SPANISH regional railway operator FGV ordered nine articulated LRVs from Alstom in April, at a cost of €46m. Intended to operate tram-train services in the resort of Alacant (RG 5.02 p232), they will be assembled at Alstom’s Valencia plant, using electrical equipment supplied from Charleroi. Deliveries are due to run from May to October 2005.
Starting from a bus-rail interchange at the town’s main line station at Puerta del Mar, the tram route now under construction runs on reserved track to La Marina and Albufereta. Tram-train services will continue over the metre-gauge Alacant - Denia railway, which is being electrified at 750V DC, through Benidorm to Altea. Total journey time for the 50 km route is put at around 1h.
The 37m long bidirectional vehicles will be 2550mm wide and carried on four bogies, of which three will be motored. A total rating of 840 kW will enable the cars to run at 70 km/h in tram mode and at 100 km/h on the railway sections. Each car will carry 99 seated and 204 standing passengers.
