CITADIS trams are a hit with the public
in Montpellier

The people of the southern French city of Montpellier have
made their tramway a resounding success. So much so that the
tramway operator expanded its CITADIS trams to accommodate more
passengers and added two trams to the fleet.

Thanks to the modularity of the ALSTOM-built trams, the
possibility of adding 10-meter extensions was foreseen from the
beginning.

TaM (Société des Transports de l'Agglomération
de Montpellier) ordered 28 30-meter CITADIS trams in 1997 and
opened the tramway for service on July 1, 2000.

Success exceeds expectations
TaM expected that some 65,000 passengers a day would ride
the tramway. Within the first months of operation, it was already
clear that its success had exceeded expectations. Over the first
year of operation, ridership averaged 70,000 passengers a
day.

In July 2001, TaM asked ALSTOM to add the 10-meter extensions
to its fleet, bringing passenger capacity to 320 per tram from
220. Two new CITADIS were ordered as well.

ALSTOM scheduled the extension work on TaM's trams to avoid
disrupting service, at a rate of two to three trams a month. The
work was done in Montpellier's Hirondelles depot as the trams
went in for maintenance work.

A year later, a renewed fleet
By July 2002, ALSTOM had delivered the first of the
extended trams, successfully meeting the tight deadline of one
year. A mere 10 months later, in May 2003, the entire 40-meter
fleet had entered service.

TaM tells us that they are very satisfied with the
reliability of their CITADIS trams, says Yannick Rocaboy,
project manager at ALSTOM. The drivers say they are
impressed with the vehicles' performance. And the increasing
number of passengers is clear evidence of the public's
enthusiastic adoption of the trams.

The popularity of the trams continues to grow. Ridership
reached an average 97,000 passengers a day in the first part of
2003, with a one-day peak of 101,000 people taking the trams on
March 18.

More than 440 CITADIS trams have been ordered around the world
by cities such as Paris, Barcelona, Melbourne and Dublin.

With more than 35 product lines and a presence in more than
60 countries, ALSTOM's Transport sector offers cutting-edge
products and services for new rolling stock, signaling and
electrical and mecanical infrastructure as well as maintenance
and rehabilitation services to four distinct types of
customers: urban transit authorities and operators; intercity
passenger rail operators and rolling stock owners; rail freight
operators; and intercity railway infrastructure owners.
ALSTOM's Transport sector, with sales of 5.1 billion in
financial year 2002-2003, is among the world's leading
suppliers to the railway industry.

Press information:

Helen Connolly

Tel. +33 (0)1 41 66 91 43

helen.connolly@transport.alstom.com