Issue 10 | May 2013 | como · bus lines is fueled purely by electricity. focus 14rom A to B with...

Urban planning at its bestA Finish city relies on the tram

The future of getting around

Intermodal to the coreIMP – the Integrated Mobility Platform

como Facts, Trends and Stories on Integrated Mobility

Issue 10 | May 2013 | www.siemens.com/mobility

2 welcome como 10 | May 2013

Dear reader,

Worldwide the urban population is growing by two people per second – that’s 172,800 new city residents each day. As abstract as this figure may appear, the real effects are dra-matic: the growth of the cities inevitably further increases the load on the infrastructure, which in many cases is already desperately overstrained.

We know that the greatest challenges presented by such dynamic urbanization lie not only in minimizing energy consumption and harmful emissions. Another key issue is how to provide adequate transport for this growing volume of people and goods. The recognition that functioning mobility structures significantly contribute to the prosperity of a community is certainly not new. But is there a silver bullet for developing mobility to serve our future needs?

In developing economies expansion is usually the only way of bringing about the required mobility structures, as these nations often have a lot of catching up to do in this area. Over 200 cities worldwide with populations of up to one million currently do not have any kind of rail transport, and these are the systems that offer the highest transport capacities and therefore the best chances of solving the problem – as demonstrated by current examples around the globe.

However, rising passenger numbers often have to be managed within the narrow framework of the existing infrastructure. With the help of modern technical solu-

tions for added security and efficiency, which include intel-ligent traffic routing systems and purposefully deployed train automation, better use can be made of the available structures, and transport capacities can be increased by up to 50 percent.

The best way of harnessing the available opportunities is invariably for all parties to act in concert. The term inte-grated mobility describes a networking of transport and traffic services that allows passengers to always find the shortest, quickest route, and it enables mobility providers to operate as efficiently as possible. Naturally, Siemens plays a leading role in the development of such solutions.

These are also the topics covered in the current edition of como. On the following pages you will read about why cities are well advised to consult mobility experts at an early stage, what kinds of solutions are available to air-ports, how Austria’s capital is making its public transport system even greener with electric buses, and how net-worked IT systems are forming the basis for integrated mobility.

I hope it will prove an inspiring and informative read.

Sincerely yours,

Dr. Sami Atiya CEO, Mobility and Logistics Division

Naturally, Siemens plays a leading role in the develop-ment of integrated mobility.”

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3como 10 | May 2013 contents

contents

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34

horizon 4 Turku: a Finnish solution

For transportation planners, it is never too early to start thinking about tomorrow. Siemens experts are there to help.

8 Interlinked mobility will become a matter of courseLess car, more mobility? An interview with Dr. Wolfgang Schade from Fraunhofer ISI on the future of travel.

move 32 Keeping to plan

When a flight plan becomes out of sync, TAMS helps.

34 Tested and approvedWith the right strategy, new locomotives can roll sooner.

connect38 The battery line

Almost silent: one of Vienna’s bus lines is fueled purely by electricity.

focus 14 From A to B with smart

connectionsHow can urban transport be networked? The Integrated Mobility Platform paves the way.

18 A fresh view of the train stationThe train station of the future is functional and intermodal – and climate neutral.

29 Smart traction powerClever electronics are needed to get “green” energy to the contact wires.

4 horizon como 10 | May 2013

Turku: a Finnish solutionHow can urban growth be brought into sync with the increasing mobility requirements of residents and com-muters? The Finnish city of Turku and Siemens Mobility Consulting have been exploring this issue. An initial study shows the positive impacts an intermodal transport concept and a new planned light rail system can have for the city.

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L ight rail systems help to prevent a collapse of a city’s transport system: this finding has long

since proven its validity in megacities around the world. But how do smaller cities and regions cope with their trans-port problems? After all, most cities worldwide are medium sized, with something in the region of 200,000 residents.

Turku in southwest Finland also belongs in this category. Founded in the 13th century, Turku is currently the country’s fifth-largest city with just over 180,000 residents. As the center of Finland’s third-largest metro-politan area, it plays an important role in culture and education. Several voca-tional institutions and three universi-ties are based in Turku, including the Åbo Akademi, Finland’s only purely Swedish-speaking university.

Thinking in terms of sustainability has been the norm here for some time. The Turku Climate and Environ-

In Turku, the fifth-largest city in Finland, city planners are focusing on integrated mobility.

como 10 | May 2013 horizon


ment Program of 2009, for example, aims to reduce the 1990 levels of greenhouse gas emissions per capita by 30 percent by 2020. Like elsewhere in the world, however, growth and prosperity are giving rise to negative impacts: the city’s growing traffic volume is responsible for around one quarter of local CO2 emissions. Noise and air pollution are constantly increasing, as are congestion and accident rates.

The goal: integrated mobility

The municipality wants to tackle this problem with an intermodal transport strategy. The goal: integrated mobility. The strategy, for instance, aims to increase bicycle traffic around 50 per-cent by 2030. With annual population growth of around 2 percent, public transport should absorb the additional transport load between the suburbs and the city center. At the same time the strategy aims to generally shorten journeys between people’s homes and places of work through urban plan-ning measures such as densification and mixed building utilization. All in all these are very sound measures, as the structural plan for the Turku region anticipates around 60,000 more resi-dents and roughly 20,000 new jobs in the next two decades.

“If this population increase takes place evenly across the region, as we

have seen in the past, this will pose an enormous challenge to the transport systems of the city and the surround-ing area,” explains Sirpa Korte, director of the municipal transport authority. “More private cars place a great load on the road network, the air quality deteriorates and quality of life gener-ally declines.” The conditions for a sustainable public transport network in Turku are certainly more favorable than elsewhere. In the central areas, at least, bus services have been steadily expanded. “Unfortunately, the capac ity of the bus lines in districts like Varissuo and Runosmäki is far from sufficient,” says Korte. “And it’s difficult for us to persuade more people to take the bus when there is literally no more room for extra passengers at certain times of the day.”

The answer lies in rail

Examples in many cities worldwide show that light rail and tram systems integrated into an overall strategy prove to be popular measures for improving the use of urban space. In addition, an electric-powered public transport network can contribute significantly to attaining ambitious climate goals such as those set in the Turku Climate and Environment Program.

Central Turku used to be served by an extensive tram network, until the

city decided to discontinue its opera-tion in 1965. In the meantime priori-ties have changed: the city’s politicians are in favor of building a new light rail system – feasibility studies for two lines are already underway. Transport director Korte: “Public transport has to be good enough to make people want to use it instead of their own cars. That means smooth journeys, easy access and comfortable travel. Depending on the district in question, trams or an advanced bus system form the corner-stones of an overall transport strategy.

Urban planning and transport planning have to support one another – that’s the crucial factor in areas of new development.”Sirpa Korte, Transport Director, Turku

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Municipal transport director Sirpa Korte (right) is certain that trams like the Avenio (below) will make urban regions more attractive.

7como 10 | May 2013 horizon

What’s more, we already have in place a universal ticket and informa-tion system for the region.” But how can city planners ensure that their measures will actually lead to the desired results?

The municipal authorities went looking for a strategic partner with the necessary expertise in this field and opted for Siemens Mobility Consulting. In the team are Siemens tram experts and Finnish colleagues in the region. The choice made sense, bearing in mind the Siemens Infrastructure & Cities Sector offers solutions for trans-port, building technologies and elec-tric power from a single source. The city of Turku and the Siemens project team then carried out a study to ascer-tain how the favorable conditions in the region could be translated into a sustainable urban solution.

Spotlight on transport and real estate

The study focused on two areas: The environmental angle was to examine the influence of the planned tram sys-tem on the development of CO2, par-ticulate matter and nitrogen oxide (NOx) emissions within the city limits. The economic aspect focused primarily on the development of real estate along the planned routes. Economic development in the direct catchment area of a rail network is consistently positive all over the world. This is dem-onstrated by successful projects such as the new light rail system in Hous-ton, Texas (see como 02, June 2009, page 12). The Turku planners expect to see a similar economic boost along the Blue Line, due for completion by 2025, and the Red Line, expected to open in 2035. The intention was to use the results of the study as a basis for future decision-making processes.

Case studies from ten European and US cities showed that the modal split – the distribution of the transport volume among different modes – rises by up to 163 percent within 3 to 15 years of the introduction of a tram or

light rail system. Even with the most conservative scenario, public transport use in Turku could increase by at least 40 percent – and the effect is likely to be considerably greater. The calcu-lations suggest that the introduction of the light rail system could prevent an around 25 percent rise in CO2 emissions by 2035, which equates to 130,000 tons per year as well as a 42 percent increase in pollution from particulate matter. However, for the required 11.5 million tram journeys per year to actually be attained, mu-nicipal policy will effectively have to start promoting public transport use to the city’s residents years before the system goes into operation.

As a result of such an integrated solution, merely the switch of many car and bus users to the light rail sys-tem will reduce road traffic enough to bring about an estimated 11 percent cut in CO2 and around 12 percent in NOx emissions. In addition, particulate emissions will fall by around 8 percent and – an important factor for a coun-try with typically long winters – par-ticulate pollution due to road gritting services and abrasion from studded tires will decline by roughly 7 percent.

On the right track

Greater Turku, which includes the neighboring towns of Kaarina and Raisio, covers around 13.5 million m²,

around 60 percent of which is within an 800 meter zone around the planned light rail lines. A comparison of experi-ences in other countries showed that an integrated light rail solution leads to above-average growth in real estate value within this zone, even by con-servative estimates. The value of the municipal properties alone could rise by €58 million, thus contributing to the financing of the entire transport project.

These calculations do not even take into account the so-called soft factors, that is, the greater quality of life for the residents and the increas-ingly positive image of the city. Once more, cases around the world show what a boost these factors can give to the economic, environmental and social development of a region in the medium term.

The conclusion of this study clearly shows that Turku is on the right track with its plans for an integrated trans-port solution. Transport director Sirpa Korte also feels the choice is justified: “A light rail system is a tried-and-tested means of making public transport quicker, simpler and more attractive for the city’s people. In that sense, our plan is not just a transport project, but an important step toward a more pleasant life for everyone in the city center. There’s no doubt about it: the light rail system heightens the appeal of our city.” ■

Experts from Siemens and Turku are currently working on another study as part of a three-year cooperation agreement. They are devel-oping a concept for sustainable city districts in order to manage the expected population growth in the most environmentally friendly way possible. Consultancy experts from Siemens are also actively involved in the creation of new urban concepts in various cities around the world. A study is currently being developed for Singapore to examine the CO2 prevention potential of technologies in the areas of trans-port, residential buildings, non-residential buildings and information technology. The study also includes recommendations for action.

Finding the best way

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Interlinked

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It’s a familiar scenario, yet there is no ultimate solution to the problem in sight: the growing influx of people into the cities thins out the rural areas while overstraining urban infrastruc-ture. The mobility of the city dwellers bears the brunt of this trend. Is there a silver bullet – or at least a sustainable strategy? An interview with Dr. Wolfgang Schade, Head of the Business Unit Transport Systems at the Fraunhofer Institute for Systems and Innovation Research (ISI).

mobility

The major challenges of urbanization are familiar enough. In the world’s megacities urban infrastructure, transport carriers and routes are often hopelessly over-strained. Getting anywhere fast is impossible. How can these problems be alleviated in the long term?The mobility structures available worldwide vary a great deal. In China’s megacities rapid urbanization is causing dynamic development with well-known problems: the cities are polluted, the traffic volume is growing all the time, and traffic jams are getting longer. What’s more, this is all happening at breathtaking speed.

will become a matter of course


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It also means that the population continues to thin out in rural areas, so for the people that remain the car is often the only way to get around. However, this process is taking place largely unchecked, without strategic planning as to which regions can remain populated and developed and which might, for example, be restored to nature and used for tourism. Incidentally, these kinds of developments are not confined to China or developing countries.

Can urban mobility structures be expanded quickly enough in industrial nations like Germany? Particularly in Germany there is perhaps not such a great need for expansion. Generally speaking, according to cur-rent transport forecasts we can say that individual passen-ger transport will not grow any more in the coming years, and goods transport will increase more slowly than we expected ten years ago. So new roads, for instance, are only required in certain cases. Moreover, people in urban regions are increasingly switching from cars to bicycles, carsharing and public transport. In places where these alternatives exist, more and more people have multimodal travel habits and the importance of the private car is on the decline. In Berlin, for example, today only around 35 percent of residents have their own car, while the German average – including the rural areas – is around 54 percent. In light of this trend, the problem of space on urban roads could gradually diminish.

For passenger transport the focus on cities is perfectly justifiable, but perhaps this is not the case for goods transport. Goods are increasingly being ordered online and sent back if they’re not wanted, which generates additional distribution transport. Are you taking an overly optimistic view of the situation?It’s important to differentiate here. For instance, electro-mobility offers an alternative for distribution transport in par-ticular. Using quiet and emission-free vehicles, deliveries can be made to particular companies or post office collection points between 4 am and 6 am. This can reduce the strain on the road infrastructure at the peak time in the morning. We are also seeing a renaissance of city logistics, which didn’t manage to properly establish itself in the 1990s but is now coming to the fore with new delivery concepts, goods transport centers and transshipment terminals. This collab-orative form of logistics, where several companies combine their various cargos on a shared vehicle, reduces the distri-bution journeys in busy city centers. However, it requires companies willing to cooperate, powerful IT systems to network transport requirements, and new logistics hubs as distribution infrastructure on the outskirts of the city.

The physical infrastructure within cities also needs to be modified and expanded to support more multimodal transport. For example, remodeling train stations as

mobility hubs with additional space for electric vehicle charging stations at strategic locations. With this in mind, could electromobility in particular be seen as a counterproductive trend?Regarding individual electromobility, a whole host of studies has shown that a large proportion of charging takes place using the charging points at home, particularly in the early phase. As for the public charging stations, we have ascer-tained that they are necessary for psychological reasons, but they need to be cross-financed by municipalities or transport operators, while the majority of charging is done at home. With an e-carsharing station this may by different. Such a system is currently being trialed in Karlsruhe and I am look-ing forward to seeing the first results.

Nevertheless, mobility hubs are logically located in city centers where space is already at a premium. Some municipalities now also have preferential carsharing spaces – with or without charging stations. Does this aggravate the problem?If fewer people park their own cars in city centers, the corre-sponding space should be available. There are also more talks of extremely space-efficient, fully automated vertical parking systems. And in the long term – the first serial mod-els should be available by 2020 – autonomous driving could make a positive difference. You book a carsharing vehicle like a taxi and it comes right to your door without a driver. But we’re talking about some way into the future until such a system can really work in practice.

horizon como 10 | May 2013

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Is this trend toward multimodality and the willing - ness to abandon private cars more or less a German phenomenon?Of course there are corresponding trends in other countries – leaving aside cities like New York, where for many years around 55 percent of all households don’t own their own car and people travel by taxi and subway. One well-known example in Europe is Paris with its extensive bikesharing sys-tem known as Vélib. This kind of project suddenly gives a

notable proportion of bicycle traffic to a city that previously had practically no bikes on its roads, and now Paris is setting up a similar system of electric vehicles called Autolib. These are all building blocks toward greater flexibility in networked mobility and how we travel.

Generally less well known are the developments in China, where very successful bikesharing schemes have also been set up – in fact, based solely on the number of users, these are the largest schemes in the world. Since the proportion of car owners in China remains small to this day, bikesharing is really taking off. There are also concerted efforts to inte-grate bikesharing into the public transport system. In cities where buses form the backbone of the public transport system, the largest bike stations are located at the main bus stops. Huangzhou is a leading example, and it intends to expand its large bikesharing scheme even further. Here interoperable tickets, which are valid for trains, buses and bicycles, also play a key role.

Bicycle travel even seems to be on the rise in certain places in the Unites States . . .Portland is one example of a city where bicycle use has increased in recent years. And we can expect to see such alternatives to car travel continue to develop, including in the Unites States – at least in the East Coast and West Coast regions and the area around the Great Lakes. This is also where you find Zipcar, the world’s largest carsharing opera-tor, and its 770,000 customers, the Zipsters.

However, sharing schemes are only attractive for cus-tomers if enough vehicles are available just around the corner. This costs money. A few weeks ago Zipcar was taken over by the rental agency Avis Budget, and in 2012 Zipcar made a profit for the first time in twelve years. In Germany all the major carsharing operators recently increased their prices significantly. So how profitable are such systems?This kind of system is not profitable below a certain user threshold. Until this is reached, it won’t pay for itself. How-ever, there are already carsharing schemes that have been operating commercially for some time. We have collected data on carsharing projects from around 1991, some of which are still going. As early as the late 1980s some sys-tems were set up as cooperatives or co-financed by cities. Eventually these were passed on to commercial owners and they remain active to this day, some of them as part of the Stadtmobil Group. So there are certainly functioning busi-ness models out there.

Though not necessarily with the option of also getting a car in another city – or even being able to use buses and trains with the same travel card ...... precisely, because you only sign a contract with a single carsharing operator, so you still have to make other arrange-

People in urban regions are increasingly switching from cars to bicycles, carsharing and public transport.”

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ments for your other journeys. Integration with other modes of transport should actually bring about an additional boost in demand.

Could a completely networked mobility system be described as one-stop shopping for mobile people?Yes, of course. Networked mobility means that various modes of transport can be optimally linked together via an integrated platform. If there are various alternatives on a journey from A to B and a mobility provider offers informa-tion and billing for all modes of transport from a single source, this allows users to optimize each of their journeys – in terms of speed, price or environmental impact – and to simply receive a total bill for their mobility costs at the end of the month. A modern smartphone could provide a conve-nient way of checking in for any journey.

In addition to smartphones, there are already various forms of smartcards that grant access to transport carri-ers and offer payment functions. Which method do you think will become dominant?The mobility card in its various guises of course offers an alternative to the smartphone app, and both systems will continue to operate in parallel in the future, as they each have different strengths. Some systems can handle cashless payment, others are prepaid cards. Cards with an RFID chip can check me in and out automatically while remaining in my pocket the entire time. Some of these systems are still in the trial phase, others in full operation, but it is still too early to say whether one method will prevail in the end. High- performance databases for handling the data in real time are still a challenge at the moment. Besides, integrated mobility is above all a question of optimal planning.

Alongside the technology and the networked, multi-modal systems, is there also a demand for a new kind of mobility service?Absolutely. All the concepts described here also involve particular business models. For instance, strategies as to how an automaker or a public transport operator can develop into a provider of networked mobility, offering car-, bike- and ridesharing in real time from a single source. This raises the question as to whether it would make sense, under certain circumstances, to offer addi-tional mobility services such as rental bikes, reservations for parking or charging stations, and billing – and where new cooperation partners from sectors such as energy and IT would come into play. At Fraunhofer Institute for Systems and Innovation Research we are involved with


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developing such models of future mobility services. The technologies for equipment and software come from other Fraunhofer institutes or companies like Siemens.

Do policy-makers also play a role here?We are also active in advising policy-makers. Just recently we carried out a project on the economic aspects of sustain-able mobility for the European Parliament. This involved identifying the ten most important factors for sustainable transport – and these networked, multimodal mobility concepts belong to this category.

In concrete terms, what is currently lacking from the political side in terms of making networked mobility a reality? Our study also included relevant recommendations for stan-dardization in the exchange of data. This is a particular area where a stronger political framework is required. From my point of view, it’s important that access to these services and the information systems are standardized, allowing for roaming between various mobility integrators. This is some-thing policy-makers in Europe should be pushing through.

Pushing through normally also means providing finan-cial support.In some cases the legal regulations are more important. For example, the applicable parking laws represent a hur-dle for carsharing. The goal here shouldn’t be permanent subsidization.

So do you believe networked mobility has a chance of becoming the norm for us one day?From my point of view as an innovation researcher, we are currently still going through a very exciting trial phase, with innovative steps forward, new market ideas and pilot projects. Often this leads to the issue gaining a lot more momentum

and eventually becoming part of everyday life. I certainly believe this could happen for networked mobility. Indeed, it’s already apparent that one day you will be able to sign a contract with the mobility association of your choice, like you can with today’s mobile network operators, and then travel on the networks of other providers based on certain roaming conditions.

Dr. Schade, thank you very much for sharing your views. ■

Wolfgang Schade studied aeronautical engineering at the University of Stuttgart and industrial engineering at the University of Karlsruhe, where he gained his doctorate in 2004 with the thesis Strategic Sustain-ability Analysis of Transport Policies. He has worked as a freelance consultant in the field of computer-aided selling (CAS) and the development of knowledge-based CAS systems, and as a project manager at the Institute for Economic Policy and Economic Research, University of Karlsruhe (now KIT). Since 2005 he has worked at the Fraunhofer Institute for Systems and Innovation Research (ISI) in Karlsruhe, focusing primarily on the development and integrated evaluation of long-term political and economic strategies for the areas of transport, energy, climate, technology and employ-ment. In 2008 he was appointed Head of the Business Unit Transportation Systems.

Wolfgang Schade

Networked mobility means optimally linking together various modes of transport via an integrated platform.”

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The urban popu-

lation is grow-ing at an explo-

sive rate.

The clever

way from A to B.

How do I connect

nine points with four straight lines without lifting my

pen from the page?

Think

outside the box!

How do we

solve our infrastructure

problems?

A Intermodal mobility could be a solution.

BThe

direct connection

between two points is not always the

fastest.

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From A to B with smart connections

Urban transport 2.0

People in our mobile society prefer to sit in traffic jams than in the metro. Is intermodal travel perhaps too compli-cated, too inconvenient, too unreliable? The Integrated Mobility Platform from Siemens aims to change this. It will make it easier for operators to integrate various mobility services, and it will act as a catalyst for networked mobility across different operators.

15como 10 | May 2013 focus


This trend also has economic implications. “The conges-tion leads to enormous costs, as we lose relatively large sums of money through waiting times and additional fuel consumption.” Schmidt estimates that in Germany alone these costs amount to over €100 billion per year. Mean-while, the time factor is particularly relevant to companies in terms of keeping to schedules and making punctual deliv-eries. Residents are increasingly experiencing health prob-lems due to the harmful emissions, and their quality of life suffers greatly. This reduces the appeal of the cities affect-ed, and it weakens their economies and development pros-pects. So much for the problem – what about the solutions?

Expanding is one possibility. Wider roads, better connec-tions and new modes of transport such as metros and fast bus lines could absorb and channel the rising transport vol-ume. But only few urban regions have sufficient space avail-able for expansion. “Almost all large and very large cities are growing so quickly that infrastructure expansion is always a

Getting from A to B: first the point of departure and destination are entered into the smartphone,

like booking a plane or a train.

City toll zones such as in London and Stockholm can also help improve traffic flows. But for these zones to be effective, high-performing, networked public transportation systems and well-developed bike lanes need to be in place.

The urban transport bottleneck: the economic strength of cities is attracting an ever-greater number of resi-dents, as well as commuters from the surrounding

area. If the infrastructure is no longer able to handle the growing volume of private transport, bottlenecks start to appear. Over-reliance on car transport has serious limita-tions – you only have to look at the daily traffic jams, not only during peak commuter periods, and the time-consum-ing search for parking space in urban areas.

“This situation particularly brings to mind megacities like São Paulo and Beijing, whereas in Central Europe per-haps we don’t feel we are affected to the same extent,” says Nils Schmidt, Head of Road and City Mobility IT at Siemens Mobility and Logistics. “But this is a mistake. The lack of elasticity in the private transport that flows into cities like Hamburg, Stuttgart and Munich in the mornings is one of the early indications of a notorious overload situation: if anything at all interrupts the flow of traffic, some road con-struction for example, the result is congestion that is very difficult to clear, and can sometimes persist throughout the day. The infrastructure is simply not equipped to adequately cope with the volume of private transport.”

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game of catch-up, even when sufficient funds are available,” says Schmidt. “This also applies to plans to build new public transport infrastructure. Even in countries like China, which don’t have to contend with decade-long planning and approval processes like in Germany and elsewhere, we can already observe the same problem.” What’s more, transport experts recognize that extra traffic space almost inevitably induces additional traffic – car drivers very rarely switch to buses or trains on their own initiative. This raises the question as to whether public space for the purpose of expanding roads and parking is actually “an outdated kind of luxury.”

Optimizing the existing infrastructure certainly helps. Intelligent traffic and parking space routing systems, the introduction of a congestion charge or the decommission-ing of multi-lane approach roads in favor of new park & ride spaces on the outskirts can help to reduce inner-city traffic and route the remaining vehicles more effectively. Existing rail systems like subways and metros also need to absorb higher passenger numbers – and with the help of intelligent automation systems such as Trainguard MT it is possible to increase rail capacities considerably.

Automatic train control systems maintain constant contact with the vehicles via WLAN – this kind of system is called Communication-Based Train Control (CBTC). CBTC allows for shorter headways between trains using the moving block pro-cess (see como 06, April 2011, page 12). It optimizes train operation based on the characteristics of the line and controls the trains largely independently, even enabling driverless operation. As a result, the average headways can be reduced from around three minutes to 80 seconds with no risk to safety. This means the line can handle 50 percent more traf-fic and cut its energy consumption by up to 30 percent. How-ever, each of these measures taken in isolation only has a lim-ited effect. For one thing, the available infrastructure imposes limits, and for another, people used to the comfort of their own car have to actively make the decision to switch to an unfamiliar mode of transport. This rarely comes easily.

Integrating new and existing modes of transport to create a new, networked mobility concept – this is what farsighted transport experts are increasingly recommending as a way out of the congestion problem. “Today there is a broad consen-sus that, along with modernizing and optimizing the exist-ing infrastructure, networking various modes and systems

“The concept of integrated mobil-ity is based on the idea of net-working publicly accessible modes of transport together, without giving preference to one carrier over another.”

Personal choice: various routes, travel options and modes of transport are displayed. Journeys

can be optimized according to environmental and economic criteria.

Continued on page 24

A lot has changed since the first major train stations were erected in city centers, like stone monuments to modern technology. Life has sped up, people have

more individual travel habits, and natural resources have become more valuable. So what does the future hold for the train station?

The key word here is green. In Horrem, a district in the town of Kerpen, west of Cologne, Germany’s first Station-Green is currently being built – a prototype for a new kind of environmentally friendly train station. “Horrem is one of my favorite projects,” says Marc Ulrich, Head of the Design and Planning Unit of DB Station&Service, which makes him the most senior train station architect at Deutsche Bahn. “With the StationGreen program we are setting entirely new standards. The construction is virtually CO2 neutral – using local building resources, renewable energy and construction

materials – and the station operation is also climate neu-tral.” The photovoltaic installation will provide around 35,000 kilowatt hours of electricity per year, solar thermal energy takes care of warm water, geothermal energy pro-

Around a century ago train stations were regarded as cathedrals of modernity and signposts of progress – until cars arrived on the scene. Car-friendly cities and low-cost airlines meant that train stations were shunted to the sidings. Now a change of thinking is underway.

A fresh view of the train station

Cyclists and pedestrians, taxis and buses: the new StationGreen in Horrem will become a hub for all transport users.


We consider the train station the gateway to integrated mobility for everyone. It forms a crucial link in the mobility chain.”

Marc Ulrich, Architect, DB Station&Service

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vides heating, and the green roof helps with air-condition-ing in the building. Large windows and generous skylights allow plenty of daylight in and aid with orientation.

The StationGreen Horrem construction program is receiving funding via the EU project SusStation (Sustainable Stations: www.susstations.org/movie). Five infrastructure organi-zations from different countries are participating with construction projects – alongside Kerpen-Horrem these are Accrington Station in northwest England, the Antrim Integrated Transport Centre in Northern Ireland, Boulogne-sur-Mer in northern France, and the Central Station of Utrecht in the Netherlands.

“It’s not just about energy efficiency, accessibility and clear passenger guidance,” says Ulrich. “It’s equally impor-tant to make rail travel easier and more convenient.” To enable people to switch modes of transport more easily,

for example, park & ride spaces are provided next to the rapid-transit and regional train stations, the bus station has been moved adjacent to the train platform, and there are digi-tal displays showing the next train and bus departure times. Adjacent to the train station is a large bicycle station, and the new pedestrian bridge provides a path from the nearby schools to the station forecourt with no road crossings.

“We consider the train station as the gateway to inte-grated mobility for everyone,” says station architect Ulrich. “These days getting around doesn’t begin or end at the train station. Rather, it forms a crucial link in the mobility chain. That’s why we have to turn it into a hub for the various modes of transport: buses, rental or private cars, bicycles, taxis – and whatever the future might bring.” The planned completion date for this first train station of the future is the end of 2013.

Above: The pilot project StationGreen in Kerpen-Horrem represents a new generation of train station buildings.

Above left: Large windows let in plenty of light for a bright and friendly atmosphere.

Bottom left: A green rooftop, photovoltaic cells, geothermal power – the train station of the future is CO2 neutral.


Passing throughA history of travel culture: whether monumental constructions from the early years of rail, humble stops at isolated places, or steel and glass temples of mobility – every train station expresses the travel culture of its time.

Multimodal ticketing


of transport can lead to a significant improvement in the transport situation,” says Schmidt. “By giving peo-ple the opportunity to simply and conveniently switch between private cars, buses, trains, carsharing and rental bikes, we are facilitating intermodal mobility. As such, the benefits of private and public transport are combined.”

Everyone involved benefits from this kind of con-cept: passengers can flexibly choose their optimal method of travel, gaining genuine, individual added value in the form of time saved and a combined billing service. For the municipalities, “the networking of car parks, public transport and carsharing reduces the number of private cars on the roads, which prevents congestion and its economic implications, and mini-mizes harmful emissions.” But how is it actually possible to consistently network such varied transport services?

Integrated Mobility Platform: complete transport networking

The Integrated Mobility Platform (IMP), currently being devel-oped by Siemens, is the toolbox that makes it possible. This business-to-business platform makes it easier for service providers, for example, to extend their mobility services by adding compatible offers from various other providers and presenting passengers with a central, standardized interface for planning, booking and paying for their multimodal trav-el. Schmidt: “Users don’t have to book each mode of trans-port from A to B individually; they can take the journey as a whole and then personally optimize it according to environ-mental and economic criteria.” IMP gives cities and munici-

Getting the best price: users can take advantage of special prices or discounts, and book the entire journey right away.

Continued from page 17

Individual route planning

Reservations

Integrated Mobility Platform


People in our mobile soci-ety often prefer to sit in traffic jams than in the metro – intermodal travel is still not convenient enough. In the future the Integrated Mobility Plat-form will act as a catalyst for cross-provider, net-worked mobility.”

“

Intermodal ticket: a mobile ticketing application registers the various transport services, routes traveled and changes of class. Various ticketing systems can be integrated, from purely electronic tickets to smartcards.

Mobility as an association

The idea itself is nothing new, but it has never before been implemented so thoroughly. “Out of well over 700 transport companies in Germany, many have come together in region-al or national associations, offering transport services with standardized tickets at standardized prices,” says Schmidt. By way of example, the world’s first transport association was founded in Hamburg in 1965. Today it has extended beyond the city itself and comprises around 30 transport companies. Aside from sensible coordination of timetables, at the heart of such transport associations is end-to-end pricing: passengers buy a single ticket for their entire jour-ney and are still free to use several modes of transport.

Some transport associations are also already cooperating with carsharing or bicycle rental companies, parking lot oper-ators and other service providers. “The thinking is perfectly logical and consistent. But if you want to integrate a wide range of offers into a common service environment, allow-ing end customers to book and pay for them from one

palities new tools for practicing green transport manage-ment and getting the most out of their existing infrastructure capacities. The platform also minimizes the transaction costs for everyone involved – an important catalyst for cross- operator networked mobility.

This does not mean that Siemens starts managing the end customers. Instead, it brings together the expertise the company has amassed over decades at a new level. “For many years Siemens solutions have been used to increase efficiency in various cities and by numerous operators around the world. We are harnessing this knowledge for the platform, offering mobility providers the right tools and interfaces to enable them to put together their own individually tailored solution.”

Parking

Traffic information in real time

strong association will assume the role of a service provider; in other models the individual providers might stand side by side on equal terms. “This is quite a typical situation for a market in its infancy. But I am convinced that the participat-ing companies will come to an agreement very soon and quickly establish attractive business models to offer to their customers.”

Legal framework: Standardized framework agreements and support with mediating and designing these agree-ments between the mobility providers should also come under the scope of the IMP services.

An integrated distribution module allows all sales to be managed centrally and supports the standardization of business processes – for example, the sale of tickets and the management of subscriptions, customers and electronic fares. It also automates the flow of data from sales to billing and accounting. “Linking together all these available mod-ules intelligently brings about added value for the providers of mobility services in cities,” assures Schmidt.

source, you need more than just a powerful computer and a database.” The Integrated Mobility Platform being devel-oped by Siemens therefore supports the integration of cross-operator mobility services at various levels.

Technical integration: The IMP merges real-time data from various mobility providers and the transport manage-ment headquarters, forwards information and customer enquiries to them, and refines data from various sources. On this basis, the system generates travel data for the users, disruption reports and timetable changes, tickets for smart-phones and computers, and billing information. Schmidt: “Of course there will be a few tricky questions to work out with regard to interfaces, but overall the technical chal-lenges are manageable.”

Commercial integration: The IMP stores the conditions for roaming between the mobility providers – that is, the rules by which the services of a third-party operator are integrated into an application – and provides central sup-port for the billing processes between providers and recipi-ents of services.

“People are basically familiar with these processes from mobile network roaming,” says Schmidt. “More important are the actual business models. Who will introduce such a service, with whom is the end customer registered, who is earning money at what stage, what prices and price models are appropriate for the market?” Perhaps in some cases a

Always up to speed: during the journey the system provides updates in real time, for instance in case of construction

work or delays, and gives current recommendations for alternative travel routes.

The Integrated Mobility Platform connects pas-sengers, service provid-ers and cities’ traffic control centers. Tickets can be easily booked by smartphone. Customers are only charged for the services they actually consume.


The entire journey from your smartphone

Equally, users will soon come to appreciate the new conve-nience of such a system. Universal information and payment systems based on the IMP can offer travel planning, a conve-nient choice between different modes of transport, fare opti-mization and the option of alternative transport services in case of delays.

Using a smartphone or a computer, users first select their destination and are shown their individual recommended travel route. Smartphone apps or networked car assistance systems also give a clear picture of the traffic situation, dis-play sensible alternatives in case of accidents or delays, and recommend the best mode of transport based on personal preferences. A user’s travel plans can, for example, be opti-mized according to environmental criteria. Then an end-to-

end, cross-provider ticket can be booked right away, with seat reservations if required. A corresponding app then shows what flight or Intercity-Express seats are reserved or still available – while the operator is informed of the remain-ing train or flight capacity in real time.

During the entire journey, customers are actively in-formed about any disruptions, changes or alternative ser-vices according to their location, preferences and chosen destination. Changes can be made to bookings with just a few clicks. The Integrated Mobility Platform’s central billing process allows all the mobility services used to be calculated together. Mobile ticketing or card-based solutions such as Siemens eTicketing with Check-In/Check-Out or Be-In/Be-Out functions register the various transport services used, routes traveled and changes of class. Customers are only charged the cheapest fare option for the services they have actually used. Finally, they receive a single invoice – like the itemized bills usually issued by telecom providers.

“Data security is a very important issue throughout this process,” stresses Schmidt. “Using Germany’s very high secu rity standards, we have brought to market a solution with real-time data processing of travel routes and route-based billing. The route data is kept separate from the per-

Convenient billing: a centralized billing process working on the Integrated Mobility Platform collects the data related

to all mobility services used. The passenger receives a single bill for all these services.



sonal data for a very long time, and only brought together when calculating the service provider’s invoice. Certain security risks, which could lead to a passenger’s movements becoming transparent, do not come into play here at all.”

IMP – a tool for modern mobility

The Integrated Mobility Platform can therefore form the basis of intermodal transport services, bringing clear benefits at every level. Customers get convenient, multimodal travel, transparent travel information in real time, and a larger range of mobility services with attractive pricing thanks to the cooperation of several operators, all of which makes this method of travel a real alternative to the private car. Mean-while, mobility providers can make their overall transport service more attractive, remove access hurdles and gain new passengers – even those accustomed to the conve-nience of their own car. For the individual operators, the automatic recording of routes and times brings about greater transparency with regard to passenger numbers, preferred travel times and capacity utilization of individual routes.

Ultimately the cities benefit too. Universal, environment-conscious transport management combined with an inter-modal mobility service gives municipalities an effective tool for guiding traffic, offers residents an attractive way of plan-ning their journeys, improves the capacity utilization of the infrastructure, and helps to take control of emission levels. The more cars that are left at home in the future, the more the city will regain its appeal as an attractive place to live and work. ■

A

B

The solutionMany attempts at the nine-point prob-lem fail because the lines do not extend beyond the square formed by the points. Only when this self-imposed restriction is abandoned does a solution emerge. It is a matter of thinking outside the box.

B

The Integrated Mobility Platform –the key to networked mobility

City / Public Authorities

Optimized utilization of transport infrastructure

Compliance with emission regulations

Communication with the traveling public

Increased control of traffic management

Information about transport needs

Attractive city

Mobility Providers

Cost reduction

Value-added services

Additional sales channels through partners

Increase in revenue

Improved utilization

Better understanding of customers

Travelers

Convenient multimodal travel

Stress-free switching from one mode to another

Transparent traveling information

Customized individual mobility packages

Greater choice of mobility offerings

Attractive prices and bonus programs


Smart traction powerIn our modern world you cannot get far without electrical energy. It is therefore crucial to have a stable electricity supply that can provide the amount of energy currently required as precisely as possible, any time of the day or night.


In the past providing electricity was relatively simple: consumer demand on the public grid could be predicted very accurately using statistics, and the output of the

numerous large-scale power plants could be set accordingly. However, the proportion of electricity from renewable sources like solar thermal, photovoltaic, wind and biogas power plants is rising all the time. From 2011 to 2012 alone the proportion of green energy in Germany’s total electricity mix increased from 20.3 percent to around 23 percent – and by 2030 it is expected to contribute half the total.

As much as it makes sense to include regenerative sources of energy, the large fluctuation, particularly when generat-ing electricity from the wind and the sun, can no longer be predicted with the required level of accuracy using conven-tional methods. In addition, a greater number of smaller, decentralized power plants are expected to take over deliv-ery of this electricity from large-scale, centralized plants. These smaller plants will be feeding their energy directly into the medium- or low-voltage grid – in a sense at the wrong end of the supply chain. In this way, the conventional electricity grid can easily come up against its limits of sta-bility. That’s why there’s a need for complex regulatory mechanisms to regulate the load, maintain the voltage of the distribution grid and preserve grid stability.

Smart grid: wired intelligence

The logical consequence is to set up an intelligent electricity network, a smart grid, where electricity producers and con-sumers are connected. Using powerful information and communication technology the entire system can be con-trolled. Producer and consumer components communicate via energy information networks and systems, exchange certain status data and enable very fast, automatic output adjustments. In this way, electricity supply and demand can be matched to one another directly – keeping the power grids stable.

The electricity mix has altered in a similar way in electric rail systems, for which many countries have built separate traction power grids. For Deutsche Bahn the proportion of renewable energy in the total electricity consumed is cur-rently around 25 percent; for the Austrian operator ÖBB it is a massive 92 percent. In Switzerland the proportion is similar to Austria, and 80 percent of this green energy comes from SSB’s own hydroelectric power plants.

Another factor to consider is energy being fed back into the grid via electric braking systems, a principle known as recuperation. Recuperation brakes were used in certain cases as early as the 1920s, but today they have almost become standard on new vehicles. Whereas trams can nor-mally store the recovered electrical energy in accumulators or capacitors on board, the braking energy from trains is usually fed back into the electricity grid via the contact wire. However, this means that load management requirements become more complex as the number of locomotives and multiple unit trains feeding braking energy back into the grid increases.

Public grids and traction grids merge

In order to compensate for regional fluctuation, for example through renewable energy being fed in, the traction power grid and the public grid are connected together at certain points. However, public grids normally use three-phase alter-nating current at a frequency of 50 Hz, whereas the traction power grid in Germany, Austria and Switzerland uses single-phase alternating current at 16.7 Hz. So for electricity to flow from one grid into the other, it has to be adjusted using mechanical converters or electronic inverters.

Siemens has developed multilevel traction converters with intelligent control technology for this purpose. The multilevel converter technology employs several power transistor components and capacitors that are connected in series and supply the required output in small voltage steps. Compared with previously available systems, this process reduces power loss by around 10 percent – and facilitates smart grid integration.

These are key benefits in terms of grid stability and secu-rity of supply. In Sweden and Switzerland these systems will be used to reinforce the traction power grids by coupling them with the public grid. In fall 2014 the Austrian rail oper-ator ÖBB will commission a Sitras SFC multilevel direct con-verter with grid coupling on the site of the Uttendorf hydro-


Smart grid: the electricity networks operate together intelligently.

electric power station in Stubach Valley, in the Pinzgau region, to boost the efficiency of its traction power supply. The converter and grid coupling also link the ÖBB grid via six existing connection points to the power company Aus-trian Power Grid. The ÖBB’s Tauernmoos pumped-storage power plant, due to go into operation in the Stubach Valley in 2018, will also be connected to the traction power grid via this converter. The converter is capable of converting 16.7 Hz power into 50 Hz and vice versa.

Ultimately, these kinds of intelligent components make it possible to establish an extensive smart grid that can reli-ably manage the increasing proportion of electricity from renewable sources. They therefore contribute to the vital goals of ensuring a secure power supply and trouble-free rail operation. ■

Tauernmoos 130 MW power plant 50 Hz traction power

Schwarzenbach substation

6 exchange points

110/380 kV

Uttendorf 48 MW

static converter

50 Hz installations16.7 Hz installationsSolid line = new installationsDotted line = existing installations

18 km 110 kV cable

Tauernmoos-See

Weißsee

Schneiderau36 MW power plant Uttendorf

93 MW power plant

ÖBB grid110 kV/16.7 Hz

Public grid380 kV/50 Hz

Enzingerboden80 MW power plant

5016.7

Hydropower in Stubach Valley: electronic inverters adjust electricity so that it can be fed into the grid.

International: Siemens has also installed electronic inverters for rail in Sweden and Switzerland.

32

It may sound obvious, but an airport’s performance largely depends on the maximum number of takeoffs and

landings that can be completed. The associated tasks are highly complex. The flight schedule and all other pro-cesses such as refueling, baggage load-ing and boarding must be finely tuned with one another. Passport and securi-ty checks must be sufficiently staffed; parking positions and catering deliver-ies need coordinating. Although all these plans come together at airport headquarters, they have to be imple-mented by the managers of the rele-vant service providers at their own headquarters – and unfortunately, not everything goes according to plan in the real world. Sudden show-ers of snow or sleet calling for time-consuming countermeasures, a pas-senger who has checked in baggage but doesn’t show up for the flight, or an unexpected absence of flight person-nel can upset meticulous flight plan-

ning over an extended period. This is where operational managers have to draw up alternative plans and coor-dinate with one another, all of which takes time. The result is delayed take-off – which also impacts the destina-tion airport.

The Performance Review Report from Eurocontrol, the European Organ-isation for the Safety of Air Naviga-tion, reveals that in 2011 18 percent of all European flights were delayed by over 15 minutes, resulting in costs of around €1.5 billion. What’s more, in spite of the current eco-nomic turmoil, demand for air transport may continue to grow by 5 percent a year, which will make it even more crucial to make better use of the available resources at airports and opti-mize airport processes. Intelli-gent IT solutions play a key role here. This is why Siemens led a research project to

Keeping to planEvery frequent flyer knows the situation: all passengers gather punctually at the gate ready to board – and then some little hitch causes a delay. Optimized airport management can minimize the consequences.

✈

✈

move como 10 | May 2013

33

develop the Total Airport Manage-ment Suite (TAMS). The project was funded by the German Federal Min-istry of Economics and Technology and involved cooperation with the industrial partners Barco- Orthogon, Inform and Atrics,

the German Aerospace Center (DLR), and Stuttgart Airport.

“The basic idea is rela-tively simple,” says Dr. Christoph Meier, who is

responsible for airport IT at Siemens Mobility and Logistics. “TAMS func-tions like an interface that brings together all the electronic

information from airport opera-tions.” TAMS integrates all the subsys-tems of air- and land-

side airport processes into one central control center. It visualizes all the facts relevant to airport operators, air traffic control, airlines, ground han-dling services and security authorities. It also calculates forecasts, and pro-vides alternative and optimization suggestions for managers who now carry out their work together at the control center. Meier: “The more infor-mation these managers have, the more quickly and efficiently a problem can be solved.”

Current operational processes, framework conditions such as clo-sures of terminal areas, expected weather conditions and forecasts of ongoing operations are displayed on a large video wall, on PC screens and on smartphones. As such, any prob-lems that arise can be detected in advance. The people in charge receive recommendations for the best possi-ble course of action, adjusted to fit within the system as a whole. Typical situations, such as a passenger who checks in baggage and doesn’t show up for the flight, are already specified as routines that can be activated when required. So a shared overview of air-

port operations allows processes to be coordinated quickly and alternative plans put into place at an early stage.

This means processes at airports are becoming more efficient and cost- effective, as well as more environ-mentally friendly. “At airports that are working at their capacity limits, TAMS can bring about a 10 percent increase in air traffic movements per hour,” says Meier, citing simulations being carried out at the DLR in Braunsch-weig. TAMS can also reduce CO2 emis-sions, as the direct integration of air traffic control means that planes only have to taxi to their starting point when they are actually close to being given takeoff clearance. In this way, lines of planes with running motors, and therefore unnecessary kerosene consumption, can be significantly reduced. Not only that, but overall punctuality can be improved by up to 20 percent. For airlines, this presents a tangible economic advantage.

Münster-Osnabrück International Airport is already utilizing elements of the Siemens Airport Management and Operations Suite SIAMOS, the first TAMS-capable integration platform. ■

TAMS integrates air-side and land-side airport pro-cesses at a central control station.”

“TAMS suggests optimized solutions to operations managers.

There are all kinds of reasons for delays.

como 10 | May 2013 move

34 move como 10 | May 2013

New rail vehicles for international operation often have to complete a veritable marathon of approval procedures, since a separate operating license is required for each country. The whole process lasts many months – and often takes longer than planned. With the Vectron locomotive family, Siemens applied a new process for the first time, demonstrating that tomorrow’s approval procedures can be fast-tracked using the cross-acceptance and delta review processes.

Tested and approved

35

New cars require one, so do new planes – and trains as well, of course. With-

out a type approval and operat-ing license, locomotives, trains and trainsets are not allowed out onto the track. Yet there is a cru-cial difference. Air and road vehi-cles, having been approved for operation, can travel across bor-ders and be flown or driven all over the world without complica-tions. For rail transport it’s another story altogether.

Particularly in Europe, national rail systems are in place that have been built up historically. Cross-border rail transport is compli-cated through diverse technical standards: different track widths, various direct or alternating cur-rent systems using distinct volt-ages, numerous incompatible train-safety systems ... the list goes on. For this reason, just a few years ago it was normal to switch locomotives at border train stations.


there will be no way around national testing and approval procedures for the foreseeable future. “For us as a manu-facturer that brings rail vehicles to market internationally, each certification for a different country is another obstacle course to negotiate,” says Mahr. “Unfortunately, the approval procedures of the relevant authorities are often extremely complex and take a huge amount of time – it’s very difficult to predict how long, actually.”

That’s why Siemens has joined forces with other manu-facturers to campaign for international harmonization of the authorities’ requirements. Cross-acceptance is the name of the process in which approval authorities recognize the test-ing certificates of other countries in cases where the nation-al testing criteria share the same key points. “The goal of cross-acceptance is to simplify future approval procedures and thus ultimately cut delivery times,” says Mahr. This prin-ciple avoids the unnecessary repetition of tests while main-taining the same level of test reliability.

There are already agreements of this kind in place between several European states: Germany and France accept certain certificates from the other country; there is some cross-accep-tance between Germany, Austria, Switzerland, Italy and the Netherlands; and also between Belgium, the Netherlands, France and Luxembourg. “There is further potential for optimi-zation by distributing the approval process between several countries. This involves a prior agreement about which national authority is responsible for which areas of testing. The others commit to recognizing the determined scope of these tests. The ideal result is that approval can be granted in several countries almost at the same time.”

By contrast, modern locomotives and multiple unit trains for cross-border connections have multi-system capability, which means they can cross the borders into certain coun-tries and rail systems, depending on how they are equipped technically. Multi-system trains for use in Germany and France, for example, can handle the German rail safety sys-tems PZB for conventional routes and LZB for high-speed routes, plus the two French systems KVB and TVM. These trains are also equipped with the new European Train Con-trol System (ETCS), which is gradually being installed on key international routes and will eventually replace the national rail safety systems as a Europe-wide solution.

EU aims for standardized criteria

The ETCS is not the only standardization project of the European Union. “The definition of technical specifications for interoperability (TSI) in rail transport should also bring about greater clarity in the future,” explains Winfried Mahr, Head of Locomotive Approval at Siemens Rail Systems. The TSI functions as technical regulations of a legal nature, deter-mining the criteria for an interoperable rail system – from infrastructure and power supply, vehicle specifications and signaling to maintenance and operation. Mahr: “TSI certifi-cation is a kind of basic approval that is automatically valid throughout the EU.”

Unfortunately, many technical requirements of rail vehicles are not covered by the TSI. The numerous specific national features still remain – even regulations for braking systems and fire protection, crash safety and air-conditioning sys-tems can vary from country to country. This means that

36 move como 10 | May 2013

The modular approach of the Vectron concept helps optimize the approval procedure.”

Track tests are part of the approval procedure.

“

37

Vectron family: modular design, modular approval

The practical benefits of this process are demonstrated by the complex and very diverse Vectron locomotive family. It includes DC versions for direct current traction grids at volt-ages of 1.5 kV and 3 kV, AC locomotives for alternating cur-rent grids at 15 kV and a frequency of 16.7 Hz or 25 kV and 50 Hz, plus multi-system locomotives with several national packages and a diesel-electric version. Additional versions are equipped for the different track widths and various drive powers used in European countries.

Of course, this diversity is only possible because the Vectron family is designed as a modular platform – a kind of locomotive construction kit. “There’s a specific position where every module and every system is installed,” explains Mahr. “If this module is not required, its position is simply left free – for instance a direct current locomotive that has no need for alternating current equipment. Connections and cable harnesses are installed all the same. That means a Vectron locomotive can easily be modified or fitted with additional equipment packages for other countries if its area of operation changes at some point in time.”

The modular approach means the approval procedure can also be optimized. “The usual method involves submitting each locomotive as a whole for approval, then applying for a new certificate for each modified version. But with the Vectron plat-form we initially submit a fully equipped, multi-system loco-motive for approval – that is, a version that already has traction current and train safety modules for most European countries

installed,” explains Mahr. “By leaving out or deactivating certain modules, we can show that this has no repercussions and the remaining systems continue to function flawlessly.”

Perfect distribution of labor: cross-acceptance and delta review

This new, top-down testing procedure offers multiple bene-fits: once the different module combinations have been proven free of repercussions, the approval for the fully equipped model is also automatically valid for all “slim line” versions with less equipment installed. In turn, any subse-quently required equipment modules can be certified more easily at a later date via delta reviews – only the new com-ponents have to be assessed. Finally, the international cross-acceptance agreements described above enable certain testing work to be distributed between the relevant national authorities. The certification agencies work in parallel and then accept the certificates issued by the other test insti-tutes for full national approval.

In spite of this, it was around two years in total before the first important national approvals were granted for the Vectron locomotive, which has been newly developed from scratch. By current standards that’s a relatively short period, as Mahr summarizes: “This shows that there is still a lot of work to do in order to get new vehicles out onto the track more quickly and simply in the future. One way of achieving this is to push ahead with the harmonization at the European level. This measure alone offers great potential for improvement.” ■


Modern locomotives and trainsets can easily cross borders.

38 connect como 10 | May 2013

The battery line

T he red and white city buses roll almost silently through the Hofburg Palace complex, their sound barely notice-able beneath the clip-clop of horse-drawn carriages.

These innovative electric buses, drawing their entire energy for operation, heating and air conditioning from their on-board batteries, silently make their rounds of the Austrian capital.

This is made possible by a new operational concept devel-oped by Siemens for the transit company Wiener Linien and implemented in collaboration with the Italian bus manufac-turer Rampini. For this series of twelve compact, versatile midibuses, no cables are required; the batteries are charged via rooftop current collectors. And rather than drawing pow-er during operation on the roads, the buses recharge over-night at the depot and during short daytime waiting periods at the end station.

Innovative technology for efficient urban transport

At the heart of this innovative bus technology is a water-cooled electric drive motor – a three-phase motor with approximately 90 percent efficiency. This is a clear improve-ment over conventional diesel motors, which only manage around 25 percent efficiency. The motor rating of 85 kW (around 115 hp) may appear relatively low at first glance. For city operation, however, this is more than sufficient, since electric motors – unlike combustion motors – can deliver their full power even from a standstill.

To store the required energy, each bus has nine batteries of high-performance, lithium-ferrite cells. These batteries, which boast a total capacity of 96 kilowatt hours, are the

City buses are already seen as a green mode of transport. But that’s clearly not enough for Vienna’s public transit company “Wiener Linien”: since fall 2012 it has been operating the first bus line using vehicles powered entirely by batteries.

most efficient accumulators currently available for this purpose. Three batteries are installed toward the front of the roof, five in the rear and one under the bus in place of the diesel tank.

The connection to the power supply of Vienna’s tram network is provided by permanently installed sections of contact wire and special rooftop current collectors, which can be raised at the push of a button when the bus is parked. The bus batteries are charged overnight at the depot with enough energy to drive 150 kilometers. So with around 8 kilometers from the depot to the first stop, and a route of roughly 7 kilometers, the buses can operate all day on a single charge. To preserve the lifetime of the battery cells, however, the buses are connected to the electricity grid for 10 to 15 minutes each time they reach the end station.

Even during a journey the regenerative braking system of the electric buses keeps topping up the batteries. As soon as the driver releases the gas pedal the energy recuperation system is activated and the electric motor acts as an electric generator brake. When the brake is first activated the recu-peration effect is increased, and the mechanical disc brakes bring the vehicle safely to a standstill. Naturally, alongside the electronically controlled braking, Vienna’s electric buses are equipped with other technical safety and assistance systems such as an anti-blocking braking system, anti-slip control, electronic stability control and starting prevention for when a door is open.

Low cost, high comfort

One advantage is that many components have already been tried and tested in daily operation – the Siemens engineers were even able to design the bipolar rooftop current collec-tors using mainly series-production components. This makes most service tasks easier for Wiener Linien to carry out with their own personnel. In general terms, the maintenance requirement of electric vehicles is lower than that of vehi-cles with a combustion engine. And since their energy requirement is considerably smaller, the bottom-line oper-ating costs remain remarkably low.

The versatile low-floor buses of inner-city line 2A are perfect for passengers: running past major museums and right through the Hofburg Palace complex, the buses oper-ate quietly and emission free. All the while they offer the high level of comfort that public transport users in Vienna have come to expect.

Wiener Linien has already received the first environmen-tal award for its operational concept (see info box). Much more importantly, the new electric buses have immediately proven themselves in daily operation. Now the transit com-pany is taking the next logical step: in summer 2013 the next battery-powered bus line will begin operation – and it may well not be the last. ■

With its new e-buses, Vienna is taking an important step into the future.”Renate Brauner, Vice Mayor, Executive City Councilor for Finance, Economic Affairs and Public Utilities

“ Award for operational conceptThe Forum for Transport and Logistics in Germany has presented Wiener Linien with the EBUS Award for its operational concept. The EBUS is an environmental prize for buses in public transport systems. The decisive factor for the award is the fact that the line is served exclusively with electric buses, which is a unique man-ner of implementation in Europe. Around 50 compa-nies in seven categories applied for the award.

To view all como issues published to date or to sign up for a free subscription, go towww.siemens.com/mobility/como.

como Facts, Trends and Stories on Integrated MobilityPublisher: Siemens AG · Infrastructure & Cities Sector · Mobility and Logistics Division, MunichRail Systems Division, BerlinSmart Grid Division, Nuremberg Editor: Stephan Allgöwer Siemens AG · Infrastructure & Cities Sector · Mobility and Logistics Division · CommunicationsEditing:Eberhard Buhl, www.presse-team.deEnglish translation: Paul Sabin, Alexander ChavezPhotographs: Thinkstock pp. 1, 19–22 · Corbis p. 8 · Deutsche Bahn / Station & Service p. 18 / 23 · Getty Images p. 26 left · istockphoto p. 29All other photos: Siemens AG Concept & layout: Agentur Feedback, Munichwww.agentur-feedback.dePrinting: Mediahaus Biering, MunichPrinted in GermanyCopyright: © Siemens AG 2013All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or used without express prior permission. Subject to technical modifications.The information in this document contains general descriptions of the technical possibilities. These may not apply in every case.www.siemens.com/[email protected] 2190-0329 FB como e 05|2013 161011 ZS05134.0Dispo No.: 21700 c4bs 7607Order No.: A19100-V901-B131-X-7600

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