Flexity Swift
| Flexity Swift | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Manufacturer | Bombardier Transportation |
| Number built | "more than 1000"[1] |
| Specifications | |
| Articulations | 2 |
| Length | See tables |
| Width | See tables |
| Height | (?) |
| Weight | See tables |
| Maximum speed | 80 km/h (50 mph) |
| Steep gradient | (?) |
| Minimum turning radius | (?) |
| Gauge | 1,435 mm (4 ft 8 1⁄2 in) |
The Flexity Swift is a series of urban and inter-urban tram, light rail and light metro vehicles manufactured by Bombardier Transportation. It is part of Bombardier's Flexity family of rail vehicles, and like the others, Flexity Swift vehicles can be customized to suit the needs and requirements of customers including legacy designs from its acquisition of Adtranz.
Railly News reported that, by the end of 2015, more than 1000 Flexity Swift vehicles had been sold.[1]
Overview
Vehicles in the Flexity Swift family vary in length, but are all articulated, usually with three sections. In most cases, the centre section is very short, but can be replaced with a longer section in order to increase capacity, as London is considering doing for future lines. The trams can also be coupled together into trains. Nevertheless, they are all bi-directional with cabs at both ends and doors on both sides. An emphasis is placed on speed with units capable of safely reaching speeds of 80 km/h (50 mph) when running on dedicated lines.
Most vehicles typically weigh between 35 and 40 tonnes (34 and 39 long tons; 39 and 44 short tons), though the ones made for the Minneapolis line are heavier due to stricter crashworthiness requirements in the United States (particularly buff strength) and the vehicles in Rotterdam and Karlsruhe are also heavier due to their use on a full, high-capacity rapid transit network and on mainline railway tracks, respectively.
The Flexity Swift family comes in two distinct versions with a 70% low-floor version to allow access to those in wheelchairs without requiring the construction of high platforms in city streets and a high-floor version with level boarding at raised platforms, generally to retain compatibility with stations built for older trams or trains. While they typically use DC overhead lines for power collection, the Rotterdam vehicles are also equipped with third rail power capability for use on the central sections of the network, while the Karlsruhe tram-trains are compatible with AC electrification which is used on the mainline railways.
Both the low and high-floor models were originally developed for use on the Cologne Stadtbahn in Germany. Other uses of Flexity Swift vehicles include London Tramlink, Manchester Metrolink,[2] the tram networks in Istanbul and Melbourne, Rotterdam Metro, Karlsruhe Stadtbahn, Stockholm light rail lines 12 and 22, and the METRO Light Rail in Minneapolis-Saint Paul, Minnesota. The scrapped Merseytram plan for Liverpool in Merseyside planned to use the same model as London.
The Flexity Swift's closest competitors are Alstom's Citadis family (particularly the RegioCitadis, Citadis Dualis, and Citadis Spirit variants), Siemens's S70/Avanto, SD100/SD160, SD400/SD460 and S200, and Sirio from Ansaldobreda. Compared to Bombardier's other Flexity vehicles, these vehicles are not designed for streetcar operation with extensive mixed-traffic operations, although they do operate as such on a number of systems such as in London, Manchester, and Melbourne.
Technical specifications
Low-floor versions
| City | Operator | Image | Type designation | Built in | Number of vehicles |
Length m (ft) |
Width m (ft in) |
Weight (empty) t (LT; ST) |
Maximum power kW (hp) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Cologne, Germany | KVB |  | K4000 | 1995–1999, 2002 | 124 | 28.40 m (93.2 ft) | 2.65 m (8 ft 8 in) | 35.50 t (34.94 long tons; 39.13 short tons) | 4 x 120 kW (160 hp) |
 | K4500 | 2004–2007 | 69 | 28.50 m (93.5 ft) | 2.65 m (8 ft 8 in) | 37.40 t (36.81 long tons; 41.23 short tons) | 4 x 120 kW (160 hp) | ||
| Croydon (Tramlink) Greater London, United Kingdom | TfL |  | CR4000 | 1998–2000 | 24 | 30.10 m (98.8 ft) | 2.65 m (8 ft 8 in) | 36.30 t (35.73 long tons; 40.01 short tons) | 4 x 120 kW (160 hp) |
| Istanbul, Turkey | ITC |  | A32 | 2003 | 55 | 29.70 m (97.4 ft) | 2.65 m (8 ft 8 in) | 39.20 t (38.58 long tons; 43.21 short tons) | 4 x 120 kW (160 hp) |
| Karlsruhe, Germany | AVG and VBK |  | ET 2010 (Tram-train) | 2011-2013 | 30 | 37 m (121 ft) | 2.65 m (8 ft 8 in) | 62.5 t (61.5 long tons; 68.9 short tons) | 4 x 150 kW (200 hp) |
| Melbourne, Australia | Yarra Trams | _in_Bourke_St_on_route_96%2C_2013.JPG) | E | 2013-2018 | 50 (options for a further 100) | 33 m (108 ft) | 2.65 m (8 ft 8 in) | 6 x 85 kW (114 hp) | |
| Minneapolis, Minnesota (METRO Light Rail), USA | Metro Transit |  | Type 1 LRV | 2003–2007 | 27 | 28.65 m (94.0 ft) | 2.65 m (8 ft 8 in) | 48.50 t (47.73 long tons; 53.46 short tons) | |
| Porto, Portugal | Metro do Porto |  | Traintram | 2010 | 30 | 37.07 m (121.6 ft) | 2.65 m (8 ft 8 in) | ||
| RijnGouweLijn, Netherlands | NS |  | A32 | 1999–2003 | 6 (sold to Stockholm June 2010) | 29.70 m (97.4 ft) | 2.65 m (8 ft 8 in) | 37.50 t (36.91 long tons; 41.34 short tons) | 4 x 120 kW (160 hp) |
| Stockholm, Sweden | SL |  | A32 | 1999–2008 | 31, additionally 6 second hand | 29.70 m (97.4 ft) | 2.65 m (8 ft 8 in) | 37.50 t (36.91 long tons; 41.34 short tons) | 4 x 120 kW (160 hp) |
High-floor versions
| City | Operator | Image | Type designation | Built in | Number of vehicles | Length | Width | Weight (empty) | Maximum power |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bonn, Germany | SWB |  | K5000 | 2003 | 15 | 28.40 m | 2.65 m | 37.80 t | 4 x 120 kW |
| Bursa, Turkey | Bursaray | _in_4-fach-Traktion_in_Bursa.JPG) | U5-2010 Bursa | 2010 – 2011 | 30 | 28.00 m | 2.65 m | 38.00 t | 4 x 120 kW |
| Cologne, Germany | KVB |  | K5000 | 2002–2003 | 59 | 28.40 m | 2.65 m | 37.80 t | 4 x 120 kW |
| K5200 | 2010-2011 | 15 | 2.65 m | ||||||
| 2020-2021 | 20 | 28 m | 2.65 m | ||||||
| Düsseldorf, Germany | Rheinbahn | HF6 | 2017-2020 | 42 | 28 m | 2.65 m | |||
| Frankfurt am Main, Germany | VgF |  | U5-25 (Bi-directional) | 2008–2017 | 94 | 25.02 m | 2.65 m | 37.20 t | 4 x 130 kW |
| U5-50 (Uni-directional) | 2008–2017 | 130 | 24.764 m | 2.65 m | 36.15 t | 4 x 130 kW | |||
| İzmir, Turkey | İzmir Metro | MD | Ordered 2001 | 30 | 23.5 m | 2.65 m | 32.00 t | 4 x 75 kW | |
| M | Ordered 2001 | 15 | 23.5 m | 2.65 m | 4 x 75 kW | ||||
| Greater Manchester, England | Metrolink |  | M5000 | 2009 - 2017 | 120 | 28.40 m | 2.65 m | 39.70 t | 4 x 120 kW |
| Rotterdam, Netherlands | RET |  | MG2/1, SG2/1 | 1998 - 2002 | 81 | 30.50 m | 2.664 m | 44.20 t | 6 x 85 kW |
 | RSG3, SG3, HSG3 | 2007 - 2016 | 64 | 42.00 m | 2.664 m | 64.30 t | 8 x 130 kW |
References
- 1 2 "Bombardier to Supply Six Additional FLEXITY Swift Vehicles for Rotterdam". Railly News. 2015-12-23. Archived from the original on 2015-12-23.
To date more than 1,000 FLEXITY Swift light rail vehicles have been sold worldwide. About 5,000 Bombardier trams and LRVs are in revenue service or on order in Europe, Asia, Australia and North America.
- ↑ Light Rail Transport Association since the first on 25 June 2008.
External links
- Flexity official site
- About London's trams (unofficial)
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