated trolleybuses for the planned line from Nádraží Veleslavín to Prague Airport.
The Prague Public Transit Company (DPP) will pay CZK 623 million for 20 large-capacity vehicles; the contract has already been signed. The tender took over a year, it was announced in October 2020. The vehicles have been given a working name Skoda-Solaris 24m. The vehicles are based on the Solaris Trollino 24 model.
This is the first contract in the Czech Republic for double-articulated trolleybuses. The manufacturer of the chassis and complete bodywork is the Polish-Spanish company Solaris Bus & Coach, while the electric traction equipment, including electric motors, will come from Skoda Electric of the Skoda Transportation Group.
Building permits for electrification issued
The fully low-floor, double-articulated battery-powered trolleybus with five double doors and full-car air conditioning will carry up to 179 passengers and offer 52 seats. The vehicle will be a four-axle with second and third axle drive. The passenger compartment lighting and exterior lighting uses LED technology. There is space for two baby carriages, or two wheelchairs, or one baby carriage and one wheelchair in the second door area. Standard equipment offers wheelchair fixing and attachment devices, a folding backrest and a backrest plate.
A building permit for the electrification of line 119 was issued a few weeks ago. The trolley line should be built on approximately half of the line’s route, specifically in the Nádraží Veleslavín – Terminal 3 stretch. In the remaining stretches, trolleybuses will run in battery mode. In addition to dynamic charging when running under the trolley, the trolleybus batteries will also be charged statically at the turning circles. Trolley tracks for charging and balancing batteries as well as preconditioning the interior before departure will be put up in the dispatching garage.
Commencement by end of 2023
The new trolleybuses are due to appear on the line to the airport by the end of 2023. “The first double-articulated trolleybus might run earlier on line 58 as part of the trial operation. We should receive the first vehicle designed specifically for test runs in December 2023, and the remaining 19 by mid-February 2024,” said Petr Witowski, chairman of the board and CEO of DPP.