Alstom inaugurated a new production line for Citadis trams at its Taubaté plant, state of São Paulo, in Brazil. The opening ceremony was attended by local authorities, company representatives and Henri Poupart-Lafarge, president of Alstom Transport.

The new production facility — in which Alstom has invested approximately $16.5 million — will serve the Brazilian market and, in a near future, the Latin America region where a number of new tramway projects are emerging. When fully operational, the facility will employ around 150 people.

The first trams to be produced in Taubaté are the 32 Citadis for Rio de Janeiro ordered to Alstom within the VLT Carioca consortium in September 2013 . This contract is part of a program called Porto Maravilha led by the municipality to modernize the port area. The trams are expected to be delivered between 2015 and mid-2016, in time for the Olympic Games.

The production line is able to produce about seven or eight trams per month. The factory adopts state-of-the-art environmental practices with, for example, the use of rain water to test the leakage of the train.