Spanish Tram Project

Copyright in picture owned by ALSTOM

Rapid growth in the Barcelona Area has put pressure on existing transport facilities. The Autoritat del Transport Metropolita (the “ATM”) launched a tender in July 1998 for a new tramway between Barcelona and Baix-Llobregat.  They were attracted by the possibilities provided by tramways - reliability, low environmental impact and the ability to transport large numbers efficiently.

ATM, which is owned by the Regional Government, the City of Barcelona and several municipal and local authorities, is the public entity responsible for the coordination of public transportation in the Metropolitan Area of Barcelona. Tenders were invited by ATM to design, build and operate the Barcelona-Baix Llobregat tramway line under an administrative contract granted by the ATM.

Over ten years of planning and traffic studies conducted by the local authorities, preceded the project launch including by the predecessor organisation to ATM. The Project is a 17.8 km tramway network, with one main line (Francesc Macia – Sant Boi) and two branch lines (Cornella and Sant Feliu de Llobregat). The total cost was approximately € 220 million. The Project is expected to capture 19 million passengers per year and to increasingly improve the integration of the urban public transportation system through its connections with the rest of the public transportation system (Barcelona Metro and buses).

The design, financing and construction of the Project is being carried out by an Adjudicatory Company formed by the members of the winning consortium, Tranmet. The operation and maintenance of the Project will be carried out by an Operating company controlled by the Adjudicatory Company shareholders (80 %) and public entities (20 %).

The Adjudicatory Company financed the project with grants received from ATM, equity and debt. It will service its debt and remunerate its equity through an investment charge (the “Canon”) paid by the Operating Company, which in turn will receive revenues from the users under tariffs set by ATM together with operating subsidies from ATM designed to provide certainty for the Adjudicatory Company of meeting O&M, borrowing costs and equity return, coupled with a risk sharing element based on levels of actual traffic compared to forecast traffic levels. The tarrif levels formed the principal competitive component of the various bids.

Nigel Hawke, whilst also working himself on the London Underground PPP, coached his Deputy Finance Director to enable financial close to be achieved.

Lead banks were Societe Generale and Banco Sabadell.  The financing included an EIB guaranteed facility and commercial loans.  ATM awarded the Trambaix tramway project to the Tranmet Consortium in April 2000.  The consortium comprises FCC Construcción, Marfina, Arande, COMSA, ACCIONA NESCO Group, Entrecanales Cubiertas, ACCIONA, Soler i Sauret, CGT Corporación General de Transportes, CGEA CONNEX, GUIAVIA, Bansabadell Inversió Desenvolupament, and Société Générale.  The tram supply contract was placed in September 2000.  

This success was followed by the winning also by Tranmet of a second Trambesòs tramway in Barcelona in July 2002.  Commercial operations are expected to commence in the first half of 2004.

ALSTOM, as the technical leader of the construction consortium building the Trambaix and the Trambesòs networks, is supplying the rolling stock - a total of 37 trams from its CITADIS family - as well as much of the infrastructure equipment for both tramways. ALSTOM will also maintain the Trambaix and Trambesòs tramways for a 25-year period under an additional contract awarded in March 2003. Comsa, a Spanish construction company, will maintain the platforms.  Operating both tramway networks is a private group headed by Detren, a Spanish company jointly owned by FCC (Fomento de Construcciones y Contratas) and Connex. The Sarbus Group and Soler & Sauret are also part of the operating joint venture.

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