Corus Rail for Tenerife Metro

17 Mar 2005

Environmentally friendly system will relieve island’s traffic congestion.

Following a two year period of negotiation an order has been secured for approximately 3,000 tonnes of type 35GP13 grooved rails for a new tram project – Tranvia de Tenerife - in the Canary Islands.

The order, which was won against competing mills in Europe is being supplied through three temporary joint ventures formed from the contracting organisations Dragados, Comsa, FCC, Tecsa and Necso. Shipments from Corus Rail’s production base in Hayange, France commenced in February 2005 and will continue in three further segments until the final delivery in September.

The new twenty kilometres stretch of line will link the Tenerife towns of Santa Cruz and La Laguna and help to relieve the island of its traffic congestion in this area. Twenty one stops will be covered in a total journey time of thirty seven minutes and trams will run at intervals of five minutes.

Environmental performance is at the forefront of this public transport project. Using only electrical energy no harmful emissions will be produced by the trams. There is also a strong possibility that the environmental impact of the tramway will be reduced even further through the acquisition of a wind farm by operators, Metropolitano de Tenerife, to provide the electrical power needed.