The Montpellier metropolitan area’s call for tenders for the renewal and increase of its tram fleet was launched in 2021.
The Spanish group CAF was chosen against Alstom to supply 77 trams to the Montpellier conurbation, a contract worth 224 million euros, Montpellier Méditerranée Métropole said on Friday.
In the coming years, the metropolis of Montpellier should renew all the characteristic line 1 trains with its blue livery and white birds. This busiest line in the metropolis with up to 130,000 passengers per day was opened 22 years ago.
Faced with this obligation and the opening of the future line number 5, 16 km long, which will connect the north and west of the agglomeration, the metropolis has decided to launch a general call for tenders for 77 trains. “ A call for tenders open to all “Said Michaël Delafosse the president of the metropolis of Montpellier in the launch press conference.
Two manufacturers had responded: Alstom with its Citadis trams which are currently used in Montpellier and the Spanish CAF whose production unit is located in Bagnères-de-Bigorre in the Pyrenees. It is a question of supplying by 2030, 30 trains dedicated to line 1 but also 22 trains assigned to the future line 5 with an additional 17 trains to cover the increase in attendance that will be caused by free transport for all the inhabitants of the metropolis at the end of 2023 and finally 8 reserve trains. A market estimated at 223 million euros. Less known than Alstom, CAF is however a very important railway manufacturer. Its trams are already in use in Lisbon Edinburgh or Stockholm.