GERMANY: Stadwerke Ulm Verkehr and Siemens signed a contract for the supply of 12 Avenio M trams on May 22. The order is worth €32m and includes an option for six additional vehicles.
The metre-gauge trams will be manufactured at the Siemens plant in Wien, with bogies from Graz and traction equipment from Nürnberg. Delivery of the first car is due within 24 months, with the last to be delivered in early 2018.
Siemens says that this is the first order for a multi-articulated version of the Avenio. Like the 10 Combino NGT6 cars supplied from 2003 to operate Route 1, the 100% low-floor Avenios will be five-section vehicles around 31 m long with capacity for 175 passengers. They will feature aluminium bodies and regenerative braking.
The trams are intended to operate services on Route 2, which will link the science district in the north of the city with Kuhberg in the southwest via the main line station. The planned 10·5 km line would have 20 stops; 1·2 km and two stops in the city centre would be shared with the existing tram route.
Federal and state funds will cover €85·3m of the cost of construction and depot expansion, with the remaining €106·7m coming from the city.
