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Location: Algiers / Algeria
Client: Algerian government
Name of the structure: Algiers light rail
Nature of the project: Setting up a light rail

Algiers : a light rail to stimulate the city

The Algerian government has long had the plan to develop modern infrastructures in order to solve the traffic problem in the capital, Algiers including the construction of a new air terminal, of a subway and a motorway crossing the country from East to West.

Towards inter-mode exchange centers

The light rail is a more recent project than the subway and was the subject of a separate bid for offers. Light rail and metro will be complementary though, to improve travel in Algiers’ eastern suburbs and to accompany the city’s economic development. The two networks will cross each other and the long-term aim is to create inter-mode bus/light rail exchange terminals.

Once it has begun operating, the light rail is also expected to re-qualify the zones it crosses thanks to:
- increased security for pedestrians
- specific treatments to improve roads running alongside the light rail
- important areas reserved to plant rows of trees
- exchange centers and stations designed to create visual unity

One priority: launch works on the first section

In association with the transport engineering group SYSTRA, RATP Développement was chosen to assist the Entreprise Métro d’Alger (EMA - Algiers Metro Enterprise), as project manager on the primary section of the first line of Algiers light rail.

EMA is in charge of research, supported by RATP Développement. This research presently focuses on how the light rail will fit into the planned area and on elaborating the specifications, that will lead to an industrial bid for offers. RATP Développement also provides assistance with the conception of the project and choice of operator.