Tender to build new Wenceslas Square tram lines announced

Trams ran up and down Prague’s Wenceslas Square in the past and are set to do so again. This plan has now taken another step forward, with the city’s transport authority issuing a public tender to build the necessary lines, Novinky.cz reported.

Construction work should begin next year and the commission also includes an overall overhaul of the city’s main thoroughfare, the news website said.

The new tram lines are intended to connect the Vinohrady and New Town districts of the Czech capital.

Whereas previously trams ran in the very centre of Wenceslas Square, the plan is for them to operate on the roads that are currently there, Novinky.cz said.

The roads will be divided between cars and trams, architect Vladimír Vacek said in the past. The centre of the square will be given over to a 15 metre wide pedestrian zone.

The tracks should not complicate traffic even on the main “magistrála” through road that runs in front of and behind the National Museum.

This is because, similarly to the nearby I. P. Pavlova Square, pedestrians will cross and trams will pass when cars are stopped at red lights.

A stretch of tracks was laid in advance between the National Museum buildings at the very top of the square during renovation work that was completed in 2019.

The return of lines running up and down Wenceslas Square is intended to take some pressure of the Lazarská junction, which can see 170 trams in a single hour at peak hours.

Trams up and down Wenceslas Square until 1980.