prague tram system

The Prague tram system is the largest tram system in the Czech Republic (others are in Ostrava, Brno, Plzeň, Olomouc, Liberec and Most) and one of the most extensive tram systems in Europe. It consists of 140 kilometres of track, over 900 tram cars, and 34 lines with a total route length of 540 km. It is operated by Prague Public Transit Company Inc. (same as the Metro system). The system served 356 million passengers in 2008. The first horsecar tram line was opened in 1875, the first electric tram ran in 1891.

tram lines

Tram lines have generally reserved numbers between 1 and 99 (100 and higer numbers anre used for bus lines), but only some of these numbers are used:
  • There are currently 25 day lines, numbered 1 to 26 (line 23 is not served). The day lines run approximately from 4:30 am to 0:30 am next day. Most lines run every day from early morning till midnight, but some of them do not run at weekends and several run only at rush hours. Most lines have 10 minutes interval during the day, 8 minutes during the rush hours and 20 minutes in the evening. There are currently two "core" or "backbone" lines (9 and 22) with higher frequency than ordinary lines.
  • Numbers 30 to 39 are reserved for occasional temporary lines which are in service during traffic restrictions and closures. There is a simple rule that if there is a need to use a replacement tram line: the most similar number from the "30s" series as the original number is used: for example lines 1 or 11 or 21 have replacement numbered 31 etc..
  • Night lines are numbered 51 to 59. They operate between midnight and approximately 5 am they have different routes than the day network, designed so that these 9 lines cover almost all of the tram network. All night lines have uniform interval of 30 minutes and all of them converge at Lazarská in the city centre. Passengers can change the lines within 5 minutes there.
  • Tram line 91 is called the Nostalgic Tram Line and is served by historical vehicles. It is in operation from the 4th March to the 17th November 2009 on Saturdays, Sundays and holidays from 12:00 pm. to around 5:35 pm.
  • When most of the metro system was put out of order during the heavy flooding of 2002, there were also tram lines X-A and X-B which served asr replacement for metro lines A and B (line C was replaced by bus line X-C). Tram lines are in turn sometimes temporarily replaced by bus lines (generally only some section of the tram line is replaced) which are named in a similar fay (for example bus line X-1 for tram line 1).

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