Alstom to supply Citadis Compact tramsets to the Pays dAubagne et de lEtoile metropolitan region

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The Pays d’Aubagne et de l’Etoile metropolitan region has chosen Alstom to supply 8 Citadis Compact tramsets. The contract is worth some €14 million. The tramsets will be delivered in the summer of 2013, with entry into commercial service slated for early 2014, and options for 5 to 10 additional tramsets can be exercised until 2017. 

The Pays d’Aubagne et de l’Etoile metropolitan region is the first municipality to acquire Alstom’s new Citadis Compact tramway, the first model in the New Generation Citadis range, and has now become the 20th French metropolitan region to choose Citadis technology.

Located in the eastern part of the Bouches-du-Rhone region, Pays d’Aubagne et de l’Etoile has 103,000 residents spread among 12 towns: Aubagne, Auriol, Belcodène, Cadolive, Cuges-les-Pins, La Bouilladisse, La Destrousse, La Penne-sur-Huveaune, Peypin, Roquevaire, Saint-Savournin and Saint-Zacharie. The tramway will link Penne-sur-Huveaune to the Paluds industrial zone in Aubagne and will serve Aubagne’s city centre and major residential areas. Like all of the region’s public transport, the tram will serve all passengers free of charge.

Measuring 22 metres in length (other Citadis trams are 32 to 43 metres long), the Citadis Compact can accommodate some 130 passengers.

The tramset’s interior fittings are completely modular and feature two to four seats across. Wide bay windows, air conditioning and real-time information provide customers with a sense of comfort, safety and well-being. Its four double doors, a first in rolling stock of this length, save operating time by facilitating passenger boarding and dismounting.

Equipped with Alstom’s new Ixège bogie, which features a double suspension and two permanent-magnet motors, the Citadis Compact is more reliable, offers higher performance, consumes less energy and requires less maintenance than a traditional tram. With the Ixège bogie, the Citadis Compact offers the widest aisle on the market, thus providing greater freedom of movement for passengers on board.

The Citadis Compact will be designed and assembled at Alstom’s French sites in Valenciennes, La Rochelle, Ornans, Le Creusot, Tarbes and Villeurbanne.

The New Generation Citadis range 

The New Generation Citadis range rides on the success and customer-recognized quality of the 1,527 Citadis trams sold to nearly 40 cities worldwide, 19 of them in France, and on technology and equipment that have proven their worth for more than 15 years. The range offers technical advances that meet new market needs, such as permanent magnets, double doors and an Ixège bogie, all designed with customers’ competitive needs and travellers’ comfort in mind. The success of this new range was made possible by the close proximity of Alstom Transport’s R&D centres of excellence as well as a highly dynamic French tramway market.

Alstom Transport 

A promoter of sustainable mobility, Alstom Transport develops and offers the most comprehensive range of systems, equipment and services in the rail sector. Alstom Transport manages all aspects of transport systems, including rolling stock, signalling and infrastructure, as well as offering its clients turnkey solutions. In 2010-2011, Alstom Transport posted sales of €5.6 billion. Alstom Transport has a presence in over 60 countries and employs some 25,500 people.

With 8,500 personnel working at nine sites throughout France, Alstom Transport is the leading manufacturing company in the French rail sector and contributes to the growth of local economies, with one job at Alstom Transport creating around three jobs for its suppliers. Alstom Transport employees share their expertise with customers in both France and abroad. For example, Alstom’s La Rochelle site is currently fulfilling orders for Citadis tramways for the cities of Rotterdam, Brest, Dijon and Montpellier and very high-speed AGV trains for Italian rail operator NTV, while the Valenciennes site is working on Paris metro projects and the Amsterdam site on the Citadis Dualis tram train. In addition, the Belfort site is working on the Prima II locomotive project for Morocco.

Press contact 

Alstom Transport
Karen Brouiller
Tel.: +33 (0)1 57 06 18 42
E-mail : karen.brouiller@transport.alstom.com

Website: www.alstom.com/transport  

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