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T68 and T68A (Firema and AnsaldoBreda)
Metrolink's first trams: 26 high-floor, double-ended articulated cars built in Italy by Firema for the opening of the Bury and Altrincham lines in 1992, and six T68As from AnsaldoBreda for the Eccles line in 1999. Built to serve the old railway platforms, they had four doorways a side, and some had steps for the low city-centre platforms. The M5000s replaced them by 2014.
Drawing to come
- Type
- Light rail vehicle, two sections, high floor, double-ended
- Builder
- Firema consortium, Italy (T68, 1991-92); AnsaldoBreda consortium, Italy (T68A, 1999)
- Built
- 1991–1999
- In service
- 1992–2014
- Lines
- Manchester Metrolink
- Formation
- One articulated car of two sections, 95 ft (29 m) over the body (97 ft 11 in (29.84 m) over the fixed couplers of an unmodified T68), on three bogies: a powered bogie under each cab end and an unpowered bogie under the articulation
- Trains in fleet
- 32: 26 T68s (1001-1026) and 6 T68As (2001-2006)
- Top speed
- 50 mph (80 km/h)
- Power
- 750 V DC overhead; four 105 kW motors, two on each outer bogie: separately excited DC on the T68s, three-phase AC on the T68As (LRTA; British Trams Online gives four 130 kW GEC motors) · how it works
- Train length
- 95 ft (29.00 m)
- Car height
- 11 ft 0 in (3.36 m)
- Car width
- 8 ft 8 in (2.65 m)
- Profile
- tram
- Seats per train
- 82
- Total capacity
- 82 seats and 4 pull-down seats, 122 standing at 4 a square metre (LRTA); British Trams Online gives 84 seats for the T68s
- Status
- Withdrawn: the last T68s on 10 February 2014 and the last T68As on 30 April 2014. Most were scrapped; 1023 is on display at Crewe Heritage Centre, 1007 is to be preserved at the Heaton Park Tramway, 1003 went to the Greater Manchester Fire Service for training, and 1022 and 1026 are stored at Long Marston (British Trams Online, April 2024).
- Replaced by
- M5000 (Bombardier Flexity Swift)
unverified Some of these figures haven’t yet been checked against an official source or a published history. What’s in doubt ↓
Sources
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- T68 & T68a: Metrolink phase 1 and 2 (Manchester Metrolink archive) Light Rail Transit Association, updated 28 July 2014builders, numbers, dimensions, floor, wheels, weight, capacity, speed, motors, bogies, doors; the replacement by M5000s
- Manchester Metrolink T68/T68A fleet list British Trams Online, updated 21 April 2024build years, every tram's dates in and out of service, fates and preserved trams
unverified
- Every figure rests on the LRTA's archive pages and British Trams Online's fleet list (enthusiast and association sources); no builder's, TfGM's or GMPTE's document was found
- Length: 97 ft 11 in (29.84 m) over fixed couplers (unmodified T68s), 95 ft (29 m) over the body (LRTA); width 8 ft 5 in (2.57 m) over the body shell, 8 ft 8 in (2.65 m) at the door sills
- Motors: 4 x 105 kW (LRTA) or 4 x 130 kW GEC (British Trams Online)
- Seats: 82 and 4 pull-down (LRTA) or 84 (British Trams Online) for the T68s
- Builders: the LRTA names the Firema consortium and the Ansaldo Breda consortium; British Trams Online names Firema and Ansaldo
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