Subscribe to download
Kumamoto City Tram 9700 Series / 熊本市交通局9700形

The 9700 Series (9700形) is a tram vehicle operated by Kumamoto City Tram.

Entering service in 1997, the 9700 Series is Japan's first ultra low floor tram. It was designed by German manufacturer Adtranz, where it is labelled under the 'GT4N' classification. Produced via a partnership between Adtranz and Niigata Iron Works, the car body was produced by the latter in Japan with some modifications, while running equipment and bogies were mass produced models directly imported from Adtranz. The 9700 series is a 2-car type articulated tram with a mixed seating layout. In order to increase the number of seats, there are only 2 doors per side instead of the more common 3 doors layout. Only a single tram was completed when the type entered commercial operation, while a second and third batch of 2 vehicles each were introduced in 1999 and 2001 respectively. The interior appearance was somewhat changed between the batches of cars. The total number of vehicles is thus 5, 3 of which remains in service today. The first batch tram and both of the second batch trams suffered breakdowns in the early 2010s and were put in storage, one of them was restored in 2019 after a full refurbishment, although the other two have been cannibalized for spare parts and are scheduled for scrapping. The future prospects of the remaining vehicles are currently unknown.

Basic Information:

Max Speed: 70km/h
Acceleration: 0.69m/s/s
Motor Output: 100kW x 1 per car
Seating: semi-cross
In Service: 1997-

The following formations are included:

9700 Series

Configuration: 2-car articulated
Max Pax: 102