A trackless tram proposed by the PN would run on six circular lines and service industrial estates across Malta, a route map released by the party on Saturday indicates.  

The map proposes six routes stretching from Ċirkewwa to Birżebbuġa, with dedicated stops at Mater Dei Hospital, the airport, St Vincent de Paule, Ta' Qali and Smart City, among others. 

All routes will be circular, with nine hubs and 13 interchanges allowing passengers to commute across lines. 

PN spokesperson Toni Bezzina said the proposal would require some alterations to arterial roads, which the proposed mass transit system would operate on.

The dedicated lanes required for such vehicles will require a specialised form of asphalt to strengthen the road surface that the trams will travel along, he said.

Decisions about these dedicated lanes would be taken following a national study, he said. 

Bezzina was speaking at a press conference on Saturday morning, one day after party leader Bernard Grech shed further light on the PN’s mass transport proposals.

The PN estimates that the system will cost €2.8 billion and take five years to complete.

Bezzina said that the trams would run at around 50km/h and were capable of carrying up to 500 passengers at any one time. 

He ignored a question, asked by a Labour Party reporter, as to whether the proposal was identical to one presented by the CRRC Zhuzhou Institute, a Chinese rail transport manufacturing firm.  

That institute is credited with having developed the LiDAR-based form of autonomous rail transit system, a relatively new technology that some Australian towns and cities are experimenting with.

Its 32-metre trackless trams claim to be able to carry up to 300 people. 

A New South Wales government report looking into the technology had raised concerns about CRRC being the only supplier of such vehicles and warned that the 32-metre long vehicles could be difficult to accommodate on local roads.

PN: Cleaner, cheaper, faster

The PN has sought to pitch its trackless tram proposal as a cleaner, cheaper and less invasive alternative to the metro system proposal that the Labour Party unveiled last year.

That proposal, drafted by international consultants Arup, would see Malta construct a 25-station metro system over three decades, costing around €6.2 billion. The Labour Party’s manifesto commits the party to start work on it “immediately”, if technical studies conclude that it is feasible.

A computerised render of the proposed tram running along the Coast Road. Photo: PN

While the metro proposes stations in the heart of Malta’s towns and villages, the PN’s trackless tram would operate on the periphery of urban areas, running on dedicated lanes on main roads. Feeder buses would then carry passengers to and from urban centres.

Bezzina said that the metro proposal came with several “hidden taxes” which would have to be introduced to bankroll its construction – from parking fees to an increase in road licences and a tax on construction.

Fellow PN candidate Janice Chetcuti said that the tram would require no excavation or uprooting of trees and would lead to negligible noise pollution.

A third electoral candidate for the party, Fredrick Aquilina, said the tram would cover significantly more ground - 173km – than the proposed metro’s 35km in routes.