Germany, Czechia: The Czech manufacturer has produced the inaugural ForCity Smart 38T tram, measuring 58.7 m in length.
The vehicle has been ordered by the public transport operator RNV of the Rhine-Neckar Metropolitan Region in Germany. The previous longest tram was the 55.9 m Urbos from CAF, built for Budapest.
Compared to the nine-car Urbos, the ForCity 38T has only six cars. The partially low-floor tram has been designed for a 1,000 mm track gauge and is based on the Škoda Artic platform. The vehicle is reported to accommodate 366 passengers, of whom 144 are seated.
The customer has already conducted an inspection of the tram on the test track in Pilsen. The €250 mln contract was signed in 2018 to deliver 12 ForCity Smart 38T trams and 68 shorter multi-car trams, including an option for a further 34 vehicles. The trams will be operated in the cities of Mannheim, Ludwigshafen and Heidelberg. Škoda Group is manufacturing the vehicles for the contract at its Pilsen site in Czechia and the Škoda Transtech plant in Finland.
