After the inauguration, the public were invited to travel free on the new line until 17.30. Commercial operation started on December 16 on Line 22 which connects Utrecht Central station with De Uithof science park and university campus, and Transferium park-and-ride terminal. The line has nine stops and an end-to-end journey time of 20 minutes.
The line is operated by a fleet of 27 CAF Urbos 100 five-section low-floor LRVs operating in multiple. During peak periods 10 LRVs/hour/direction will operate on Line 22 giving a capacity of 4400 passengers/hour.
Line 22 is connected to the existing Utrecht - Nieuwegein/IJsselstein Sneltram line which opened in 1983 using high-floor SIG LRVs. The line will be converted to low-floor LRV operation and modernised. CAF is supplying 22 seven-section Urbos 100 LRVs to replace the SIG vehicles.
The existing depot at Nieuwegein has been rebuilt to accommodate the new CAF LRVs. This month, Greater Utrecht public transport authority awarded a contract to Alstom to maintain both the old and new LRV fleets.
The Uithof line project was originally estimated to cost €440m, of which €110m was funded by the Dutch government. However, the project suffered an 18-month delay which added another €84m to the cost. Dutch newspaper NRC calculated that the project cost €64.375m per meter making it one of the world’s most expensive LRT projects. Despite this, there is already political support for an extension east to Zeist.
