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MetroCentro is a tram system serving the centre of the city Seville, in Andalusia, Spain. It began operating in October 2007.
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Overview
At the present time, the service consists of just five stops, Plaza Nueva, Archivo de Indias, Puerta de Jerez, Prado de San Sebastián and San Bernardo, as part of Phase I of the project. The service is expected to be extended to Santa Justa AVE station, including four new stops: San Francisco Javier, Eduardo Dato, Luis de Morales and Santa Justa. This Phase II was due to start in late 2008. But this plan is now postponed. City council gave priority to extending the lines of the Seville Metro.
The project works began in Mid-2005 and its first phase was completed by Autumn 2007. It covers 1.4 km and is served by 7 Urbos trams, all of which were manufactured by the Spanish company Construcciones y Auxiliar de Ferrocarriles.
Movement without catenary
From the start it was envisaged that part of the Metrocentro system should be able to run free from using the overhead contact wire for power. On several occasions the City of Seville administration had to dismantle the overhead wires to allow, at Easter, processions to pass without restriction; the builder of the rolling stock paid the extra cost for this.
The final system, which is now in use commenced from Holy Week 2011, the system uses advanced technology ACR (Acumulador de Carga Rápida) fast charging batteries -developed and patented by the Spanish company CAF.