STADLER will deliver 56 Tina low-floor LRVs to Halle Transport (Havag) in Germany, with the vehicles scheduled to enter service from the end of 2025 as part of a drive by the city authorities to provide more climate-friendly public transport.
In March 2021, Havag published a tender for up to 56 LRVs, with the contract including the design, manufacture and supply of the vehicles and the provision of spare parts. The tender comprised two alternatives, A and B, both adding up to the same number of vehicles but consisting of different vehicle length combinations. Both tender alternatives included three options for up to 25 additional vehicles to be delivered by 2027, as well as an option to produce a vehicle model or module.
The Havag order with Stadler is for bidirectional vehicles of two different lengths. Stadler will build 39 vehicles of the 30m-long MGT-M type with space for 166 passengers, 64 of them seated, and it will also deliver 17 vehicles of the 45m-long MGT-XL type offering space for 267 passengers, 96 of them seated.
“An air-conditioned passenger compartment which does not heat up in the hot season, quieter driving comfort, larger door widths, no steps throughout the vehicle, wider aisles, improved stopping options, modern information systems and innovative driver assistance systems, including collision avoidance, will characterise our new trams," says Havag board member Mr Vinzenz Schwarz.
The Tina LRVs also have spacious multi-purpose areas for prams and wheelchairs, panoramic windows and monitors providing easily legible passenger information.
All of the new LRVs, which will be used throughout the Havag route network, will have cashless ticket machines, a video surveillance system and the BIOS system - a new technology developed in Halle for improved information and orientation for blind and visually impaired people when using public transport. Havag currently operates a total of 102 trams on 14 lines around Halle. Previous orders from Havag for low-floor LRVs were placed with Bombardier, with 30 Flexity Classic vehicles able to accommodate up to 121 passengers ordered in 2006 and a further 12 in 2010 (link to IRJ Nov 2010 story).
This is the fourth order that Stadler has received to date for Tina LRVs first brought onto the market in 2020. Tina stands for Totally Integrated Low Floor Drive, with the 100% low-floor design intended to be especially spacious, convenient and comfortable for passengers. The previous three orders for Tina LRVs were from HEAG Mobilo in Darmstadt, from Baselland Transport (BLT) in Basle, Switzerland, and from Rostocker Strassenbahn (RSAG) in Rostock on the north coast of Germany.
