Wiener Linien commissioned Siemens at the end of 2017 with the delivery of 34 fully automated metro trains. The contract also includes the maintenance of the trains for a period of 24 years and an option for an additional eleven trains. The "X cars" will be operated fully automated on the new U5 line in Vienna beginning in 2024. The trains can also operate semi-automated or manually on previously existing lines. Delivery of the trains is scheduled to begin in mid-2020 and to be completed by 2030. The trains will be manufactured at the Siemens factory in Vienna.
The VAG Verkehrs-Aktiengesellschaft Nuremberg has ordered 27 type G1 four-car metro trains from Siemens Mobility. The contract also includes an option for a total of a further 7 trains. These trains are earmarked for service on Nuremberg's U1 line. The trains will be built in the Siemens Mobility plant in Vienna. Core components of the G1 will be manufactured in the Nuremberg metropolitan area and include such products as the drive converters, traction motors, auxiliary converter units and control equipment. The project management, development and service support will be provided from Erlangen.
Ostdeutsche Eisenbahn GmbH (ODEG) has ordered 23 Desiro HC regional trains from Siemens for service on the Elbe-Spree network. The order is worth around €300 million. Delivery of the 21 six-car and two four-car trains is scheduled to begin in the summer of 2022. In January 2019, ODEG was awarded the contract to operate these lines following a Europe-wide tender by Verkehrsverbund Berlin-Brandenburg (VBB).The Desiro trainsets will be used on the regional express line RE1 (lot 1) connecting Magdeburg with Cottbus via Berlin and Frankfurt (Oder). During rush hours, trains will operate three times an hour between Brandenburg a. d. Havel and Frankfurt (Oder). The four-car Desiros are planned for service on the RE8 line connecting Wismar and Wittenberge with Baruth and Elsterwerda/Finsterwalde via Berlin, as well as on the RB17 line connecting Wismar and Ludwigslust.The trains have generous space available for bicycles, strollers and wheelchairs and a multipurpose car with a barrier-free WC. Sliding steps enable barrier-free access at stations with 550 mm and 760 mm platform heights. Wider doors than in older trains speed and ease passenger boarding and exiting. Free WLAN on board enhances passenger convenience. A passenger safety system provides live camera coverage of activities in the cars. In case of a conflict or problem, supervisors at the operations control center can communicate directly with the car via loudspeakers. The cars are equipped inside and outside with real-time capacity displays, and this information can also be accessed via the VBB app.
This year something very special is brewing: 2016 marks the 500th jubilee of the world's oldest food law. In 1516, the Bavarian co-rulers Duke Wilhelm IV and Ludwig X issued a decree in Ingolstadt to the effect that henceforth, only barley, hops and water could be used in the brewing of beer. The "Reinheitsgebot" was born, and its fame has since spread around the world. German beer is one of the country's most popular exports, with around 1.5 billion liters shipped to foreign shores every year. A high proportion of brewers rely on technology from Siemens to prevent any disruptions to production and keep the golden liquid flowing freely. The first electronic control-based automation solutions came into existence in the 1970s. The "Braumat" process control system has since taken care of reliable production and quality consistency in countless breweries the world over. Today, competition for market share in the beer industry is tough. Efficiency and flexibility are vital to success. What remains to be seen: What will the brewery of the future look like? From July 22-24, Siemens is taking part in the "500 Years of the German Purity Law 2016" Festival in Munich as a partner to the brewery industry with its own booth.
The need for electromobility is growing, as is the need for an efficient charging infrastructure. As a pioneer in electromobility, Siemens has global experience, maintains a strong portfolio along the entire value chain, and plays an active role in advancing the development and standardization of charging solutions worldwide.Siemens is part of the "FastCharge" research project together with BMW Group as consortium leader, Allego GmbH, Phoenix Contact E-Mobility GmbH as well as Dr. Ing. h.c. F. Porsche AG. This project is investigating the technological requirements that vehicles and infrastructure must meet in order to be able to use extremely high charging capacities.The industrial companies involved in the research project presented the latest advancements in the field of fast and convenient energy supply for electrically powered vehicles on December 12, 2018. The prototype of a charging station with a capacity of up to 450 kW was inaugurated in Jettingen-Scheppach, Bavaria. At this ultra-fast charging station, electrically powered research vehicles created as part of the project are able to demonstrate charging times of less than three minutes for the first 100 kilometres of range or 15 minutes for a full charge (10-80 % State of Charge (SOC)).The energy supply system of Siemens used in the project contains both high-power electronics for the charging connections as well as the communication interface to the electric vehicles. For the connection to the public power grid, a charging container was implemented with two charging connections for CCS-compatible vehicles. One connection has an unprecedented charging capacity of max. 450 kW while the second can deliver up to 175 kW.
China's megacities alone are home to more than 260 million people. These gigantic conurbations have recently undergone rapid growth of almost two percent per year, and are suffering increasing traffic problems caused by the soaring rate of car use. Hence the correspondingly strong demand for solutions for the further development of urban rail transport. The Nanjing customer has now commissioned Siemens to equip metro Ninghe Line with the CBTC automatic train protection system Trainguard MT. The contract includes the CBTC trackside equipment for the 36 kilometer line as well as the ATC equipment of the 24 trains. In the long term more than ten metro lines will be built in Nanjing – of which five alone will or already been feature Siemens signaling technology.Siemens can look back on a long partnership in China with the Nanjing Metro Corporation. Siemens equipped metro line 1, which started running in 2005 and is now 47 kilometers long, as well as metro line 2 in 2010. Line 2 serves 26 stations and forms the east-west tangent of the city of Nanjing in eastern China. Following the extension of the city's metro with line 2, the rail network now covers 85 kilometers. Line 10, Nangjing's first cross-Yangtze river metro line was put into operation on July 1, 2014. Its first phase runs 23.6 kilometers with 14 stations. The latest Nanjing metro line fitted with signaling technology from Siemens is Nanjing Metro Line 3, which went on public operation on April 1, 2015.
Mitsui Rail Capital Europe (MRCE), a full-service locomotive leasing company, has ordered 136 Vectron type locomotives from Siemens in total. MRCE therefore owns one of the biggest Vectron fleets. In March 2018 Siemens and MRCE have agreed to found a joint venture for the maintenance of locomotives. Together, the companies will not only maintain the MRCE fleet, but also reliably service and guarantee the maximum availability of third-party fleets with their innovative maintenance technologies. Both partners are jointly investing in the joint venture, primarily to build a new workshop for locomotives. The groundbreaking ceremony is planned for the current calendar year. The new workshop is scheduled to open in the summer of 2019.
Copenhagen's S-tog (commuter rail system) is the backbone of the capital's public mass transit network. It carries around 350,000 passengers a day - and that number is growing all the time. This reflects the growth in the metropolitan area around the Danish capital where more than one fifth of the entire population of Denmark now lives. So, in the space of six years, Siemens will equip Copenhagen's entire commuter rail network with the Trainguard MT train control system which uses Communications-Based Train Control (CBTC) to automate operation. This has made it possible to reduce train headways from 120 seconds to 70 seconds within the inner-city area.The first phase; the newly opened 25 kilometer section of Line A runs from the suburb of Hillerod in the north to Jaegersborg east of the capital and will be used by more than 70.000 commuters a day. Once the complete network is open, up to 84 trains an hour will travel on the core network - equivalent to more than 1 million passengers per year. The remaining phases will enter passenger service in the coming years.