Bucharest City Hall to buy 250 new non-polluting trams

Alina Oprea

2 July, 2023 at 9:30 AM

The City Hall of the Capital wants to buy 250 new non-polluting trams. The investment amounts to over €836 million. In this sense, the General Council of the Capital City approved an opportunity study, which recommends the purchase of modern trams, necessary for improving public passenger transport. The feasibility study suggests the purchase of 100 trams from the 27-meter range (of which 10 are bidirectional), 100 trams from the 36-meter one-way range, and 50 trams from the 45-meter range.

PNRR and POR 2021-2027 were identified as possible sources of non-reimbursable financing.

The total value of the investment is estimated at €836.48 million, respectively RON4.145 billion without VAT.

A mixed team developed the feasibility study made up of experts from the Intercommunity Development Association for Public Transport Bucharest Ilfov, based on the information provided by the Bucharest Transport Company.

According to the specialized report, the investment is justified by the level of wear and tear of the tram fleet, as well as by the growing number of registered defects, caused by the technical condition of the trams. Thus, currently, several 348 vehicles have exceeded their expected operating life.

"The need for the 100 36-meter trams and 50 45-meter trams is justified both by the number of vehicles needed to cover the demand at peak times, as well as by maintaining several reserve vehicles for force majeure situations, defects of the means of transport on the route. Also, currently, the trams in the 36-meter range that run on light metro line 41 and line 25 have load level IV, which means that the vehicle is loaded to its maximum capacity, and circulation inside the vehicle is very difficult. The number of passengers expected in the coming years is continuously increasing due to investments in public transport", the specialized report states.

It is mentioned that the bidirectional trams in the 27-meter range will be used on routes that do not have return loops at the end of the line. The remaining 90 trams from the range of 27 one-way meters will be used on routes with a load level lower than III.