Streetcars the D.C. Department of Transportation purchased three years ago currently are cruising the streets of the Czech Republic.

DDOT spokeswoman Karyn Le Blanc confirmed Tuesday a WTOP Radio report that the cars are being tested in the Czech Republic, where they were constructed.

The three streetcars, costing about $3 million each, were already supposed to be running on a line connecting Bolling Air Force Base with the Anacostia Metro station, both in Southeast.

The District ordered the streetcars three years ago since the cars take about that long to build and the city wanted them to be ready by now, Le Blanc said. But construction has yet to begin on the tracks, and Le Blanc said the goal now is for the streetcars to be running by fall 2009.

A similar streetcar line is in the works for the H Street Northeast corridor, with the plan to have the two lines eventually meet up on the east side of the Anacostia, near the Minnesota Avenue Metro station. The H Street tracks aren’t scheduled to be completed until late 2010.

— Daniel Heim