by Editor | Mar 16, 2023 | News
In Japan, the Fukui Railway is taking delivery of three F2000 low-floor trams from Alna Sharyo – the manufacturers of other such super low-floor trams as the ‘Little Dancer’ and the Type 6000 currently being used in Nagasaki. The 1067mm gauge three-section car is 21.43m long, 2.6m wide, has space for 115 passengers and a top speed of 70km/h. The drive train features three 60kW three-phase induction motors controlled by VVVF (Variable Voltage Variable Frequency) inverters. These are designed to not only provide smooth ride comfort, require little maintenance and offer considerable savings in power. The Fukui Railway is a bus and railway company located in Echizen, Fukui Prefecture, Japan. Although most of the companies’ revenue is generated by local and long-distance bus transport, the rail line was opened in 1924 to facilitate the transit of Imperial army soldiers. The company owns and operates the 21.5km Fukubu line from Fukui to Echizen-Takefu which was formed after the merger of the Fukubu Electric Railway and Seiho Electric Railway in...
by Editor | Mar 14, 2023 | News
Uraltransmash of Yekaterinburg (a subsidiary of Russian industrial group Uralvagonzavod) have developed a new low-floor tram prototype which uses only Russian components. The 71-415M has entered trial service in Yekaterinburg (Russia’s fourth largest city) and, it is hoped, will achieve the certification needed to permit it being sold more widely in Russia. With a history in the manufacturing industry spanning over two hundred years, Uraltransmash is one of the oldest enterprises in the Urals. The main focus on the company is in the production of military equipment, however since 1999 has delivered around 100 partly low-floor trams to several systems, including Nizhny Novgorod, Nizhny Tagil and Yekaterinburg. More recently it developed a 100% low-floor bogie tram, but this has not achieved many sales, despite at one time being shortlisted for a big Moskva contract. It also incorporated components made outside Russia. Since being placed under sanctions due to the conflict in the Ukraine, it has been unable to trade with western countries. Now the company has produced a version that is 100% Russian in its components and on 8 March the prototype 71-415M entered trial service in Yekaterinburg with the aim of achieving certification that will permit general sales in...
by Editor | Mar 13, 2023 | News
Ukraine’s second city, Kharkiv, has re-opened its tramway service as repairs to its Saltovskoye depot have been completed. The city, with a population of 1.4 million, is located close to the Russian border and was badly damaged in the February 2022 offensive. The city came back under Ukrainian control in the summer of 2022. Thanks to technical assistance from the European Investment Bank worth €400 000, the depot has seen the worst of the damage repaired to both it and its fleet of Tatra T3 tram 656’s which were also badly damaged in the attack. Kharkiv also boasts the oldest Tatra T3 3050 still to be in service. Delivered to the city of Praha in 1963, it operated in the Czech capital for many years as a driver training vehicle before being sold to the city in 2015. Between 1961 and 1999, some 14,000 were built in Praha and supplied to 47 cities making the T3 the most numerous tram type in the world at that time. The prototype of the T3 6102 is preserved in the Praha tram...
by Editor | Mar 8, 2023 | News
A new design of hybrid fuel cell-battery light rail vehicle debuted in the Chinese city of Baoding, Hebei province, on 2 March. Developed by the Beijing Jingtou Rail Transit Technology Research Institute and Hebei Jingche Rail Transit Vehicle Equipment Co., the 30m two-car train is described as ‘a new generation of light rail vehicle’ and includes the capability for driverless operation. With a claimed axle load of 12t, the new high-floor railcar has a maximum operational speed of 80km/h (50mph) and is designed for multiple-unit operation. “Using hydrogen fuel cells as the main power source, the train can be charged fully in 15 minutes, for a driving range of no less than 100km,” said Zhang Hong, Deputy General Manager of Beijing Jingtou Rail Transit Technology Research Institute, adding that the new zero-emission train can provide a reduction in carbon emissions of 40t/year compared to traditional vehicles. The interior of the prototype includes 2+1 seating, and includes passenger innovations such as a ‘smart window’ that can transform from a normal window into an opaque digital passenger information display at the touch of a button. Qian Zhaoyong, General Manager of Hebei Jingche Railway Vehicle Equipment Co., said the new hybrid has many applications for Chinese cities, including the connection of urban transit systems to suburban railways (Tram-Train), as well as airport shuttles and commuter and tourist lines (Very Light...
by Editor | Mar 8, 2023 | News
A consortium including Gülermak and Alstom has been selected to design and build the first metro line in Cluj-Napoca. Romania’s fourth-largest city has a population of around 320 000. Steep hills to the north and south of the centre force most of the traffic onto a central east-west axis, causing heavy congestion. The city’s single 11.7km (7.3-mile) tramline runs east-north-west and has been seen major reconstruction in recent years. New low-floor stock has come in the form of four Pesa Swing 120NaR (deliveries from 2012) and 24 Astra Imperio (from 2020) cars. The 21km (13-mile) standard-gauge metro is to be built using tunnel-boring machines and will include 19 stations. Operations will be provided by three-car Alstom driverless trains stabled at a surface depot on a two-station branch at the eastern end of the system. Each 51m-long, 2.65m-wide train will have capacity for 540 passengers. Eight years have been allocated for metro construction, with co-finance coming from EU funds, including Romania’s National Recovery and Resilience Facility. The city signed an agreement with the Ministry of Transport and Infrastructure in October 2022, with the latter allocating an additional RON700m (EUR142.5m) to help cover a rise in cost of construction materials. Phase one will start at Sfânta Maria in the densely-populated Mănăștur district in the west and run east through the city centre to Europa Unită. A south-eastern depot connection will take this section to 9.2km (5.7 miles). The EU funding contribution requires completion of this phase by August 2026. A second phase will add 8.8km (5.5 miles) west to Țara Moților with another seven stations, serving the Florești district, a planned hospital...
