The contract for the purchase of 15 articulated streetcars to serve route 15EThe contract was signed late, allowing the line to be extended to at least Santa Apolónia on one side of the city and Cruz Quebrada on the other. The contract was signed late, two years after the launch of public tenderso people should only see the first new streetcars on the streets in 2023.
The 15 articulated streetcars are being purchased from Spain's CAF, in an investment of 43.4 million euros. According to the Público newspaperThe process was delayed due to legal challenges filed by other companies that had bid for the contract; the prior approval of the Court of Auditors is still missing before CAF can start building the new streetcars. In press releaseCarris says that the contract (which has not been made public) stipulates that the the first vehicle is delivered 22 months after the start of the project and the remaining 14 in the following nine months.
Lisbon City Council, which has been running Carris for four years, has big and ambitious plans for route 15E, which currently operates between Praça da Figueira and Algés. On the downtown Pombaline side, the plan is to extend it to Santa Apolónia and then take it to Parque das Nações and Sacavém. However, the extension to Santa Apolónia, which was scheduled for this year, 2021The extension of the 15E line is dependent on a drainage project in Santa Apolónia - which, in turn, is being challenged in court and the contract has not yet been awarded, as Público explains. However, there is already infrastructure in the renovated Campo das Cebolas for this extension of line 15E.
On the Algés side, the idea is to take the 15E to Cruz Quebrada, which will be easier as there are already tracks and catenaries - this extension had also been planned for this year. Extending the 15E to the limits of Lisbon, slightly entering the municipalities of Loures and Oeiras, will make it possible to create a streetcar corridor along the river, interconnected with the future LIOS - Sustainable Western Intermodal Lineof which 15E could be a part.
The new articulated streetcars, which have a capacity for 221 people and can travel at up to 70km/h, will first make it possible to reinforce the current offer on route 15E, where Carris had been using buses to solve the lack of rolling stock in the face of demand during the pre-pandemic period.
30 more electric buses
After having electrified route 706 With 15 electric-powered vehicles, Carris is preparing to buy 30 more electric buses. The public tender, launched on Wednesday, April 21, foresees that the first bus to arrive in November this year and that the rest will be delivered over the next year.
Carris foresees an investment of 15.6 million euros in the 30 buses (which will be "normal" buses around 12 meters long), which translates into 520,000 euros per bus. In the same contract, the carrier is also looking for 16 double charging stations for one million euros and the maintenance of these stations for 16 years for a base price of 160 thousand euros.
