The rail vehicle manufacturer CAF will supply 19 trams to Tours. This is already the third major tram order since 2022, after the transport authorities in Montpellier and Marseille had already opted for CAF’s Urbos trams. This is a surprise insofar as most French cities were and are regular customers of the French company Alstom. The new vehicles are to be used on the city’s second 12.5 km tram line, which is currently under construction.
The new trams will be built in France at the Bagnères-de-Bigorre site (formerly CFD), which was taken over by CAF in 2011.
Operation on lines 1 and 2
The Urbos trams for Tours will be delivered from 2027 and the series will then be delivered in stages until the new line goes into commercial operation in 2028. CAF will also supply the corresponding spare parts and special tools, according to a press release.
The dimensions of the new seven-car trams correspond to the Alstom Citadis trams on Line 1 with a length of 42 metres and a width of 2.3 metres. They also have a passenger capacity of 280 people. It is not yet known whether the new CAF trams will also adopt the RCP with black front mask and illuminated LED strips.
However, the Urbos should be interoperable with the vehicles on Line 1, which opened in 2013 and is operated in the city centre without overhead lines using Alstom’s APS (Alimentation par le Sol = power supply through the ground). The medieval city of Tours, known for its Gothic architecture and as the gateway to the Loire Valley with its famous castles, is one of four French cities that have opted for the APS system to make the tram in the city centre catenary-free.
Although no technical details are yet available about the new CAF trains, it can be assumed that they will not be equipped with Alstom’s proprietary APS system, but that the approximately 2 km long overhead line-free route in the city centre will be powered by battery storage.
The APS system uses a 750 volt direct current rail between the guide rails for the wheels. The conductor rail is divided into eight metre long live sections with three metre long insulated sections in between. A railcar activates the required sections by radio signal to control boxes installed every 22 metres in the floor so that only the segments under the vehicle are live. A control station monitors the operating status and switches off the affected section in the event of a fault before the remaining sections are reactivated. In the event of a technical problem, the vehicles can switch to battery operation and travel up to 150 metres at 3 km/h.
17.03.2025
