Stadler has offered a three-section variant of its Metelica vehicle and the trams are likely to be built at the company’s plant in Minsk, Belarus. Deliveries will begin next year and the final tram is due to arrive in Ostrava by the end of 2020.

The contract is Stadler’s first for LRVs in the Czech Republic and only the second order for the Metelica, which was selected earlier this year for the fast tram network serving the Krasnogvardeyskiy district of St Petersburg.

Ostrava’s 65.7km standard-gauge network comprises 16 lines, which are electrified at 600V dc. Services are operated by a fleet of 293 trams.