The first of the Stadler Class 398 tram-trains for South Wales Metro services arrived at Transport for Wales’ Taff’s Well depot by road on the night of March 21. This follows several months of testing at Network Rail’s Rail Innovation & Development Centre at Melton Mowbray.
The 36 high-floor tram-trains from Stadler’s Citylink family are being manufactured at the company’s factory at Valencia in Spain, and one was exhibited at InnoTrans 2022 in Berlin. They are expected to enter service on the Treherbert, Aberdare, Merthyr, and City lines in 2024, after the completion of the Core Valley Lines modernisation programme.
The three-section trainsets are 40 m long and 2 650 mm wide with a 915 mm entrance height. They have 126 seats and a capacity of 252 passengers at 4/m2. Battery power will enable the use of discontinuous 25 kV 50 Hz electrification, avoiding the complexity, disruption and expense of installing overhead equipment in challenging locations such as tunnels and bridges with restricted clearances.