Wireless trams for Angers

is to supply 17 Citadis trams equipped with its APS power supply system, which eliminates overhead power wires, to the Angers Loire Metropolitan Authority in France.

The contract includes a firm order for the design, a full-scale tram model and the supply of the APS system. An optional clause provides for the supply of the 17 trams. The first part is to be signed before the end of July. The second part is expected to be signed in June 2007 following the accreditation of the project. The total order value is €45 million (£31 million).

After Bordeaux, Angers is only the second city to opt for APS. In June this year, at the Public Transport congress in Paris, Alstom was awarded the Innovation Trophy in the Energy/Environment section for APS. The wireless system will allow tramways to blend into the urban environment without affecting appearance of Angers and Avrillé’s historic city centres.

The tramway will be put into service in 2009, linking Avrillé to the Roseraie district via the city centre. The line will stretch over 12km with 25 stops, serving 35,000 passengers per day.

The trams will be designed and assembled in Alstom’s La Rochelle factory, the company’s Centre of Excellence for trams. Four other Alstom sites in France will supply sub-systems. Tarbes will build the traction drives, Ornans the traction motors, Le Creusot the bogies, and Villeurbanne the tram electronics.