Lisboa Metro has finalised a €114·5m contract with Siemens Mobility and Stadler for resignalling of its three oldest metro lines and the supply of 14 three-car trainsets, having selected the consortium as preferred bidder in January 2020.

The contract announced on May 10 follows the receipt of formal approval by the Court of Auditors. Siemens Mobility will install its Trainguard MT communications-based train control on the city’s Blue, Yellow and Green lines, replacing the existing signalling equipment dating from the 1970s. This will permit moving-block operation, enabling trains to operate at shorter headways and increasing the capacity of the network.

Stadler will build the 14 three-car trains using a modular design intended to facilitate future maintenance. These will have stainless steel carbodies with three sets of double doors per side of each vehicle to allow rapid boarding and alighting. Each train will be 49·6 m long and 2&nbs;780 mm wide, offering 90 longitudinal seats, two wheelchair spaces and standing room for 450 passengers. They will be powered from the existing 750 V DC third rail supply.

The package will see the retrofitting of CBTC onboard technology to 70 trains in the existing fleet, as well as the new Stadler stock. The trains will be equipped for attended automatic train operation to GoA2, but the CBTC is designed to permit GoA4 so that the metro can be further upgraded to driverless operation in the future.

The contract includes technical training for operation and maintenance, as well as preventive and corrective maintenance for the first three years and a supply of spares for a further two years. The initial work is scheduled to take 77 months, with provisional acceptance anticipated in 2027.

‘We are excited about this contract, and proud to have the chance, in partnership with Siemens Mobility, to support Lisboa Metro in its efforts to modernise the fleet’, said Stadler’s Executive Vice President Marketing & Sales Ansgar Brockmeyer.

‘We are pleased to contribute our technology and know-how to this important project that will increase passenger experience for the residents of Lisboa’, added Andre Rodenbeck, CEO Rail Infrastructure at Siemens Mobility. He anticipated that the CBTC would ‘increase the reliability, availability and efficiency of the service delivered by Lisboa Metro, while also complying with the high standards of quality and safety required by the operator.’