THE FIRST of 17 steel-bodied Citadis 100 low-floor trams for the Polish city of Katowice was rolled out at Alstom’s Konstal plant on June 30 (above). The cars are destined to operate PKT’s 20 km route from Katowice to Bytom via Chorzów, which is being upgraded to light rail standards under a US$53·4m contract awarded to Alstom in 1998 (RG 3.98 p143).
The Citadis 100 is a three-section 6-axle car with 70% low floors and high-floor sections over the motored trucks each end. Konstal delivered four similar vehicles to Gdansk earlier this year. They are derived from the 116N design, of which Alstom supplied 29 to Warszawa Tramways in 1998-99.
Elsewhere in Poland, Kraków City Transport has put into service four 60% low-floor cars supplied by Bombardier’s DWA Bautzen plant. They form part of an order for 14, of which the remainder are to be assembled in Kraków’s own workshops; four of these are nearing completion. The city of Lodz has announced its intention to order 15 cars, while the three operators in Pozn
