A success story

Developments in the fields of light rail and metro vehicles are moving rapidly and Bombardier Transportation is at the forefront of new innovations, bringing the latest state-of-the-art, innovative, safe and reliable products into service. These products are meeting operators’ and passengers’ needs and aspirations throughout Europe and the world.

Light Rail Products

Southern Europe

The Bombardier FLEXITY family continues to be successful around the world, with some exciting new developments in Southern Europe.

The first of 26 bi-directional Bombardier FLEXITY Outlook trams, ordered by the Communauté Urbaine Marseille Provence Métropole (CUMPM) in 2004, was unveiled at Bombardier’s site in Vienna, Austria in September 2006.

The new trams for Marseille are based on a proven technology featuring 100% low-floor interior while using conventional wheel-set bogies which offer excellent riding behaviour and thus increased passenger comfort. The vehicles also include the proven Bombardier MITRAC propulsion and control system.

A future-oriented and exclusive industrial tram design, created by MBD Design for CUMPM, makes the vehicles blend effortlessly into the maritime background of the city. Wide windows offer a panoramic view and create a feeling of transparency. The natural wooden seats and blue interior colour scheme accentuate the Mediterranean influence even more.

The official welcome of the first unit in Marseille took place at the end of November 2006 and inauguration of the new system is planned for mid-2007.

Bombardier is also supplying 17 bi-directional 100% low-floor trams from the FLEXITY Outlook family for Palermo’s new 15km light rail transit system which is scheduled to commence operation at the end of 2009.

The Palermo vehicles are fitted with conventional wheelset bogies offering excellent riding behaviour and passenger comfort is increased by level entrances as well as a completely step-less interior. Each tram is 32 metres long by 2.4 metres wide and consists of 5 modules.

The vehicles also include the Bombardier MITRAC propulsion and control system offering the highest reliability and featuring the latest electronic technology. For heightened passenger comfort the new trams are equipped with air conditioning and have designated wheelchair areas.

In addition to the delivery of the vehicles, the new Palermo system will also be guided by Bombardier’s CITYFLO 150 traffic management solution. For Bombardier this order signifies another step towards the successful development of mass transit solutions in Italy.

As part of a consortium including Vossloh-Kiepe, Bombardier won an order from Metro do Porto in Portugal for the delivery of 30 bi-directional Bombardier FLEXITY Swift low-floor light rail vehicles for the city’s 60km Light Rail Transit system. Deliveries of the vehicles are scheduled to take place between 2008 and 2009. Bombardier will also be responsible for the maintenance of the 30 vehicle fleet during a 5-year period.

The new vehicles will be built for the suburban lines of the system and once they are in operation the Porto Metro will be able to improve its services to travellers. With top speeds of 100 km/h the Bombardier FLEXITY Swift light rail vehicles will reduce travel time from the neighbouring cities to the centre of Porto. For additional comfort the new 37.1 metre long vehicles have seating for 100 passengers, 20 more than the current vehicles, and are equipped with air conditioning and have designated wheel-chair and bicycle areas.

The first phase of Metro do Porto’s new Light Rail Transit system was awarded in 1998 by Metro do Porto to the Normetro consortium, for the construction of 4 lines, 60km of track, 15 underground stations, 63 surface stations and 72 Bombardier FLEXITY Outlook vehicles. In addition to the vehicles Bombardier was also responsible for delivering its Cityflo 250 traffic management system, the traffic control room and the design and equipment for the maintenance depot.

The first phase is now fully operational and a new line connecting to the airport as also been opened. The system, which has achieved a 94% punctuality ratio, has completely changed the speed and ease of movement within the greater Porto area. Today, an average of almost 150,000 passengers uses the system everyday.

Leadership in Germany

Bombardier continues to consolidate its leadership position in Germany, where it is responsible for the design and delivery of 146 Bombardier FLEXITY Swift light rail vehicles for the Frankfurt transport authority (VGF). The new vehicles will be in operation on the Frankfurt high-floor network from 2008 onwards.

The modern FLEXITY Swift LRV’s feature level entrances as well as four wide double-doors per side which enable quick and barrier-free access, especially for passengers with impaired mobility.

Inside the vehicle multipurpose areas offer sufficient space for prams, wheelchairs and luggage. On hot summer days the air-conditioned interior ensures a pleasant journey. In order to prevent vandalism and increase security some of the new vehicles will be equipped with a video surveillance system.

The new FLEXITY Swift vehicles will be delivered in two versions: with a length of 25 metres as well as a 50 metre short-coupled model. VGF has already ordered 65 low-floor trams of the FLEXITY Classic family which have been in successful revenue service in Frankfurt since October 2003.

In September 2006, the Berlin Transport Authority, BVG, ordered a pre-series contract for four 100% low-floor trams for the city, with the eventual aim of replacing BVG’s old Tatra fleet. The contract carries options for up to 206 vehicles in total.

Each of the four FLEXITY Berlin trams will have different characteristics in order to allow BVG to assess the best eventual configuration for the replacement fleet. The different versions will incorporate bi- and uni-directional, with lengths of 30 metres or 40 metres, consisting of 5 or 7 modules. The trams will be able to carry between 170 and 240 passengers and will incorporate special features such as wheelchair, bicycle and special purpose areas, air-conditioning and video surveillance systems.

In London, England, the highly successful Docklands Light Rail system continues to expand and a further 31 automatically guided light rail cars have been ordered to complement the 24 additional cars already on order. The system has helped regenerate the Docklands area of the city. The driverless cars have proved enormously popular and reliable and the new cars will feature enhanced design and passenger comfort.

Metro and suburban vehicles

One of the most exciting new products in the pipeline for suburban travel, is the highly innovative trains to be built by Bombardier for the Ile-de-France region in Paris.

The future Ile-de-France commuter train is an articulated unit featuring extra-wide carriages which provide an unusually large internal volume for passengers, wide seats and especially wide doors to increase the ease and speed of passenger flow. Each train consists of seven or eight carriages in a single unit and it can also be operated as a double or triple unit. The capacity of the trains will vary from 800 to 1,000 passengers, depending on the configuration and layout. The new train is designed for maximum comfort, safety and security and is based on Bombardier’s proven technology already in commercial service, providing a high level of reliability.

For Bombardier, this contract confirms the role that Bombardier Transportation is currently playing in the field of regional railway transport in France. It further confirms its leading position in the French railway industry as well as internationally. Bombardier reinforces its leadership in France’s regional transport with highly innovative and reliable products.

Bombardier is also bringing innovative products to the world’s oldest metro system – London Underground. The London Underground is a major component of the capital’s transport network. It covers the majority of London and carries around 3 million passengers every day. It was the world’s first underground railway and opened in 1863. Known universally as ‘The Tube’, the system now has 12 lines with over 300 stations and is one of the world’s largest metro systems.

Bombardier is a member and shareholder of Metronet which, under a 30-year Public Private Partnership concession, has the responsibility of regenerating and reinvigorating over two-thirds of the London Underground network. Metronet will invest around £17 billion in upgrading the network over the 30-year life span of the PPP.

Bombardier has turnkey contracts with Metronet worth around £3.4 billion over 15 years. These contracts include the supply of 1,778 new metro cars for the Victoria and Sub-Surface lines, complete new signalling systems, refurbishment of the District Line fleet and fleet maintenance services for the new and existing trains.

The Movia metro cars are capable of many applications, from high-capacity urban transit to intensive short distance commuter services. The flexible, modular system allows for a variety of train and door configurations, interior layouts and performances. Passengers expect shorter journey times, increased ride comfort and lower noise levels, while operators require better performance and lower running costs.

The Movia cars for London Underground will meet these demands, combining swift acceleration and deceleration, with wider doors, reducing journey times and facilitating a speedy flow of passengers on and off the trains. In addition, the sub-surface line trains will feature full air-conditioning, a first for London Underground.

Also benefiting from new generation, innovative metro cars is the Shanghai metro in China. Bombardier Transportation and its joint venture partners in China recently won an order for 51 MOVIA metro trains, comprising 306 cars, from Shanghai Shensong Line Mass Transit Co., Ltd. The contract was won by Bombardier together with Changchun Bombardier Railway Vehicles Co. Ltd. (CBRC) and Bombardier-CPC Propulsion Systems Co. Ltd. (BCP). Deliveries of the trains are scheduled to begin in the second quarter of 2008 with completion in 2009. The trains will operate on Shanghai’s Metro Line 9.

The contract represents a major win for Bombardier with China’s largest metro system and one of Asia’s busiest urban centers. The new metro cars will be assembled in China at CBRC production facilities in Changchun. The propulsion equipment will be manufactured at BCP’s production site in Changzhou.

Safety and the environment

New strides are being made in the fields of safety and the environment, matters which are at the forefront of everybody’s minds in the new Millennium. This topic has moved into the centre of every debate across Europe and has brought about a level of consensus of agreement in the rail industry unknown before.

The challenge to reduce our impact on the environment will continue to grow and the industry needs to respond positively and robustly to this challenge. Bombardier is playing a leading role in addressing this challenge.

Mobility is key to the future prosperity and people want to move around more than ever before. There is no point trying to limit travel, what we must do is make rail travel more efficient, affordable and environmentally friendly, resulting in rail being the preferred mode of transport.

We will also need to approach some immediate problems quite differently. As a rolling stock manufacturer, Bombardier is now designing vehicles which are lighter, more reliable, capable of running on a variety of fuels and with ever improving speeds and acceleration rates, always mindful that safety must remain a priority.

Bombardier is now actively working to deliver full scale trails of bio fuels on some of our train fleets. These tests are aimed at proving bio fuel can be added to normal red diesel to substantially reduce the carbon emissions. In parallel, we are also undertaking trials with Euro 3 engines.

As manufacturers, we are constantly re-thinking how we design and build trains. Vehicles are constantly evolving with each service upgrade so that improvements are continually introduced. Our whole maintenance and service philosophy is changing, together with the consequent implications for the operator and infrastructure provider.

We are constantly introducing new innovations such as our Train Control Management System (TCMS), including the Orbita predictive maintenance system and Sekurflo, our real-time, on-board safety and security system.

Bombardier’s new, powerful MITRAC TCMS takes trains on-line. Open-standard, scalable and secure IP-based communication technology makes high bandwidth communication possible both on-board and between trains and the wayside world. With Bombardier MITRAC TCMS installed in the train, passengers will enjoy constantly updated traffic information, a wide choice of music, films, news, sportscasts or Internet access. Service personnel will receive full train diagnostics, quickly and accurately. Security personnel will have access to real-time camera images and event alerts. Traffic operators will enjoy entirely new possibilities for cost-effective fleet management.

Applying Bombardier’s new ORBITA maintenance system on top of the MITRAC TCMS backbone gives additional possibilities for fleet uptime and cost savings. The system accurately interprets and analyses equipment and fleet data, predicting problems before they occur. This is a prerequisite for cost-efficient maintenance-on-demand. Other compelling benefits with MITRAC TCMS and ORBITA are minimised inventory and material costs, constantly updated equipment manuals and effective distribution of best practice processes. People and processes work together, interpreting real-time and multiple-fleet data.

Combining the MITRAC TCMS communication infrastructure with Bombardier’s SEKURFLO total transit security system, enables users to be seamlessly tied to the wayside security network. It integrates all equipment and quickly supplies accurate events analysis to the right authorities. A complete set of cameras, multi-screen surveillance, monitoring systems, analytics and event management systems are designed to give early warning signals before something potentially dangerous occurs.

With MITRAC TCMS and Bombardier’s Passenger Information and Entertainment System, PIES, transport operators can offer passengers access to e-mail and the Internet, so that they can follow the latest news, weather reports or sportscasts and the opportunity to enjoy their favourite music and films. And most importantly, passengers can obtain constantly updated traffic information. The possibility for service can be offered even before the passenger boards the train. On-line seat reservation and traffic information can be made available via MITRAC TCMS.

Bombardier is leading the world, bringing new technologies, innovations and developments to cities around the globe – helping cities breathe!