Recent deals and tenders in the urban rail transport market.
Germany — KVB, Cologne’s transport authority, has issued a framework tender for the delivery of up to 113 low-floor trams classified as the NF6.2. The firm order includes 33 bi-directional LRVs that will be procured under a shareholder loan. The delivery is scheduled to commence in 2030. Back in 2020, the city of Cologne awarded Alstom with a contract for 64 Citadis X05 trams. However, their serial deliveries, initially planned for 2024, have been postponed till 2028.
Russia — 36 single-section 71-911EM Lvyonok trams and 15 three-section 71-931M Vityaz-M trams have entered service on Moscow’s new line T2. The former have been delivered according to last year’s contract with PC Transport Systems (PC TS) for 100 such LRVs, while the latter were built in previous years. The whole fleet is equipped with supercapacitor batteries, allowing for routine passing of a non-electrified section of 2.1 km. The 33 km T2 line, dubbed the “tram diameter line”, is reported to be the longest urban tram route in the world.
India — Delhi’s metro operator DMRC has announced a tender for 15 six-car trains. The new rolling stock for the 1,435 mm gauge is required to be produced within four years and maintained for 35 years. The procurement will be financed by loans from JICA, Japan International Cooperation Agency, similarly to the previous purchase of 68 metro cars for Line 1.
Alstom metro train in Dehli. Source: Sanchit Khanna/HT
Russia — Saint Petersburg has launched two tenders for a total of 26 low-floor trams at an initial cost of RUB 4.7 bln (USD 61.6 mln). One tender includes three bi-directional three-section LRVs of up to 31 m in length. The vehicles must provide accommodation for 200 passengers and have a cost of RUB 187 mln (USD 2.5 mln) each. The other tender is for 19 uni-directional three-section LRVs with the same specifications (at a cost of RUB 185 mln per vehicle (USD 2.4 mln)) along with four two-section trams of 19–22 m in length with a passenger capacity of at least 100 people (RUB 162 mln per vehicle (USD 2.1 mln)). All the LRVs are to negotiate curves with a radius of up to 16 m and run autonomously for 3 km. The winners will be announced from late April to early May. The rolling stock is expected for delivery by the end of September. Previously, Saint Petersburg received similar trams from the Ust-Katav Car-Building Plant and PC TS.
USA — Portland plans to buy 15 CAF trams for its Streetcar System. The city administration expects to negotiate all the details of the future contract with the Spanish manufacturer within a month. The new LRVs are reported to be based on the Urbos platform and fitted with batteries. The fleet will be manufactured at CAF’s Elmira plant, USA, and will replace Czechia’s Skoda and Inekon trams built in the 2000s. Currently, the city’s light rail system, which is not connected to the Portland Streetcar System, is being renewed with the S700 trams from Siemens Mobility.
