CAF wins contract for supply for new Urban Trams for Lisbon City

Lisbon, Portugal (Urban Transport News): The french multinational firm Construcciones y Auxiliar de Ferrocarriles (CAF) on April 21, 2021, announced that it has won the contract to supply urban trams for the City of Lisbon. The new trams will operate on Carreira 15 (line 15) which runs parallel to the mouth of the River Tajo, connecting the main tourist monument areas in the Portuguese capital, such as Commerce Square, Belém and the Jerónimos Monastery, as well as the city’s main stations of the various means of transport such as metro, railway, ferries, etc.

It is worth noting that, already in the mid 90s, CAF took part in the production and supply of half of the articulated trams that have been running on the aforementioned Carreira 15 since 1995. The newly procured trams will add to the transport capacity on this line.

The proposed Urbos tram for Lisbon is a one-way, 5-module articulated unit, designed to run at a maximum speed of 70 km/h. It spans a total length of 28.5 metres and will be equipped with one driver cab and a low floor to facilitate passenger access.

These new units are prepared for future retrofit of on-board energy storage solutions similar to those already fitted on units supplied by CAF to other cities such as Birmingham, Luxembourg, Kaohsiung, Seville, etc. This technology allows for catenary-free tram operation in certain city areas to protect architecturally sensitive areas, while also offering significant transport energy efficiency benefits.

This contract consolidates CAF's leadership in the tram sector and in sustainable urban transport in general, and an ever-increasing number of fleets in cities around the world are currently benefiting from vehicles supplied by the CAF Group.