First STE Tren Ligero LRV Completed
Written by William C. Vantuono, Editor-in-Chief
The first light rail vehicle (LRV) for Mexico City’s Xochimilco Light Rail (also called el Tren Ligero or Tren ligero de la Ciudad de México, operated by Servicio de Transportes Eléctricos (STE), has rolled off the assembly line at CRRC Zhuzhou Locomotive Co. Ltd., Hunan Province, China.
These articulated LRVs will replace the existing fleet of 24 built by Concarril or Bombardier/Siemens between 1990 and 2014. The line’s original fleet consisted of remanufactured articulated LRVs built by Moyada (Motores y Adaptaciones Automotrices, S.A.), incorporating the bogies and some other parts from STE’s large fleet of 1940s-vintage PCC streetcars. (STE originally intended to rebuild about 20 PCCs for the lines, a project well under way at STE’s Tetepilco Depot when the plant collapsed during the 1985 Mexico City earthquake, crushing the cars.) The Moyada cars had new carbodies and were equipped with pantographs instead of trolley poles to collect current from 750 VDC catenary that had replaced 600 VDC trolley wire. They had operating cabs at both ends and doors on both sides. The Concarril LRVs ordered in 1989 to replace them were of the same design as those Concarril had recently supplied to Guadalajara’s light rail system.
