Škoda ForCity Plus: low-floor trams of Bratislava

Škoda 29 T / 30 T

The Škoda 29 T and 30 T (ForCity Plus family) are five-car-body low-floor trams developed by Škoda Transportation for Bratislava (Slovakia). The 30 T is a bi-directional model, while the 29 T is a uni-directional variant. Both are based on the earlier Škoda 26 T.

Overview

Both trams are five-section, high-capacity electric multiple units with four bogies. They are equipped with air-conditioning, Wi-Fi, automatic touch-enabled ticket validation machines, 12 Full-HD displays for stop information, an acoustic announcement system, and a heating system.

Both trams are able to travel up to 700 meters on emergency batteries.

The key difference lies in their configuration: the bi-directional Škoda 30 T features five pairs of doors (one on each side of the carriage, for a total of ten), while the uni-directional Škoda 29 T has five doors located on the right-hand side of the carriage. In both models, two of the four bogies are fixed, and the outer two can pivot to adapt to track curvature.

Both trams are equipped with three types of brakes:

Electrodynamic brakes (standard): These can decelerate the tram to as low as 5 km/h and recover energy gained from braking, returning it to the electric network.
Electromagnetic brakes (emergency): Intended for emergency use only, there are eight of these brakes per vehicle.
Disc brakes: Used to bring the tram to a complete stop (0 km/h) and are equipped with wheel slide protection.