CAF has marked a major milestone with the completion of its 1,000th Urbos tram, consolidating the platform’s position as one of the most successful in the global rail industry.
Since its launch in 2006, the Urbos platform has become a symbol of innovation and sustainability, adapted to the cultural and operational needs of cities worldwide. The first vehicles entered service in Seville in 2010, followed by Zaragoza in 2011. Today, Urbos trams operate in 38 cities across 19 countries, with projects under way that will extend their presence to nearly 50 cities in the coming years.
Urbos tram: international reach and production
The Urbos platform has been built in eight CAF plants across five countries: Beasain, Zaragoza, Irún, and Linares in Spain; Bagnères de Bigorre in France; Newport in the UK; Elmira in the US; and Dunakeszi in Hungary.
This international production base underlines CAF’s global footprint and its ability to meet demand from operators worldwide. Current deployments include trams in Belgrade, Sydney, Malaga, Birmingham, Cincinnati, Amsterdam, Oslo, Seville, Granada, Nantes, Kaohsiung, Freiburg, Mauritius, Kansas City, Budapest, Luxembourg, Canberra, Antwerp, Liège, and Lisbon.
Commitment to sustainability
Sustainability has been a defining feature of the Urbos platform. In 2011, it became the first tram in the world to obtain an Environmental Product Declaration (EPD). Today, more than 20% of the materials used are recycled, helping to reduce emissions by preventing millions of tonnes of CO₂ from entering the atmosphere each year.
Over the past 14 years, Urbos vehicles have travelled the equivalent of 15,000 circumnavigations of the globe, carrying more than 2.5 million passengers daily across five continents.
Technological leadership
Continuous investment in research and development has enabled CAF to equip the Urbos platform with pioneering technologies. It was the first tram to run without catenary, using an On Board Energy Storage System (OESS) that today equips 25% of Urbos fleets.
Other innovations include:
- Induction-based energy capture systems
- Virtual coupling of vehicles
- Autonomous driving trials, including successful demonstrations of remote operation from control centres kilometres away
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