Now things are getting down to business: following the initial test phase in the fall of 2016, the Siemens SiBike app is going live in Marburg. In the weeks between now and mid-November, dozens of cyclists will be subjecting this system – which gives priority to bicycles in city traffic – to a stress test that is taking place under realistic conditions. Beginning on October 5, 2017, SiBike is launching on a 700-meter stretch of the Erlenring road in Marburg, Germany. Dozens of volunteer "test pilots" will be helping optimize the "green wave" app. And beginning at the end of November, all Marburg residents will be able to download the SiBike app to their smartphones.By the way: Marburg is a trendsetter. Since the project's successful start last year, numerous cities in Europe and the U.S. have already expressed interest in this technology.
Siemens has been awarded a contract to provide 152 new S70 light rail vehicles (LRVs) for Sound Transit, the regional transit system serving the Seattle and Central Puget Sound area in the US state of Washington. The S70s light rail vehicles will be built at the Siemens rail manufacturing hub in Sacramento, California. The fleet is expected to begin testing in 2019.
The Finnish Railways, VR Group, ordered 80 electric Vectron locomotives from Siemens. The new locomotives are designed to operate reliably even under the extreme climatic conditions in Scandinavia during their long service life. Siemens was able to provide clear evidence of their capability during comprehensive test and authorization trips in Sweden and Norway. For Siemens this marks the largest single contract so far for its latest generation of Vectron locomotives and the first for this type in the broad gauge version.
Building on its commitment to supporting the energy infrastructure in Sudan, Siemens has signed a long-term agreement with the Sudanese Thermal Power Generating Company (STPGC) to provide service and maintenance for the power generating assets and related components operating at the 337 megawatt (MW) Port Sudan and 502 MW Garri power plants.
Over 100 years ago, on August 5, 1914, the first electric traffic light was installed on a city street in Cleveland, Ohio, marking a milestone in traffic management. Berlin’s Potsdamer Platz (photo), at that time the busiest intersection in Europe, installed the famous five-sided traffic light tower made by Siemens in 1924. Today the red-yellow-green signals are an integral part of city landscapes worldwide. On the outside, traffic lights haven’t changed much over the last decades. But inside a traffic light, groundbreaking changes have taken place. Traffic lights have become more intelligent over the years: modern traffic management takes into account the current traffic situation and optimizes traffic flow, for example, by allowing "green waves" or by prioritizing emergency vehicles, buses, and trams.
The first passenger train will roll through the Gotthard Base Tunnel early June 2016. Siemens has supplied the tunnel control and fire protection systems for the world's longest railway tunnel. The sophisticated safety system has over 200,000 sensors, and places maximum demands on logistics and data processing.The control system controls and monitors all installations completely automatically. The tunnel is fitted with sensors, control electronics and surveillance equipment. This includes video cameras in the multifunction points, which are connected by optical fiber cables to two tunnel control centers located at the north and south entrances. Siemens has installed a tunnel control system in each center, each system acting as a reserve for the other. The movement of each train is recorded, and displayed in the control center. The system controls the entire infrastructure, which has 3,200 kilometers of electrical cables and 2,600 kilometers of data cables. It detects a door that has not been closed properly or a light that has failed. When required, the ventilation system is activated, the light at the next emergency stop point is switched on, and the doors are opened automatically. What is actually happening is seen on screen by the around 60 employees on duty in the centers. "Events" are classified according to five alarm stages. The system provides information and decision-making steps for each stage to help the head of operations. Sensors check the trains for overheated brakes and leaks before they enter the tunnel and without requiring them to stop. However, the main task of the new system is to maintain availability. The maintenance periods, such as close-down times and spare parts requirement, can be efficiently planned with a new tool.It goes without saying that safety is paramount in a tunnel where in the near future more than 200 trains a day will barrel through the tubes at speeds up to 250 km/h. The tubes are connected every 300 meters by crosscuts that allow train passengers to escape to the other tube in case of a fire. Each tube has two emergency-stop stations 600 meters in length which allows the evacuation of up to 1,000 passengers.
Utmost reliability and maximum availability are critically important for ensuring the cost-efficient operation of rail vehicles and the infrastructure they use. After all, malfunctions and downtimes cost money, cause delays and frequently also lead to compensation claims from passengers, local transport purchasers and freight customers. Long before faults actually occur, their potential sources should be identified. To provide this information, Siemens is the first company in the rail industry to operate a special data analytics center, located in Munich, Germany.
The Dresser-Rand business, part of Siemens Power and Gas, has commissioned its first micro-scale natural gas liquefaction system at the Ten Man liquefied natural gas (LNG) facility in Pennsylvania, U.S. The modular, portable LNGo technology enables distributed production of LNG and can be installed in a short period of time to meet local demand for LNG. This cost-effective solution, developed by the Dresser-Rand business, allows the operator, Frontier Natural Resources, to monetize stranded gas assets at Tenaska Resources LLC's Mainesburg field, located in the Marcellus shale play. Frontier Natural Resources is an independent natural gas producer focused on developing conventional and unconventional resources.The scope of supply included a standardized LNGo solution consisting of four different modules, each handling one step of the liquefaction process. The whole LNGo system can be transported on eight trucks. It is deployed directly at the gas field and has a footprint of approximately 508 square meters, roughly the size of a basketball court. The Ten Man facility commenced production just four months from contract signing, and has produced approximately half a million liters of LNG in the first 20 days."This project demonstrates our unique capabilities to deliver innovative solutions for oil and gas applications that help our clients maximize the value of their assets," said Michael Walhof, sales director Distributed LNG Solutions for the Dresser-Rand business. "We are proud to provide Frontier Natural Resources with a reliable, robust solution to liquefy natural gas and cost-effectively move it to market."The LNGo technology makes it possible to monetize stranded gas deposits due to its relatively low capital and operating costs. The micro-scale LNGo solution can be deployed in rough terrain or remote regions, eliminating the need to establish an expensive gas pipeline infrastructure or arrange for long-distance trucking of LNG from centralized plants to point of use. It can function as a decentralized solution where the requisite pipeline infrastructure is lacking, or as an onsite transformation solution to reduce or eliminate flaring of petroleum gas at, for example, oil rigs or producing gas fields.
The "Fortuna" combined cycle gas turbine (CCGT) power plant at the Lausward location in the port of Düsseldorf was successfully handed over to the customer and operator, the Stadtwerke Düsseldorf public utility company, on January 22, 2016. The power plant has broken three world records: in the acceptance test a maximum electrical net output of 603.8 megawatts (MW) was achieved and the net energy conversion efficiency was around 61.5 percent. In addition, "Fortuna" can also deliver up to around 300 MW for the district heating system of the city of Düsseldorf – a further international peak value for a power plant equipped with only one gas and steam turbine. This increases the overall efficiency of natural gas as a fuel to 85 percent. The heart of the "Fortuna" CCGT power plant is the extremely powerful SGT5-8000H gas turbine from Siemens. Highly efficient and flexible CCGT power plants ideally complement renewable energy sources such as the wind and the sun, which are subject to fluctuations in their power outputs.
The Velaro D is the fourth generation of high-speed trains that Siemens has developed on the basis of the Velaro platform. Deutsche Bahn AG (DB) classifies the train as the new Series 407 ICE 3 (predecessors: Series 403 and Series 406 ICE 3). In December 2013, Germany's Federal Railway Authority (EBA) approved the trains' operation – also in multiple-unit or so-called double-traction mode – on the Deutsche Bahn rail network. Passenger operation started on December 21, 2013.Authorization for operation in single-traction mode in France was granted in April 2015. Since June 2015 the trains have been travelling to Paris in regular passenger operation. In addition to Germany and France, the Velaro D is also intended for cross-border operation in Belgium.Since 2007, trains based on the Velaro platform have operated with high reliability for more than one billion kilometers in China, Russia, Spain and Turkey – equal to roughly 25,000 times around the globe.