SWU Verkehr Order Twelve Avenio Trams from Siemens

Image Courtesy of Siemens

Siemens have received an order from SWU Verkehr for twelve Avenio M low-floor light rail vehicles. The vehicles will be used in Ulm, Germany on the new Line 2. The order is valued at around 32 million.  The agreement between Siemens and SWU Verkehr GmbH also includes an additional six trams.

The first vehicle is due to be delivered in the next 24 months, around mid-2017, and the final vehicle delivery is scheduled for spring 2018. Siemens will manufacture the vehicles in Vienna, the bogies will be manufactured in Graz, while the control and traction drive technology will come from Nuremberg.

Siemens Avenio Trams in Germany

“The Avenio is similar in many ways to the existing Combino with the result that we can offer our passengers a reliable vehicle,” stated Ingo Wortmann, managing director of SWU Verkehr, very satisfied with the result of the invitation to tender concluded mid-2014. He added: “This means that we will be able to operate the two future tram lines from an almost standardized vehicle pool. That will also be economically reasonable.

“This order is an important milestone for the streetcar business at Siemens. After Munich, the order from Ulm is the second one we have received from Germany. All eight new trams have been in service in the Bavarian capital since the start of the year,” explained Sandra Gott-Karlbauer, CEO of the Urban Transport Business Unit at Siemens. “But at the same time the vehicles for Ulm represent a first too. This is the first time a multi-articulated version of the Avenio is being deployed”.