ALGERIAN urban rail construction agency Entreprise du Métro d'Alger has selected two consortia including Alstom Transport to undertake the turnkey construction of light rail lines in Oran and Constantine. The French supplier announced on November 13 that its share of the contracts totalling €660m was expected to be around €300m.

Oran will get an 18 km line with 32 stops, to be built by the Tramnour consortium of Alstom and Spanish group Isolux Corsán. Alstom will supply signalling and telecoms, depot equipment, substations and 30 Citadis trams which will be assembled at its Barcelona plant. Isolux Corsán will be in responsible for civil engineering, track and electrification.

The 8 km, 11-station line planned for Constantine will be built in conjunction with Italian civil engineering firm Pizzarotti. As well as supplying 27 Citadis trams, Alstom will be responsible for track, electrification, signalling and telecoms and depot equipment. The two projects are being undertaken as part of the Algerian government’s development programme which aims to respond to the growing demand for public transport in the country's cities.

• The €225m contract for a tram line in Alger awarded to an Alstom-led consortium in 2006 (RG 7.06 p378) was extended in September, with the signing of a deal for a second phase. This will take the line an extra 7 km east along the coast to give a total length of 23·2 km with 38 stops, and includes an additional 12 Citadis trams, bringing the fleet to 41. Opening is planned for March 2009.