Tatra KT4 is the name of a four-axle type articulated tramcar developed by the Czech firm ČKD Tatra. The first pre-production vehicles entered service in Potsdam in 1975, with the first production vehicles in 1977. A total of 1,747 units were built, with initial deliveries to East Germany and later to the USSR and SFR Yugoslavia. 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, Serbia. 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 center sections.
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 articulationformation which later presented itself in the KT4. The KT4 has identical pedal control systems and bogies to the Tatra T3 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 type.
In 1984, Leipzig handed over their eight trams to Berlin. Since the early 2000s, the Tatra tramcars in the former GDR are being replaced and sold to other countries in Central and Eastern Europe.
Original KT4D
Modernised KT4D
Sold KT4Ds
KT4SU
The Soviet Union ordered the KT4SU for their meter-gauge tramways, the following cities received deliveries:
City
Delivery years
Number delivered
Yevpatoria
1987–90
18
Kaliningrad
1987–90
30
Liepāja
1983–88
22
Lviv
1976–88
145
Pyatigorsk
1988–90
25
Zhytomyr
1981–88
20
Tallinn
1980–88
74
Vinnytsia
1980–90
81
TOTAL
1976–90
415
KT4YU
The KT4YU is the Yugoslav variant of the tramcar, which were delivered to the now Serbian and Croatiancapitals. 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. In 2002, 30 Belgrade tramcars were modernized in Goša FOM / Inekon, and marked as KT4-YUBM.
