The FINANCIAL — The Siemens Mobility Division has presented its Avenio tram concept. With a length of up to 73 meters, the new model will be the longest 100 percent low-floor tram in the world.
The Avenio is a further development of the Combino such as those manufactured for Budapest and Almada. A lightweight steel car body structure, a new welding technique and fewer installed parts than in the preceding models lower both the weight and manufacturing costs of each individual vehicle. Lateral stability elements reduce the track forces that act on the vehicle during movement through curves and thus increase passenger comfort and well-being. The interior layout has also been improved in order to create more seats. The Avenio will not only be the longest low-floor tram in the world but also the quietest. For the Combino in Budapest, noise emissions have already been reduced by 15 decibels compared to preceding vehicles operating on this line. The Avenio will foreseeably be built for the first time as an eight-unit vehicle for Tel Aviv.
In future, Siemens intends to offer various trams on the market: the ULF for Vienna, the modified Combino of the first generation for existing customers and, finally, the Avenio. "The Avenio is an innovative development based on the Combino series", said Joern F. Sens, CEO Rolling Stock, Siemens Mobility. "It is quiet, energy-saving and environment-friendly, while offering comfort for passengers and low maintenance costs."
The new Avenio is a single-articulation vehicle and includes all the improvements generated from the program of modification for the multiple-articulation Combino. Implementation of technical improvements will continue in the future as well. In collaboration with ThyssenKrupp AG and the chair of manufacturing technology at the Friedrich-Alexander-University of Erlangen-Nuremberg, the previous structural design is being replaced with a lightweight steel construction, combined with innovative manufacturing and welding technology. Through the use of identical components, manufacturing and repair costs will decrease. Identical components can be processed automatically by a laser welding system and are easy to replace when repairs have to be carried out. Because the car bodyshell accounts for around 15 percent of the vehicle's total weight, the Avenio will be even lighter than its predecessors.
The Avenio combines technical innovation and lower wheel loads with a higher degree of passenger comfort. Thanks to better integration of the bogie into the car body, more seats can be installed than before. Moreover, lateral stability elements (LSEs) reduce lateral guidance forces acting on the wheel and rail when the vehicle drives through curves. The LSEs were developed from the buckling protection system previously used for long railway vehicles.
From the Combino to the Avenio
During modification of the 475 Combino vehicles of the first generation, Siemens Mobility engaged in a program of research and development. However, this was not about modification per se. In the framework of rectification work in 13 different transit networks, Siemens was the first tram manufacturer to measure the actual loads and operating conditions of the vehicles, pool the results in a fatigue-strength verification study and carry out measurement and testing to prove the mechanical strength of the car body structure. This procedure was checked and approved by the responsible authorities. Due to the use of real stress values, it was possible to design the car body to make it more capable of coping with the stresses encountered and, at the same time, to make it lighter than before. At the moment, 92 percent of the Combino fleet has been modified to the full satisfaction of the customers and is now being used in passenger service again. Existing customers in Bern and Erfurt have already ordered more Combino vehicles.
So far, the redesigned Combino with the new car body has been manufactured for Budapest in Hungary and Almada in Portugal – in a record time of only one year. These vehicles are now in use in normal passenger service.
In the Avenio, the advantages of the single-articulation concept as implemented for the vehicles in Budapest and Almada have been combined with the traction components and bogie design of the Combino. The new car body components for the Avenio are currently being put through the technical testing and validation phase.
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