Vienna’s public transport operator, Wiener Linien, has begun testing its new series of Flexity trams after receiving the first completed vehicle from Bombardier.
Built at Bombardier’s Donaustadt factory, the first tram will undergo testing at Wiener Linien’s site in Simmering before carrying out trial runs on the network.
Driver training is also now taking place.
The new low-floor vehicles will carry their first passengers at the end of 2018.
Günter Steinbauer, managing director of Wiener Linien, said “every incline and every curve in our network has to be tested”.
Wiener Linien has a framework agreement in place with Bombardier for up to 156 trams and has so far placed firm orders for 119 vehicles. The final number of new trams is dependent on planned extensions to the network.
The €562 million order includes maintenance of the new trams for 24 years.
Read more:Â Stadler: “We have now broken into the Polish market”
