ALGERIA: The two-line tram network in the city of Mostaganem was opened by Minister of Transport Kamel Beldjoud and Wali of Mostaganem Aissa Boulahia on February 18.
The 12·2 km Line T1 runs from the university at Kharouba in the north, via national railway SNTF’s station to Lycée Oukraf Mohammed at La Salamandre in the south, with 20 stops.
Line T2 is a short branch running 2 km southeast from the SNTF station via the Belkacem Benyahia quarter to a new bus station, with four stops.
The two routes offer six interchanges with connecting bus routes and 10 stops with car parks. Initial ridership is expected to reach 5 000 passengers/h, with trams running every 8 to 10 min.
Construction
In 2012 Enterprise Metro d’Alger, which leads urban transport projects across the country, awarded a €250m contract to build the tramway to a consortium of Corsán-Corviam Construcción and Isolux Ingeniería (72%) and Alstom (28%).
Works were launched in September 2013 with completion planned for 2016. However, Corsan ran into financial problems and abandoned its role, which halted work.
Turkish company Yapı Merkezı and a Chinese group were approached to take over the project, but the replacement contract was eventually awarded by EMA to Cosider Travaux Publics, Cosider Ouvrages d’Art and Alstom. Yüksel Proje Algeria provided project management support.
Cosider was responsible for civil works including installation of the track and 750 V DC overhead electrification.
Alstom supplied the railway systems including signalling, telecoms, substations, ticketing and depot equipment, as well as 25 Citadis 402 trams which were assembled at Annaba in Algeria by the Cital joint venture of Alstom (49%), Ferrovial, EMA and SNTF.
The seven-section trams are 43 m long, with six double leaf and two single leaf doors per side.
The line is operated and maintained by the SETRAM Mostaganem joint venture of RATP Dev, EMA and Etablissement Public de Transport Urbain & Suburbain d’Alger.
- A feature article on urban transport projects in Algeria will appear in the March 2023 issue of Railway Gazette International magazine.
