Prague Lubrication Tram

It’s one of those odd moments when you are standing and waiting for a tram when this strange orange tram-cabriolet comes past. Fascinating to see and get the waft of engine oil as it passes. This is the Prague Lubrication Tram or what the Czechs call the Mazačka (sounds like mazatchka) and it’s even older than I am.

This converted Tatra T3 tram (what I call a shin-breaker because of the steep steps on the regular tram) started out life in 1965. Travelling around 200Km per day it is by far the busiest tram on the network. Between 2015 and it’s 2016 overhaul it had recorded over 120,000km. It begins work at 5am and finishes at half past midnight including 4 driver changes.

The Škoda 15T trams (that’s the really new one) are designed with lubricating oil tanks built-in to reduce wear and tear on the rails plus also to reduce noise. So for a while it looked like the old Prague Lubrication Tram was going out to scrap but then a few ideas were floated, a budget allocated and hey presto! it’s still here.

The Modern Role of the Prague Lubrication Tram

As well as being a unique tram design on the system, it still lubricates the tram tracks on the older tram lines plus it has taken on new responsibilities. It’s been fitted with a water tank so it waters the “green lines” i.e. stretches of tram line with grass (you see this a lot in Prague 6) plus it monitors air/light quality and temperature. Basically it’s turning into a mobile environmental testing station.

The Fun Stuff

Do you want to know what the weather is like in Prague right now? Maybe get some idea of what people are wearing? Well the Prague Lubrication Tram can do that as well because it has a webcam on it so you can Watch It’s Journey Live with interactive map so you can see where it is in the city.

TIP: when the page opens wait for the advert to finish and it will go to the webcam automatically or in the bottom right corner click on the white box to skip the ad. And for you Lubrication geeks they publish a timetable of where it will be 7 days a week.