New leadership in Prague wants to bring trams back to Wenceslas Square

Prague - Trams are likely to return to Prague's Wenceslas Square. The new leadership of the capital wants to build a track from Vinohradská Street across the square and connect it to the tracks linking Vodičkova and Jindřišská streets. It could be completed within four years. CTK was informed today by Deputy Mayor Adam Scheinherr (Prague for Themselves), who is responsible for transport in the council. He wants to discuss the return of trams with the leadership of Prague 1. At the same time, the city intends to build a track from Vinohradská to the main train station and into Bolzanova Street. Trams have not operated in the square since the 1980s. Discussions about their return have been ongoing for several years, and in the past, the Prague 1 municipality had opposed it.

"The connection will allow people from Prague 2 to travel quickly through the city by tram. It will also enable new tram line management and solutions for emergencies,” said Scheinherr.

If the city approves the construction, it will have to build overhead lines and tracks, connecting them to Vinohradská and the line that crosses the center of the square. A new stop would be created in the upper part. It is not yet clear exactly how the tracks will be routed, whether along the current road or through the middle of the square as in the past. The coordination with the construction of the so-called collector, which contains engineering networks, also needs to be resolved. "Digging up the square once for collectors and once for trams does not seem practical to us,” said Scheinherr.

Scheinherr is not concerned about objections from heritage conservationists or Prague 1, whose previous leadership referred to the return of trams as a wiring of the square. According to him, architects have previously addressed the issue in such a way that the overhead lines and wiring do not disrupt the view of the square. "For example, the poles would be hidden among the trees,” he said.

Scheinherr also wants to have a tendered variant for the construction of the track to the main train station and further into Bolzanova Street within four years. "We have already agreed on the final variant to Bolzanova Street, but we still need to discuss it with Prague 1, which I want to negotiate with first, rather than informing them through the media,” he said.

According to a document previously created by the Institute of Planning and Development (IPR), according to the first variant, trams would turn from Vinohradská into Wilsonova Street towards the State Opera. The track would then veer across the main road into the park and head towards the station, from where it would follow the main road to the intersection of Bolzanova and U Bulhara. The second option is that the tracks would lead to the opera on the same route as in the first variant, but would then not head towards the station hall but into Opletalova Street and further to the intersection with Bolzanova. The final option proposes to lead the track from Vinohradská to Wenceslas Square and then into Opletalova and to Bolzanova.

Unlike the route to the square, the construction to Bolzanova is complicated by the need to change the zoning plan. It would indeed pass through the park in front of the station.