China: The Tangshan plant produced the first of 18 four-section trams under a 2020 contract for the Portuguese city of Porto. This delivery is the first urban rail contract for CRRC in EU. The manufacturer notes that it took 8 months to create the tram, and it has yet to be tested at the plant before being sent to Portugal.
A tender for the delivery and maintenance for 5 years of a fleet of 18 four-section trams was announced by the Metro do Porto at the end of 2018. Siemens Mobility and Skoda Transportation also applied for the tender, but CRRC offered the lowest price (€49.6 mln, with an initial tender cost of €56.1 mln).
The deal was concluded in January 2020, the purchase was financed by the Ministry of Ecology and the Climate Protection Fund. Metro do Porto expected CRRC to be able to deliver one or two trams by the end of 2021, with the remaining cars delivered to the city by 2023. However, according to CRRC Tangshan’s Chairman Zhou Junnian, the contract only started in November 2021, and the project has faced many challenges, including the COVID-19 pandemic and the development of a new design in line with European technical standards.
The new trams were named CT (abbreviation for CRRC Tram). Initially, it was assumed that they would be able to carry 252 passengers and accelerate to 80 km/h. However, after a long study of the project, the passenger capacity was increased to 334 people. The manufacturer claims that the trams have a lightweight body structure, are equipped with a technical condition monitoring system that transmits information about malfunctions to the dispatch center in real time, a passenger counting system and a driver assistance system that helps save energy. The tram also has two control cabins and a total of 14 double doors, 7 on each side of the car.
Inside the CRRC CT tram for Porto. Source: Metro do Porto
One of the driver’s cabs of the CRRC CT tram for Porto. Source: Metro do Porto
CRRC plans to further expand the supply of rolling stock to Portugal by entering the electric train market. So, now the company is competing with Alstom, Siemens, Hitachi, Stadler and CAF in the tender of Comboios de Portugal (CP) for the supply of 117 electric trains for $927 mln. The winner is planned to be announced at the end of 2022. However, this period may be postponed to a later time due to mutual accusations of the tender participants against each other.
