SWISS manufacturer Stadler formally handed over the first of a new generation of metro trains to Berlin public transport operator BVG at a special ceremony at Berlin’s Olympia Stadium station on January 11.
A total of 12 of the JK series narrow-profile (2.4m-wide) vehicles will be supplied to BVG for testing on lines 1 to 4, before production starts on a total of 140 vehicles, configured as two-car and four-car sets.
The trains, which will run across BVG’s 750V dc third rail electrified network, are part of a much larger €3bn framework for both narrow- and large-profile trains agreed in 2020. The current order also includes 236 cars of the large-profile J series. Stadler says lessons learned during testing can be incorporated into the production vehicles.
The new trains include a number of innovations for Berlin metro trains, including wide door areas, super-flat interior passenger information screens, interior lighting levels that are adjusted automatically and passenger Wi-Fi.
“Over the past three-and-a-half years we have worked closely with Stadler in a difficult environment,” says Dr Rolf Erfurt, BVG’s board member responsible for operations. “I am therefore all the more pleased we can now present the first underground vehicle.”.
“Over the next few months, our experts will be putting the trains through their paces. The quality should and must be right before the first passengers board.” BVG has not yet specified when the new Stadler trains will enter passenger service.
The framework contract with Stadler includes the supply of up to 1500 narrow- and large-profile cars up to 2035, plus provision of spare parts over 32 years.
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