The 11-station extension starts at Defreggerstrasse east of Innsbruck Main Station and is served by lines 2 and 5.
Line 2 services start at Peerhofsiedlung, running via Terminal Marktplatz and Defreggerstrasse to Josef-Kerschbaumstrasse. Line 5 services from Technik West terminate at Schützenstrasse, the penultimate stop on the new extension.
Lines 2 and 5 replace Line 3 on the section from Terminal Marktplatz to Defreggerstrasse and Technik West. Line 3 services are now routed from Amras via Sillpark, Terminal Marktplatz, Main Station, and back to Amras.
Line 5 will be extended from Schützenstrasse to Rum and from Technik West to Völs by 2022/2023.
This will complete the Innsbruck Regiotram project, which has a budget of €257m for infrastructure and €140m for new vehicles.
In December 2015 Innsbruck Transport (IVB) awarded Bombardier a contract to supply 20 Flexity low-floor LRVs, including eight vehicles for Line 2 and 11 for Line 5 with one reserve. The Line 5 vehicles will be equipped with the ZLS train protection system, which will also enable them to operate on the Stubai Valley Railway, an interurban tram line linking Innsbruck with Fulpmes.
Deliveries started in March 2018 and six vehicles have arrived in Innsbruck, but the trams have not yet been approved for operation on the IVB network. This is due to problems between Bombardier and a sub-supplier regarding documentation of components.
This means the new vehicles were not available for the launch of the new services. Lines 2 and 5 are therefore operated by existing vehicles, with buses substituting for trams on lines 1 and 3. The situation is expected to continue until the summer, when enough new Flexity trams will be available for regular service.
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