Brief overview of key events and news in the rail rolling stock markets.
Prime Minister Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum has approved the construction of the Dubai Metro Blue Line. The project is estimated to cost AED 18 bln ($4.9 bln). There are plans to purchase 28 unmanned trains for the 30 km line, which is due to open in 2029. Several major rolling stock manufacturers, CRRC, Alstom, and Siemens Mobility, have expressed their interest in participating in the project and plan to bid as part of consortia.
The Brno transport operator has exercised an option for 15 three-car bi-directional ForCity Smart 45T trams at a cost of CZK 75 mln (€3 mln) each, by Skoda Group. The operator had previously received a subsidy of CZK 630 mln (€26.7 mln) for the purchase of the vehicles, which are due for delivery in 2025. Under a contract signed in February 2021 for up to 40 trams, the operator can order a further 20 vehicles.
The three-car ForCity Smart 45T for Brno. Source: Skoda Group
Gdansk is considering the purchase of up to 16 45 m long bi-directional trams in the next two to three years, as Maciej Lisicki, president of the city’s operator GAiT, told in his interview with Transport Publiczny. According to him, the financing has not yet been approved, and a new depot for 40 trams of this length is to be built before a tender is announced.
Stadler will deliver four FLIRT trains to Azerbaijan’s national operator ADY by the end of the year. This was announced at a meeting between ADY President Rovshan Rustamov and Stadler CEO Peter Spueller. The contract for the delivery of ten trains was signed in 2019, with the remaining six to be delivered next year. Initially, the trains were to be built at a plant in Fanipol, Belarus, but under the pressure of sanction, they were built in Siedlce, Poland. There is another contract between the Swiss manufacturer and ADY, for the construction of a local maintenance centre for all types of Stadler’s rolling stock delivered to Azerbaijan.
The Transmash plant, a part of TMH, delivered two SM-7N snow clearing trains to Gazpromtrans, Russia, after successful acceptance tests. The contract for their delivery was signed in December 2022.
