THE city government of Naples has awarded a €200m framework contract to Hitachi Rail to supply up to 22 new four-car trains for metro Line 6 as it gears up to relaunch services on the mothballed line this summer.
The city says the contract is divided into “multiple phases,” with six trains to be manufactured under phase one of the contract, for delivery from 2026. Hitachi will manufacture the trains at its factories in Pistoia and Naples and this initial order is worth €60m.
A 3.2km extension of Line 6 is on schedule to open in June, which will lengthen the light metro line to 5.5km and eight stations. Services have been suspended on the 2.3km Line 6 since 2013 due to low ridership on the link, which runs from Mostra to Mergellina and offers similar connections to metro Line 2 and the Cumana suburban line.
Construction started on the line in 1980s and the plan was to open it as a light rail line for the 1990 football World Cup. However, failure to complete Mergellina station meant this never happened, with the line eventually revived as a light metro, opening in 2007.
The extended service will have capacity to transport 7600 passengers per hour per direction, at a frequency of 4m 30s using the existing fleet of six 23m-long T67 articulated light metro units.
The new 39m-long trains will have capacity for 290 passengers and will be used “to improve carrying capacity and comfort” for Line 6 passengers, according to Naples’ councillor for transport, Mr Edoardo Cosenza.
The trains will be equipped with Automatic Train Protection (ATP) and an “innovative air-conditioning system.”
Cosenza adds that ultimately the trains will operate in multiple to boost capacity to 580 passengers on a double set.
“It is a fundamental step to enhance rail transport in the city with the latest generation trains that guarantee efficiency and safety to users,” says the mayor of Napoli, Mr Gaetano Manfredi. “The administration’s efforts to equip the city with an increasingly articulated and technologically advanced transport system continue.”
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