Medellin First Tram has been Tested on Ayacucho Tram Line

Alstom and NTL successfully tested the first tram on the tracks of the Ayacucho tramway line in Medellin, Colombia.

The trams will be operated by Metro de Medellin on the 4.3 km-long line which connects the city’s metro lines A and B and two new metrocable lines. The line, which comprises nine stations, is scheduled to be partially open by October 2015 and is expected to reach 85,000 passengers per day.

In April 2012, the city of Medellin ordered 12 Translohr STE5 trams (each 39 metres long)2 from NTL. The NTL trams are highly efficient and offer exceptional benefits in terms of their insertion into the urban landscape, including a clearance gauge of 5.18 metres and a turning radius of 10.5 metres. The trams can easily run on gradients of up to 13%3, particularly relevant for the Ayacucho line which includes slopes with gradients of 12%. This enables cost-optimization of the whole system: less civil works, reduced infrastructure costs and smaller maintenance facilities.

Alstom, as leader of the consortium UT Alstom-Sytecsa, provides the power supply for the entire project. Alstom’s scope included the project management, engineering, procurement, testing and commissioning of the medium voltage network and its intake substation, and the traction substations.

Alstom develops solutions suited to all urban environments, meeting the different expectations of passengers and cities. Present in Colombia for over 60 years, Alstom has strong capabilities in engineering, manufacturing, project management and the supply of products and solutions for infrastructure.