Harvey GlickensteinSenior EditorTRANSPORTATION SYSTEMS

Rail News from Around the World

Hybrid AGC Train Enters Service

Bombardier’s first hybrid AutorailGrande Capacité (AGC) train

entered service in the Champagne-Ardenne Region of France on 10October 2007.

Bombardier’s AGC train is a dual-voltage (1,500 Vdc and 25 kVac) aswell as a dual-mode (electric anddiesel) train. SNCF plans to operatethese trains in the Paris–Troyes–Culmont and Culmont–St. Didier–Vitry service.

More Talents for Austria

Austrian Federal Railways (OBB)has ordered 17 additional four-carBombardier Talent trains for use incross-border service between Aus-tria and Hungary.

The US$108 million order for theTalent trains is being shared withSiemens, who is providing the elec-trical equipment.

OBB currently has 173 Talenttrains in service, the first of whichwere received by OBB in 2001.

The new trains are designed forspeeds up to 87 mi/h. They providelow-floor entrance. They also havecompartments and toilets that ac-commodate disabled persons,including areas to store bicycles,strollers, and wheelchairs.

The trains, which are equip-ped with state-of-the-art publicaddress and emergency call sys-tems, are scheduled for delivery

f rom December 2008 throughMay 2009.

TfL Bids for Metronet,

Restoring Public

Ownership

Transport for London(TfL) has submitted a for-mal bid to take control ofMetronet. TfL proposesthat the people and theassets of the two Metronetcompanies, Metronet RailBCV and Metronet RailSSL, be transferred intotwo TfL nominee compa-nies. These companieswould be managed on astandalone basis while thelong-term structure is

negotiated with the mayor and thegovernment. This would be aretrenchment from the privatizationof all the Tube lines in London.

The two Metronet companiesentered public private partnership(PPP) administration on 18 July 2007.

This followed the PPP Arbiter’sinterim determination award of just£121m for Metronet Rail BCV, whenthe company had been seeking a£551m interim determination and£992m in total.

Metronet Rail BCV is responsiblefor the maintenance and renewal ofthe Bakerloo, Central, Victoria, andWaterloo and City lines.

Metronet Rail SSL is responsiblefor the maintenance and renewal ofthe subsurface lines—the Circle, Dis-trict, Hammersmith and City, Metro-politan, and East London lines.

Tube lines are responsible for themaintenance and renewal of theJubilee, Northern, and Piccadilly lines.

Digital Object Identifier 10.1109/MVT.2008.919408

Bombardier AGC 25 Kv/1,500 Vdc/dieselmultimode train.

BOMBARDIERBOMBARDIER

The Talent trainset ordered by OBB.

BOMBARDIER

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The East London line closed forupgrade on 22 December 2007 and isdue to open in 2010 as part of TfL’snew London Overground network.London Overground runs on the for-mer North London, West London,Gospel Oak to Barking, and theEuston to Watford lines.

London Overground Rail Opera-tions Ltd. (LOROL) is a joint ventureof MTR Corporation and LaingRail,created to operate trains and stationsunder the London Overground con-cession. Mass Transit Railway (MTR)runs the Hong Kong Metro and Laingoperates Chiltern Railways.

TfL has ordered 44 new Elec-trostar 378 trains at a cost of £223m.24 three-car trains will be introducedon London Overground starting in

late 2008, with the exception of theGospel Oak to Barking line, whereeight new two-car diesel trains willenter service in 2009.

Crossrail Funding Announced

U.K. Prime Minister Gordon Brownannounced a £16 billion funding dealfor London’s Crossrail on 5 October2007. Crossrail is a new passengerrail route through London (West-East) from Maidenhead and Heath-row via Paddington, LiverpoolStreet, and Stratford to Shenfield andvia Whitechapel to Isle of Dogs(Canary Wharf), Woolwich ending atAbbey Wood. The total length ofCrossrail is 73.6 mi, including 25.8mi of tunnels. The line will have 38stations. At peak hours, 24 trains

per hour are planned through thecentral section in each direction.

The project is being promoted byCross London Rail Links, a 50/50 jointventure company formed by TfL andthe Department for Transport.

TfL is hoping to take over soleresponsibility for the project after

Map of London Tube lines. (Transport for London, 2005.)

The Overground train. (Transport for Lon-don, 2005.)

the Crossrail Bill, which is currentlyin Parliament, receives the expectedRoyal Assent by the summer of 2008.

Crossrail is expected to radicallyslash current journey times whenthe 10-year project is completed.Heathrow to Canary Wharf onCrossrail will take 43 min; Heathrowto Liverpool Street will take 36 min;Heathrow to Tottenham Court Roadwill take 31 min; and Heathrow toPaddington will take 28 min.

Tram Systems for Algeria

The Algerian public transport oper-ator, EMA, has selected Alstom forturnkey tram projects in Oran andConstantine. The Oran project will bewith a consortium of Alstom and theSpanish group Isolux CORSAN. The

project in Constantine will be with aconsortium of Alstom and the Italiancompany Pizzarotti. With the 14.5-mi-long Algiers system, for whichAlstom was awarded a turnkey pro-ject in 2006, Alstom will have beeninvolved in turnkey tram systems inall three of Algeria’s largest cities.

Oran, a major port city located innorthwestern Algeria, has a popula-tion of 1 million. The 11-mi-long linein Oran will have 32 stations and 30Citadis vehicles.

Constantine, the third largest cityin Algeria, is located about 50 miinland from the Mediterranean ineastern Algeria. It has a population of500,000. The 5-mi-long line inConstantine will have 11 stations and27 Citadis vehicles.

Tram System Openings in

France and the United States

Nice opened its new tram system on24 November 2007. In order to elimi-nate the need for overhead wires inthe two historic sites of Place Masse-na and Place Garibaldi, the Citadisvehicles supplied by Alstom togreater Nice incorporate nickel/metalhydride storage batteries to allowthem to operate for short distancesbeyond the overhead wires.

Light Rail Launched in

North Carolina

Charlotte, North Carolina opened itsLynx light-rail line on 24 November2007. The first portion of the line runsfor 9.6 mi between 7th Street in Cen-ter City and I485 at South Boulevard.

TfL map. (Transport for London, 2005.)

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New Trains for Paris

The Paris Transport Authority (RATP)exercised an option for an additional49 MF2000 trainsets from a joint ven-ture of Alstom Transport, BombardierTransportation, and AREVA TA.

The first 45 trainsets, which arescheduled to be delivered between

2008 and 2010, will be placed inservice on Line 2 of the ParisMetro between Porte Dauphineand Nation. The new order isscheduled for delivery between2010 and 2012. These trainsets arefor service on Line 5 of the ParisMetro between Place d’Italie andBobigny. A future order of 67 train-sets is planned for service on Line9 between Pont de Sèvres andMairie de Montreuil.

Alstom is providing overall pro-ject management, traction power andregenerative braking systems, com-fort IT systems, and final assembly.Bombardier is providing driver cabs,trucks, and car bodies. AREVA TA isproviding the security IT system anddata transmission systems.

The security system includescameras allowing the driver to moni-tor all of the passenger cars. Thesystem is designed to meet SIL 4requirements, the highest Europeansafety integrity level.

The MF2000 will eventuallyreplace all of the MF67 equipmentthat was placed in service between1967 and 1978.

Paris subway.

BOMBARDIER

A Crossrail map. (Figure courtesy of Cross London Rail Links.)

The Citadis under the wire. (Figure cour-tesy of Alstom Transport.)

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