Ayacucho Tramway Line Enters into Commercial Service

Juan Manuel Santos, President of Colombia, Sergio Fajardo Valderrama, Governor of Antioquia, Anibal Gaviria Correa, Mayor of Medellín, Claudia Patricia Restrepo, General Director of Metro de Medellin, Michel Boccaccio, Senior Vice President of Alstom Transport Latin America, and Olivier Brihaye, Sales Director of NTL Latin America have inaugurated on October 20 the Ayacucho tramway line, in Medellin, Colombia. The line – which has been partially open since October 15 – is scheduled to be fully operational as from November 30. It is 4.3 km-long, includes 9 stations and is expected to transport 85,000 passengers per day.

In April 2012, the city of Medellin ordered 12 Translohr STE5 trams (each 39 metres long) from NTL. The NTL trams are highly efficient and offer exceptional benefits in terms of their insertion into the urban landscape, including a clearance gauge of 5.18 metres and a turning radius of 10.5 meters. The trams can easily run on gradients of up to 13%, particularly relevant for the Ayacucho line which includes slopes with gradients of 12%. This enables cost-optimization of the whole system: less civil works, reduced infrastructure costs and smaller maintenance facilities.

Alstom, as leader of the consortium UT Alstom-Sytecsa, provides the power supply for the entire project. Alstom’s scope included the project management, engineering, procurement, testing and commissioning of the medium voltage network and its intake substation, and the traction substations.

With this new public transport service and following the Alstom’s principles of environmental care, about seven thousand tons of CO2 annually will be reduced in Medellin. In addition, an important socio-economic impact will take place in the surrounding areas of the project, improving the mobility costs and time.

Alstom develops solutions suited to all urban environments, meeting the different expectations of passengers and cities. Present in Colombia for over 60 years, Alstom has strong capabilities in engineering, manufacturing, project management and the supply of products and solutions for infrastructure.

Source : Alstom