Hitachi Rail has been awarded a contract to deliver 46 of its new battery trams, as well as the digital signalling to operate them, for the city of Florence, and has won a separate €17m (£14.57m) contract to deliver the maintenance for its Sirio trams.
Delivery of the new vehicles will begin in 2026, with the possibility to be used on all trams lines across the city.
The trams will have a maximum speed of 70 km/h, are 33.5 metres long with 54 seats, and have a maximum capacity of 278 passengers.
The trams will also harness regenerative braking, allowing power to be returned to the batteries when the train brakes, reducing the overall amount of energy consumed and protecting the environment.
The new trams use cutting edge battery technology to remove the need for electrified infrastructure – usually overhead wires supported by poles or pylons – that are expensive to install and visually unattractive.
READ MORE: Network Rail partners with Hitachi Rail to trial hazard detection AI
Hitachi switched to the battery trams due to their propensity to run high capacity public transport through city centres, while saving millions on installing wires and reducing the visual impact on historic centres, such as in Florence.
COO Hitachi Rail Group and CEO Hitachi Rail Italia, Luca D’Aquila, said: “Hitachi Rail has the strategic goal of providing innovative transport solutions worldwide.
“To be able to do this for the city of Florence, a very important urban centre and one of the world’s most famous cities of art, is a further recognition for us.
“We are convinced that urban public transport is the main driver for the green transition of mobility.
“For this reason, we work daily to design and build increasingly comfortable, reliable and safe transport systems that are also environmentally friendly across the entire value chain.
“In our opinion, this is the way to stimulate the shift from private transport systems to new collective mobility solutions that can significantly improve the decarbonisation process of transport in cities.”
Achievements and innovations in rail will be celebrated at the third annual CiTTi Awards, which will be held on 26 November 2024 at De Vere Grand Connaught Rooms in London. Nominations are open now! Please visit www.cittiawards.co.uk to learn more about this unmissable event for the UK’s transportation sector
