The CAF Group has won two new orders to supply Urbos platform trams for a combined value of over €100 million. On the one hand, it will supply 31 units to the operator BKK (Budapesti Közlekedési Központ) in Budapest, and on the other, it will supply 6 trams to the Seville town of Alcalá de Guadaíra.
New rolling stock extension for the Budapest Tram
Through BKK, the company in charge of transport management in the Hungarian capital city, Budapest has enforced a new option provided for in the initial contract to extend the number of units supplied. In this case an additional 31 trams will be supplied, 26 of them consisting of 5 modules and another 5 of 9 modules. These will include the supply of additional equipment and services.
CAF secured its first contract with BKK in 2014. This consisted of the supply of 37 units with the option to increase the number of units in possible future extensions. Since then, the customer has already implemented some of these options, having already received an additional 36 units, all of which are currently in revenue service. In addition to these, a further 20 units, which were awarded at the end of last year and currently being designed and manufactured, will be supplied.
These are low-floor vehicles, which facilitate access for people with reduced mobility, wheelchairs and pushchairs, and are designed to operate at a service speed of 50 km/h. The five-module trams span a total length of 34 metres and have a capacity for up to 326 passengers, whilst the nine-module units, which span a total length of 56 metres, can carry up to 562 passengers, making it one of the longest in the world.
It should be pointed out that the capital city of Hungary was one of the first cities to implement this means of urban transport, and currently boasts an extensive network consisting of almost 40 tram lines, some of which transport the highest annual volume of passengers in Europe. This lends weight to the fact that the city is once again placing its trust the CAF Group, and it must also be noted that besides from the aforementioned trams, a significant amount of Solaris trolleybuses are currently operating in the Magyar capital. Specifically, this client has placed orders for a total of more than 108 Solaris Trollino vehicles since 2014.
The regional Government of Andalusia awards CAF the contract to manufacture 6 units for the Alcalá de Guadaíra Tram
The Andalusian Regional Department of Public Works has awarded CAF the supply of six units to provide service on the Alcalá de Guadaíra tram network in Seville. The contract also includes two years of maintenance work on the units, as well as the supply of spare parts for the units.
Five of the trains are intended to provide service on the network in this town, with a sixth unit being available at the depot to provide a service in synchronisation with Seville Metro's Line 1, which it will connect up with at the Pablo de Olavide stop, next to the University that gives the station its name.
It should be pointed out that with this project, CAF now supplies various Andalusian towns and cities with units for their transport network, with Alcalá de Guadaíra joining the list of railway lines where its vehicles are already running, which includes Granada, Málaga, Seville and the Bay of Cádiz.