Metro de Madrid has awarded CAF the contract to manufacture and maintain 40 narrow loading gauge dual voltage trains for line 1.
The contract has been awarded for 498.29 million euros (VAT included), 48 million euros more than the 40 trains without cabs for line 6.
Although the formalisation of the award has only been executed now, in May this year, it was announced that CAF was the only finalist in the tender. In fact, of the five manufacturers that showed interest in the tender (Alstom España, CAF, Siemens, Talgo, and Vossloh España), CAF was the only one to submit a bid to Metro de Madrid.
Thus, the Spanish manufacturer will be responsible for supplying the 80 trains that Metro de Madrid is acquiring to modernise the rolling stock of lines 1 and 6 and withdraw from service the 2000A series trains known as “Pandas” and 5000-4th, nicknamed “Chatos.”
The new trains for line 1 of the Madrid metro will consist of 6 cars interconnected by corridors. By eliminating the 4 intermediate cabs, their capacity will be 16% greater than that of the current ones.
This new fleet will have automatic driving with driver intervention (GoA 2) using the CBTC system available on the line. With a view to a future change in catenary voltage from 600 V d.c. to 1500 V d.c., the new trains will be dual voltage.
The new trains will enter service in 2027
Once the contract has been awarded, the design and manufacturing phase of the trains will begin. According to the Community of Madrid, it is estimated that they will enter service during the first half of 2027.
The withdrawal of the trains of the 2000A series, the most numerous of the entire network, which reached a total of 580 cars in service, will then begin, of which 528 remain distributed between lines 1 and 5. Although Metro plans to withdraw them all, the contract for their scrapping excludes the 78 cars (39 M-R compositions) of the sixth batch.