CHINA: A catenary-free tramway serving Qiubei county in the Wenshan Zhuang & Miao Autonomous Prefecture of Yunnan province was opened on May 15.
The Y shaped network totals 14 route-km. The 11·7 km main route designated as Line 4 starts from Puzhehei station on the Kunming – Nanning high speed line and runs north for 9 km along the main access road to the townships of Qiubei and Jinping, continuing to the Tourist Service Centre at Puzhehei Scenic Area just north of Qiubei. A 2·3 km two-stop branch designated Line 5 runs east on a partly-elevated alignment to Jiaolian Square in Jinping.
CRRC Zhuzhou has supplied a fleet of 15 Xiaohong trams fitted with supercapacitors and lithium titanate batteries which can be recharged in 30 sec using overhead equipment at the stops. The four-section 100% low-floor trams have a maximum speed of 70 km/h, and offer a capacity of 364 passengers including 72 seats.
Construction of the network was undertaken by Yunnan Construction & Investment Group under a PPP contract, with the main works beginning in 2019. Operations are also being managed through a PPP agreement.
