In Seville, the capital of the Spanish region of Andalusia, a short extension of the only city tram line went into operation yesterday, 18 November 2024. The trams continue from the previous Eduardo Dato terminus, which has been in operation since June 2024, some 300 metres to the new Luis de Morales terminus. The extension runs mainly on grass track in the centre of the street. The tram line, also known as the ‘Metrocentro’, is now 4.2 km long. A further extension by one additional stop to the long-distance train station Santa Justa is planned.
The first two new five-section CAF Urbos III tramcars entered service at the same time as the opening. They complement the previous fleet of four trams of a similar model, which CAF had already delivered in 2011 with a different exterior design. All carriages are equipped with supercaps for recharging at the stops via pantographs in order to be able to travel on sections of line in the historic city centre without overhead contact lines.
A few days earlier, the regional government presented a mock-up model of the six low-floor trams ordered for the interurban tramway currently under construction in the eastern suburbs of the Seville metropolitan area. A 12.2 km line is being built here between the Pablo de Olavide transfer station of the (low-floor) metro line 1 and Alcalá de Guadaíra. Construction of the line had already begun in 2008/9, but was put on hold for several years due to a lack of funding – we reported here: https://www.urban-transport-magazine.com/en/tranvia-alcala-de-guadaira-near-seville-caf-urbos-and-the-completion-of-the-construction-works-under-way/. With the support of EU funding, the regional administration decided to complete the tramway and work has been underway since 2022, the opening is scheduled for early 2026.
The new low-floor trains for this line also come from CAF, but are wider than the city tram cars (2.65 instead of 2.30 metres) and are similar in appearance to the latest generation of CAF light rail cars used in Málaga and Zaragoza.
A network map including the extensions is available here:
https://www.urbanrail.net/eu/es/sevilla/sevilla.htm
