Bologna, September 9, 2026 – At 10:48 the mayor Matteo Lepore unveiled the first tram that will run on the city’s rails. Lucio Dalla in the background, countdown and emotion. “A starting point”, defines the mayor from inside the new large depot built in Borgo Panigale.
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Right here, in the coming days, tests on the vehicle will begin. Then, by September, they will continue on the street in the section between the depot and via Cavalieri Ducati. At that point the goal will be to reach the city center, with the citizens, by spring/summer.
Fleet of 35 trams
Moreover, already in the coming weeks and in the following months deliveries of other vehicles branded Caf, a Spanish company, will continue according to the schedules defined with the supplier. The total fleet currently, already ordered, is 35 trams, each composed of five carriages. The next tram should arrive in the city within two weeks.
“We think we will be ready by spring, then clearly there is the national authority that must give us the approval, but we are working to be ready already in spring, with the first service between Borgo Panigale and the city center,” said the mayor, clarifying the Municipality’s goals regarding the timing within which citizens will be able to board the Red Line.
First months free rides
The first months, assures the mayor, the tram tests will be free: “Until we have a complete service I believe it is important that there are free rides and concessions also to give a signal to the population regarding the inconveniences that have occurred,” referring to the works.
What the tram is like
It is a bidirectional tram, that is with driver cabins at both ends of the vehicle, 34.7 meters long, 2.4 meters wide and 3.56 meters high. Under normal payload conditions the tram can accommodate 155 standing passengers and 68 seated, for a total of 223 passengers, almost double compared to an 18-meter articulated trolleybus. Under exceptional load conditions (equal to 6 passengers per sqm) the maximum transport capacity is 300 passengers (232 standing and 68 seated).
“It will cross the city without having the wire, it will be an inclusive and welcoming vehicle, and above all reliable in punctuality,” concluded the mayor who also explained the importance of the tram for children, towards schools, citizens, towards work, and elderly, for a return to mobility and travel between different areas of the city.
Design and colors
Yellow and gold, Iron Man style, it has an overall vehicle design chosen through an online survey in which 29,134 people residing in or visiting Bologna participated. And soon, each tram will have its own name, with children and schools participating in the naming project of each vehicle.
Also present were the regional Transport Councillor Irene Priolo, the Mobility Councillor Michele Campaniello, as well as Oscar Flores Garcia, Program Manager of Caf, a Basque company, European leader in transport. “This is the result of several years of work with the city and with Tper – explains the guest of the day Flores Garcia –. A great international effort to deliver to Bologna a modern, sustainable transport system prepared for the city’s various needs.”
Lepore: “The tram will reach Pilastro”
The Municipality of Bologna will bring the tram up to Pilastro. “I wrote in these days a letter that will reach all the families of Pilastro where we will explain that the Municipality’s commitment is to reach Pilastro with our own resources,” assures mayor Matteo Lepore at the sidelines of the presentation of the first vehicle. “Thanks to the agreement on the Passante we have finally unblocked the San Donnino bridge issue and so it will now be possible to design the intervention. We have to redesign it from scratch because Autostrade changed the passante project,” explains the mayor.
