Škoda 14Tr

The Škoda 14Tr is a Czech trolleybus that was produced from 1981 to 1998. Prototypes were built in 1972 and 1974.

Škoda 14Tr
Škoda 14Tr in Hungary
Overview
Manufacturer	Škoda Works (1981–1995) Škoda Transportation (1995–1998)
Production	1981–1998
Body and chassis
Class	Bus
Body style	Single-deck
Doors	3 (optionally 2)
Floor type	High-floor
Chassis	semi-self-supporting with frame
Related	15Tr
Powertrain
Electric motor	600/750 VDC
Capacity	seated: 24–29 (two doors) 32–41 (three doors) standing: 51–56 (two doors) 48–39 (three doors)
Power output	100–120 kW (134–161 hp)
Dimensions
Length	11.340 m (37 ft 2+1⁄2 in)
Width	2.500 m (8 ft 2+3⁄8 in)
Height	3.410 m (11 ft 2+1⁄4 in) (over poles)
Curb weight	10,000 kg (22,000 lb)
Chronology
Predecessor	9Tr, (T 11 prototype) Škoda T 11
Successor	(17Tr prototype), 21Tr, 24Tr

After the unsuccessful attempt to merge the Karosa ŠM 11 bus and the Škoda T 11 trolleybus and the cancelled Škoda 13Tr project, a new style of trolleybus was designed in the early 1970s, designated the 14Tr. Development was halted because of plans to replace trolleybuses by diesel buses, but the 1973 oil crisis led to a re-evaluation and work on the 14Tr resumed.

The Škoda 14Tr trolleybus, at least in the former USSR, became the successor to the Škoda 9Tr (the 10Tr and 13Tr models remained in the projects, 11Tr was released only in single copies, and the Škoda 12Tr was called the trolleybus train of the two Škoda 9Tr trolleybuses).

Description

The 14Tr is a two-axle trolleybus with unibody construction. Its structure consists of mutually welded elements: the frame, side walls, roof and ends. Each component is welded together from steel shapes and castings. The body is covered with a steel skin; the section below the windows is thermally insulated and soundproofed. The interior is surfaces with plastic paneling. Domestic buses have three twin-leaf folding doors on the right side, while export units only have two. Transverse passenger seats are covered in leatherette.

Electrical equipment uses the same thyristor pulse control as the 9Tr trolleybus.

Early history

One of the first modifications of 14Tr - two 14Tr0 cars (001 and 002) arrived for testing in Kyiv in 1981. One of the cars had a RCSU (rheostat-contactor control system), the second had a TISU (thyristor-pulse control system) which in the late 1970s was an innovation.

The difference from RCSU was that instead of a start-brake resistor, controlled by a rotating shaft with contacts, an electric motor was controlled by a thyristor control unit. Thyristor operation was controlled by a control regulator, so the trolleybus car started driving off more smoothly. The TISU made it possible to recover power - the return part of the electricity consumed by the trolleybus back to the trolleybus power network (see regenerative braking), which reduced operating cost.

Both Škoda 14Tr0 after testing in Kyiv were deployed to Crimea to be used in a long-distance trolleybus route. 001 was used in the Alushta trolleybus depot until it burned down in 1995. 002 was used in Simferopol trolleybus depot and in other depot, but only for training purposes. The prototype was decommissioned and scrapped in 2009.

Production and operation

Škoda 14Tr rear in Eberswalde, Germany

Between 1972 and 1998, 3,263 14Tr trolleybuses were built,^[1] plus two bodies that were used for the prototype TV-14Tr trolley-train^[2] (a total of 3,265 units). The largest number of cars - 354 were sent to Kyiv. The capital favored Soviet-made trolleybuses and there were no large trolleybus systems in Czechoslovakia itself.^{[citation needed]}

Electric Transit, Inc.

Main article: Electric Transit, Inc.

From 1994 to 2004, Electric Transit, Inc. (a joint venture between Škoda and AAI Corporation) assembled 297 14Tr-based trolleybuses for the transit operators in two cities of the United States: Dayton, Ohio and San Francisco, designated 14TrE/E2 ("E" for "E"xport) and 14TrSF ("S"an "F"rancisco), respectively. To meet "Buy America" requirements for federally-subsidized transit vehicle purchases, incomplete "shells" were manufactured at the Škoda plant in the Czech Republic and shipped to an American facility in Hunt Valley, Maryland for initial fitting-out. Final fitting-out was performed at leased facilities in the client cities.^[3]

Country	City	Model	Delivered	Qty	Fleet numbers (as delivered)	Notes and references
Armenia	Gyumri	14Tr		49		[1]
	Yerevan	14Tr		123		[1]
Azerbaijan	Baku	14Tr		208		[1]
	Ganja	14Tr	1987	5	211-215	[1]
Bosnia and Herzegovina	Sarajevo	14Tr		79		[1]
Bulgaria	Sliven	14Tr		15		[1]
	Sofia	14Tr		52		[1]
	Varna	14Tr	1985-1986, 1999, 2007	34	002-298, 001, 172	001: Delivered from Hradec Králové in 1999; 172: Delivered from Prešov in 2007
China	Beijing	14Tr		1		[1]
	Shenyang	14Tr		1		[1]
Czechoslovakia/Czech Republic	Brno	14Tr	1982–1995	123	3164-3286	[4]
	Hradec Králové	14Tr	1983–1990	30	04-30, 57-59	[5]
	Jihlava	14Tr	1983–1991	24	20-43	[6]
	Mariánské Lázně	14Tr	1974–1994	20	22-23, 33-50	22 & 23: 1st and 2nd prototypes; 33: 7th prototype[7]
	Opava	14Tr	1982–1991	24	49-72	[8]
	Ostrava	14Tr	1984–1992	39	3123-3141, 3242-3261	[9]
	Pardubice	14Tr	1983–1994	48	see summary	[10]
	Plzeň	14Tr	1982–1991	115	340; 346-413; 415-460	[11]
	Ostrov (Škoda)	14Tr	1980	1		4th prototype
	Ostrov (Škoda)	TV-14Tr	1985	1		constructed from two 14Tr bodies[12]
	Teplice	14Tr	1982–1993	38	101/03-05/20-53	Skoda references indicate 37 units[1][13]
	Ústí nad Labem	14Tr	1988	5	401-405	[14]
	Zlín-Otrokovice	14Tr	1982–1991	41	see summary	26 (1st): 3rd prototype[15]
Czechoslovakia/Slovakia	Košice	14Tr		7	2001-2007	[16]
	Banská Bystrica	14Tr	1988–1989	7	1001-1007	1001: 750 V prototype[17]
	Bratislava (retired)	14Tr	1982–1991	115	61-78, 6219-6315	[18]
	Prešov	14Tr	1982–1991	39	45-65, 69-81, 87-91	Skoda references indicate 36 units[1][19]
	Žilina	14Tr	1994–1996	15	211-225	[20]
Estonia	Tallinn	14Tr	1982–1989	1	210-308	[1][21][22][23][24][25]
Georgia	Batumi	14Tr	1989	2	100-101	[1]
	Gori	14Tr	1985-?	3	38; 40-41	[1]
	Kutaisi	14Tr		2		[1]
	Ozurgeti	14Tr	1989-?	2	24 & ?	[1]
	Poti	14Tr		2	018 & ?	[26][27]
	Rustavi	14Tr		1	81	[1]
	Samtredia	14Tr		2		[1]
	Sukhumi	14Tr	1987	2	97-98	[1]
	Tbilisi	14Tr	1983–1990	226	123-347	316 used twice[1]
	Zugdidi	14Tr		1	3	[1]
Kazakhstan	Almaty	14Tr	1997	12	1001-10/30/32	Skoda references indicate 5 units[1][28]
Lithuania	Kaunas	14Tr	1982–1998	125	see summary	[1]
	Vilnius	14Tr	1982–1997	228	see summary	[1][29][30][31][32][33][34][35][36]
Latvia	Riga	14Tr	1982–1997	254	see summary	Skoda references indicate 253 units[1][37][38]
Hungary	Szeged	14Tr	1993	1	T-700	[1]
Moldova	Chișinău	14Tr01	1997-2004	39	2140-2179	[1][39]
Germany	Eberswalde	14Tr	1983	3	1-3	[1]
	Potsdam	14Tr	1983	5	401-405	[1]
	Weimar	14Tr	1982–1983	12	8000-8011	[1][40][41]
Russia	Vologda	14Tr		6		[1]
Ukraine	Chernivtsi	14Tr	1983–1990	102	217-318	[1][42][43][44][45][46][47]
	Donetsk	14Tr		5		[1]
	Ivano-Frankivsk	14Tr	1986–1988	31	126-156	[1][48][49][50]
	Kyiv	14Tr	1980–1989	354	see summary	[1]
	Luhansk	14Tr	1983–1990	55	201-245	221-230 used twice[1][51][52][53][54][55]
	Lviv	14Tr	1984–1990	91	500-590	[1][56][57][58][59]
	Mariupol	14Tr	1983–1990	76	1401-1476	[1][60][61][62][63][64][65][66]
	Rivne	14Tr	1989	15	101-115	[1]
	Simferopol-Alushta-Yalta	14Tr	1981–1990	160	see summary	002/001: 5th & 6th prototypes Skoda references indicate 162 units[1][67][68][69][70][71][72][73][74]
	Ternopil	14Tr	1984–1989	30	086-115	[1][75][76][77]
United States	Dayton, Ohio	14TrE	1995–96	3	9601–9603	[78][79][80]
		14TrE2	1998–99	54	9801–9854
	San Francisco	14TrSF	1999; 2001–04	240	5401–5640	[3][81][82]
Uzbekistan	Tashkent	14Tr		145		[1]
Country	City	Model	Delivered	Qty	Fleet numbers (as delivered)	Notes and references

Summary

City	Fleet numbers
Kaunas	215-302, 305-326, 336-351
Kyiv	101–199, 201-299, 301-398, 401-417, 1000-03/06/08/09, 2001-2034
Pardubice	301/03/05/06/09/10/13-34/36-49/51/55-57/61/62
Riga	1-101–1-130/1-132, 1-1100–1-1122/1-1133–1-1199, 2-200–2-233, 2-1001–2-1099
Simferopol - Alusta - Yalta	001/002, 1021, 1801-25/50-66, 1900-04/50/52-56/59-61, 2000-10/50-52, 2100-06/50-55, 3900, 5850-53, 5950-53, 6000-05/50-57, 6100-06/50-56, 7850-53, 7900-03/50-53, 8000-07/50-53, 8100-05/50-56
Vilnius	1400-1567, 1585-1599, 1605–2649 Note: The first digit (1 or 2) indicates the allocation; the fleet number is the last three digits.
Zlín - Otrokovice	4/12/18-21/24-26/34/35/37/43/58/68/69/145-168 Note: Number 26 used twice.

14TrM production started in 1995 and continued until 2002. A planned order for Gatchina, Russia was cancelled when construction of the trolleybus system stopped in 2005.

Country	In service	Cities
Azerbaijan	No	Baku (retired with all network)
Bulgaria	Yes	Sliven (in passenger service); Ruse, Varna (service vehicles only); Sofia, Pazardzhik, Plovdiv, Stara Zagora, Haskovo (withdrawn)
China	No	Beijing; Shanghai
Czech Republic	Yes
Hungary	Yes	Szeged
Russia	Yes	Vologda; Velikiy Novgorod; Yalta and Simferopol (disputed territories with Ukraine); cancelled order to Gatchina
Ukraine	Yes
United States	No	Historic vehicles preserved in Dayton, OH and San Francisco, CA
Estonia	No	Tallinn (stored at Jarva-Jaani after withdrawal)
Latvia	Yes	Riga
Moldova	Yes
Lithuania	Yes	Vilnius