Tatra KT4 is the name of a four-axle type articulated tramcar developed by the Czech firm

ČKD Tatra ČKD (Českomoravská Kolben-Daněk) () was one of the largest engineering companies in the former Czechoslovakia and today's Czech Republic. It is famous for the Tatra T3, a tramcar that sold 13,991 units worldwide. History ČKD was formed in ...

. The first pre-production vehicles entered service in

Potsdam Potsdam () is the capital and, with around 183,000 inhabitants, largest city of the German state of Brandenburg. It is part of the Berlin/Brandenburg Metropolitan Region. Potsdam sits on the River Havel, a tributary of the Elbe, downstream of B ...

in 1975, with the first production vehicles in 1977. A total of 1,747 units were built, with initial deliveries to East Germany (DDR) and later to

the USSR The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen nation ...

and

SFR Yugoslavia The Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, commonly referred to as SFR Yugoslavia or simply as Yugoslavia, was a country in Central and Southeast Europe. It emerged in 1945, following World War II, and lasted until 1992, with the breakup of Yug ...

. KT4 variants were built for both standard gauge and metre gauge tramways. Production of the KT4 tramcar was halted in 1991 due to worldwide economic and political changes at the time. Production was briefly resumed in 1997 to construct the last 20 units for

Belgrade Belgrade ( , ;, ; Names of European cities in different languages: B, names in other languages) is the Capital city, capital and List of cities in Serbia, largest city in Serbia. It is located at the confluence of the Sava and Danube rivers a ...

Serbia Serbia (, ; Serbian language, Serbian: , , ), officially the Republic of Serbia (Serbian language, Serbian: , , ), is a landlocked country in Southeast Europe, Southeastern and Central Europe, situated at the crossroads of the Pannonian Bas ...

. Since the start of the 1990s, many of the earliest production tramcars have gone through extensive refurbishment and rebuilding, including the replacement of folding doors and the installation of

low-floor Accessibility is the design of products, devices, services, vehicles, or environments so as to be usable by people with disabilities. The concept of accessible design and practice of accessible development ensures both "direct access" (i. ...

center sections. The design of the tram, being without a bogie over the joint necessitates a scissor joint connecting both bogies such that the center of mass does not shift catastrophically, especially when turning.

History

The KT4 was originally designed to demands set out by the needs of the GDR, who found bogie cars too expensive and needed a solution to their aging fleet of two-axle vehicles. The first steps into the KT4s design were made when ČKD Tatra modified a six-axle K2 tramcar, to a four-axle suspended articulation formation which later presented itself in the KT4. The KT4 has identical pedal control systems and bogies to the

Tatra T3 The T3 is a type of Czech tramcar produced by ČKD Tatra. A late-2000s study conducted on the Prague tram system has shown 98.9% reliability, the best of the Prague tram system fleet. During its period of production between 1960 and 199 ...

bogie tramcar. As production continued, the design was improved, noted particularly in 1983 with the addition of thyristor control type TV3. The type is called KT4t.

Variations

Variations of the KT4 exist, though they are generally subtle and focused around seat layout and

pantograph A pantograph (, from their original use for copying writing) is a mechanical linkage connected in a manner based on parallelograms so that the movement of one pen, in tracing an image, produces identical movements in a second pen. If a line dr ...

type. * KT4D – German model * KT4Dt – German model with TV3 thyristor * KT4SU – Soviet Union model * KT4YU – Yugoslav model Note that there is no such thing as a KT4K. KT4 used in North Korea were not built by Tatra, instead built by the Shenyeng Passenger Vehicle Factory and named differently.

KT4D

The KT4D model was delivered to the following GDR cities: In 1984,

Leipzig Leipzig ( , ; Upper Saxon: ) is the most populous city in the German state of Saxony. Leipzig's population of 605,407 inhabitants (1.1 million in the larger urban zone) as of 2021 places the city as Germany's eighth most populous, as wel ...

handed over their eight trams to

Berlin Berlin ( , ) is the capital and largest city of Germany by both area and population. Its 3.7 million inhabitants make it the European Union's most populous city, according to population within city limits. One of Germany's sixteen constitue ...

. Since the early 2000s, the Tatra tramcars in the former GDR are being replaced and sold to other countries in Central and Eastern Europe.Course on protectionism: can localization save Ukrainian producers

Ukrayinska Pravda ''Ukrainska Pravda'' ( uk, Українська правда, lit=Ukrainian Truth) is a Ukrainian online newspaper founded by Georgiy Gongadze on 16 April 2000 (the day of the Ukrainian constitutional referendum). Published mainly in Ukrai ...

(7 September 2020)

Original KT4D

File:KT4D 001 (Prototyp).jpg, KT4D prototype in Potsdam File:Berlin, Tatra KT4.jpg, KT4D in Berlin File:Brandenburg an der Havel, Tatra KT4D (1).jpg, KT4D in Brandenburg/Havel File:Stadtbahn Erfurt Tw 471.jpg, KT4D in Erfurt File:Frankfurt (Oder), Tatra KT4.jpg, KT4D in Frankfurt (Oder) File:Straßenbahn Gera DDR Tatra Tram 320 and Trabant. Aug 1989.jpg, KT4D in Gera File:Gotha, Tatra KT4 (1).jpg, KT4D in Gotha File:Görlitz Tatra no. 6 July 1992.jpg, KT4D in Görlitz File:Plauen, Tatra KT4 (1).jpg, KT4D in Plauen File:Potsdam, Tatra KT4 (3).jpg, KT4D in Potsdam File:SRS Schöneicher Landstraße 06.jpg, at SRS Tramways File:Zwickau, Tatra KT4.jpg, KT4D in Zwickau

Modernised KT4D

File:Blockdammweg Tram 01.jpg, KT4Dm in Berlin File:205 Gleisdreieck.JPG, KT4Dm in Frankfurt/Oder File:139Polnocna wokolica.JPG,

KTNF6 The Tatra KTNF6 is a modernized tram, type KT4, rebuilt with a central low-floor segment. These types of tram cars are used in Cottbus, in Brandenburg City and Schöneiche-Rüdersdorf, Germany, and in Tallinn, Estonia (as ''KT6T''). Another simi ...

(KT4D rebuilt with a central low-floor segment) in Cottbus File:StraBaGera04.JPG, KTNF8 (another variant with central low-floor segment added) coupled with KT4Dm in Gera File:Uk gth-tw301 03 g.jpg, KT4D mod 301 in Gotha 2005 File:302+318Demiani.JPG, Both actual colors of KT4D in Görlitz File:208-Tunnel-08.10.07.jpg, Modernised KT4D in

Plauen Plauen (; Czech: ''Plavno'') is, with around 65,000 inhabitants, the fifth-largest city of Saxony, Germany after Leipzig, Dresden, Chemnitz and Zwickau, the second-largest city of the Vogtland after Gera, as well as the largest city in the S ...

File:Potsdam Kt4Dm 156+256 am Platz der Einheit 2007.JPG, KT4Dm double in Potsdam File:SVZ Zwickau 942+937.jpg, KT4DC in Zwickau

Sold KT4Ds

File:Tram in Liepaja.JPG, Former Gera KT4D 239 in

Liepāja Liepāja (; liv, Līepõ; see #Names and toponymy, other names) is a state city in western Latvia, located on the Baltic Sea. It is the largest-city in the Kurzeme Planning Region, Kurzeme Region and the third-largest city in the country after R ...

Latvia Latvia ( or ; lv, Latvija ; ltg, Latveja; liv, Leţmō), officially the Republic of Latvia ( lv, Latvijas Republika, links=no, ltg, Latvejas Republika, links=no, liv, Leţmō Vabāmō, links=no), is a country in the Baltic region of ...

File:GalatiTramway20060716.jpg, Former Berlin KT4D 82 in Galaţi,

Romania Romania ( ; ro, România ) is a country located at the crossroads of Central Europe, Central, Eastern Europe, Eastern, and Southeast Europe, Southeastern Europe. It borders Bulgaria to the south, Ukraine to the north, Hungary to the west, S ...

File:Tatra KT4DtM, Szczecin, Poland.jpg, Former Berlin KT4Dm in

Szczecin Szczecin (, , german: Stettin ; sv, Stettin ; Latin: ''Sedinum'' or ''Stetinum'') is the capital and largest city of the West Pomeranian Voivodeship in northwestern Poland. Located near the Baltic Sea and the German border, it is a major s ...

Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It is divided into 16 administrative provinces called voivodeships, covering an area of . Poland has a population of over 38 million and is the fifth-most populous ...

File:Tatra KT4D tram in Tallinn, 2006.jpg, Former Cottbus KT4D in

Tallinn Tallinn () is the most populous and capital city of Estonia. Situated on a bay in north Estonia, on the shore of the Gulf of Finland of the Baltic Sea, Tallinn has a population of 437,811 (as of 2022) and administratively lies in the Harju ' ...

Estonia Estonia, formally the Republic of Estonia, is a country by the Baltic Sea in Northern Europe. It is bordered to the north by the Gulf of Finland across from Finland, to the west by the sea across from Sweden, to the south by Latvia, a ...

File:20191225_Tratra_Tram_Weimar.jpg, Former Erfurt KT4D in

Weimar Weimar is a city in the state of Thuringia, Germany. It is located in Central Germany between Erfurt in the west and Jena in the east, approximately southwest of Leipzig, north of Nuremberg and west of Dresden. Together with the neighbouri ...

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...

Image:TramKaliningrad4.JPG, KT4SU in Kaliningrad File:KTNF6 Nr. 28 Schöneiche 2014.jpg, KTNF6 in Schöneiche File:Low-middle tram in Tallinn.JPG, KT6T (KTNF6) in Tallinn

KT4SU

The Soviet Union ordered the KT4SU for their meter-gauge tramways, the following cities received deliveries:

KT4YU

The KT4YU is the Yugoslav variant of the tramcar, which were delivered to the Serbian and Croatian capitals. The last KT4s ever produced were delivered to Belgrade in 1997. Those tramcars were equipped with IGBT modules and recuperative braking and named KT4M-YUB (where B stands for Belgrade to be distinguished from Zagreb model). In 2002, 30 Belgrade tramcars were modernized in

Goša FOM Goša FOM ( sr-Cyrl, Гоша ФОМ; full legal name: Goša Fabrika Opreme i Mašina, sr-Cyrl, Гоша Фабрика Опреме и Машина) is a Serbian rail vehicle and equipment manufacturer, based in Smederevska Palanka, Serbia. Hi ...

Inekon Inekon Trams, a.s. is a manufacturer of trams, or streetcars, located in the Czech Republic, and has supplied new trams to several cities in the Czech Republic and the United States.Webb, Mary (ed.) (2009). ''Jane's Urban Transport Systems 2009� ...

, and marked as KT4-YUBM. File:Tatra_ČKD_Belgrade.jpg, Tatra KT4M-YU (1997) in Belgrade File:Tree_Tatras_Belgrade.jpg, Tatras KT4 in Belgrade File:Tatra_KT4_YUB(elgrade).jpg, KT4-YUB in Belgrade File:BeogradTram.jpg, KT4YUBM in Belgrade File:Tatra_KT4M-YUB_.jpg, Tatra KT4M-YU (1997) in Belgrade File:Tatra_KT4_Belgrad.jpg, Tatra KT4-YU in Belgrade File:Tatra_Belgrad_Night.jpg, Tatra KT4-YU in Belgrade File:ČKD-KT4 Beograd_Tašmajdan_poslednja_serija_KT4_(1997).jpg, Tatra KT4M-YU (1997) in Belgrade File:ČKD-KT4_Beograd_Tašmajdan.jpg, KT4YUBM in Belgrade File:ČKD_Tatra_Belgrad_Banjica.jpg, KT4YU in Belgrade File:Tatra KT4 Zagreb.jpg, Tatra KT4YU in Zagreb File:Zagreb_tram_(24).jpg, Tatra KT4YU in Zagreb File:KT4_Zagreb.jpg, Tatra KT4YU in Zagreb File:Tranvía_13,_Zagreb,_Croacia,_2014-04-20,_DD_01.JPG, Tatra KT4YU in Zagreb File:TatraKT4YU333.jpg, Tatra KT4YU in Zagreb File:Tram_Zagreb_line_9.jpg, Tatra KT4YU in Zagreb

Shenyang ST4

A series of KT4 trams were also produced for

Pyongyang, North Korea Pyongyang (, , ) is the capital and largest city of North Korea, where it is known as the "Capital of the Revolution". Pyongyang is located on the Taedong River about upstream from its mouth on the Yellow Sea. According to the 2008 population ...

by the Shenyeng Passenger Vehicle Factory in China named ST4, but have subsequently had their articulation removed due to structural defects of the joint. During their service, they were based at Songsin depot. These trams were fully withdrawn in 1999 and the bodies rebuilt into Chollima 971 articulated trolleybuses or Chollima 961 trolleybuses. Since then, some Chollima 971 trolleybuses were converted into Chollima 961 trolleybuses by removing the rear section. 150 trams were ordered, though only 51 vehicles are known to have been recorded. These vehicle's main difference was its 2.5 meter wide body, four 45 kW traction motors, a maximum speed of 60 km/h, a seating capacity of 56 and standing capacity of 125. Its weight was also higher, at a net weight of 22.5 tons.

References

*Statistical Data, is duplicated fro
TatraWagen.de (In German)

External links

*(German) Ivo Köhler: ''KT4 – Der Kurzgelenkwagen aus Prag'', Verlag GVE, Berlin 2009, {{TatraTram Tatra trams Tram vehicles of Croatia Tram vehicles of Estonia Tram vehicles of Germany Tram vehicles of Latvia Tram vehicles of Serbia Tram vehicles of Ukraine Tram vehicles of China