Urbos

Urbos 1 tram in Bilbao.

Urbos 2 operating on the Seville Metro

Urbos 2 operating in Vélez-Málaga

Urbos 3 tram in Belgrade.

Urbos 3 in Edinburgh.

Urbos 3 in Kaohsiung.

Urbos is a family of light rail vehicles built by CAF.

There are three generations of Urbos:

History

The Basque manufacturer CAF did already have a long history with the construction of trains, including regional and underground metro variants. It started building a tram type in 1993 with a contract for Seville Metro with the delivery of 16 trams between 1993 to 1999. This original tram type was a variant of a Siemens tram type and some components were delivered by Siemens, including bogies and traction motors. After acquiring a contract for Lisbon Trams in 1995, it was decided to start construction of it's own model. The first generation was ordered by the tram operator of the Basque city of Bilbao that received 6 trains between 2004 and 2006. Manufacturing locations have initially been in Saragossa and Linares.

Urbos 1

This series was only sold to Euskotren to operate tram services in Bilbao.^[1] The original tram system was shut down in 1964 and the second generation did open in December 2002 - extensions opened until 2004.^[2]

• Line A (EuskoTran), 8 trains (named 401-408)^[2]
  • the 8 trains are 70% low-floor two-directional with three bogies on metre gauge^[3]

Urbos 2

• Vélez-Málaga Tram (leased to the Sydney Light Rail)
• Tranvía de Vitoria
• Seville Metro
• MetroCentro (Seville) (replaced by Urbos 3 in March 2011)
• Tranvía de Antalya

Urbos 3

The Urbos 3 is the successor of Urbos 2 with all new sales going for this type. They have low floors and a maximum speed of 70 km/h. The train type is offered in metre gauge and standard gauge and allows for a train width of 2300, 2400 or 2650 millimeter. Trains can be assembled from 3, 5, 7 or 9 modules, so the length may be between 23 and 56 metres.

CAF has developed an option to build supercapacitors into the Urbos 3, allowing brief operation without an external electrical supply.^[4] This ACR system (Acumulador de Carga Rápida) allowed the tramway operator in Sevilla to remove the overhead wires in key locations during Holy Week 2011.^[5]

• Cuiabá, Brazil (40 ordered)^[6]
• Salvador, Brazil
• Belgrade, Serbia (30)^[7]
• Seville, Spain
• Granada, Spain
• Cádiz, Spain
• Debrecen, Hungary (18)^[8]
• Edinburgh, Scotland
• Málaga, Spain^[9]
• Besançon, France (19)^[10]
• Nantes, France (8)^[11]
• Zaragoza, Spain (21)^[12]
• West Midlands, England (£40 million order for 20, with options for five)^[13][14]
• Kaohsiung, Taiwan (9 ordered; no overhead wires will be needed in all line)^[15]
• Cincinnati, Ohio, USA^[16]
• Sydney, Australia. ($20m order for 6 Trams; order subsequently expanded to 12 trams)^[17]
• Freiburg im Breisgau, Germany (12 ordered)^[18][19]
• Kansas City, Missouri, USA^[20]
• Budapest, Hungary (47; €90m order for the 47 Trams)^[21][22]
• Utrecht, Netherlands (27 ordered; to be operational in 2018)^[23]

Urbos AXL

Urbos AXL in Tallinn

The Urbos AXL train type allows for a maximum speed of 90 km/h. With larger modules and normal axle bogies it is designed for mass rapid transit systems.

• Tallinn, Estonia, (16 trains, from 20 ordered)^[24]
• Stockholm, Sweden (15 trains ordered)^[11][25]

References

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Urbos.

• CAF website