Trams Head Up to Strahov: DPP Signs a CZK 824m Contract for the Malovanka Line

DPP has signed the construction contract for the Malovanka – Strahov tram line, the company announced on 24 August. The job goes to a consortium trading as Společnost TT Malovanka, made up of Elektrizace železnic Praha, FIRESTA–Fišer, rekonstrukce, stavby, and PEDASTA dopravní stavby. Their bid of CZK 824.27 million excluding VAT came in almost CZK 196 million below the tender's estimated value. Eight bidders took part.

What gets built

The line runs 1.3 kilometres of double track from Bělohorská street along the entire length of Vaníčkova up to Strahov, serving the university halls of residence and terminating in a new loop at the existing bus turning circle at the Vaníčkova–Turistická junction.

The track is only part of the work. The contract also covers a complete rebuild of Bělohorská between its junctions with Myslbekova and Vaníčkova, and a rebuild of Vaníčkova along its whole length, including widening it. That is the detail worth holding onto: this is a street project as much as a tram project, and the eighteen-month construction period covers both.

There will be three pairs of stops:

• Malovanka, shared with the existing line to Bílá Hora.
• Koleje Strahov, on Vaníčkova between the halls of residence and Strahov Stadium, roughly where the bus stops of the same name are today.
• Strahov, in the new loop, shared by tram and trolleybus services. Its working name during design was Stadion Strahov.

The Strahov loop is being built at the existing bus turning circle and will have a through track and a passing track — a configuration that matters for a terminus expected to handle two modes.

Money and timing

Construction will take 18 months. DPP expects preparatory works for the tram line itself to start within the coming weeks; coordinated advance works by other bodies, among them Pražská vodohospodářská společnost, have already been running in the area for several months. That sequencing — utilities first, track second — is standard for a Prague tram job of this size, and it means residents of Vaníčkova have been living with the project before its formal start.

The line is co-financed by the European Union through the Transport Programme 2021–2027, with grants covering up to 85 percent of eligible costs. DPP does not break out what share of the CZK 824.27 million that represents.

Why this piece of track

Strahov sits on a plateau above Břevnov with a large student population, a stadium complex and a sports precinct, and until now the only public transport up Vaníčkova has been buses. Extending the tram network to it takes a hill route that buses climb and gives it fixed infrastructure, while the shared tram-and-trolleybus loop suggests DPP intends Strahov to remain a modal interchange rather than becoming a tram-only terminus.

The saving against the estimate is the other notable number here. A winning bid 19 percent under the expected value, from a field of eight, points to a competitive tender — though the figure that ultimately counts is the settled price after eighteen months of ground works on a street being widened, not the price at signature.

The visualisations released with the announcement are credited to DPP and Atelier Onixia. All figures above come from DPP's own announcement; no independent costing has been published.