DRESDENER Verkehrsbetriebe has ordered two freight LRVs to haul automotive components to a Volkswagen car plant in the city centre (RG 11.99 p698). Contracts for the so-called CarGoTrams were signed in March at a ceremony in the plant. The vehicles will be supplied by a consortium led by Schalker Eisenhütte Maschinenfabrik of Gelsenkirchen.
Each articulated 60m vehicle will have five sections, weighing 90 tonnes when laden; they will be able to carry the equivalent of three lorries. Schalker will provide mechanical parts, with traction equipment coming from Bombardier’s FAGA subsidiary in Berlin and VEM Sachsenwerk; cabs will be supplied by a firm in Salzwedel, and DVB will provide bogies from surplus Tatra passenger cars.
The two LRVs will shuttle between VW’s parts centre at Friedrichstadt and the company’s so-called ’Glass Factory’ at Strassburger Platz. At full production, the trams will be making 36 round trips in a 21h working day.
