QUEBEC City has confirmed that it has awarded a contract to Alstom for the supply of 34 low-floor Citadis LRVs for the city’s light rail project, with the vehicles specially adapted to the eastern Canadian region’s climate and topography.
The contract, with a total value of around €900m, includes the design and supply of the rolling stock together with 30 years’ maintenance and includes an option for a maximum of five LRVs including maintenance.
In March Quebec City announced that it had selected Alstom as its preferred bidder to design, build and maintain the fleet of low-floor LRVs for the city’s $C 3.96.bn ($US 2.9bn) light rail project.
During the tendering process the authority specified that it required 43m long bi-directional LRVs. Alstom was the only manufacturer to progress to the final stage of the tendering process after Siemens withdrew in 2022.
Alstom says the vehicles will be developed by engineers at its St-Bruno-de-Montarville site on Montreal’s south shore. The vehicles will then be assembled at its La Pocatière site - formerly a Bombardier plant - also in Quebec.
The contract will include maintaining the LRVs for 30 years under the supervision of Quebec City public transport authority, Capital Transport Network (RTC). The climate control system installed on the new fleet will be adapted to operate in the Quebec region’s extreme winter cold and its high humidity in summer.
The 19km light rail line will run from east to west across the city with 29 stops. A 1.8km section of the line will run under the city centre in tunnel and opening of the complete line is expected to take place in 2028.
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