DPP announced a billion-dollar competition for a new depot in Hloubětín. Trams will be washed with rainwater

DPP wants to have new facilities for trams completed by the end of 2023.

Dopravní podnik hl. The City of Prague (DPP) has announced one of the largest construction contracts in recent years, which concerns trams. In the competition for 1.6 billion crowns, he is looking for a company that will build a new deposition and repair hall for trams in Hloubětín. The estimated value of the public contract is 1.6 billion crowns. DPP wants to start construction this year, construction according to the project will take 26 months.

The new hall will have two parts. The depository can hold up to 61 15T cars. The repair shop will create six stations with a capacity of up to 12 trams of the 14T / 15T type. DPP will equip them with new technology for the maintenance of low-floor trams. In addition, two new buildings for other operations will be built on the site, and the objects to be demolished will disappear at the same time. Roads, parking and parking areas or green areas will also undergo reconstruction. The whole building will be divided into three stages.

DPP decided to demolish the existing depot due to irreparable deformations of the roof, which threatened to collapse. The paradox is that the youngest Prague depot went to the ground; was built at the turn of the 40s and 50s. Its roof consisted of reinforced concrete shells designed by the Armabeton plant.

Competition announced 70 years after the start of operation

The transport company will use more economical technologies with lower energy consumption and more environmentally friendly in the new depot. The hall will be structurally divided into a part used only for parking the cars and a part for performing maintenance, which will significantly reduce the space with the need for permanent heating and lighting. The roof of the hall will be partially fitted with photovoltaic panels, which will supply electricity to the depot area. The DPP will collect rainwater and use it for washing trams, and the company will use economical heat pumps to heat the premises.

“It is symbolic that we are announcing a public contract for the contractor of the new Hloubětín depot almost for the day exactly on the occasion of the 70th anniversary of the start of operation of the original one. We have taken another important step towards the construction of a new, modern depot. The only thing that will remain unchanged from the original area is the hall of the level lathe, which we built in 2012,“Said Jan Šurovský, Member of the Board of Directors and Technical Director of DPP – Surface.

Repair hall for low-floor trams

The repair hall will be specially built for the maintenance of low-floor trams. There will be footbridges, cranes and chassis turning stations. The new hall will be adjacent to the former day treatment hall, which we will modernize in terms of equipment, among other things by rebuilding the tram washer. Apart from the Central Workshops in Hostivař, we do not have a similarly equipped repair hall for low-floor trams in any other depot. “Thanks to the new facilities in Hloubětín, we will be able to streamline the maintenance of low-floor trams. We will be able to move the trams now parked on the outdoor area in Hostivař under the roof to the landing hall again and we will fundamentally improve the working conditions of our maintenance staff, “ added Šurovský.

The first stage of construction began last year, it is an energy center and substation. At present, the transhipment of the sewerage system is completed, including the construction of sewerage shafts, the earthing network against stray currents, and the foundation slab of the energy center itself has been concreted and the horizontal waterproofing has been completely laid. According to the current development of construction work, the new energy center and substation in the Hloubětín depot should be put into operation at the end of September this year. If the selection of the contractor in the just announced public contract takes place without complications, DPP plans to follow up on the commissioning of the energy center by starting the construction of a new deposition and repair hall during the fourth quarter of this year. In such a case, the new Hloubětín depot could begin to fully serve its purpose at the end of 2023.

“After more than 70 years, Prague will acquire a new modern, environmentally friendly depot,” added Adam Scheinherr, Deputy Mayor for Transport and Chairman of the DPP Supervisory Board.