Newcastle’s first light rail vehicle will arrive in Australia next month, after passing initial testing in Spain.
The new tram departed from the Port of Santander, Spain, on a special roll-on-roll-off ship in July. The Urbos 100 – built by the manufacturer CAF – is the first of a fleet of six low-floor trams that will be arriving at the Port of Newcastle over the coming months. Each tram is 33-metres long, and able to carry 270 passengers.
Michael Cassel, Revitalising Newcastle’s program director, said the arrival of the first tram would pave the way for the start of testing later this year.
“Our light rail fleet is being produced by a world leader in transit systems with a presence across Europe, the Americas and Australia, and the ‘Urbos 100’ model on the way to Newcastle is a sleek and modern vehicle which will look fantastic running through the city,” Cassel said.
The city’s light rail line, set to open in early 2019, will run between Wickham and Newcastle East via six stations.
Over half of the track installation work has been completed, with construction works expected to wrap up in the coming months.
“Newcastle will soon be to be home to Australia’s first completely wire-free light rail system, with each of the trams carrying an on-board energy source which is charged by an overhead bar at each stop,” Cassel said.
“This is a major improvement to the original light rail design which both the the community and Newcastle City Council told us they wanted, and the result will be a more attractive transport system than you’ll see anywhere in the country, costing just $2.20 to ride or 20 cents if you’re interchanging.”