Škoda Transportation group will be the supplier of new low-floor trams as a joint order to three public transport operators in the German federal state of Brandenburg: Frankfurt (Oder), Brandenburg an der Havel and Cottbus. This is the result of a Europe-wide joint tender process. Škoda will supply a total of 24 vehicles with options for a further 21. The total volume of the contract, including options, amounts to approximately 110 million euros.
The new vehicles of the type ForCity Plus will replace existing, older, high-floor tram cars in these cities, which have reached the end of their economic service life. The single-ended tramways each have two motorisedbogie under either end of the three-module body. All are metre-gauge and have a total length of 30.08m. The tram sets for Cottbus are 10cm wider than the other, with a total width of 2.40 The interior design of the tramcars will be quite similar, all vehicles will be approximately 70% low-floor, and they will have air-conditioning, dynamic passenger information systems and camera surveillance.
13 of the 24 vehicles on order go to Stadtverkehrsgesellschaft mbH Frankfurt (Oder), 4 with 8 option vehicles to Verkehrsbetrieb Brandenburg an der Havel GmbH, and the remaining 7 with an option for a further 13 are destined for Cottbusverkehr GmbH. All tramways will be delivered between the end of 2023 and 2024. The options may be exercised once addtional state funding are granted – for delivery by the end of 2026.
The contract signing has been preceded by an objection which has been cleared by the Brandenburg Higher Regional court. We reported here:
