Rhein-Neckar Verkehr GmbH in Mannheim a year ago, in April 2023 (we reported here), several of the series-production trams are now in scheduled service. Of the three-part, 30.5 metre long type 36T, 9 of the 31 cars ordered are currently in scheduled service. They bear the numbers 1401-1409. Type 37T four-car units are regarded as double railcars for operational purposes, partly because they are comparatively easy to separate at the centre double joint, and are therefore numbered separately. The 37 vehicles ordered therefore bear the numbers 1801/1801 – 1873/1874. Eight units have currently been delivered (up to no. 1815/16) and five are in passenger service. The vehicles are 40.65 metres long and always run with both pantographs on the overhead line.
Delivery of the 59.7 metre long type 38T six-car units is still pending; they can also be separated for operational purposes and will therefore also be numbered separately as no. 1501/1502 – 1523/1524. In addition to these 80 new vehicles ordered in total, RNV intends to procure34 further RNT2020 trams from existing options in the near future.
The new trams will replace the few remaining Düwag trams, some of which are currently still in service during rush hour in the GT8 double traction units once procured from the Oberrheinische Eisenbahn OEG. The remaining Düwag reserve carriages of the former Rhein-Haardt-Bahn RHB and Verkehrsbetriebe Ludwigshafen will also be finally decommissioned, as will the six Adtranz Variobahn trams of the OEG from 1996 and various Düwag low-floor cars bought new in 1994/5 in different lengths. In Heidelberg, the decommissioning of the first low-floor Düwag MGT6D trams from 1995 has begun, while the older but modernised M8C-NF trams are to remain in the fleet for the time being.
All new RNT2020 trams are currently in service out of the Mannheim Rheinmgönheim depot. The 36T started their service on the special Bundesgartenschau lines, but have generally been operating on line 2 since November 2023. The longer 37T trams have been in service on line 3 since January 2024 and on the former OEG’s city-connecting lines 5 and %a since March 2024. As delivery progresses, it is only a matter of time before they are extended to other lines.
