Premier of South Australia

Adelaide’s new European trams are on track to enter service across the festive season with the first three making a successful journey by sea from Spain to Melbourne.

Transport Minister, Patrick Conlon said these three trams were now undergoing minor modifications to prepare them for service on Adelaide’s light rail network.

“We’ll see the new trams begin arriving here in Adelaide in November for trials before they commence passenger operations over the Christmas, New Year period,” he said.

“They will increase TransAdelaide’s modern tram fleet by 50 per cent and be running in time for the start of extended services to the Adelaide Entertainment Centre early next year.

“The delivery of these trams will provide a significant boost to tram customers, especially in the morning and afternoon peak periods.

“While the Opposition Leader and her entourage of stuntmen have been inconveniencing commuters by taking up space on trams we’ve been busy bringing new ones to Adelaide.

“Tram travel is extremely popular in Adelaide and will be even more so with our extension of the network.”

The remaining three Alstom Citadis trams will begin the 4-6 week voyage to Australia later this month.

Each tram is being brought to Australia in two halves for the modifications at Melbourne’s Preston Tram Depot.

From there they will be transported to Adelaide by road and re-assembled.

The six Alstom Citadis trams were sourced from the Spanish capital, Madrid, and purchased through negotiations with local transport authority Mintra.

The purchase forms part of the Rann Government’s unprecedented $2 billion - decade long - investment in Adelaide’s public transport system.

For further information visit www.infrastructure.sa.gov.au