Geneva Public Transport’s (TPG) 32 new trams to be produced in Switzerland

Tango. That is the evocative name of the new trams that will begin entering service throughout the Geneva region’s public transportation network by the end of 2011. Last June, the planned purchases were publicly put out to tender in order to implement the canton’s structure plan for public transportation between 2011 and 2014. The winner of the tender was the Swiss company Stadler Rail. The procurement includes the delivery of 32 new vehicles in the time period from 2011 to 2014 and will be worth a total of CHF 154 million, value added tax excluded. The new trams will complement TPG’s existing vehicle fleet for the significantly extended metre-gauge network and will meet requirements for future mobility in the growing region of Geneva–Vaud–France.

Since 2003, Geneva’s tram network has expanded yearly by the addition of a new line or leg. The expansion of lines 14 and 16 to CERN (TCMC project, stage 3) is already on its way to completion by the end of 2010; and after two intensive years of construction, the line to Bernex (TCOB project) should be opened in 2011. The final
stage will be marked by the first delivery of TPG’s newly acquired Tango trams. This vehicle type from the Swiss company Stadler Rail is already in service in tram networks such as Basel’s.

With the ongoing expansion of its tram fleet, TPG is responding to both increasing demand and the Canton of Geneva’s goal to increase its services by 30% in the time period from 2011 to 2014. In addition to the continuous improvements to its tram network, TPG aims to offer the population an even more efficient public infrastructure.

On 21 December 2009, TPG’s Board of Directors awarded the tender for the delivery of 32 new vehicles, with 2 options for either 14 or 10 additional trams, to the Swiss company Stadler Rail. The Swiss manufacturer’s offer of CHF 154 million (value added tax excluded) was chosen because it was the most advantageous economic variant, conforming to the inter-cantonal agreement on public procurements (AIMP or Accord intercantonal sur les marchés publics).

Each of the new trams for TPG are bidirectional vehicles with five articulations. They are 44 metres long and 2.30 metres wide and weigh 57 tonnes, having a capacity of 261 passengers, 88 of which are seated. The seven platform-level entrances with folding doors provide sufficient space for wheelchairs and thus meet legal public transport requirements for disabled people. All nine vehicles will be equipped with the comfort features provided by trams of the latest generation: air conditioning, heating, folding ramps between the vehicle and ground, customer information systems and video surveillance. They offer passengers and tram drivers the greatest comfort thanks to air-suspension bogies with exceptional running smoothness.

TPG is delighted to have secured this new collaboration with a local company. The Swiss consortium Stadler Rail Group was founded in 1942 and has a workforce today of over 2,400 people at 8 locations, 3 of which are in Switzerland (Bussnang, Altenrhein and Winterthur). The Group specialises in regional and suburban transport, city railways, and the tram and rack-and-pinion vehicle segments.

(Source: Transport Weekly)