Brno plans a tram line from Stránská skála to Líšeň

Brno - Brno plans to put back into operation the tram line from the terminus at Stránská skála in the Slatina district to Holzova street in the Líšeň district in the coming years. The estimated costs for reopening the line are around 260 million crowns, said the mayor's deputy Richard Mrázek (ANO) to reporters today. The line is currently unused and overgrown with grass. According to Mrázek, tram transport is needed because the area is a development location, with new houses being built, and the city wants to establish a parking lot there to ease traffic in the center.

The tram line from Stránská skála to Holzova street is expected to be three kilometers long and could partially replace bus transport. "We anticipate following the original route, so we could obtain a building permit within a year. At the turn of 2016 and 2017, we could start addressing the competition for the contractor," added Mrázek.

Today, the council approved including the investment project among the city's strategic projects. "We want to avoid what happened at the university campus or at the Kamechy housing estate, where we built infrastructure but did not have the necessary transport connections," clarified Mrázek. There are no trams to the university campus or Kamechy, and other means of transport are overcrowded due to the high frequency of passengers.

According to the mayor's deputy Klára Liptáková (KDU-ČSL), trams can carry more people than buses or trolleybuses, and therefore the city intends to proceed with the reopening of the line. According to Mrázek, this is a different approach than before. "We want to have a backbone tram connection for the area, which is considered a development location for further municipal or private projects. Additionally, we will build so-called Park and Ride parking lots there," added Mrázek. The Park and Ride lot allows drivers to leave their cars in this area on the outskirts of the city and continue to the center via public transport. This reduces the number of cars in the city center, where traffic jams often occur. Brno also plans a tram line to the university campus and to Kamechy.