The remaining 17 buses will be delivered on a rolling basis until September 2023. Technical tests will first be performed on the Neuchâtel city network and, from June 2023, on the network in La Chaux-de-Fonds that has been brought back into operation. The trolley buses will then be used in Neuchâtel from late summer 2023 and will replace the older, yellow, high-floor trolley buses (NAW-HESS-ABB BGT 5-25). According to transN, the vehicles will be brought into operation in La Chaux-de-Fonds towards the end of this year.

In around two years, transN is likely to order 12 further lighTram® 19 DCs that should then come into operation in 2026.

Revival of the trolley bus network in La Chaux-de-Fonds

The trolley bus network in La Chaux-de-Fonds, presumed to have come to an end, will soon be celebrating its resurgence. From 1949 to 2014, trolley buses were in operation in the largest city in the Jura mountains and HESS vehicles were also part of that fleet for several decades. For cost reasons, the trolley buses were taken out of operation around almost 10 years ago and replaced with hybrid buses. Luckily, the majority of the infrastructure was retained and can be reactivated for recommissioning with HESS e-articulated buses.