Avanto (tram)

The Avanto has found success in the United States, including Houston, Texas.

Avanto car for the LYNX Blue Line in Charlotte

For other uses, see Avanto.

The Avanto is a low-floor tram manufactured by Siemens AG. It is used or on order by several systems in the United States and for tram-train operations in France.

Its principal competitors are Bombardier’s Flexity trams (the Outlook, Classic, Swift, and the Link tram-train) and Alstom’s Citadis.

[edit] Current orders

Houston METRORail, Texas, United States: 18 units ordered, with delivery complete in late 2004.
San Diego Trolley, California, United States: 11 units ordered, with delivery complete in July 2005.
SNCF, Paris region, France: 15 tram-train units ordered. Due to enter service on November 18, 2006 between Aulnay-sous-Bois and Bondy under the new T4 route.
LYNX Blue Line (CATS), Charlotte, North Carolina, United States: 16 units ordered, in service beginning November 2007.
MAX, Portland, Oregon: 21 units ordered with 3 units on option. Order announced on 11 May 2006

All five agencies anticipate further orders pending the success of their initial vehicles.

O-Train, Ottawa, Ontario: Expansion project's finalized contract involves these trams. Political and financial problems resulted in problems with this project, despite the fact it was too far ahead to cancel or delay without considerable financial expense and penalty. This project has now been officially cancelled by Ottawa city council, which will likely lead to long and expensive lawsuits by Siemens and other contractors against the City of Ottawa.