De Lijn describes the €320.2m project as the largest investment in LRVs it has ever made. It will allow the replacement of the coastal fleet and PCC trams in Antwerp and Ghent as well as provide additional vehicles for operation on new lines. Overall De Lijn's fleet will increase by 25%. This is in addition to 48 LRVs already on order, delivery of which is due to start in November.
De Lijn requires 62 LRVs for the West Flanders coastal line linking Knokke, Ostend and De Panne. Five of the vehicles are for a proposed extension to Veurne. Antwerp will receive 66 LRVs and Ghent 18 units.
The metre-gauge LRVs are to be supplied in six batches of around 25 cars. Two types of vehicle are required: 84 LRVs should have a width of 2.3m and the remaining 62 for West Flanders need to be 2.4m wide. All vehicles should be 32m long and be able to accommodate at least 260 passengers at a density of seven people/m2. The light rail networks are electrified at 700V dc.
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