Seventh new tramway network in Algeria

In the Algerian provincial capital Mostaganem, the country's seventh tramway network went into operation on February 18, 2023. The two lines are a total of 14.5 km long and meet at the train station. The longer L1 line runs from the Karouba campus in the north, via several student housing estates, to the city center and ends in the Le Salamandre neighborhood. The second line, just two kilometers long, connects the station with a new long-distance bus terminal in the south. Around 10,000 passengers per day are expected in the port city. Work on the network had been commissioned by the state-owned Entreprise Métro d'Alger (EMA) and had been underway since 2013, but in the meantime the project's construction company went bankrupt, so a new partner had to be found. The new consortium of Alstom and Cosider continued the work from 2018. In the process, Alstom provided know-how on the overall system, the safety technology, substations, ticketing and equipment for the depot, while the Algerian partner Cosider took over the civil engineering work and installed the overhead contact line and signaling technology. Due to technical problems, the start of operations in Mostaganem was delayed several times, the last time being the celebration of 60 years of independence last year. Now, however, the streetcar went into service a few weeks earlier than planned. The 25 low-floor Citadis trains for the network were produced by the semi-state-owned joint venture CITAL in Annaba, in which Alstom holds a 49% stake. Similar vehicles operate in all seven Algerian streetcar cities, all of which have been opened only in the past decade. Alstom has also been involved in several rail projects in the country, supplying trains for regional transport to the state railroad.