Projects
Low floor Light Rail Vehicles (LRVs) for Bergen (Norway)
Scope of Business: Rail Vehicle Technology
Focus: Supervision of the Manufacturing Process and Technical Acceptance Tests
Client: Pöyry Infra Ltd.
Project Term: 2009 - 2012
Project Locations: Berlin, Velten, Salzgitter, Halberstadt, Winterthur, Bergen
Amount of Investment: Approx. Euro 47 million
Project Description
When the construction project for the new tram system began in January 2008, the order for the rolling stock was also placed so it could go into operation on the approx. 10 km long line between the city centre and Nestum in June 2010. Based on the results of the 'Technical Consultation for the Tram Project in the City of Bergen' Stadler Pankow GmbH was awarded the contract for the supply of 12 low floor trams.
The 'Variobahn' produced by Stadler is a 100% low floor 5-section multi-articulated vehicle. The drive of the air-sprung and air-conditioned vehicles is a gearless hub motor. These tramcars for bidirectional operations are approx. 32m long and have a body width of 2.65m giving a capacity for 84 seated and 151 standing passengers and can reach speeds of up to 70 km/h. A special feature of these trams is that they offer wireless internet access.
The contract for the supervision of the manufacturing process was given to VCDB based on their expertise in the field of development of technical specifications as well as their numerous reference projects. Shortly before the start of operations in June 2010 5 more vehicles were ordered bringing the current total up to 17 vehicles.
VCDB's Scope of Services
- Development of a testing and acceptance strategy to ensure efficient supervision of the manufacturing process
- First article inspections of the first set of motor and trailer bogies at Stadler's production site in Winterthur (Switzerland).
- Acceptance tests for the car body shells for all vehicles at the supplier's premises – Bozankaya in Salzgitter and VIS in Halberstadt
- In-process inspection of the final assembly at Stadler Pankow's main plant and submission of regular work progress reports to the customer
- Final acceptance test of the vehicles ready for delivery
