Rheinbahn Type HF6 FLEXITY Trams Authorised
posted on 14th May 2020 13:39
Bombardier Transportation announced today that it has received authorisation for its Type HF6 FLEXITY trams to begin operation on the Düsseldorf and Duisburg networks. This means that Rheinbahn can now start using the trams for passenger service within the Düsseldorf metropolitan area. We are working closely with Bombardier Transportation to ensure that the remaining vehicles are also authorised for passenger service as quickly as possible,” said Michael Richarz, Member of the Board of Management for Technology and Operations at Rheinbahn AG.
To remember is the history of this contract... On 19 March 2015 Bombardier Transportation signed contracts with both Rheinbahn of Düsseldorf and Kölner Verkehrs-Betriebe (KVB) for 63 FLEXITY high floor trams. KVB’s contract, worth around 64 million EUR, was for 20 trams, while Rheinbahn’s, for roughly 127 million EUR, was for 43 trams, with an option for 16 more.
The 1,435 mm gauge trams will replace both operators’ fleets of Type B Stadtbahnwagen. The Rheinbahn trams were scheduled for delivery between 2017 and 2020, those for KVB in 2020 and 2021. They are two-section, 80 km/h, bi-directional vehicles 28 m long and 2,650 mm wide, mounted on three bogies (a B’2’B’ axle arrangement). They are fitted with 68 seats, four doors on each side, wide inter-car gangways and are provided with spacious multi-purpose areas. The floor lays 1,000 mm high above rail top. The first tram, 4301, was delivered to Rheinbahn’s Heerdt depot already in July 2018.
We asked Bombardier:
- which authority approved the HF6 trams?
- how many HF6 trams of each version had already been completed?
- what are the most recent delivery dates?
Bombardier answered us: "The HF6 vehicles were authorised by TAB (Technische Aufsichtsbehörde). Rheinbahn has already received three trams. Further trams are in assembly in our Bautzen site. In close cooperation with Rheinbahn, we are intensively working to ensure that the complete number of 59 vehicles is available as soon as possible."