The Van Hool company is to manufacture 14 “tram buses” in its Koningshooikt factory (Antwerp Province) for De Lijn. The vehicles will transport passengers in the northern periphery of Brussels as early as 2019, the Flemish public transport company announced on Wednesday.
Tram buses are particularly long buses (24 meters), which are intended to combine the efficiency of a tramway and the flexibility of a bus. They are to ensure the “Ringtrambuslijn” between the Heysel and Brussels Airport. They are hybrid vehicles (electric and diesel) capable of transporting up to 137 passengers.
The first four tram-buses will be delivered at the end of 2018; the remaining will follow in the beginning of 2019.
The order is estimated at 12 million Euros. For Van Hool, it is the first Belgian order for its “Exqui.City” tram buses, when 200 of them have already been ordered outside of Belgium.
The Brussels Times
