| | URBAN TRANSIT NEWS |
Bordeaux up and running:
The President of the French Republic, Jacques Chirac, was in Bordeaux on
21 December to present Mayor Alain Juppé and the Bordelais with their
biggest-ever Christmas present, a new tramway. After 3 years and 6
months of construction work, the inauguration of line A:
Mériadeck—Lormon-Hôpital/Cenon-La Motlette; went ahead as planned
despite some concern about the pioneering surface contact current system
(APS), which has required many of the individual section boxes to be
replaced since dummy timetabled operation started on 24 November, due to
their propensity to trip-out. There were three such breakdowns on the
morning of 21 December, prior to the presidential ride after lunch. On
28 February lines B: Saige—Quinconces; and C: Quinconces—Gare
Saint-Jean; should follow, creating a 21.3-km initial network that has
cost EUR 660 million. 12 km is fitted with APS instead of overhead wire.
Work continues on a further 21.7 km of new tramway, estimated to cost
EUR 427.5 million, for completion in 2007. Alstom is delivering 70
Citadis low-floor trams, of which 44 are required for phase 1. A
commercial speed of 21 km/h is expected.
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23 December 2003
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