Six new trams for Adelaide ex-Madrid

Six trams built for use in the Spanish city of Madrid are instead headed for Adelaide as part of a $36 million fleet deal announced today by Transport Minister Pat Conlon.

The trams were built for Madrid transport group MINTRA for a major light rail project but were deemed surplus to requirements when the project was scaled back because of the global recession.

Mr Conlon said the $6 million cost for each tram was around the same as buying them new, but the deal would help solve capacity problems a lot quicker than ordering new trams and waiting for them to be built.

The low floor trams are being shipped over from Madrid and, after minor modifications, will go into full service in the Christmas/New Year period.

“It’s been a great saving in time,” he said. “We were looking at increasing capacity in the short term and we thought we’d have to do that with slightly older trams so were really pleased. It’s bad news for Spain but it’s good new for Adelaide.”

He said the trams had been built for Madrid’s hot climate and the air conditioning was “as good as it gets”.

Mr Conlon said the trams were “for all intents and purposes brand new” and five of the trams had never left the depot, and one had been used for just two weeks.

The Alstom Citadis 302 trams hold 186 passengers each, which is a slight increase on the existing fleets’ 170 person capacity.

The State Government also intends to purchase 50 new electric trains and an unspecified number of new trams in 2012, he said.

Premier Mike Rann said the trams were a very good buy.

“These trams can each carry more passengers than our current trams and will provide extra capacity during the busy morning and evening peaks on the Glenelg and City West tramline,” he said.

AdelaideNow