The Lisbon Metro will have 42 new carriages in operation between 2022 and 2023, a total investment of 67.6 million euros. The 42 new carriages will be grouped into 14 triple units, with the first arriving in the second half of 2022.
The order for the new carriages, which will have an identical exterior, will be placed with Switzerland's Stadler Rail, through a contract with its Spanish arm, and Germany's Siemens. The new carriages will be more spacious with the seats arranged horizontally along the windows. In a statement, Metro points out that "the carriages will have large windows, door panels and inter-circulation areas with a lot of free space, which will make it possible to get in and out quickly".
Although the images indicate otherwise, the new carriages will have cork-covered seats, a material that Metro de Lisboa intends to apply to all current rolling stock by the end of 2020. The announcement of the new carriages was made this Sunday, February 9, after Metro de Lisboa signed the acquisition contract on Saturday.
The Metro will also acquire a new communication system, worth 68.9 million euros. These will be Communications-Based Train Control (CBTC) that will replace the obsolete technology of the 1970s, allowing "continuous monitoring of train movements and an increase in their frequency and regularity". In this way, Metro hopes to guarantee, "in a more efficient way, the supply of trains in numbers and frequencies more adapted to the needs of the public service and with increased safety".
