Alstom has signed a framework agreement with the Communauté des Transports Strasbourgeois (CTS, the Strasbourg Transport Company) for the supply of 50 Citadis trams. The first part of the agreement concerns an order for 12 trams, worth a total of 41 million euros. These are expected to enter service by the end of 2016.

These trams will be added to the existing CTS fleet as part of the extension of lines A[1] and D[2]. They will serve the Illkirch-Graffenstaden town centre, which has considerably been expanded over recent years and will also run on the cross-border line linking the centre of Strasbourg in France with Kehl in Germany. These trams are the first in France to cross a border.

“Following an initial order for 41 Citadis trams in 2003, this new contract is confirmation of the trust which the CTS has placed in Alstom and its Citadis solution. The trams in the Citadis range, which have been adopted by 46 cities worldwide, offer a combination of tried and tested basic techniques and flexible layouts to ensure reliability, comfort and customisation,” said Ana Giros, Managing Director of Alstom Transport France.

The Citadis trams in Strasbourg will be the first to be approved to German Federal BoStrab regulations covering the construction and operation of tram services in Germany.

The trams will measure 45 metres and will have a capacity of 288 passengers. They will be fitted with LED lighting and full glass doors, enhancing the passengers’ sense of comfort and security.

In order to conform to the PRM (People with Reduced Mobility) decree, the trams will be fitted with accessible buttons for opening doors, wider seats and zones reserved for wheelchair users and pushchairs.

These trams will be manufactured mainly in France: La Rochelle (design and assembly of trams), Ornans (design and manufacture of engines), Le Creusot (bogies for intermediate modules), Tarbes (traction chains), Villeurbanne (electronic equipment), Saint-Ouen (design) and at the Salzgitter site in Germany for the bogies fitted under the drivers’ cabs.

To date, orders have been placed for more than 1,800 Citadis trams, the first of which entered service back in 2000.

[1] Now 13 km, the line will measure 14.7 km.
[2] Now 8.7 km, the line will measure 12.6 km.