18 Solaris Trollino trolleybuses (with Skoda electric motors) are being delivered to Tychy, Poland

Tychy, a Polish city of 130,000 inhabitants located in Silesia, is renewing its trolleybus fleet. Eighteen new 12-meter Solaris Trollino trolleybuses with Skoda electric engines are currently being delivered. The new vehicles will complement and partially replace the existing fleet of 24 Solaris Trollino Medcoms purchased between 2013 and 2022.

The contract is based on a tender for 20 units published on April 29 2024: TLT (Tyskie Linie Trolejbusowe) accepted Solaris’s unique offer on October 27 2024, but the agreement could only be signed after funding from the “Zielony Transport Publiczny” (Green Public Transport) program was confirmed. The contract is estimated at just under PLN 50 million, equivalent to approximately €11.73 million. The purchase of the vehicles is funded by the European Union as part of the National Reconstruction Plan and covers 100% of the cost of the new trolleybuses.

The arrival of the new trolleybuses is certainly a significant milestone for TLT, which operates a recent trolleybus network, inaugurated on October 1, 1982, and currently consisting of eight lines—essentially the core network of public transport.

The vehicles meet the highest standards of comfort and safety. Thanks to their traction batteries, they will also be able to operate autonomously on stretches without two-wire lines, allowing for possible network expansion without the need for infrastructure construction. A comprehensive passenger information system is available on board, including special panels for the visually impaired and a stop warning system. New features include the second and third doors that open outward, as well as on-board defibrillators. The trolleybuses are also equipped with air conditioning and have received modern safety systems, including pedestrian detection, traffic sign recognition, and distance measurement from the vehicle in front.

After the first deliveries, which took place at the end of 2025, a partnership meeting between Tychy Trolleybus Lines, Solaris Bus & Coach, and Škoda Electric was held in Pilsen, Czech Republic, on December 2 of that year, to review the progress of trolleybus construction and present the vehicles in the assembly phase.

The new vehicles were presented to the public on February 14, 2026. A historic trolleybus was unveiled on the occasion—the Škoda 14Tr, purchased in 2019 from Opava in the Czech Republic, another leading trolleybus hub less than 100 kilometers from Tychy.

The highly modern Tjchy facility is an example for many medium-sized towns that need to equip themselves with, or are in the process of equipping themselves with, eco-friendly means of transport.