Bombarier tram 4059 in purple livery awaits King Phillippe for the inaugural ride on 21 September. (STIB)
 
The Italian city of Firenze (Florence) reintroduced trams in 2010 on line T1, followed by line T2 to the airport in 2019. On 25 January regular passenger service on the T2 was extended over a 2.5km new line through the centre of this historic city with five stops to San Marco University; the old terminus at Unita was closed. The new VACS (Variante Alternative Centro Storico) was opened by the city Mayor, Sara Funaro. The construction project was in the hands of a consortium of CMB, Hitachi Rail, Alstom, MERMEC and Com.net under a concession covering the design, construction, supply of trams and management of all lines of the Firenze tramway.  
 
In the future line T2 will be extended across the river Arno to Bagno a Ripoli, where a new depot will be constructed. Hitachi Rail Italia is supplying 16 new trams, signalling and track location system. Alstom is responsible for track construction, overhead electrification and lighting. the new line starts from the Viale Strozzi junction with the T1 and runs along Viale Lavagnini to Piazza della Liberta, before splitting the tracks to use different streets in each direction, inbound via Via Cavour to Piazza San Marco, returning via Via La Mira and Via la Marmora. 800 passengers/day are expected from the new stops. 
 
Photo: A Firenze Ansaldobreda tram runs along the new line. (Commune di Firenze) 
Bombarier tram 4059 in purple livery awaits King Phillippe for the inaugural ride on 21 September. (STIB)
 
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