Connected and self-driving vehicles are on the horizon. Autonomous taxis and minibuses could cover the last mile between homes and public mass transit and long-distance transport hubs, helping make private cars superfluous in cities and relieving congestion. In rail transport as well, fully automated systems and connectivity can help satisfy the rapidly growing demand for mobility. Making vehicles and infrastructure more intelligent can ensure better availability and make mobility safer. All this adds up to vastly improved urban environments.
Siemens is working with municipalities, public transit authorities and research institutes to develop these transport concepts.
Smartphone users as well as industrial companies are looking forward to the advent of the new 5G wireless mobile standard, thanks to which companies will be able to connect their machines and thus make their production plants and intralogistics operations more efficient, more autonomous, and more flexible than ever before.
Industrie 4.0, the smart factory, the Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT) – these are the future of industrial manufacturing. Designing production plants and intralogistics to be more flexible, autonomous, and efficient requires the right communication framework and comprehensive connectivity. The new 5G communication standard opens up important new prospects. It will initially have a data speed of between one and 5 gigabits per second, subsequently increasing to 20 gigabits per second – a quantum leap that will make it between 10 and 20 times faster than the system’s predecessor, LTE.
Control rooms of process engineering plants are usually
as old as the plant itself, often 30 years and more. Today, digital
transformation is placing new demands on automation: Simatic PCS neo is a brand-new system software, which
offers companies in the process industry unique opportunities in the age of
digitalization. Main features include global web-based collaboration in
engineering and operation and intuitive handling representing all relevant
information in a single workbench.
Let the good times roll: Starting September 21, about six million people from all around the world will be enjoying themselves at the Oktoberfest in Munich for two weeks. Traditionally, Siemens supplies drives and control systems as well as energy distribution for the festival's rides. Automation solutions from Siemens also control special beer pipelines – the only ones of its kind worldwide –that supply the Hacker, Winzerer Faehndl and Braeurosl festival tents with their tasty Oktoberfest brews. Because many breweries use Siemens technologies within their brewing process, Siemens doesn't only ensure fresh beer at the Oktoberfest.
S-Bahn Berlin GmbH has signed a framework contract with the consortium of Stadler Pankow GmbH and Siemens for the delivery of up to 1,380 vehicles. A firm order was placed for the first 106 trains. The 85 four-section and 21 two-section trains have a high triple-digit million-euro order volume. S-Bahn Berlin, a subsidiary of Deutsche Bahn, plans to use the new trains on the Ringbahn lines (S 41 and S 42) as well as on the system's southeastern feeder lines S 47, S 46 and S 8. These lines comprise roughly one-third of the entire S-Bahn network in Berlin. The first ten vehicles will be ready to enter service as of 2020. Subsequently, all remaining vehicles will be delivered continuously to the Berlin system up to 2023. The vehicles will be manufactured and assembled at the Berlin plant operated by Stadler Pankow GmbH.
- High-speed reciprocating compressor (HSRC) and mobile power support center opened in Odessa, Texas to serve expanding customer base in Permian Basin
- New support center provides operators with expedited access to parts while increasing the capabilities of Siemens Oil & Gas in a key region
Siemens Mobility's Vectron locomotives are used for both freight and passenger service. During the development of the locomotive, the focus was on providing a future-proof design, investment security, environmental compatibility, fungibility, retrofitting capability and convertibility. The Vectron can be delivered as a purely electrical version for operating with alternating current (AC) or direct current (DC) power systems as well as a multisystem (MS) variant in the power classes 5.2 MW, 5.6 MW and 6.4 MW. Along with the desired national train control system, the locomotives can also be equipped with the latest European Train Control System (ETCS). The locomotives are built in the Siemens Mobility plant in Munich-Allach, Germany. The first Vectron was delivered in 2012. Siemens Mobility has sold over 800 Vectrons to date to a total of 42 customers. The Vectron fleet has accumulated more than 175 million kilometers of service so far. The locomotives are currently certified for operation in 18 countries. For freight transport in Germany, Siemens Mobility also offers the Smartron standard locomotive and the Vectron Dual Mode, a combination of diesel and electric locomotive.
Austrian Federal Railways (ÖBB) has ordered a total of 189 Desiro ML regional trains from Siemens. The trains will operate under the name "Cityjet".
The trains will be produced at the Siemens Mobility plants in Krefeld, Germany, and Graz, Austria, and final assembly will take place at ÖBB's Technical Services factory in Jedlersdorf, Austria.
Two design alternatives of the Desiro ML are built: the urban train design for large metropolitan areas such as Vienna and the regional train design. The ÖBB cityjet also offers a variable, low-floor seating arrangement as well as spacious entrance and intercar gangway areas, an attractive, innovative design and maximum riding comfort, and barrier-free entrance to all 550-mm station platforms in Austria.
Austrian Federal Railways (ÖBB) and Siemens Mobility are jointly investing in the future of passenger transport and are developing an electro-hybrid battery drive for trains. Operating as a battery-powered train, the Cityjet eco is an alternative for non-electrified rail lines primarily served at present with diesel-powered passenger trains. Battery operation can reduce CO2 emissions by up to 50 percent compared to diesels. Following extensive testing of the prototype train, it is expected to first be used in passenger service in the second half of 2019.
On August 26, the joint project reached its next milestone: The battery driven EMU got the homologation and is starting passenger service beginning of September 2019, bringing more sustainability to non-electrified tracks in Austria.
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.
In 2016, Bolivia chose Siemens to provide the technology and services that would add more than one gigawatt of electricity to the country's power grid. On August 8, 2019 the first of three thermal power plants to be expanded and upgraded was officially inaugurated.
Bolivia's president Evo Morales, the Bolivian energy minister Rafael Alarcon, members of the executive committee of the national company Ende Andina and John Prado, CEO Siemens Bolivia, visited the Del Sur Thermoelectric Power Plant, located in Yaguacua in southeastern Bolivia, for the opening ceremony.
The combined cycle power plant is equipped with eight Siemens SGT-800 gas turbines, four SST-400 steam turbines and eight heat recovery generators (HRSGs). The conversion to combined cycles of the Del Sur plant will increase the efficiency of the plant from 40 percent to 51 percent depending on environmental and operational conditions.