Flexity Classic
Encyclopedia
Light rail
Light rail or light rail transit is a form of urban rail public transportation that generally has a lower capacity and lower speed than heavy rail and metro systems, but higher capacity and higher speed than traditional street-running tram systems...
tram
Tram
A tram is a passenger rail vehicle which runs on tracks along public urban streets and also sometimes on separate rights of way. It may also run between cities and/or towns , and/or partially grade separated even in the cities...
manufactured by Bombardier
Bombardier Transportation
Bombardier Transportation is the rail equipment division of the Canadian firm, Bombardier Inc. Bombardier Transportation is one of the world's largest companies in the rail-equipment manufacturing and servicing industry. Its headquarters are in Berlin, Germany....
. Although it is marketed as the most traditionally-designed member of the Flexity
Flexity
Flexity is the name given by Bombardier Transportation to most of the trams they manufacture. For specific information, see the following articles:...
family, it is nevertheless a modern bi-directional articulated tram with a low-floor section allowing improved accessibility, especially to passengers in wheelchair
Wheelchair
A wheelchair is a chair with wheels, designed to be a replacement for walking. The device comes in variations where it is propelled by motors or by the seated occupant turning the rear wheels by hand. Often there are handles behind the seat for someone else to do the pushing...
s. Flexity Classic runs on standard gauge
Standard gauge
The standard gauge is a widely-used track gauge . Approximately 60% of the world's existing railway lines are built to this gauge...
as well as metre gauge
Metre gauge
Metre gauge refers to narrow gauge railways and tramways with a track gauge of . In some African, American and Asian countries it is the main gauge. In Europe it has been used for local railways in France, Germany, and Belgium, most of which were closed down in mid 20th century. Only in Switzerland...
in Essen
Essen
- Origin of the name :In German-speaking countries, the name of the city Essen often causes confusion as to its origins, because it is commonly known as the German infinitive of the verb for the act of eating, and/or the German noun for food. Although scholars still dispute the interpretation of...
or 1450mm in Dresden
Dresden
Dresden is the capital city of the Free State of Saxony in Germany. It is situated in a valley on the River Elbe, near the Czech border. The Dresden conurbation is part of the Saxon Triangle metropolitan area....
.
It is used by a number of German
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
cities, Norrköping
Norrköping
Norrköping is a city in the province of Östergötland in eastern Sweden and the seat of Norrköping Municipality, Östergötland County. The city has a population of 87,247 inhabitants in 2010, out of a municipal total of 130,050, making it Sweden's tenth largest city and eighth largest...
and Stockholm
Stockholm
Stockholm is the capital and the largest city of Sweden and constitutes the most populated urban area in Scandinavia. Stockholm is the most populous city in Sweden, with a population of 851,155 in the municipality , 1.37 million in the urban area , and around 2.1 million in the metropolitan area...
, Sweden
Sweden
Sweden , officially the Kingdom of Sweden , is a Nordic country on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. Sweden borders with Norway and Finland and is connected to Denmark by a bridge-tunnel across the Öresund....
; in Kraków
Kraków
Kraków also Krakow, or Cracow , is the second largest and one of the oldest cities in Poland. Situated on the Vistula River in the Lesser Poland region, the city dates back to the 7th century. Kraków has traditionally been one of the leading centres of Polish academic, cultural, and artistic life...
and Gdańsk
Gdansk
Gdańsk is a Polish city on the Baltic coast, at the centre of the country's fourth-largest metropolitan area.The city lies on the southern edge of Gdańsk Bay , in a conurbation with the city of Gdynia, spa town of Sopot, and suburban communities, which together form a metropolitan area called the...
, Poland
Poland
Poland , officially the Republic of Poland , is a country in Central Europe bordered by Germany to the west; the Czech Republic and Slovakia to the south; Ukraine, Belarus and Lithuania to the east; and the Baltic Sea and Kaliningrad Oblast, a Russian exclave, to the north...
. Flexity Classics were chosen to replace heritage trams
Trams in Adelaide
Until 1958, Trams in Adelaide formed a network spanning most of suburban Adelaide, with a history dating back to 1878. Adelaide ran horse trams from 1878 to 1914 and electric trams from 1909, but has primarily relied on buses for public transport since 1958...
used on the Glenelg tramline
Glenelg Tram
The Glenelg Tram is a route from the centre of Adelaide, South Australia to the beach-side suburb of Glenelg. It is Adelaide's only remaining tramway, running at approximately 15-minute intervals, and is part of the integrated Adelaide Metro public transport network...
in Adelaide
Adelaide
Adelaide is the capital city of South Australia and the fifth-largest city in Australia. Adelaide has an estimated population of more than 1.2 million...
, Australia
Australia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
, as they are a proven design and have low maintenance requirements. This variant has vigilance control.
The Flexity Classic’s closest competitors are Alstom
Alstom
Alstom is a large multinational conglomerate which holds interests in the power generation and transport markets. According to the company website, in the years 2010-2011 Alstom had annual sales of over €20.9 billion, and employed more than 85,000 people in 70 countries. Alstom's headquarters are...
’s Citadis
Citadis
The Citadis is a low-floor tram built by Alstom in La Rochelle, France, and Barcelona, Spain. 1,140 Citadis are currently in use in 28 cities, among others: Bordeaux, Grenoble, Lyon, Montpellier, Orléans, the Paris area, and Barcelona, Dublin, Gdańsk, Katowice, Adelaide, Melbourne, Jerusalem and...
, the Combino
Combino
The Combino is a low floor tram produced by Siemens Transportation Systems . The first prototype was produced in 1996 at the Duewag works in Düsseldorf; the trams are currently made in Krefeld-Uerdingen. Because of its modular design using standardised components, and the resulting reduced costs,...
and Avanto
Avanto (tram)
The Siemens S70 or Avanto is a low-floor light rail vehicle or tram manufactured by Siemens AG. In the United States, Siemens refers to this model only as the S70, while the Avanto name is used in Europe....
from Siemens
Siemens AG
Siemens AG is a German multinational conglomerate company headquartered in Munich, Germany. It is the largest Europe-based electronics and electrical engineering company....
, and Bombardier's other Flexity trams.
Adelaide
TransAdelaide
TransAdelaide was a publicly owned corporation which provided suburban train and tram services in Adelaide, South Australia, under contract to the Government of South Australia....
now Public Transport Services (PTS) as part of DTEI began to replace the H class cars
H class Adelaide tram
The H class Adelaide tram have been the mainstay of the Glenelg tram line in South Australia for 75 years since the line was converted from railway to tramway operation and electrified in 1929...
operating on their Glenelg tramway
Glenelg Tram
The Glenelg Tram is a route from the centre of Adelaide, South Australia to the beach-side suburb of Glenelg. It is Adelaide's only remaining tramway, running at approximately 15-minute intervals, and is part of the integrated Adelaide Metro public transport network...
with a fleet of eleven Flexity Classic trams. The first of the new Flexitys was delivered to the Glengowrie depot in November 2005 and entered public service on 9 January 2006. Delivery continued in small batches through 2006, with new trams operating the Glenelg line side-by-side with the H-class in the interim.
The Flexitys are painted in a standard Adelaide Metro
Adelaide Metro
Adelaide Metro is the public transport system of the South Australian capital of Adelaide and the brand name of the Public Transport Division of the Department of Planning, Transport and Infrastructure. It is an intermodal system with services provided by bus, tram or commuter rail throughout the...
colour scheme of white, with yellow, blue and red ends, very similar to Adelaide’s metropolitan bus fleet, although many now run corporate advertising top-to-bottom on the sides and only have the "safety yellow" ends. They have a low floor layout throughout, except over the bogies, and are accessible to pushchairs and wheelchairs through each of the three sets of doors. The new cars have many features common in modern public transit vehicles which are absent on the H-class – for example, airconditioning, heating, recorded video surveillance and automated audio and visual announcements of the next stop. TransAdelaide continues to operate the Flexitys with roving conductors
Conductor (transportation)
A conductor is a member of a railway train's crew that is responsible for operational and safety duties that do not involve the actual operation of the train. The title of conductor is most associated with railway operations in North America, but the role of conductor is common to railways...
, although these are not now needed for safe operation of the cars.
Unlike the H-class, Flexitys cannot be coupled into two-car sets at busy times and always run as a single vehicle. The internal layout is designed to accommodate wheelchairs and large numbers of standing passengers. The relative lack of seating (compared to the H-class), together with other minor teething problems, resulted in some adverse comments from commuters and local media when the Flexitys first entered service.
The original unit 103 was destroyed during shipping. It is now held in storage at Transadelaide's Glengowrie depot storage for spare parts. Bombardier subsequently delivered a replacement 103, and this was the final tram currently to be delivered. 4 more units 112 to 115 are on order and will eventually enter service in a few years.
Specifications
| Flexity trams | |
|---|---|
| Track gauge Rail gauge Track gauge or rail gauge is the distance between the inner sides of the heads of the two load bearing rails that make up a single railway line. Sixty percent of the world's railways use a standard gauge of . Wider gauges are called broad gauge; smaller gauges, narrow gauge. Break-of-gauge refers... : |
(Standard gauge Standard gauge The standard gauge is a widely-used track gauge . Approximately 60% of the world's existing railway lines are built to this gauge... ) |
| Power source: | 600 V Volt The volt is the SI derived unit for electric potential, electric potential difference, and electromotive force. The volt is named in honor of the Italian physicist Alessandro Volta , who invented the voltaic pile, possibly the first chemical battery.- Definition :A single volt is defined as the... DC Direct current Direct current is the unidirectional flow of electric charge. Direct current is produced by such sources as batteries, thermocouples, solar cells, and commutator-type electric machines of the dynamo type. Direct current may flow in a conductor such as a wire, but can also flow through... overhead wire Overhead lines Overhead lines or overhead wires are used to transmit electrical energy to trams, trolleybuses or trains at a distance from the energy supply point... |
| Traction: | |
| Number in class: | 11 (on completion of current order) |
| Unit numbers: | 101 - 111 (103 destroyed during shipping. Replacement 103 is now in service) |
| Introduced: | 2006 |
| Built by: | Bombardier Transportation Bombardier Transportation Bombardier Transportation is the rail equipment division of the Canadian firm, Bombardier Inc. Bombardier Transportation is one of the world's largest companies in the rail-equipment manufacturing and servicing industry. Its headquarters are in Berlin, Germany.... , Bautzen Bautzen Bautzen is a hill-top town in eastern Saxony, Germany, and administrative centre of the eponymous district. It is located on the Spree River. As of 2008, its population is 41,161... , Germany Germany Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate... |
| Passenger seating capacity Seating capacity Seating capacity refers to the number of people who can be seated in a specific space, both in terms of the physical space available, and in terms of limitations set by law. Seating capacity can be used in the description of anything ranging from an automobile that seats two to a stadium that seats... : |
70 |
| Weight: | ? t Tonne The tonne, known as the metric ton in the US , often put pleonastically as "metric tonne" to avoid confusion with ton, is a metric system unit of mass equal to 1000 kilograms. The tonne is not an International System of Units unit, but is accepted for use with the SI... |
| Length: | 30m |
| Width: | 2.4m |
Dresden and Leipzig
Bombardier Transportation
Bombardier Transportation is the rail equipment division of the Canadian firm, Bombardier Inc. Bombardier Transportation is one of the world's largest companies in the rail-equipment manufacturing and servicing industry. Its headquarters are in Berlin, Germany....
in Bautzen
Bautzen
Bautzen is a hill-top town in eastern Saxony, Germany, and administrative centre of the eponymous district. It is located on the Spree River. As of 2008, its population is 41,161...
. It is 45 m long, runs on twelve axles and has a capacity of 260 passengers with 153 seats.
The Flexity Classic XXL (classification NGT D12DD) has, because of Dresden's altitude differences of 100 metres, a power-to-weight ratio
Power-to-weight ratio
Power-to-weight ratio is a calculation commonly applied to engines and mobile power sources to enable the comparison of one unit or design to another. Power-to-weight ratio is a measurement of actual performance of any engine or power sources...
of 112 kg/hp
Horsepower
Horsepower is the name of several units of measurement of power. The most common definitions equal between 735.5 and 750 watts.Horsepower was originally defined to compare the output of steam engines with the power of draft horses in continuous operation. The unit was widely adopted to measure the...
. The tram has been in service since 2003 and serves tram lines with a high peak load of passengers. The exterior is specially designed for the Dresden Transport Authority, which owns 32 trams.
The Flexity Classic XXL is also in service in Leipzig
Leipzig
Leipzig Leipzig has always been a trade city, situated during the time of the Holy Roman Empire at the intersection of the Via Regia and Via Imperii, two important trade routes. At one time, Leipzig was one of the major European centres of learning and culture in fields such as music and publishing...
, Germany
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
(classification NGT12-LEI) with the Leipzig Transport Authority (LVB). Although the exterior design is customized, the tram offers the same capacity. It has been in service since 2005. This series of 24 trams is still in production. The LVB first ordered 12 trams of this type, but exercised an option for another 12 trams in September 2005.