Bombardier

Source: http://www.railway-technology.com/

Image: The new trams, based on Bombardier's Flexity 2 design, will be operated on the 8km line in Hexi New City and the 9km line in Qilin Science and Technology Park in the east of Nanjing. Photo: courtesy of Bombardier

CSR Nanjing Puzhen Rolling Stock (CSR Puzhen), a partner of Bombardier, has secured a contract from the city of Nanjing in China to supply 15 catenary-free low-floor trams.

CSR Puzhen, a subsidiary of the China South Locomotive and Rolling Stock Corporation, will produce the new light rail vehicles at its Nanjing plant.

The new trams, which will be based on Bombardier's Flexity 2 design, will be operated on two lines in the city, including the 8km line in Hexi New City in the south-west of the city, and the 9km line in Qilin Science and Technology Park in the east.

Under the deal, Bombardier will be responsible for delivering the propulsion and control equipment, bogies and battery systems for the trams.

Bombardier is supporting the project under a ten-year technology license agreement signed in 2012 for CSR Puzhen to produce and sell low-floor trams based on Bombardier's technology in China, including Hong Kong and Macao.

"CSR Puzhen, a subsidiary of the China South Locomotive and Rolling Stock Corporation, will produce the new light rail vehicles at its Nanjing plant."

Each of the trams will be 32m long, 2.65m wide and equipped with two of Bombardier's new Primove lithium-ion batteries, which can be recharged during acceleration and stoppage and will help the Nanjing trams operate without overhead cables on 90% of the lines.

The new Flexity 2 trams will be equipped with Bombardier Mitrac 500 propulsion and control equipment, as well as Flexx Urban 3000 bogies.

Out of the 15 trams, eight will be used on the 13-station Hexi line while the remaining seven will be operated on the 9km Qilin line; the vehicles are scheduled to enter service in 2014.

The new order is CSR Puzhen's second low-floor LRV order in China and follows a contract secured with the city of Suzhou for 18 trams in January 2013.

Bombardier China president Jianwei Zhang said: "Following China's first publicly tendered 100% low-floor tram line in Suzhou city, for which Bombardier's partner CSR Puzhen supplies the vehicles, the Nanjing Hexi and Qilin projects are among the first steel-wheel tram lines adopting catenary-free power supply technology in China."