In rolling stock for metro systems, international manufacturers continue to place emphasis on further development of energy-saving technologies, weight reduction and automation. Innovations are driven by large orders, with CRRC’s best practices in Chinese cities, Alstom’s and Siemens Mobility’s in Riyadh, and TMH’s in Moscow. At the same time, a requirement for localisation in the customer’s country remains an important economic trend. Even the Chinese producer agrees to this point.
Metro trains from CRRC
The giant Chinese corporation leads the global market of metro trains, which is caused by intensive construction of new lines in the domestic market. Mainland China has the longest metro network in the world, with over 320 lines of a total length of 11,000 km. More than 7,300 metro cars are operated only in Shanghai. CRRC produces standard trains of types A, B, C and L, as well as a lot of customised models.
It is CRRC which is the manufacturer of the 2024 main innovation for the whole transport machine-building industry. The Chinese manufacturer has released the unmanned CETROVO 1.0 Carbon Star Express, the first train in the world with supporting structures produced from carbon fibre. Publicly presented in June 2024, the vehicle was put into test operation on the Qingdao network in January 2025. As reported, the car body, bogie frame and other supporting structures are constructed from carbon fibre, while brake discs are made of carbon-ceramic composite. The use of these materials allows for reducing the train’s weight by 11% and energy consumption by 7%, as well as ensuring higher impact resistance and a longer life cycle.
The unmanned metro train for Xiamen’s future Line 6. Source: CRRC
Another driverless metro train, which has entered test operation in Xiamen, likewise follows a trend for weight reduction. According to CCRC, aluminium used for the body, brake discs and other components made it possible to reduce the weight of the train by four tonnes. Designed for 818 passengers, the LRV is fitted with a monitoring system consisting of shock, vibration and temperature sensors to detect possible faults in the wheelsets and infrastructure. A fleet of 18 such trains is expected to be commissioned in 2026.
CRRC has designed one more unmanned train for 826 passengers to provide service on Xiamen’s future Line 6. The vehicle features an aluminium car body and a carbon fibre driver’s desk. The train is reported to have 50 functions automated, including automatic start and departure from the depot. Its bogies are equipped with a monitoring system integrating shock, vibration and temperature sensors to control the condition of the wheelsets and infrastructure. In addition, the train employs the electric braking technology which allows for superior braking control and seamless stops in comparison with electro-pneumatic brakes, according to CRRC.
CRRC’s NM22 metro trains in Mexico City. Source: China Focus
CRRC has enriched its portfolio with one more innovative LRV, which is the NM22 rubber-tyred metro train. The rolling stock has been produced under the export contract for Mexico, with 29 nine-car trainsets put in operation in Mexico City. The rubber-tyred wheels ensure climbing slopes with gradients of 8% and noise reduction during operation. Each trainset can accommodate up to 2,252 passengers. The bogies are equipped with large wheels for operation, small ones for guidance, and traditional steel wheels for safety. The final assembly of the rolling stock with 35% localisation was undertaken at CRRC’s new plant in Queretaro, Mexico.
Metro trains from Alstom
After CRRC, the French manufacturer is the second-largest global player in the segment of metro trains. Similar to the tram market, Alstom’s share has rapidly increased thanks to the acquisition of Bombardier Transportation in 2021. If previously Alstom was presented only by the Metropolis platform, the takeover of the Canadian company has enlarged the French producer’s portfolio with the Movia metro trains and the Innovia LRVs. The latter comprises three platforms: the Innovia Metro trains, the Innovia Monorail sets, and the Innovia APMs (driverless rubber-tyred cars for metro lines and automated people mover systems at airports). Alstom claims that every fourth metro train in the world is of its own production. Today, more than 70 cities across 40 countries worldwide are deploying over 35,000 metro cars (including 6,000 driverless) from Alstom.
The Metropolis metro train in Riyadh. Source: Hill International
For Alstom, the main achievement in 2024 was the launch of the world’s longest (176 km) and fully automated metro system in Saudi Arabia’s capital, Riyadh. A fleet of 69 Metropolis and 47 Innovia Metro 300 trains, each with a capacity of 231 passengers, has entered service on four of the six lines of the network. The 36 m two-car trainsets operate at minimum intervals of 90 seconds. The interiors are divided into First Class, Family Class and Single Class. Special attention has been paid to the rolling stock adaptation for operation in the hot and harsh desert climate. The trains are thus fitted with more powerful air-conditioning, and the bogies, traction drive and doors are additionally protected to reduce the ingress of sand.
The two-car Innovia APM 300R trains have also entered commercial service in Singapore. The trainsets with 16 seats per each car have been produced at the joint Alstom-CRRC plant in Wuhu, China. The Innovia APM 300R is equipped with the Mitrac propulsion system, which ensures better energy efficiency, according to Alstom. Additionally, the trains feature an advanced condition monitoring system and automatic dimming windows. The manufacturer plans to deliver the whole fleet of 19 Innovia APM 300R cars by the end of 2025.
The Innovia APM 300R train in Singapore. Source: Land Transport Authority
Today, one of Alstom’s key advantages is that the company has already filled a large niche in the rapidly growing Indian market, where people’s mobility in urban agglomerations is provided through metro network development. Back in 2023, Olivier Loison, Managing Director for Alstom India, remarked in his interview with Swarajaya magazine that India follows only France and Germany, holding the third position in terms of market size for Alstom. At that time, the French producer had over 25% of its engineering work performed at the Indian sites, with plans to increase that share to 33%.
In 2024, Alstom launched its metro trains in various cities across India. In Mumbai, a fleet of 31 Metropolis highly automated trains has entered service. The rolling stock is expected to be operated by drivers during the first year of deployment, and then the vehicles will migrate to GoA4, the highest grade of automation. The eight-car trainsets can accommodate up to 3,000 passengers. For the first time in India’s metro, the car axles are 75% motorised, enabling quick acceleration and deceleration, Alstom says.
In Agra, the three-car Movia metro trains have been launched on a stretch of the first metro line, running through the Taj Mahal and other cultural attractions of the city. Each LRV can accommodate 974 passengers. Last year, Alstom also started deliveries of the Metropolis metro trains to the cities of Pune, Delhi and Chennai.
The Movia train from Alstom in Agra, India. Source: Uttar Pradesh Metro Rail Corporation
Alstom’s Metropolis platform is in demand in other countries as well. In particular, the Hanoi Metro in Vietnam has opened a new metro line served by the first fleet of 10 four-car Metropolis trains, each accommodating 950 passengers. The French manufacturer is also implementing the contracts for the six-car Metropolis trains with a passenger capacity of 1,200 people for Bucharest, Romania, and the four-car Metropolis trains for 700 passengers for Taipei City, Taiwan. The first trainsets were delivered to these countries in 2024.
Pursuing its approach for introducing unmanned metro trains, Alstom has announced the new-generation LRVs for Hamburg. Under the framework agreement, up to 254 semi-automated and 120 fully-automated four-car trainsets will be delivered to the German city. While the DT6-Fs will have driver’s cabs, the DT6-А trains will go without cabs.
Rendering of Alstom’s DT6 metro train for Hamburg. Source: HHA
The three-car 40 m trainsets will be able to operate up to three in multiple, providing a maximum passenger capacity for about 900 people. The delivery of the first batch is scheduled for 2028, with the commercial operation planned to start in 2029. It is important to notice that Hamburg’s city operator HHA was one of the first in the world to specify in the tender documentation the recyclability requirements for the rolling stock at a level not less than 94%.
Metro train by TMH
Russian company TMH remains one of the leading players in the metro rolling stock market. Its long-term contracts with Moscow — which operates one of the world’s largest and busiest metro systems — have driven significant technological advances in its train range.
The year 2024 saw the entry into service of the Moskva 2024 metro trains, representing the third generation of this platform. Moscow has ordered over 500 cars of this series, with development already underway on the next iteration.
The first Moskva-2024 on the Green Line of the Moscow Metro. Source: M. Mishina/Press office of the Moscow Mayor and Moscow Government
Changes in the Moskva 2024 trains compared to the Moskva 2020 primarily concern interior design. The aisle between seats has been widened by 10%, allowing for 17 additional passengers per car. Seats themselves have been enlarged and upholstered with more stain-resistant materials. Additionally, a number of new technical features have been introduced, such as the integration of cabin cameras with console monitors and partial concealment of fire detectors.
The Moskva 2024 trains are equipped with TMH’s fourth-generation asynchronous traction drive system developed in-house. Power output has been increased and weight reduced in stages: forced ventilation has been replaced by a natural air-cooling system, and the components are being upgraded. The existing train control and diagnostic system collects extensive data on the condition of all onboard equipment.
According to RIA Novosti, one trainset is assembled at TMH’s Mytishchi plant within four days.
Metro trains from Hitachi Rail
Hitachi Rail plays a significant role in metro train deliveries around the world. After the 2015 takeover of Italia’s AnsaldoBreda and Ansaldo STS, a division for railway technologies, the Japanese manufacturer has considerably enhanced its visibility in the global market. Hitachi Rail trains now operate in over 30 cities, mainly across Europe and Northern America.
In 2024, Hitachi Rail’s several projects were eventually launched, which was important for the company after previous considerable delays. Thus, Greece inaugurated the first metro line in Thessaloniki, served by 18 driverless four-car metro trains, carrying 450 passengers each. The initial launch was planned for 2012, but the metro’s opening missed the deadline more than once due to archaeological findings on the route and debt problems.
Hitachi Rail trains on Thessaloniki’s first metro line. Source: independent.co.uk
After a long six-year delay, Ho Chi Minh, the largest city in Vietnam, has also commissioned the first metro line, which deploys 9 three-car trains from Hitachi Rail. Designed for maximum speeds of 110 km/h on the elevated sections and 80 km/h on the underground sections, each trainset can accommodate 930 passengers, 147 of them seated.
In Italy, where Hitachi Rail is the main market player thanks to the acquired assets of AnsaldoBreda, the year 2024 resulted in starting of the metro trains deliveries for Genoa and unveiling the new rolling stock for Rome. Under the contract for 14 trainsets, Genoa received the first four-car metro train of the fourth generation. Similar to the previous-generation fleet, the new vehicles have a length of 39 m and can hold up to 290 passengers. However, the new LRVs can run in multiple, allowing operations of eight-car trainsets, and are additionally equipped with air-conditioning and ATO systems.
Hitachi Rail’s metro train for Rome. Source: Eugenio Patané
The six-car train designed for the Italian capital’s metro will accommodate 1,204 passengers. Hitachi Rail states that the new rolling stock is going to be 10% more energy efficient than CAF’s S/300 trains, operated in Rome since the 2000s. To achieve this improvement, the new metro train will be constructed 5% lighter and fitted with a more sophisticated traction system.
Metro trains from other producers
Along with Alstom’s LRVs, Siemens Mobility has also launched its trains on two of Riyadh’s metro lines. The German manufacturer’s fleet consists of 41 four-car and 25 two-car metro trains based on the Inspiro platform, featuring a passenger capacity of 522 and 251 people, correspondingly. The interiors include three classes, the same as the trains from Alstom. Special filters protect the air-conditioning system, traction drive, brakes and bogies from sand ingress. Both cars of a two-car train and three cars of a four-car train are motorised. Each powered bogie is driven by two traction motors, which are controlled by IGBT inverters.
Siemens Mobility’s Inspiro metro train in Riyadh. Source: Royal Commission for Riyadh City
The year 2024 was also distinguished by local projects making headway in the metro and monorail market. In Iranian Tehran, the first domestically developed metro train was put into pilot operation. 25 research institutions and 4 plants collaborated to develop the project. The Tehran Wagon Manufacturing Company was in charge of the car bodies, ventilation systems and information displays. Mapna Rail designed bogies, and Tivan Termez Raili developed a braking system and automatic doors, while the other institutions were responsible for traction and control systems and inter-car gangways.
The first metro train made in Iran for the Tehran metro. Source: Tehran Picture Agency
Mumbai also received the first locally manufactured monorail train, which was co-produced with Malaysian SMH Rail at the Medha Servo Drives plant. If compared with the currently deployed monorail trains from Scomi Rail (Malaysia), the new vehicles are several tonnes lighter and can accommodate 10% more passengers (568 people). In addition, they are equipped with improved bogies, signalling and traction systems.
Presentation of the first unmanned metro train for the Gebze metro at Bozankaya‘s plant in Ankara. Source: gazeteyaziyor.com.tr
In Türkiye, the first driverless metro trains from local Bozankaya have entered pre-operational service. The manufacturer received an order for seven such trains to operate on the Gebze–Darica line. In 2023, Bozankaya’s first unmanned LRV was unveiled with the reported localisation of 63%. At the same time, CRRC also assembled its first four-car unmanned metro train in Türkiye. In 2024, the rolling stock for Istanbul was produced with a stated 60% localisation rate at the Ankara plant, specially created to implement this contract.
