Istanbul commissions its Citadis trams and starts dynamic tests on the new Alstom Metropolis metro trainsets

February 3, 2011 - In the presence of Kadir Topba, the Mayor of Istanbul, Istanbul Ulasim A.S., Istanbuls urban transport operator, officially put 14 Citadis trams into operation on the Zeytinburnu-Kabatas and Zeytinburnu-Bagcilar lines. These 14 Citadis are part of a total order of 37 Citadis tramways by Istanbul Ulasim A.S. for the Metropolitan Municipality of Istanbul (for an amount of 73 million Euros) dating from September 2007. The remaining 23 Citadis will be put into commercial service in the coming weeks.

The whole fleet of Citadis is aimed firstly at completing the fleet of low-floor trams currently in operation on the Zeytinburnu-Kabatas line and secondly at replacing the high-floor trams previously running on the Zeytinburnu-Bagcilar line. Very well used by the local population and tourists, this line serves the historic Golden Horn district and currently transports 250,000 passengers a day. Operating in double units, the Citadis trams can transport up to 500 passengers per tramset.

In addition, Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality (IBB), with the involvement of Istanbul Ulasim A.S, is preparing to start dynamic tests on the Metropolis metro trainsets on the line in the process of construction between Bagcilar (Kirazli), Ikitelli and Olimpiyat Village, also situated in the west of the Turkish capital. On the occasion of presentation of the future line to the media on 20 January, Kadir Topba drove one of the Metropolis trainsets ordered by the Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality (IBB) in August 2007. The contract concerned the supply of 20 four-car trainsets, i.e. 80 metro cars, each with a capacity of 1,234 passengers. In accordance with the contractual schedule, the Metropolis were delivered between October 2008 and February 2010.

In Istanbul, Alstom which supports the development of Istanbul urban transport for over 10 years, has already built the citys first metro line (Taksim-4.Levent) and supplied the Metropolis carriages in commercial operation since 2000.

About Alstom in Turkey

Alstom started its activities in the 1950s, and is a key contributor to the energy and rail transport infrastructure in Turkey. Alstom supplied key equipment for 55% of Turkeys installed power generation capacity, including the Atatürk dam which is the biggest hydro power plant in the country and approximately 50 % of the installed transmission products of TEIAS and successfully performed several key railway projects such as the delivery of 436 locomotives for the National Railways and the Istanbul tramway. Alstom is today a social and economical contributor, with approximately 1200 employees in Turkey working for commercial, engineering, service and manufacturing, able to manage turnkey transmission projects for the entire region in power generation and in power transmission. The Gebze factory exports 85% of its production and Alstom Grid has been ranked 39th among the top 500 national companies.

About Alstom Transport

A promoter of sustainable mobility, Alstom is the only manufacturer in the world to offer a complete range of high performance products: rolling stock, infrastructures, information systems, services and turnkey solutions. Mindful of operators´ ever more stringent profitability objectives and of their growing need for sustainable mobility solutions, we propose ecologically and economically efficient products and services to our customers. Alstom transport recorded sales of 5.8 billion euros in the fiscal year 2009-2010. Alstom Transport is present in 60 countries and employs some 26,000 people.

Press contacts:

Eric Lenoir
Phone + 33 1 57 06 18 74
eric.lenoir@transport.alstom.com

Melina Georgitsis
Phone + 33 1 57 06 85 37
melina.a.georgitsis@transport.alstom.com 
 

• Citadis tramways
• Metropolis metros