Key news and contracts in the light rail vehicle market.
The Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority (SEPTA) has placed an order with Hitachi Rail for 200 metro cars. The contract, including the option for 40 cars, has a value of $848 mln, with $317 mln of which provided by the Federal Transit Administration (FTA). The order scheduled for delivery between 2029 and 2031 will include the M5 trains with inter-car gangways.
In Spain, approval was given to allocate €600 mln for the purchase of 37 five-car metro trains for Bilbao. The first trainsets are scheduled to commence operation in 2027–2028, with the final delivery expected in 2033. The new rolling stock will replace the UT500 and UT550 trains, which were supplied by CAF, ABB, and Adtranz in 1994–2001.
The UT500 metro train in Bilbao. Source: MOS1981/transphoto
The Krakow public transport provider MPK has announced the relaunch of a tender process for the purchase of 90 trams. As with the previous tender, the new one comprises three lots: 30 three-car uni-directional trams, 30 three-car bi-directional trams and 30 four-car trams. The operator has stated that the offers from Bozankaya and Stalder exceeded the allocated budget and did not comply with the technical specifications.
The Stadler Tango NF2 trams in Krakow. Source: Frazzer/transphoto
The first Baltiets metro trains are scheduled to commence operation on the Blue line of the St. Petersburg metro in 2025. This information was revealed by Kirill Polyakov, City Vice-Governor, during a live call-in show. Mr. Polyakov stated that the new trains will commence operation following the rolling stock renewal on the Red line, where the 25th new train is preparing to go out. In 2022, the St. Petersburg Metro placed an order for 950 Baltiets metro cars with TMH. As previously stated by the St. Petersburg Transport Committee, 80 cars are scheduled for delivery in 2024, with the same amount in 2025. In spring, TMH announced that it was updating the train.
