SPANISH manufacturer CAF has been awarded two new contracts, with a combined value of over €100m, to supply Urbos low-floor LRVs to both Budapest and the town of Alcalá de Guadaíra near Seville.

In the case of the order for LRVs for the Hungarian capital, light rail network operator BKK has exercised an option within the terms of an existing contract for the supply of 31 additional LRVs. Of these, 26 vehicles will be made up of five articulated sections, and five of nine sections, and the order also includes supply of additional equipment and services.

The five-section Urbos LRVs will have a total length of 34m and capacity for up to 326 passengers, while the nine-section LRVs will be 56m long with capacity for 526 people. Both variants will be designed to operate at a service speed of 50km/h on Budapest’s extensive light rail network and to have features designed to facilitate access and usage by passengers with reduced mobility and families with pushchairs.

CAF secured its first contract to supply BKK with 37 Urbos LRVs in 2014, and in 2017 the Hungarian government confirmed that it would provide funding for additional vehicles within that framework.

The interior of one of the CAF Urbos LRVs for Budapest's extensive light rail network. Photo credit: Budapest Tram

The Budapest operator has already exercised its option for additional units - it now has a total of 73 Uros LRVs in service, and a further 20 LRVs, ordered at the end of last year again under the terms of the existing contract, are currently at the design and manufacturing stage.

As for CAF’s other new order for Urbos LRVs to operate on the Alcalá de Guadaíra light rail network, the Andalusian Regional Department of Public Works has signed a contract for the manufacturer to supply six LRVs along with two years’ maintenance and supply of spare parts.

Details of how many sections will make up these LRVs have not been released, but five of the vehicles will operate on the 12.5km light rail line currently under construction in Alcalá de Guadaíra itself, where opening is expected this year. The sixth Urbos LRV will be kept at the depot ready to provide future services in connection with Seville Metro's Line 1, which will connect with the Alcalá de Guadaíra network at Pablo de Olavide.

The Alcalá de Guadaíra light rail route in 2007 was intended as a standalone line when work began in 2007. However, the plan changed to allow through running on metro Line 1 from Pablo de Olavide to Seville city centre when the project resumed in 2015.

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