Lugano contracts for electric bus system and invests in light rail

The Swiss city of Lugano (population 62 300, in Italian-speaking Ticino province) has contracted with manufacturer HESS for the supply of eight 19m articulated lighTram 19 electric buses by the end of 2025. 

 

They will be used to introduce electric operation to the 16.4km line 5 (Viganello–Manno via the city centre), that carries about 2.2M passengers/year and overcomes a 117m difference in altitude. Each bus will cover almost 300km in service daily, with recharging at each of the termini. 

 

Lugano had previously operated trolleybuses from 1954 until 2001. The fleet of four trolleybuses had operated for more than half a century before being sold or preserved. 

 

Lugano is also investing CHF 500M in light rail, by modernising the Lugano–Ponte Tresa metre-gauge line and extending from its current terminus at Station FFS (main railway station) to Manno. Nine new Stadler Tramlink have been supplied to the line.