ČKD Tatra Mountains

Prague trams of various years of construction, manufactured by ČKD Tatra (2004)

ČKD Tatra np , until 1963: Vagonka Tatra Smíchov np , was a manufacturer of rail vehicles in Czechoslovakia . In the area of ​​the Council for Mutual Economic Aid (RGW), the plant was the most important producer of trams .

history

ČKD Tatra emerged in 1946 as Vagonka Tatra Smíchov np from a part of the nationalized Ringhoffer-Tatra AG , which originally belonged to the Ringhoffer works . Traditional products of the company were tram cars, but also tenders for steam locomotives and saloon cars . The reference product of the post-war years was, for example, the saloon car for Josef Stalin .

In 1949 the factory took over the licenses for the construction of the American PCC cars . The first tram car based on this model was manufactured as the T1 in the Praha-Smíchov plant from 1951 . The plant subsequently specialized in the manufacture of tram cars. The supplier of the electrical equipment was the Prague company ČKD . However, railway vehicles continued to be produced, for example passenger coaches for the narrow-gauge railways of the ČSD . From 1963 the plant was then part of the ČKD company as ČKD Tatra np .

Based on an initiative of the Dresdner Verkehrsbetriebe and a resulting supply contract dated July 10, 1965, the delivery of trams for the tram companies in the GDR began in 1967 . After the conclusion of a corresponding COMECON agreement, the plant ultimately became the leading manufacturer of trams in the COMECON member countries.

At the end of the 1960s, ČKD Tatra also developed a multiple unit for the Prague Metro, which was then still under construction . Due to various technical problems, however, there was no series production.

In the mid-1980s the factory was outdated and too small, and a decision was made to build a new factory in the western Zličín district of Prague . When this new plant was completed in 1996, the traditional sales market in Eastern Europe had already collapsed. The Smíchov plant was demolished and the facade of the main building was integrated into a newly built shopping center. Ultimately, all of ČKD's rail vehicle production was concentrated in the Zličín plant. This was also met with the name change from ČKD Tatra to ČKD Dopravní systémy as .

Portions of this article appear since task of the work by Siemems and closing in September 2009 out of date to be .
Please help to research and insert the missing information .

In January 2000, ČKD Dopravni systemy as was insolvent and had to file for bankruptcy. In 2001 the plant was finally acquired by Siemens AG . It now traded as Siemens kolejová vozidla s ro within the Siemens Transportation Systems division . Today the plant is part of the Public Transit division of Siemens Mobility . Business areas are the construction of passenger coaches, multiple units and construction.

The Tatra trams are now being further developed by Aliance TW , founded in 2001 , consisting of the former railway repair plant Krnovské opravny a strojírny sro (KOS) in Krnov , the design office VKV Praha sro and the marketing company Pragoimex as, both from Prague.

Rail vehicles

→ Main article : Tatra tram

The most important product of the plant from 1951 to 1997 were trams, which were exported to almost all countries of the then Eastern Bloc. Until the 1960s, however, the plant also built passenger coaches for the ČSD.

• 

  With 13,991 units, the type T3 was the most popular type of tram in the world

• 

  Between 1967 and 1968 vehicles of the type T2D were built for the GDR , which corresponded to the Gothawagen

• 

  Passenger car for the narrow-gauge railways of the ČSD

• 

  Railcar of the Electric Tatra Railway

• 

  “Rybák” passenger car for the ČSD

See also

• ČKD

Web links

Commons : Tatra vehicles  - collection of pictures, videos and audio files

• Advertising brochure from ČKD Tatra (around 1970) (PDF; 2.3 MB)
• History of Ringhoffer and the ČKD Tatra np Archived from the original on May 4, 2009 ; Retrieved February 28, 2011 (Czech). 

Individual evidence

1. ^ František Ringhoffer II .: z kotláře baronem.  ( Page no longer available , search in web archives )  Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. on: volby.ihned.cz , February 14, 2008. (Czech.)  
2. ^ Gerhard Bauer and others: Tram archive. Volume 1: History, Technology, Operation. transpress, Berlin 1983, DNB 860024709 , pp. 84ff.
3. ↑ Jaromír Bittner et al .: Maly atlas lokomotiv 2009. Gradis Bohemia, 2008, ISBN 978-80-86925-05-9 , p. 10ff.