Engineering news
Siemens has unveiled a 'lighter, more spacious' concept tube train design in a bid to win contracts to supply rolling stock to the London Underground.
The design is an evolution of the company's Inspiro train, which runs on the metro network in Warsaw, Poland.
Siemens said the more spacious nature of the new design meant it could carry more passengers than existing London Underground rolling stock.
Lutz Uebel, senior principal engineer at Siemens Urban Transport, said that the design had to comply with the limitations of the 150-year old network. “The challenge is maximising the existing space. There are restrictions on the weight on the track so to bring more people in the train has to be lighter,” he said.
Sandra Gott-Karlbauer, chief executive of Urban Transport at Siemens, said that the aluminium trains were 10-15% lighter than existing Bombardier tube trains, with a fewer bogies. Reducing the weight allows for a 10-12% increase the number of passengers that the trains can carry and improves energy efficiency.
The design is semi-articulated, providing more space between cars and bringing the trains closer to the platform edge. The double doors are wider and carriages have no single doors to allow a faster movement of passengers. Head height inside the carriages is up 7cm on existing designs, she added.
Other features include an electronic display that shows where the train is on the network in real-time as it passes between stations, and onboard sensors that indicate which carriages have space for more passengers.
Gott-Karlbauer said: “We are very committed to participating in the bidding process for London Underground. We have the knowhow, experience and capabilities to provide the optimal solution for London.”
She added that the company was aware that localisation was “very important” in bidding for work. Currently, Siemens Metro trains are manufactured and tested in Germany.
Siemens recently acquired Invensys Rail, the firm that completed the signalling and control system upgrade on the Victoria line to increase the number of trains from 28 to 33 per hour. The company said that this type of signalling would be needed for the next generation of underground trains.
Transport for London said that it was looking at how new technology and train designs could improve passenger space and energy efficiency on the Piccadilly, Bakerloo, Central, and Waterloo and City lines.
Siemens have supplied 880 metro trains worldwide, including to systems in the USA and South America.