CNR Changchun has delivered the first of 27 six-car train sets for Chengdu Metro’s Line 4. The Chinese state-owned company is also supplying 24 six-car train sets for the Metro’s Line 3 at a total cost of 1.36 billion yuan.

Delivery of the Line 4 train sets is due to be completed by next June; they will enter service on the 16-station route later that year.

The train sets, which have stainless-steel bodies, have Optonix traction equipment supplied by Alstom and its local joint venture, Shanghai Alstom Transport Electrical Equipment Co Ltd.

The vehicles have a maximum speed of 80kph and the capacity for 1,460 passengers. Real-time fault diagnostics can be transmitted to the depot via wi-fi.

Meanwhile, the first of 41 trams being built for the two-line network under construction in Addis Ababa was unveiled at CNR Changchun’s plant on 26 August.

The trams were ordered in March and will be delivered by January. They will be shipped via Tianjin and Djibouti, with a journey time of about 50 days.

The three-section two-car trams have a steel and aluminium body and can travel at speeds of up to 70kph.

To cope with the strong sunlight at altitudes of 2,400m, they have tinted windows designed to filter out 90% of the ultraviolet rays, while the rubber components and cables are specified to avoid premature ageing.

Two lines are being built by the China Railway Eryuan Engineering Group for completion by next January. One will run 16.9km north-south from Menelik Square to Kaliti, and the other will run 17.4km east-west from Ayat to Tor Hailoch.

The Export-Import Bank of China is providing loans to cover 85% of the cost of the project.

CNR said that the arrival of the first-ever Chinese-built trams in Africa will ‘open the door’ to other markets, including the proposed light-rail lines in Kenya, Congo, Zimbabwe, Egypt and Nigeria.