Dubai: French train manufacturer Alstom is offering its Citadis trams as a solution to traffic woes in rapidly- expanding Gulf cities like Dubai.
Some Alstom officials even draw parallels between the current congestion on Dubai's roads to traffic problems in a number of European cities after the Second World War, when "old-fashioned" tramways were dismantled to make way for "modern" car and bus transport networks.
Now trams are resurfacing not only to drive cars out of inner-city areas but as an efficient and environmentally-friendly system of urban transportation.
The officials point out it is better to put in a tram network in place while a city is being built than to "reorganise" it for a rail network when the city is fully developed.
"Due to traffic jams and pollution, many European cities began investing in tramways in the 1980s. Now we anticipate new tram projects in South America, North Africa and southern Europe," says Jean-Noel Debroise, vice-president for product and strategy for Alstom Transport.
The company estimates that by 2015 the number of cities with more than one million inhabitants will grow from 300 to 560 and 350 million people will live in cities whose population will exceed 10 million.
Europeans are also investing in trams as a way to achieve Kyoto requirements on controlling carbon emissions and reducing noise levels in cities.
Alstom estimates the 3.8-billion-euro tram market worldwide will grow at an average rate of 3.7 per cent for the next ten years.
Alstom recently invited journalists from a number of countries to show the tram network in the French city of Bordeaux.
Keenly watching
"A tram is more effective as a city transport solution as it can carry the same number of people as three buses and 150 cars," said Sophie Chalaye, a tram project manager in Bordeaux.
The company is keenly watching the urban growth of the UAE and other GCC cities and plans to bid for potential tram projects, an Alstom official told Gulf News during a transport workshop organised by the company.
Alstom was in the race to win the Dubai Metro project that was won by a Japanese-led consortium.
It expects Abu Dhabi to sooner or later launch rail projects. The government is believed to be studying a light rail project to cope with its rapid urban development. Kuwait, Qatar, Bahrain and Oman may also develop new airport-city train links.
Dubai could have a 15-kilometre tram network on Al Sufouh Road and a 4.1-kilometre network for the Burj Dubai area. It could be linked to the Dubai Metro that is being built to create a viable public transport system in the city.
Alstom has 500 of its Citadis trams in commercial operation worldwide and it has firm orders for another 370.
The Alstom group's major businesses are building power stations and high-speed trains. The Middle East and North Africa accounted for about 10 per cent of the orders the group received in for the financial year 2005-06.
