The award, made official this Wednesday, follows the proposal from the Contracting Board and brings an end to a process that saw several initial bids excluded due to administrative non-compliance. The final contract amount, including VAT, is 13.23 million euros, a figure lower than the initially budgeted 17.8 million euros.
This operation contract complements existing maintenance contracts, ensuring the safety and proper functioning of the system. The Ministry of Public Works, Territorial Planning and Housing has detailed that the agreement is structured into three fundamental blocks for the comprehensive management of the service.
The first block covers the direct operation of the system, including tram driving, customer service, inspection, planning, ticketing management, cleaning, security and surveillance, and the administration of the park-and-ride facility. The second block focuses on operational maintenance coordination, with tasks such as contractor supervision, use of the Maintenance Management System (GMAO), technical documentation control, and technical support to the administration.
Finally, the third block is dedicated to customer service and fraud control, managing user service offices, conducting satisfaction surveys, implementing awareness campaigns, and overseeing anti-fraud measures.
All these functions, by their very nature, are essential and necessary for the correct and safe operation of the public transport system, and are therefore considered an essential service, as are the contracts for the maintenance of railway signaling, rolling stock, and systems.
The Ministry has recalled that all these contracts were analyzed during the monitoring commission for the Jaén tram agreement, held on March 24 between the Junta and the City Council. This meeting also addressed other key issues for tram circulation, such as the reorganization of urban bus lines, tariff integration into the Metropolitan Transport Consortium of the Jaén Area, and coordination of traffic light intersections.
The Jaén tram, which has been in testing phase since its implementation in the spring of 2011, features a 4.7-kilometer route with ten stops strategically distributed between the hospital, industrial zones, and residential areas, operating with five mobile units.
