The Stockholm Metro chose to modernise the cars as a economic alternative to purchasing new vehicles. Credit: Alstom

Rolling stock manufacturer Alstom has completed a six-year project to modernise the fleet of C20 cars on the Stockholm metro with the last vehicle rolling out of its workshop in Västerås, Sweden this week. 

The Skr1.4bn ($135m) modernisation project upgraded all 270 of the C20 cars with a new, open interior layout design, new passenger information systems, and more safety cameras to improve security onboard. 

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More than 27,000 seats and 240km of cable has been installed as part of the project, which employed 110 fitters, 25 engineers, and several local subcontractors. 

Maria Signal Martebo, managing director of Alstom Sweden, said: “For our operations in Västerås and for our local subcontractors, this project has been of significant importance, placing the Västerås workshop on the map internationally showing our expertise in the domain.” 

A view of the refurbished interior of the C20 cars with seats along the side of the carriage on one half
A view of the refurbished interior. Credit: SL

The C20 cars, now referred to as C20U or C25, were built between 1997 and 2004 by Adtranz and then its parent company Bombardier Transportation, both of which were subsequently merged into Alstom. 

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Originally built to carry 414 passengers, the new configuration increases standing capacity for the cars by placing seats longitudinal along one side of the carriage and removing some seats to create bigger areas for prams and wheelchairs. 

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Alstom also highlighted the reuse of materials in the modernisations to lower both the environmental impact of the refurbishments and the costs. 

Completion of the project comes only shortly after it was announced that Connecting Stockholm, a joint venture between the Go-Ahead Group and ComfortDelGro, had won the contract to operate the Stockholm metro network from May 2025, taking over from Hong Kong’s MTR.