Historic Prague Tram T6A5 To Be Retired From Circulation

The historic Prague tram models known as the T6A5 will be retired from circulation on Saturday, the city’s public transport authorities announced on Wednesday.

With six remaining cars in circulation, the T6A5’s last journey will take place on Saturday on line number 4.

“For fans of public transport, we have prepared a farewell to trams with several symbolic links. It is almost exactly 26 years since the takeover of the first two cars, which took place on June 24, 1995,” said DPP Technical Director Jan Šurovský.

On Saturday, the T6A5 trams will run from 08:00 until 18:00. At 18:15, all six trams will leave Smíchovské nádraží on the way through the city center. They will travel pass Anděl, Újezd, Malostranská and from Chotkovy sady to Špejchar.

Two T6A5 trams will be kept by the Prague Public Transit Company for use on historic lines, primarily as an attraction for tourists.

The Tatra T6A5 was designed as a successor to Tatra T3 which has been operated in Europe for more than three decades at the time T6A5 was launched.

They are commonly called “Irons” by the general public and operator employees because their design resembles the triangular surface of clothing irons when seen from a larger height.

Although T6A5 is operated exclusively in the Czech Republic and Slovakia, there are several different versions operated in other states in Continental Europe and some efforts had been made also to operate these vehicles in North America.