Thailand: A three-section low-floor tram is running trials on a 450 m test section built on the campus of Rajamangala University of Technology Isan (RMUTI) in Khon Kaen.
Engineers are checking its running performance on straight and curved track, along with the traction and braking systems and the wheelsets. They’re also separately assessing several key infrastructure components developed by the university’s own research team: rail fastenings, rail pads and groove fillers among them.
Three-section low-floor Luk Isan Tram tram at the test track of RMUTI. Source: RMUTI
The tram is running without passengers for now, with tests due to continue through the end of the year. After that, it will start carrying university staff and students on a regular basis. Longer term, RMUTI wants to extend the test line to 4 km and bring it out into the city itself.
Drawing power from both overhead line and onboard batteries, the tram is said to carry up to 120 passengers, and 80% of its components come from local manufacturers. The university is also weighing up whether to fit it with a hydrogen power unit down the line.
Inside the three-section low-floor Luk Isan Tram tram. Source: Paiwan Kerdtuad
Called Luk Isan Tram, the project traces back to 2019, when Hiroshima gave Khon Kaen a decommissioned high-floor tramcar built in 1957. Lecturers, researchers and students from RMUTI’s engineering faculty worked with Cho Thavee to study the old vehicle and use it as the basis for their own prototype.
RMUTI secured THB 120 mln ($3.5 mln) in 2022 from the state innovation fund PMU-C to build a first version powered from overhead line. Two trams came out of that funding round and were put through trial running on a 70-metre stretch of track, though one burned down in the summer of 2024, and the cause was never made public.
Inside the three-section low-floor Luk Isan Tram tram. Source: RMUTI
Work then began on a second, upgraded tram able to run on both overhead line and batteries, this time with THB 60 mln ($1.7 mln) from the National Science and Technology Development Agency.
