Siemens Avenio
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The Siemens Avenio is a low floor tram family produced by Siemens Mobility, a subsidiary of the German conglomerate Siemens.<ref> Template:Cite news [1]</ref> It is the successor to the Combino family. The first generation was sold as the Combino Supra Template:IPAc-en, Combino MkII, or Combino Plus. With the introduction of the second generation in 2009 the Combino brand was dropped and Siemens have referred to Combino Plus trams in Almada (Portugal) and Budapest (Hungary) as part of the Avenio range.<ref> Template:Cite news {{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>
The Avenio is made of stainless steel instead of light materials, and is manufactured at a new assembly line in Vienna. Like the Combino it utilizes a modular design with standardised components, with resulting reduced costs. Unlike the Combino, which is of the multi-articulated design, the Avenio uses a more simple design with short single-articulations.<ref name="SB2015-03">Template:Cite journal</ref>Template:Rp
Differences between the Combino and the Combino Supra
Unlike the Combino, the Combino Supra is designed in Template:Convert fixed sections. Each section has a bogie, either powered or unpowered. The length can be anywhere from two sections (Template:Convert) to eight (Template:Convert). In Budapest and Almada, modules are in two-car blocks, each connected by a double articulation joint. In the original Combino and other multi-articulated low-floor trams, the modules are suspended between the bogies. Siemens claims the axle load is Template:Convert for a width of Template:Convert, such as the Almada model.<ref>Siemens Combino Plus website - 'Flexibility' Template:Webarchive</ref>
For Budapest, the length went from nine modules of the Combino to six for the Combino Supra.<ref>Combino Budapest Reference brochure Template:Webarchive</ref>
The Combino had a half-width door near the driver's cab, where the Combino Supra has a full double-leaf door.
Combino Plus
Budapest
The city transport company of Budapest ordered 40 Combino Supra Budapest NF 12B units for the city's tram network. The six-module trams (three units of two sections) are 53.99 meters long, exceeded only by the 59.4 m CarGoTrams in Dresden, thus making them the longest passenger trams in the world at the time of their introduction. (In 2016 56 meters long CAF Urbos 3 trams entered service in Budapest.) The first two units were delivered on March 14, 2006, and the rest was delivered by the summer of 2007.
In the summer of 2006 problems arose. On August 1, 2006 Budapest mayor Gábor Demszky ordered all six trams to be withdrawn from service until technical problems were rectified.<ref>Caboodle.hu - Budapest mayor calls for withdrawal of faulty Combino trams Template:Webarchive</ref> There were problems with the doors, caused by sensitive fail-safe systems that brought trams to a halt for reasons including luggage or the odd leg getting stuck in a door.<ref>The Budapest Sun Online - Mayor touts Budapest as leading regional capital Template:Webarchive</ref> Siemens AG reportedly admitted the door problem to be a "design fault".<ref>Caboodle.hu - New Combino tram fails shortly after resuming service Template:Webarchive</ref>
Another problem was the overhead wires, rebuilt in April and June for the new trams. This was done in a hurry and of poor quality, causing the Ganz trams still running to have problems with their pantographs. On July 15 one catenary mast fell to the road on Margaret Bridge, causing tram services to be suspended between Jászai Mari tér and Moszkva tér till July 25.<ref>Railway Market Magazine - Public Transport in Hungary: Combino-Teething Troubles in Budapest Template:Webarchive</ref> In the last week of August the overhead was adjusted to prevent new problems from occurring.<ref>Caboodle.hu - Tram service suspended every evening until September Template:Webarchive</ref>
The teething problems were eventually sorted out, and all 40 trams were in regular service by the summer of 2007. But Siemens realises further improvements in the ventilation (the vehicles were ordered without air conditioning, and later retrofitted), and door closing signals will be changed, after inhabitants of the streets passed complained that they are too loud by night.
Almada
Metro Transportes Sul de Tejo (MST) ordered 24 four-module Combino Plus vehicles for a new light rail system in Almada, south of Lisbon. The first unit was delivered by the end of May 2005,Template:Citation needed but after the problems with the Combino surfaced the order was converted to stainless steel-bodied Combinos, to be delivered by 2007.
Melbourne
Siemens leased Almada tram C008 to Melbourne's tram network for research and development purposes.<ref>Australia Combino Plus Siemens March 29, 2007</ref> It entered service on Grand Prix shuttles on route 96 shuttles on 18 March 2007, before commencing a three-month stint on route 16 the following day, running alongside the classic Combino and other tram models.<ref>"Lisbon demonstrator arrives in Melbourne" Trolley Wire issue 308 February 2007 pages 14/15</ref>
Toronto
The Combino Plus was offered by Siemens in August 2007 in its bid to deliver 204 articulated, low-floor vehicles for the Toronto streetcar system as replacements for aging CLRVs and ALRVs. These three-module units were supposed to be Template:Convert in length, have a width of Template:Convert, and carry 183 passengers. Siemens withdrew their first bid, citing an inability to meet the TTC's 25-percent Canadian content requirement.<ref name="TorStreetcarBid">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> When tenders were reopened in August 2008, Siemens bid again using the same model, but their price was 50 percent higher than that of Bombardier's locally built Flexity Outlook model, who subsequently won the bid.<ref name="TorStreetcarBid" />
Siemens Avenio
The Avenio brand was introduced at the UITP 2009 trade fair in Vienna, marketed as the "longest tram in the world" with 100% low floor (referring to the 72 meter version with eight modules).<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref name="press2009">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>
Avenio is based on the Siemens Combino Plus but is simplified. There is now one secondary spring which now seemingly can do the work of two. There are more seats over the bogies. There are no more hydraulics and the tram is made of CorTen steel. So in fact it is a completely new design.
Tel Aviv
It was announced that the first production series would go to Tel Aviv in Israel for its upcoming light rail network,<ref name="press2009" /> but the project was delayed and the construction of the first line, the Red Line, started in September 2011. It will be in operational in 2016-2017 with the majority of stations underground. However, Tel Aviv Municipality later awarded the bid for rolling stock to rival CAF of Zaragoza, Spain instead.
The Hague
HTM Personenvervoer of The Hague in the Netherlands, the operator of the city's tram network, announced in November 2011 the purchase of 40 Avenio trams. They will be Template:Convert long at a width of Template:Convert with a seating capacity of 70 and a standing capacity of 168.<ref>Siemens Avenio, de nieuwe Haagse tram Template:Webarchive auf htmfoto.net, aufgerufen am 20. November 2011.</ref> The contract is worth 100 million euro including driver training and spare parts. They are being built in Wien Simmering, with the bogies in Graz.<ref>Premiere: Siemens erhält ersten Auftrag für die neue Straßenbahn-Generation Avenio – Den Haag bestellt 40 Fahrzeuge im Wert von über 100 Millionen Euro Werkstattatlas.info, aufgerufen am 20. November 2011.</ref> In March 2014 it was announced a further 20 trams were being ordered.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> The first (5003) entered service on 2 November 2015 on Route 2. Power and braking is controlled by pedals.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> Additional orders for another 20 and 10 vehicles, have brought the total to 70 Avenio trams in The Hague.
Doha
A consortium led by Siemens built the tram system for Education City in Doha, the capital of Qatar.<ref name=rgi20150311>Template:Cite magazine</ref><ref name=siemens20120730>Qatar Foundation to get turnkey tram system from Siemens Siemens website, 30 July 2012</ref> The opening was scheduled for autumn 2015<ref name=siemens20120730 /> but was delayed to 2016.<ref name=rgi20150311 /> No overhead wires are installed, since the 10 Avenio trams is powered by the Siemens Sitras HES system (Hybrid Energy Storage), a combination of a supercapacitor and a traction battery that will be charged at each stop through an overhead conductor rail.<ref name=siemens20120730 /> The network has 25 stops on Template:Convert of Template:Track gauge track; the trams are in three modules with a capacity of 238 passengers.<ref>Template:Cite magazine</ref>
Munich
On 28 September 2012, Münchner Verkehrsgesellschaft (MVG) of Munich, Germany, announced an order of 8 Avenio trams for that city's tramway system.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> They are 36 m long, 2.3 m wide and have 4 modules. The contract was worth approx. 29 million Euros and it is understood that this allows six units to be built ahead of the Den Haag trams. Due to bad management and ongoing problems with the Stadler Variobahns the Avenios were necessary to deliver the advertised service improvements in the new timetable effective December 2013. They were supposed to be fully operational in little more than a year, however the first entered service on 17 September 2014 on Route 19.<ref>Template:Cite magazine</ref>
Copenhagen
29 Avenios will operate Hovedstadens Letbane (Greater Copenhagen Light Rail) from its opening in 2025.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> The four-section trams have the same exterior design as in Munich, but are deliverd in green and black.
Avenio M and Avenio HF
The systems that still prefer to use the original Combino concept, can order the Avenio M.<ref name="SB2015-03" />Template:Rp Systems that require trams that can stop at high-platform stops, can order the Avenio HF.<ref>Siemens Mobility wins EUR 400 million LRV contract Retrieved 30 June 2022.</ref><ref>New Stadtbahn Avenios For Düsseldorf And Duisburg Retrieved 30 June 2022.</ref>
See also
References
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