The CAF Urbos is a family of

tram A tram (also known as a streetcar or trolley in Canada and the United States) is an urban rail transit in which Rolling stock, vehicles, whether individual railcars or multiple-unit trains, run on tramway tracks on urban public streets; some ...

streetcar A tram (also known as a streetcar or trolley in Canada and the United States) is an urban rail transit in which vehicles, whether individual railcars or multiple-unit trains, run on tramway tracks on urban public streets; some include s ...

s, and

light rail vehicle Light rail (or light rail transit, abbreviated to LRT) is a form of passenger urban rail transit that uses rolling stock derived from tram technology National Conference of the Transportation Research Board while also having some features from ...

s built by CAF. The Spanish manufacturer CAF previously made locomotives, passenger cars, regional, and underground trains. In 1993, CAF started building trams for Metrovalencia, with the delivery of 16 trams until 1999. This was a variant of a

Siemens Siemens AG ( ) is a German multinational technology conglomerate. It is focused on industrial automation, building automation, rail transport and health technology. Siemens is the largest engineering company in Europe, and holds the positi ...

design and some components were delivered by Siemens, including bogies and traction motors. This design was also sold to Lisbon Trams in 1995; CAF then decided to design and build the Urbos in-house. There are three generations of the CAF Urbos, namely the Urbos 1, Urbos 2, and Urbos 3. The first generation was ordered by the

Bilbao tram The Bilbao tram (, ) is a tram system in Bilbao, Basque Country (autonomous community), Basque Country, Spain. Operated by Euskotren under the brand Euskotren Tranbia (which also manages the tram system Vitoria-Gasteiz tram, in Vitoria-Gasteiz), ...

operator, who received eight trams between 2002 and 2004. The second generation was sold to other operators in Spain, and the third generation is sold in Spain, elsewhere in Europe, the United States, Australia and in the UK. Manufacturing locations include Beasain,

Zaragoza Zaragoza (), traditionally known in English as Saragossa ( ), is the capital city of the province of Zaragoza and of the autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Aragon, Spain. It lies by the Ebro river and its tributaries, the ...

and Linares, Spain;

Elmira, New York Elmira () is a Administrative divisions of New York#City, city in and the county seat of Chemung County, New York, United States. It is the principal city of the Elmira, New York, metropolitan statistical area, which encompasses Chemung County. ...

, USA; Hortolandia, Brazil; Newport, UK; Huehuetoca, Mexico; and

Bagnères-de-Bigorre Bagnères-de-Bigorre (, literally ''Bagnères of Bigorre''; ) is a Communes of France, commune and Subprefectures in France, subprefecture of the Hautes-Pyrénées Departments of France, Department in the Occitania (administrative region), Occita ...

, France.

CAF Urbos 1

This series was only sold to Euskotren Tranbia to operate tram services in

Bilbao Bilbao is a city in northern Spain, the largest city in the Provinces of Spain, province of Biscay and in the Basque Country (greater region), Basque Country as a whole. It is also the largest city proper in northern Spain. Bilbao is the List o ...

. The original Bilbao tram system was shut down in 1964 and the second generation opened in December 2002 with extensions in 2004. *

: 8 bidirectional trams, numbered 401–408 and locally designated the Euskotren 400 series. 70% low-floor trams with 3

bogie A bogie ( ) (or truck in North American English) comprises two or more Wheelset (rail transport), wheelsets (two Railroad wheel, wheels on an axle), in a frame, attached under a vehicle by a pivot. Bogies take various forms in various modes ...

s on .

CAF Urbos 2

In operation

Withdrawn

CAF Urbos 3

The CAF Urbos 3 is the successor of the Urbos 2; all new sales are of Urbos 3. The standard variants, the Urbos 100 and Urbos 70, have either a 100% or 70%

low floor Low or LOW or lows, may refer to: People * Low (surname) Low is an English language, English and Languages of Scotland, Scottish surname. It is also a common surname found among Overseas Chinese language, Chinese communities around the world. ...

design, respectively, and a maximum speed of . The tram type is offered in

metre gauge Metre-gauge railways ( US: meter-gauge railways) are narrow-gauge railways with track gauge of or 1 metre. Metre gauge is used in around of tracks around the world. It was used by several European colonial powers including France, Britain and ...

and

standard gauge A standard-gauge railway is a railway with a track gauge of . The standard gauge is also called Stephenson gauge (after George Stephenson), international gauge, UIC gauge, uniform gauge, normal gauge in Europe, and SGR in East Africa. It is the ...

and allows for a tram width of . Trams can be assembled from 3, 5, 7 or (only for the Urbos 100) 9 modules, with the length ranging between . CAF has developed an option to build 'Greentech Freedrive'

lithium-ion A lithium-ion or Li-ion battery is a type of rechargeable battery that uses the reversible Intercalation (chemistry), intercalation of Li+ ions into electronically Electrical conductor, conducting solids to store energy. Li-ion batteries are c ...

supercapacitors and batteries into the Urbos 3, allowing brief operation without an external electrical supply. This ACR system ('' Acumulador de Carga Rápida'') allowed the tramway operator in Seville to remove the overhead wires in key locations during Holy Week 2011. It has also been used in

Luxembourg Luxembourg, officially the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg, is a landlocked country in Western Europe. It is bordered by Belgium to the west and north, Germany to the east, and France on the south. Its capital and most populous city, Luxembour ...

, Granada, Zaragoza and the West Midlands. In 2024, a CAF Urbos fleet of 40 light rail trains were transported from

Cuiabá Cuiabá () is the capital city and the largest city of the Brazilian state of Mato Grosso. It is located near the geographical centre of South America and also forms the metropolitan area of Mato Grosso, along with the neighbouring town of Várz ...

Mato Grosso Mato Grosso ( – ) is one of the states of Brazil, the List of Brazilian states by area, third largest by area, located in the Central-West Region, Brazil, Central-West region. The state has 1.66% of the Brazilian population and is responsible ...

, in Brazil to

Salvador, Bahia Salvador () is a Municipalities of Brazil, Brazilian municipality and capital city of the Federative units of Brazil, state of Bahia. Situated in the Zona da Mata in the Northeast Region, Brazil, Northeast Region of Brazil, Salvador is recognize ...

, following a deal to build the new Salvador LRT system (3 lines, under construction), to replace an old suburban train and a failed Chinese BYD Skyrail failed project big. The deal followed a

lawsuit A lawsuit is a proceeding by one or more parties (the plaintiff or claimant) against one or more parties (the defendant) in a civil court of law. The archaic term "suit in law" is found in only a small number of laws still in effect today ...

agreement between the Brazilian states governments (Bahia and Mato Grosso) because Cuiabá LRT system construction delays for the

2014 FIFA World Cup The 2014 FIFA World Cup was the 20th FIFA World Cup, the quadrennial world championship for list of men's national association football teams, men's national Association football, football teams organised by FIFA. It took place in Brazil fr ...

were so big that it was replaced by a BRT system in Cuiabá.

Urbos 70 and Urbos 100 / 100X

Design flaws

In December 2017, the Besançon Tramway in

Besançon Besançon (, ; , ; archaic ; ) is the capital of the Departments of France, department of Doubs in the region of Bourgogne-Franche-Comté. The city is located in Eastern France, close to the Jura Mountains and the border with Switzerland. Capi ...

France France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...

, discovered cracks in their Urbos 3s vehicles around the

box area of the bodies, which in December 2020 CAF paid for remedial work to be performed with each unit affected requiring one month downtime for the work to be completed. On 11 June 2021, the West Midlands Metro (operating between

Birmingham Birmingham ( ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in the metropolitan county of West Midlands (county), West Midlands, within the wider West Midlands (region), West Midlands region, in England. It is the Lis ...

and

Wolverhampton Wolverhampton ( ) is a city and metropolitan borough in the West Midlands (county), West Midlands of England. Located around 12 miles (20 km) north of Birmingham, it forms the northwestern part of the West Midlands conurbation, with the towns of ...

England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...

) were forced to suspend their services due to similar cracks being discovered in the

box areas of their Urbos 3s vehicles, with ongoing investigations continuing to identify any other issues relating to the cracks and to find options for remedial works to be performed. Following on from these instances, in November 2021 the

New South Wales New South Wales (commonly abbreviated as NSW) is a States and territories of Australia, state on the Eastern states of Australia, east coast of :Australia. It borders Queensland to the north, Victoria (state), Victoria to the south, and South ...

transport minister Rob Stokes announced that the Sydney L1 Dulwich Hill Line would be decommissioned for up to 18 months, due to serious design flaws in all 12 of the CAF Urbos 3s tram sets that were running on the line. Stokes stated that the flaws (in the bogie boxes) were likely to be far broader in scope than those identified in Sydney due to the thousands of the same tram type operated around the world. Similar issues relating to cracks in the bogie box area were discovered in the Urbos 3 vehicles supplied to the Belgrade Tramway Network. The discovery of further cracks in the West Midlands trams led to service being suspended again from 12 November 2021 to December 2021. Following vehicle inspections, services in the West Midlands were again suspended on 20 March 2022 until further notice due to cracks described by the operator as 'bodywork cracks'. Midland Metro was working directly with the manufacturer to assess the safety and operational impact.

Urbos AXL

Vehicles in the Urbos AXL series have longer car-body sections and pivoting

s. With a maximum speed of , it is designed for high-capacity, mass

rapid transit Rapid transit or mass rapid transit (MRT) or heavy rail, commonly referred to as metro, is a type of high-capacity public transport that is generally built in urban areas. A grade separation, grade separated rapid transit line below ground su ...

systems. This type of tram is currently in use only in two Northern European countries: *

Tallinn Tallinn is the capital city, capital and List of cities in Estonia, most populous city of Estonia. Situated on a Tallinn Bay, bay in north Estonia, on the shore of the Gulf of Finland of the Baltic Sea, it has a population of (as of 2025) and ...

Estonia Estonia, officially the Republic of Estonia, is a country in Northern Europe. It is bordered to the north by the Gulf of Finland across from Finland, to the west by the Baltic Sea across from Sweden, to the south by Latvia, and to the east by Ru ...

, (20 trams) *

Stockholm Stockholm (; ) is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in Sweden by population, most populous city of Sweden, as well as the List of urban areas in the Nordic countries, largest urban area in the Nordic countries. Approximately ...

Sweden Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden, is a Nordic countries, Nordic country located on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. It borders Norway to the west and north, and Finland to the east. At , Sweden is the largest Nordic count ...

(22)

Urbos TT

The Urbos TT series is built with

tram-train A tram-train or dual-system tram is a type of light rail vehicle that both meets the standards of a light rail system, and also national mainline standards. Tramcars are adapted to be capable of running on streets like an urban tramway but a ...

technology, connecting existing

heavy rail Various terms are used for passenger railway lines and equipment; the usage of these terms differs substantially between areas: Rapid transit A rapid transit system is an electric railway characterized by high speed (~) and rapid acceleratio ...

infrastructure directly to urban tramway systems. *

Cádiz Cádiz ( , , ) is a city in Spain and the capital of the Province of Cádiz in the Autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Andalusia. It is located in the southwest of the Iberian Peninsula off the Atlantic Ocean separated fr ...

, Spain (7 vehicles)

Urbos LRV

A three-section articulated car supported by three bogies, the LRV variant of Urbos is designed for the North American market and is customizable. *

Houston Houston ( ) is the List of cities in Texas by population, most populous city in the U.S. state of Texas and in the Southern United States. Located in Southeast Texas near Galveston Bay and the Gulf of Mexico, it is the county seat, seat of ...

, Texas, USA (39 vehicles) * Montgomery County, Maryland (28 vehicles)

LRTA 13000 class (Metro edition)

The LRTA 13000 class is a high-floor light rail vehicle variant of the Urbos. 120 units were ordered for the LRT Line 1

medium-capacity rail system A medium-capacity system (MCS), also known as light rapid transit or light metro, is a rail transport system with a capacity greater than light rail, but less than typical heavy-rail rapid transit. MCS trains are usually 1 to 4 cars. Most medi ...

Metro Manila Metropolitan Manila ( ), commonly shortened to Metro Manila and formally the National Capital Region (NCR; ), is the capital region and largest List of metropolitan areas in the Philippines, metropolitan area of the Philippines. Located ...

Philippines The Philippines, officially the Republic of the Philippines, is an Archipelagic state, archipelagic country in Southeast Asia. Located in the western Pacific Ocean, it consists of List of islands of the Philippines, 7,641 islands, with a tot ...

. It was designed by CAF along with

Mitsubishi Corporation is a Japanese general trading company ( ''sogo shosha'') and a core member of the Mitsubishi Group. For much of the post-war period, Mitsubishi Corporation has been the largest of the five great ''sogo shosha'' (Mitsubishi, Mitsui, Itochu, S ...

and built at CAF's facilities in Corella, Spain, and Huehuetoca, Mexico. The trains were progressively delivered from 2021 onwards, entering service by 20 July 2023. Once all the trainsets have entered service, they will eventually replace the aging LRTA 1000 class LRVs which are nearing 40 years old.

References

External links

{{Commons category, CAF Urbos
CAF website
Electric multiple units of the United States Tram vehicles Light rail vehicles CAF rolling stock Train-related introductions in 2002 Tram vehicles of Serbia 600 V DC multiple units 750 V DC multiple units Electric multiple units of the Philippines Tram vehicles of Sweden Electric multiple units of Spain Battery electric multiple units