Alstom (www.alstom.com) has delivered the first of its longest-ever Citadis trams to Dublin from its factory in La Rochelle, France.

Seven 55m-long trams — purchased for 35 million euros by Transport Infrastructure Ireland (TII) — will run on the extension of the Dublin tram network as part of the LUAS Cross City transport project.

Once all seven trams have arrived in Ireland, they will be assembled at Alstom’s site in Sandyford and then undergo safety testing and commissioning. They are expected to enter service in February 2018.

Nick Phillips, customer and operations director at Alstom UK&I, said: “Seeing these Citadis trams arriving in Dublin was an incredibly proud moment for us at Alstom. It is another important milestone in our long and successful partnership with TII.

“Dublin was among the first cities in the world to order our first tram in the Citadis range 15 years ago; it will now be the first to try our longest model. We look forward to starting work on the final assembly and testing.”

Following this latest delivery from La Rochelle, Dublin’s Alstom Citadis fleet will comprise 73 trams in total. Alstom also maintains the trams and the network infrastructure.