It’s a new month and that means “Around the World in Trams” moves location. For June we head to north-east Czech Republic and the city of Ostrava.
Ostrava is just 15km from the Czech border with Poland and is the capital of the Moravian-Silesian region with a population of approximately 280,000. The first trams ran in 1894 with steam power and then seven years later electric trams started operation; although steam power remained in use until the 1920s for freight. The system is standard gauge and has now extended to around 40 miles with 17 routes (including seven all night routes). The fleet consists of around 260 vehicles.
In the below photo we see rebuilt Tatra KT8D5R.N1 1515 heading away from us with a service on route 1 to Dubina. It carries the standard fleet livery of blue and white and as can be seen includes a low floor centre section. This tram was originally built in 1989 as a KT8D5 before being modernised in 2008.
Photograph by John Moore, 11th October 2023