Current Issue: TransUrban 3/2010

The Solaris Urbino 12 Hybrid Bus Solaris Bus & Coach and Eaton Corporation recently joined forces to produce the state of the art Urbino 12 Hybrid urban bus. Its parallel hybrid drive system results in fuel savings and noxious exhaust emission reductions of up to 30 % compared with a diesel-engined bus of similar specifications. The Urbino 12 Hybrid made its public debut at Busworld 2009 in Kortrijk, and the first orders for batches are now being processed.   Photo: All hybrid drive components are concealed within the vehicle, so externally it looks practically identical to a standard Urbino 12.   Photo: Solaris

By Rhônexpress Tango To Lyon Airport On 9 August 2010 Lyon Saint-Exupéry airport, the third busiest in France, will be the first in the whole country to be served by a tramway. Stadler has supplied the operator, a Veolia-led consortium known as Rhônexpress, with six 100 km/h Tango trams, fitted out to very high standards, to operate the fast and frequent service linking the new airport terminal station and Lyon Part-Dieux - Villette.   Photo: A Rhônexpress Tango pauses at a snowy Vaulx-en-Velin La Soie on 11 February 2010.   Photo: Rhônexpress

Pöstlingbergbahn Rejuvenation To the north of Linz city centre rises the 539 m high Pöstlingberg, with its Baroque basilica, once a focal point for pilgrims, its fortress dating from around 1830, and its breathtaking views across Austria’s third largest city. The popularity of the district, especially with walkers, prompted the construction in the mid-1890s of a metre gauge adhesion railway linking the city centre with the summit. Over the past couple of years the Pöstlingbergbahn has been extensively modernised, regauged to 900 mm, linked up with the urban tramway network in Linz, and provided with new trams.   Photo: The terminus at Pöstlingberg is situated within one of the old Maximilian style towers of the fortress. 501 waits here on 2 June 2009.   Photo: Jan Kubeš

Maintenance Optimalization By Vibration Analysis F There are three different types of rail vehicle maintenance (and of machine maintenance in general): corrective maintenance, under which failed components are replaced; preventive maintenance, which involves replacement of components according to operating experiences or specifications of suppliers, and predictive maintenance, involving the judgement of when a component needs to be replaced. The latter method means that components are only replaced if this is really necessary; replacements can be made simultaneously with other activities, thus making planning perfectly possible.   Photo: Upper photo shows tram 6316 at Gentbrugge depot.   Photo: Patrick Debeuf

More New Trolleybuses For Roma In 2008 ATAC, the municipal public transport operator in Roma, invited tenders for the electrification of more new trolleybus routes, and also for the construction of 45 more new trolleybuses. The latter are being built by BredaMenarinibus, which is a Finmecca-nica subsidiary, using electrical equipment supplied by Škoda Electric.   Photo: One of the new Avancity+ HTB trolleybuses on a test run in Plzeň, traversing Průmyslová street on 5 March 2010.   Photo: Škoda

And much more!