Alstom starts delivery of new Besançon fleet

 

 

The French city of Besançon is expanding the capacity of its tramway system, and on 5 June Alstom delivered the first (901) of eight new 32.5m Citadis trams. They are part of a joint order with Toulouse and Brest. These will accommodate 203 passengers compared to the 140 that can fit in each CAF 23m tram in use today. Four more will arrive by the end of September and the final three in 2026. Night-time test drives have already started. The new fleet will permit the headway on the line to Hauts de Chazal to be reduced from 12 to 10 minutes in 2026, and to five minutes in 2027. As with the existing fleet, each of the new trams is named after local notable figures, heroes of the Resistance,a reserch pioneer and a professional cyclist. 

 

Besançcon opened its EUR 228 000, 14.5km, second-generation tramway in August 2014 with two lines worked by 19 CAF Urbos 3 carrying 36 000 passengers/day.