The first of 18 new trams ordered by Metro do Porto from China’s CRRC Tangshan is already on its way to Portugal, in what is considered China’s first urban metro project exported to the European Union.
With four carriages, capacity for 334 passengers and a maximum speed of 80 kilometers per hour, the train left the production line at the end of July and has since been tested in the city of Tangshan, in the northeast of the Chinese province of Hebei, before boarding to Portugal.
The Chinese state-owned manufacturer signed in January 2020 the contract with Metro do Porto in the amount of 49.6 million euros (6.5 million less than the base value of the tender launched in 2018) and which includes maintenance services for five years.
First train for Porto metro project rolls off production line in China
These 18 trainsets will serve the two lines under construction, to add six kilometers and seven stations to the Metro do Porto network, in a global investment of around EUR 300 million.
Constraints caused by the pandemic delayed the deliveries that had been scheduled By CRRC to Metro do Porto.
The company’s president, Zhou Junnian, recently said that, due to the “adverse impact brought by Covid -19″, production of the first composition only started in November 2021, and was completed “after more than eight months of efforts”.
Metro do Porto’s fleet, which operates in seven municipalities in the metropolitan area of Portugal´s second biggest city with a network of six lines, 67 kilometers and 82 stations, currently comprises 102 vehicles: 72 of the Eurotram type and 30 of the Tram-train type.
With the 18 new from CRRC Tangshan, it will operate a total of 120 units.
Founded in 1881, CRRC Tangshan is touted as the world’s largest manufacturer of railway rolling stock, is headquartered in Beijing and employs more than 180,000 workers, according to official figures.
