s Light Rails by Siemens Speech by Joern F. Sens, CEO Rolling Stock, Mobility Division, at the UITP Pre-Press Conference Wien-Simmering, March 30, 2009 Check against delivery!
2 Today, I would like to acquaint you with some details of the concept for the most modern and up-to-date low-floor tram system in the world the Avenio. The name Avenio is over 2,000 years old and was the Latin name for the city of Avignon in present-day France. Today, however, we are not going to talk about the past, but about what lies ahead: namely, the Avenio and, by that, I literally mean the future. In linguistic terms, the word avenio means future, attractiveness and modernity. (See, for example, the French word avenir for future and the Italian word avvenente for attractive.) The Avenio is the Siemens product that targets the market for 100% low-floor trams. The Avenio satisfies the requirements of the most diverse tramway networks and can also be deployed in complex infrastructural environments with high operating demands. The Avenio embodies more than 100 years of experience gained by Siemens and its former partner companies Duewag and SGP and combined to create a product for the future. First of all, though, allow me to briefly sketch the history of Siemens activities in the field of tramways. Siemens can look back on 128 years of tram development and production. In 1881, Siemens built and operated the world's first electric tram in Berlin. In 1887, the first Siemens tram was operating at the Western Railway Station in Budapest. In those days, power was supplied through a slot in the running rail in contrast to today s contact wire that is suspended overhead. I mention this because driving without an overhead line is again a topical issue and Siemens is currently testing the idea with a tram in Lisbon. Dr. Meinert will tell you more about this shortly. In the ensuing years, Siemens and its then-partner companies Duewag and SGP exerted a decisive influence on the tram market. Even today, vehicles built by Duewag, the former market leader, are still being used in many tram networks worldwide. To this day, its B car is the mainstay of tram service in Germany s industrial Ruhr district. At the end of the 90s, we were among the first suppliers to offer a 100% low-floor tram in the form of the ULF and the Combino. And, since 2007, a Siemens tram is once again operating at Western Railway Station in Budapest. Only now it runs at a speed of 70 km/h and can carry 352 people at a time. Today, 220,000 passengers ride this line daily. Back in 1887, the tram had a top speed of 30 km/h and carried 20 people. Naturally, I owe it to the beautiful city of Vienna to begin with its local Siemens product the Ultra Low Floor (ULF) vehicle. Although it is attractive and has a great future ahead of it, the ULF cannot be used in all possible markets. So far, 190 vehicles have been built in the Siemens plant here and a total of 300 have been ordered. The ULF will therefore ensure enough work for the Vienna plant for the next few years to come. As you probably know, the ULF has the lowest boarding height in the world at 19 cm compared to the 32 cm of the re-desgned Combino and has meanwhile become so popular that it would be hard to imagine Vienna s cityscape without the tram. Every year, the city s
3 transit operator Wiener Linien takes delivery of 15 to 20 such trams to expand its fleet. As already mentioned, we launched in addition to the ULF another 100% lowfloor tram on the market at the end of the 90s the Combino. Unlike the ULF, it is a multiple-articulated vehicle made of aluminum featuring a bogieless module suspended between two bogie modules and connected to them by means of two or more articulated joints. Between 1994 and 2003, we built around 475 trams of this type and are still offering the product to our regular customers. Today, we know that the technology of the 100% low-floor vehicles involves considerable challenges: namely, that the vehicles have hardly any space for classic running gear, dampers and suspension systems. Consequently, the vehicle bodies are exposed to extremely high levels of stress in operation. In this demanding situation, the weld-free "Alu Grip" screw system we initially used for the Combino proved to be unsatisfactory. These difficulties led to an unparalleled R&D program in which we not only worked on rectification of the screw system but explored in particular the actual stress conditions occurring in operation. In the course of this program, we took extensive measurements of the forces and the stresses occurring in the vehicle during operation on our customers tram networks and then subjected the values to intensive analysis. The results derived from those findings gave us extensive new knowledge that formed the basis for the development of our new Avenio platform. Today, I can tell you that 92% of all Combino vehicles have since been repaired to our customers satisfaction and are once again in service. And what s more, existing customers such as Bern and Erfurt have placed new orders for the new, modified Combinos. Only the biggest technology company in Europe is capable of bearing such an enormous technical and financial burden around 500 million euros. So we want to send this message to all customers around the world: Siemens never leaves its customers in the lurch. The Combino modification program was a matter of not only repairing the damage that had been incurred but also acquiring an entirely new knowledge base. We measured the loads and operating conditions in 13 different mass transit networks something no other tram maker has ever done before. Based on the verifications of fatigue strength during operation, we were able to develop a new set of instruments that is setting new standards in the field of carbody design and engineering. For our customers in Budapest and Lisbon, we have abandoned aluminum technology for trams in favor of a completely welded steel bodyshell. All the results and knowledge acquired in this phase, which has been so difficult for Siemens Light Rail in the past three years, have been channeled consistently into the redevelopment of these vehicles.
4 All operating and load requirements have been investigated and compliance with them verified by means of experimentation and measurement. The new design caters to customer needs, passenger comfort and operators' feasibility studies in terms of investment and operating and maintenance costs, as well as environmental aspects such as reduced energy consumption or noise emissions factors that can leverage sustainable business success for our customers. What did we achieve in Lisbon and Budapest? The Budapest and Almada/ Lisbon projects were completed here in Vienna within the record time of one year. Both vehicles are now successfully providing passenger service in those two cities. The results we have achieved in the form of a new single-articulated vehicle are: Vehicle concept: A modular design based on a basic carbody module (width 2.3 m or 2.65 m) and an always identically arranged bogie. This means that vehicle lengths between 18 meters and 72 meters can be formed with 9-meter modules. The technical consequence is less wear, as field experience in Budapest shows. Stainless steel body: The changeover from aluminum to stainless steel is advantageous for trams for repair reasons. Furthermore, there is now only one basic module compared to the two for the multiplearticulated vehicle. The welded body replaces the old screw solutions. Bogie under the middle of each module: The advantage is that bogies are subjected to uniform levels of stress over the entire length of the vehicle, which translates into less wear and correspondingly longer maintenance intervals. Customer comfort aisle width: A passenger survey conducted during trials with the re-designed Combino in Lisbon confirmed that the MST vehicle offered a more comfortable aisle width in the bogie area compared to a Combino or a Citadis. Reduced wear on wheels and the rails: The possible kilometric performance is double that of conventional vehicles in terms of distance traveled and the amount of wear. The tires account for 15% to 25% of a tram's operating costs! On top of this, the maintenance and service costs for the track sections are improved due to the maximum wheel-pair load of 10 metric tons and the lower lateral guidance forces that occur. Uniform arrangement of the double doors: This results in short dwell times at stops even with a large number of passengers. 30% of the entire length of a vehicle can be fitted with doors. This means a faster traveling speed and therefore a greater appeal for people to travel by rail. Regenerative brakes: enable energy to be recovered and fed back into the power system. Traction technology: High vehicle availability due to use of the fieldproven Combino drives (over 2,000 drives in 15 cities).
5 To summarize, we have now built on the combined advantages of the shortarticulated vehicle concept and the successful central feature comprising the Combino's drive and bogie. This has led us directly to the Avenio. The longest tram in future will be the Avenio for Tel Aviv. Once available, it will carry 506 passengers (compared to 352 for Budapest and 332 for MST Portugal) and will be almost 73 meters long and 2.65 meters wide. Further advantages of the Avenio are: Innovative lightweight steel bodyshell concept: The steel bodyshell of the vehicle has been improved even more as a result of extensive research work. All in all, it is an innovative steel bodyshell that exploits the possibilities of modern lightweight construction while satisfying the new requirements regarding the crashworthiness of trams. Thanks to lateral stability elements (LSE), passenger riding comfort has been enhanced even further, the reason being the reduced track forces that are exerted when the vehicle travels through curves. It is a further development of the buckling protection system which is used in the Combino and is necessary for long vehicles. Interior design with interfaces to the bogie, to the heating, ventilation and air-conditioning system and to maintenance will be optimized and the number of seats is to be increased. Compatibility with the infrastructure: Our extensive knowledge regarding the infrastructure of different tramway networks and the demands they place on vehicles has enabled us to create a tram that actually satisfies these demands. Very tight curves, single-blade track switches, humps, valleys, bridges and gradients: the Avenio can cope with all of them and not only on paper. What's more, of course, the Avenio possesses all the modern attributes of comfort: air conditioning, infotainment, etc. When it comes to trams, Siemens has amassed the greatest wealth of experience in the world. The modification of the Combino has extended our already substantial lead over our competitors in terms of knowledge. Now we intend to market the new Avenio concept on a worldwide basis. Since the middle of the 90s, Siemens has sold around 800 trams 500 original Combino, 65 re-designed Combino vehicles and 300 ULF. Siemens was the global market leader for trams until 2004 and, in the field of light rail vehicles, still is in the USA today. We plan to use the four different types of tram to start to regain lost ground and take over the leading market position again. The Avenio is a consistent development of the Combino and offers a number of unique selling points that set it apart from the competition with respect to passenger appeal, economic efficiency and environmental compatibility. The next international congress will give you the opportunity to take a seat in the most modern tram in the world. Siemens is superbly equipped to promote the renaissance of the tram all over the world. Thank you for your kind attention!