company industry transportation founded 2001 headquarters ostrava czech republic products trams services tram refurbishment and repair track rebuilding parent inekon group a.s. website official website inekon trams a.s. is a manufacturer of trams or streetcars located in the czech republic and has supplied new trams to several cities in the czech republic and the united states . 1 the company also carries out modernisation and repair of trams as well as track reconstruction . 2 it is a joint stock company czech akciov spole nost or a.s. . contents 1 history 2 tramcar models 2.1 trio 2.2 other models 3 see also 4 references 5 external links history edit an inekon 01 trio in ostrava portland car 008 is a 2006 built inekon 12 trio formed in 2001 the company was originally a joint venture of inekon group and the ostrava public transport agency dopravn podnik ostrava or dpo and was named dpo inekon . 2 the name was changed to inekon trams in 2005 after inekon group purchased the shares of dpo and became sole owner but dpo s ostrava facilities continue to be used for most production and assembly . 3 in the early 1990s inekon group tried to gain control of kd which was one of the largest engineering companies in the country at the time and which had produced almost 20 000 trams including 14 000 tatra t3 . while the effort to acquire the company failed some of kd s employees were dissatisfied with the new owners and decided to come over to inekon . thus inekon group acquired engineers from one of the world s largest producer of trams . 4 from 1996 5 until 2001 2 parent company inekon group had participated in a joint venture with koda transportation systems known as koda inekon for the construction of trams . 6 most of the mechanical design work was undertaken by inekon group subsidiary kolejov doprava in prague while the production was carried out by koda in plze and the electrical propulsion equipment was made by koda and the austrian company elin ebg traction . 7 marketing was also handled by inekon group . 5 the koda inekon partnership built the astra model of which the unidirectional version model 03t was supplied to several czech cities and the bi directional version model 10t was supplied to two u.s. cities portland and tacoma . the partnership collapsed in 2001 and strong disagreements resulted in both companies filing lawsuits against the other . 8 koda continued producing some of the same models on its own and retaining the same model designations such as 03t as had originally been adopted under koda inekon but with inekon no longer involved . 9 inekon formed a new joint venture with dpo for production 10 using dpo s workshops at martinov 11 12 but the design and development of new trams continued to be carried out by kolejov doprava which remains a subsidiary of inekon group . 13 for this reason inekon s 01 trio is nearly identical to the koda 03t in most respects while the same is the case for the inekon 12 trio and koda 10t respectively . one transport operator the portland streetcar has a fleet that includes seven koda inekon 10t cars built in 2001 2 three inekon 12 trio cars and one newer 10t built by united streetcar under licence from koda and all eleven have identical overall dimensions configuration and other technical specifications and use mostly the same parts . koda and inekon group settled their differences in 2006 and even forged a new alliance specifically for the purpose of winning a large contract for new trams for toronto 8 but that contract was awarded to a different manufacturer and since then the two companies have continued to work separately . an inekon refurbished tram in sofia bulgaria the first tramcar completed by dpo inekon was ostrava tram system s car 1251 a trio delivered in 2002 . 10 11 renamed inekon trams in 2005 the company developed additional tramcar designs and expanded into other types of work in particular overhaul and modernization of older trams 14 and reconstruction and upgrading of tracks . 15 the tram system in izhevsk russia awarded inekon a 1 million euro contract for track repair in 2006 16 and the city of ufa also contracted with inekon for tramway upgrading . 17 trams have been modernized for sofia bulgaria 18 19 and other cities . in 2007 the portland streetcar and seattle streetcar systems both took delivery of three inekon 12 trio cars each all six built and assembled in the czech republic . in 2011 inekon won a tender for 6 new tramcars for the seattle streetcar system s first hill line . the czech company partnered with seattle based pacifica marine a transport vehicles refurbisher in order to meet the requirement of 60 % of u.s. content which is needed for the project to be eligible for federal funding . while the manufacturing of the major parts would still take place in the czech republic assembly painting and testing was to be carried by the american company for this order . at the time inekon and pacifica planned to bid also for streetcar projects in other u.s. cities with plans to eventually start building streetcars completely in the u.s. similar to united streetcar s partnership with koda . 20 21 22 23 the seattle order was later expanded by one car to seven cars but after production fell behind schedule the plans for u.s. assembly were scaled back . three of the new seattle cars were assembled in the czech republic and only four by pacifica marine in seattle . the three inekon trams purchased by seattle earlier in 2007 were model 12 trio whereas the new cars purchased by seattle in 2013 15 are a variant called 121 trio which is capable of operating on batteries only without power from overhead wires part of the time . 24 due to low figures of production inekon s manufacture of trams has been loss making and the parent company has to subsidise the tram division from its other activities such as constructing large cement mills currently planned or under construction in egypt morocco syria and vietnam modernisations of trains as well as train corridors and construction of large sewage plants in ireland the netherlands italy latvia etc. . nevertheless inekon maintains capacities for production of trams as well as for their development aiming to sell them especially in the american russian and chinese tramway markets . 25 tramcar models edit models of new trams currently available include the trio series superior and pento . all are low floor models either partially or fully and are articulated . 26 trio edit the trio is a three carbody section four axle two bogie design in which the low floor area represents 50 % of the entire vehicle floor area . the overall length is 20.13 metres 66.0 ft . the 01 trio is a single ended uni directional version buyers of which have included as of 2008 the transport agencies in olomouc and ostrava . 1 12 the first car was built in 2002 for ostrava s tram system dpo . the 12 trio is a double ended bi directional model designed for export . the standard model is designated as 12 trio but in 2012 13 inekon introduced a variant that is capable of limited operation on batteries only and this is designated 121 trio . as of 2016 the 121 model has only been purchased by seattle . trams of this type have been purchased by three u.s. cities 1 as follows portland streetcar 3 cars nos. 008 010 built in 2006 and delivered in 2007 1 seattle streetcar 10 cars by 2016 . first order was for 3 cars delivered in 2007 . 1 another six cars were ordered in late 2011 for use on a planned second line 22 and these are model 121 trio capable of off wire operation part of the time . a seventh car was added to the order in late 2012 . delivery began in 2015 . 27 the department of transportation of washington d.c. for the d.c. streetcar line 3 cars completed in 2007 28 but not shipped to the usa until late 2009 due to delays in construction of the tram line and carhouse storage and maintenance building in washington . all nine of the standard 12 trio cars manufactured to date in 2006 07 were equipped with propulsion control systems made by elin ebg . other models edit model inekon 04 the superior is a three section 32.6 metre 107 ft unidirectional car with at least 50 % low floor area . 29 no trams of this design have been constructed thus far . model inekon 11 the pento is essentially a longer version of the trio . 30 it is a five section 30.2 metre 99 ft unidirectional car with 64 % low floor area . 31 model inekon superior plus was a design developed together with koda in 2008 for the toronto transit commission s bid for 204 new streetcars . it is a 100 % low floor tram designed in order to meet specific requirements of the toronto tramway tracks especially its unusually small 36 foot 10.973 m radius curves . 32 the tram s appearance was created by designer patrik kotas who is also responsible for the look of koda s newest forcity tram . 33 the koda inekon consortium was not permitted to take part in the bidding process which was in the end won by bombardier for its flexity outlook which met the commission s canadian content requirement . 34 see also edit list of tram builders references edit a b c d e webb mary ed . 2009 . jane s urban transport systems 2009 2010 p. 526 . coulsdon surrey uk jane s information group . isbn 978 0 7106 2903 6 . a b profile inekon trams . inekon group a.s. 2006 . retrieved 2010 07 04 . tramways & urban transit magazine january 2007 p. 23 . light rail transit association uk . issn 1460 8324 . cement rny v ohro en . ekonom newspaper . 2 january 2011 . retrieved 2010 07 04 . a b tatra s new czech rival launches its new low floor astra tram october 1996 . light rail and modern tramway p. 374 . ian allan publishing light rail transit association uk . life is better in the world than in czechia . mlad fronta dnes archived and probably translated by inekon group . 26 april 2006 . retrieved 2010 07 04 . taplin m. r. october 2001 . return of the modern streetcar portland leads the way . tramways & urban transit . hersham surrey uk ian allan publishing ltd. issn 1460 8324 . retrieved 2013 07 07 . a b koda and inekon about to cooperate . inekon group a.s. 2006 . retrieved 2010 07 04 . tramways & urban transit magazine march 2002 p. 103 . light rail transit association uk . a b archive 2002 news . railvolution . 2002 . retrieved 2010 07 04 . a b tramways & urban transit magazine september 2003 p. 347 . light rail transit association uk . a b czechs want to introduce trams to dakar . hospod sk noviny newspaper . 13 september 2006 . retrieved 2010 07 04 . facts inekon group . inekon group . 2006 . retrieved 2010 07 04 . modernization and repairs of trams . inekon group . retrieved 2010 07 04 . construction and maintenance of rail tracks . inekon group . retrieved 2010 07 04 . news metros . railway gazette international . 1 august 2006 . retrieved 2010 10 16 . ufa tramway rehabilitation . railway gazette international . 11 september 2007 . retrieved 2010 10 16 . inekon group