como complete mobility – facts, trends, stories

8/14/2019 COMO Complete mobility – Facts, Trends, Stories

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comoSIssue 1/2008 I www.siemens.com/mobility

Complete mobility – Facts, Trends, Stories

Intelligent, networked, greenSolutions for future mobility



2 welcome como 1/2008

Take a moment to imagine abusi ness trip in the near future: You make your booking fromthe comfort of your home com-puter, the optimized rail andair itinerary is displayed on -screen. You select with a clickof the mouse, and seconds lateryour cell phone shows yourticket confirmation – you’reready to go.

The traffic-guidance systemreliably calculates the fastestroute to the nearest mass-tran-sit station. The departure timeof the metro is shown on thecell phone’s display. The automated metro system providesfor extremely short cycle times of the metro lines to the air-port or central train station. Since a dense high-speed railnetwork has been established for medium-distance routesof up to 800 kilometers, an increasing number of passen-gers travel by train instead of plane. This is despite the factthat air travel times have been reduced, as long lines nolonger form at the check-in and passport control points.Since the introduction of scanners, passengers are automat-ically identified at the entrance to the gate area and this datais checked against their cell-phone ticket. The rental car atthe destination can be unlocked and started by fingerprint,and the route to the hotel is already programmed in the nav-igation system. If the traffic gets too heavy, the GPS comes up

with a suggested alternative routeon its own. From door to door,your journey time is half what itused to be.

Is this an illusion, or someone’sbold vision for the future? Not atall! All these systems already existtoday. Route planners, onlinebooking, traffic guidance and passenger information systems wereinvented long ago. Metros runautomatically, and trains such asthe Velaro in Spain run at speedsof more than 400 kilometers anhour. Electronic tickets and 3-Dface and fingerprint scanners

are currently being tested or are already in use. Navigationsystems are available even for small cars. Furthermore, thedevelopment of electronic clearing systems has made sub-stantial progress in recent years. Splitting the prices of com-bined tickets among multiple transport companies is nolonger a problem. Everything is in place – what is still miss-ing is the integration into an overall system.

Megatrends, including rapid urbanization, the increas-ing number of large cities with more than ten millioninhabitants, imminent climate change and increasinglyaging populations, are posing new problems. Social, eco-nomic and ecological issues are too closely intertwined tobe tackled using traditional means. Quick and intelligentsolutions are required – as well as high-performance t rans-

Dear Readers,



3como 1/2008 welcome

port systems that are also envi-ronmentally sound.

Technical innovations, suchas those developed by Siemensover the past 160 years, canshow ways of achieving this. Noother company in the worldoffers such a wide spectrum of mobility solutions for so manydifferent fields, or such highlydeveloped expertise in combin-ing different transport systemsinto a new, user-oriented com-plete solution. And mobility isnot limited to allowing peopleto travel individually in comfort:future-oriented transport and logistics concepts for goodsand baggage are integral parts too, as is postal automation.

It is time to coordinate the many individual solutionsintelligently, so that every transportation system can play toits own strengths. The rejection of individual modes of transport, whether for ideological or political reasons, willnot move us forward. Each means of transport, includingtrains, automobiles, planes and ships, has its specificstrengths, and they must be combined seamlessly so as tocomplement each other perfectly. I am firmly convinced thatthis is the only way to meet the challenges of the future.When it comes down to it, the integrated whole is moreeffective than the sum of the individual systems. This is why,here at Siemens, we are working on complete, integrated

and intermodal mobility solu-tions – this is what we call “Com-plete mobility.”

Our new corporate structureopens up the channels we need:the Mobility Division has nowbrought together highly devel-oped expertise in rail transporta-tion, intelligent traffic manage-ment and specialized logisticssolutions, all under one roof. Theway that concepts, ideas andproducts can actually be trans-formed into “Complete mobility”will be the subject of the newcomo magazine, the first issue of

which you are holding right now. Have a quick read – I’msure that we will capture your interest.

Yours sincerely,

Dr. Hans-Jörg GrundmannCEO Mobility Division

“One of the greatest

challenges in thecoming decadeswill be to ensurethe mobility of

people and goodswithout puttingundue strain on

the environment.



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contents



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horizon

28 Pulling powerFrom the Arctic Sea to the Bosporus withoutchanging locomotive: that’s the Eurosprinter

30 Green’s the answerWhere the frog croaks: environmentallysound mobility technology

move

34 Hand in handBoth giving their all: the efficiencyof public-private partnerships

38 VIB serviceFree movement in the Free State:the Bavarian Traffic Data Agencykeeps things flowing

connect

6 The bigger pictureMegacities and holistic solutions:an interview with Prof. George Hazel

10 Character studyThere are many paths out of the chaos:how metropolises will survive

12 Making wavesThe future of logistics is flat and hasfour letters: RFID

14 The wiser combination A city gets tough: London as a modelfor “Complete mobility”

18 Total overview“Complete mobility” on a single photo:on the way to the perfect shot

27 The Rolling StocksChart-toppers five years running:Desiro UK multiple units

focus



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Megacity challenges:Comprehensive solutions

Anew era has begun, almost unnoticed: for thefirst time in the history of mankind, morepeople are living in cities than in the rural

areas. In the meantime, there are between five andthirty million residents in the world’s largestmegacities and their economic power is oftengreater than that of many countries represented atthe United Nations Security Council.

At the outset of this new era of urbanization, itbecomes clear that megacities will be the core of anincreasingly interlinked, global economy. Thisdevelopment provides major business opportuni-ties, but also new challenges: megacities are likedynamic organisms with increasing complexity, themechanisms of which are little understood.

What are the challenges that lie ahead? Whatinfrastructure is required to cope with them? In his“Megacity Challenges” report promoted bySiemens, Professor George Hazel, Managing Direc-tor of the Scottish consultancy MRC McLean Hazel,outlines the major points.

como: Professor Hazel, as an engineer and expertin transportation, you have undertaken severalgroundbreaking studies on different means of transportation. What is the core message of yourmegacity report?Hazel: The report mainly focuses on the infrastruc-ture of megacities. For this study, we surveyed 525city leaders, i.e. politicians and decision makers inthe cities, and developed a theory of governancebased on the triangle of success outlined in thereport. The three sides of the triangle stand forquality of life, economic prosperity and environ-mental protection, with governance at the center of the triangle. Governance needs to balance thesethree aspects in order to ensure that they interactsmoothly and maximize the benefits to the city.

como: Why are megacities the focus of interest?Hazel: Megacities are considered to be the gate-ways to globalization and hubs for persons, goods,knowledge and money. The world’s ten most eco-nomically powerful megacities are already gener-ating one-fifth of the global gross domestic prod-uct (GDP). Also at the national level, megacitiesaccount for a disproportionately high share of theeconomic growth. According to a study by theMunich Re Group, Tokyo accounts for 28 percent of the Japanese population, but produces 40 percentof the national GDP. Almost the same is true forParis, where 16 percent of the French populationgenerates 30 percent of the country’s GDP. Nigeria’s

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The future belongs to cities – the city regions to be precise. In the future,people and business will need a new approach to transport systems in city

regions to allow them to fulfill their needs. These systems will have to beuser focussed, seamless and valued – in other words providing “Completemobility.” In an interview, we talk about this topic with Professor GeorgeHazel, Managing Director of the Scottish consultancy MRC McLean Hazel.




former capital, Lagos, provides living space foronly eight percent of the country’s population, butproduces 30 percent of its income. In the OECDcountries, many population centers achieve growthrates far above the average of their country.

como: Does this mean that megacities are the life-lines of their regions and nations?Hazel: Considering their major contribution tothe country’s national economy, the global com-petitiveness of these metropolitan areas is partic-ularly significant. To attract investors, these citiesrequire modern and efficient infrastructures. Thetransport system is paramount and megacitymayors show great interest in the modernizationof congested road and railway networks, shippingports and airports. Transportation was voted theNo.1 issue in the survey.

como: In your study, you emphasize the impor-tance of the transportation infrastructure. Whatare the reasons for this?Hazel: Optimized logistics have always been acore prerequisite for the development of civiliza-tions. The power of the Roman Empire, for exam-ple, relied mainly on an excellent road network.Transportation already played a vital role in those

days. In our modern world, transportation from Ato B is even more important, especially in ourglobal economy. The decision makers interviewedfor the survey have also pointed out that trans-port networks are an essential economic factor:27 percent of these decision makers consideredtransportation to be the most important infra-structure criteria for investors, ranking wellahead of security, which takes second place withnine percent.

Megacities are the motors of the world economy –today and will be even more so in the future. It isthe transport infrastructure that keeps thesemotors running. Since passengers and freight haveto be transported to the places where they areneeded, infrastructure is essential for the competi-tiveness of megacity regions. Furthermore, crowd-ed trains and pollution caused by traffic representparticular burdens for cosmopolitan and denselypopulated megacities.

como: In your study, you describe the end of theparadigms of individual means of transportation.

What does this mean, in particular for the differ-ent systems – and of course for the population?Hazel: In summary, this means that not one modeof transportation is dominant anymore, but all

The focus will beon refurbishingand extending infra-structure, and newelements must com-plement existingones intelligently.

“




Megacity challenges in short• Metropolitan regions are the lifelines of a country’s

national economy. Furthermore, their global competi-tiveness is a core factor that will continue to gainin importance.

• The decision makers of city governments considerthe transport system to be by far the most importantinfrastructural challenge and thus a key factor for

a city’s competitive strength.• Governance lacking in efficiency and short-term plan-ning is singled out as a major problem.

• Since air pollution and congested roads are the twomajor ecological challenges, urban decision makersexpect the increased utilization of public mass-transitsolutions in the future.

• Cities mainly focus on the improvement of theirexisting infrastructure and – for reasons of costs –are less prepared to introduce new transportationsystems. New systems must be integrated smoothlyin the existing structure.

• Comprehensive “Complete mobility” based on a user-focused, seamless and valued transport system is thecore prerequisite for meeting future challenges.

forms coexist and must therefore be perfectlyinterlinked in the future. People’s lifestyles andneeds are growing more complex and require sys-tems that are joined up and act as one. This iswhat we refer to as “Complete mobility” transportinfrastructure, and this will be the challenge of

the future. In megacities, many different trans-portation lines cross at the same major intersec-tion. Therefore, the comprehensive “Completemobility” approach conceived by Siemens pointsin the right direction. This is the strategy for thefuture.

como: What do you think is the greatest challengeon the way to the future?Hazel: The high number of interfaces between thesystems is, of course, a problem. Solutions from anall-in-one provider are still too rare. There is a lackof integrated long-term planning, especially incities. Many confusing structures are the result of having different authorities with different respon-sibilities, such as construction and operation, railand road, as well as traffic and environment. Notonly are these structures difficult to coordinate, buteach of them has its own plan for improved mobili-ty. The challenge now is to get rid of these transportand governance silos and combine all these factorsbased on “Complete mobility.”

como: In your study you describe a wide range of different megacities, each of which presents itsown specific requirements. In view of this situa-tion, are comprehensive solutions from a singleprovider really possible?Hazel: Yes, of course. The spectrum of megacitiescan be represented as a curve showing their differ-ent stages of development, including developedcities such as London, cities like Shanghai and alsoemerging cities like Jakarta. All of these are devel-oping according to similar principles, but are in dif-ferent stages of development. Since these cities arepursuing a common goal, i.e. economic competi-tiveness, their mobility requirements will increase,and they will have to focus on the refurbishmentand extension of their existing infrastructures. Newelements must complement existing ones intelli-gently.

To get back to my original point: all productsshould be defined based on the idea of comprehen-sive mobility and complement each other. Based onthis approach, cities will continue to buy individ-ual, customized products, but these products willbe components from a comprehensive system. Thiswill be held together by the glue of ICT. A flexiblefinancial concept for megacities, in view of theirdifferent stages of development, will also be impor-tant. Of course, the cities themselves have to under-take long-term planning and provide integratedgovernance.

como: Professor Hazel, you have also managedpublic infrastructure projects yourself. So youhave experience in both theory and practice.

What are you referring to when mentioning thebraking effect of the so-called silo mentality inyour study?

Hazel: Cities too often try to cure symptoms andthis only gets in the way of the real solutions. Thedevelopment of technical solutions as a first stepoften fails to bring the expected success. Therefore,it is much better to focus on the objectives and linkthem to desired outcomes: Which solution tacklesthe causal issue most efficiently? What problemsdoes it solve? What problems actually have to besolved? For example, congestion is the symptom,not the problem. A partner or city that approachestraffic problems based on this strategy would bethe first choice for me – and is also well preparedfor the future.

como: Comprehensive planning and the smoothintegration of systems – is this the core messageof your study?Hazel: This prerequisite has to be met by transportsystems in each city, but especially in megacities,because this is where the mobility requirementswith regard to passenger and freight transport areconcentrated, and megacities are an indicator of future development. But only truly sustainable,integratable solutions based on long-term plan-ning will be able to meet these requirements. Theanswer to the challenges of the future will in factbe: “Complete mobility.”

como: Professor Hazel, thank you very much forthe interview.



Whether idyllicAmsterdam or chaosin Lagos, mobilityis becoming aninescapable question.


Mobility is becoming a vital question forcities across the globe – it heavily influ-ences the appeal of major cities and their

ability to compete in global markets. The economicdamage due to traffic congestion in the EU alone iscalculated at €100 billion per year, and it reaches asimilar scale in the United States. Moreover, thistrend is far from reaching the end of its develop-ment. Globalization and growing prosperity, partic-ularly in the emerging Asian nations, are leading toincreasing car ownership among a broad socialstrata; massive urbanization is creating regionswith extremely high traffic density. Major citiesacross the world are struggling to cope with rough-ly the same consequences of increasing mobility –but the concrete challenges are extremely varied.

In his latest study entitled “The InescapableUrban Challenge,” the British transport analyst andmobility consultant George Hazel has gone through46 global urban centers with a fine-tooth comb,examining them in terms of specific mobility criteria.In his observations of these cities, Hazel has consid-ered the way they have expanded their roads net-works as well as the public transport they provide,the state of their information and payment systems,their links to the surrounding area and, furthermore,the number of accidents, their use of energy, theirenvironmental pollution and their transport costs.On the basis of this data, the analyst worked out themobility index for each city, which spans from cate-gory 1 (insufficient) to category 6 (exemplary).

The Dutch metropolis Amsterdam comes out ontop with an average score of 5.2 and top marks in

energy consumption, emissions and public trans-port. Only in its frequency of accidents, where itscores four points, does Amsterdam fall some wayshort of its target. At the other extreme is the Niger-ian city of Lagos: it receives the poorest evaluationfrom Hazel and his research team, scoring lowest ineight out of eleven categories. Only in transportcosts, energy consumption and emissions doesLagos come out somewhat better – this is due to thelow rate of car ownership among the population.

With his catalogue of criteria, Hazel has come upwith an instrument that transparently renders thestrengths and weaknesses of every urban regionworldwide. However, before he makes concrete rec-ommendations on how to move forward, the analystexplores the question of how the mobility of theseregions has kept up with scientific progress. Thismakes it clear that the economic growth of the citiesis directly related to the quality of mobility they offer.For Hazel, three categories can be distinguished:1. Struggling to cope: Hazel puts megacities suchas Lagos or Karachi in this category, which arecharacterized by chaotic road-traffic conditionswith permanent congestion, many accidents, over-strained mass-transit systems and poor links tothe surrounding area. No journey is calculable;every trip turns into an adventure.2. At risk regions: Major cities such as Los Ange-les and Sydney, as well as Prague and Rome, areto be found here – highly developed urban cen-ters that have grown up as “car cities” and wherethe mobility network beyond road transportshows serious gaps. These locations are charac-

The mobility survival strategyWhat links the Pakistani capital Karachi, Lagos in Nigeria, LosAngeles and the Rhine-Ruhr megalopolis? They are all in globalcompetition – and they are faced with huge challenges in termsof mobility. The consequences of increasing traffic congestionand greater pollution are directly noticeable to the people livingthere; the economic damage can be expressed in figures. Butwhat can be done? The latest study by Professor George Hazelshows some ways of tackling the problems.




terized by high energy consumption and highmobility costs.3. Best of class: These major cities with consider-able economic power and an above-average score inthe mobility criteria offer customer-friendly publicmass-transit systems. Here, great efforts are madeto reconcile supply and demand in the mobility sec-tor, as well as to reduce accidents, air pollution andenergy consumption. Typical representative citiesin this category are London, Amsterdam, Zurich,Berlin, Tokyo and Singapore.

According to Hazel, investments in transportationinfrastructure and traffic management affect muchmore than the ability to t ransport people and goodssmoothly – they create the conditions required toachieve long-term goals such as increased appealand a greater ability to compete in global markets.This is why, he says, there can only be one target forcities that want to remain in the running in theworldwide competition between regions in 2025: topermanently separate mobility from the questionof the individual transport system. All transportsystems, says Hazel, must be linked to one another– both in the real world, at changeover points, andvirtually through customer-friendly informationand payment systems. “In 2025, integrated com-munication will be the elixir of life for mobility.”

The steps that lead there can vary enormouslydepending on a city’s stage of development: at-risklocations, for instance, should pay particular atten-tion to the increasing phenomenon of urban sprawlin suburban regions. Here it is becoming more andmore difficult to operate an integrated public mass-

transit system affordably. This is why supply anddemand of transport systems have to be more fine-ly tuned to one another – through economic meas-ures such as variable ticket pricing or parking andcongestion charge systems. Hazel has a core mes-sage: smooth interaction of the systems facilitateschangeovers for the customer, reduces journeytimes and increases the appeal and the efficiency of the system as a whole.

Even cities such as London or Amsterdam, despitetheir exemplary status, have some way to go whenit comes to mobility. From Hazel’s point of view, it isabsolutely paramount to adjust the public mass-transit systems to rising expectations and changingrequirements through integrated city management.The range of transport systems or operators on offerhas to appear to these demanding urban customersas if it comes from a single source. These customerswant to call up bundled information and have a con-venient method of paying for their entire journey.They expect a high level of comfort and have certainstandards when it comes to technology and design.

Whatever level a metropolitan region currentlyholds, the professor is convinced that if thoseresponsible do not act now, they will fall by the way-side in the international pursuit of success. GeorgeHazel is therefore sending out a wake-up call: “Itmust be in the politician’s own interests to takeaction, as the outcome in terms of costs and inhab-itants’ health, as well as the social consequences,will otherwise lead to a serious dip in their ability tocompete.” And this is something which – quiteclearly – no one could ever wish for.

0 1 2 3 4 5 6

New York

ViennaAmsterdam

London

Paris

Zurich

TokyoRuhr area

SingaporeMunich

Copenhagen

Berlin

ShanghaiSeoulBeijing

St. Petersburg

IstanbulRio de Janeiro

Tehran

MumbaiMetro ManilaDelhi

Lagos

KolkataKarachi

Dhaka

Cairo

Jakarta

Ho Chi Minh City

Sao Paulo

Mexico City

Bangkok

Johannesburg + East RandBuenos Aires

Moscow

DubaiAthens

Prague

Barcelona

Melbourne

TorontoRome

Sydney

ChicagoLos Angeles

Phoenix

“At risk”

“Strugglingto cope” “Best of class”

Per-capita

income

Mobilityindex

The 11 mobilitycriteria:The mobility index was ascer-tained on the basis of thefollowing mobility criteria.

Local connectivity• Road infrastructure• Local public transport

services• Traffic management,

control and security• Information and

payment systems

External connectivity• Road and rail

infrastructure• Air transport• Sea transport

Externalities• Accidents• Energy use intensity• Pollution

Finance• Cost of transport

provision

The car cases: even well-developed major cities such as New York and Rome can lose out in global competition.

Completemobility

insufficent exemplary

1

2

3

5




Future frequencies

The logistics industry is forecasting growth –with increasing flows of commodities, anever-greater tempo, and a constant stream of

new customer requests. Companies are in globalcompetition, and therefore there is a need for intel-ligent, innovative solutions that also conserveresources – and this is certainly the case in thehighly specialized fields of cargo and logistics suchas postal automation and cargo and baggage hand -ling at airports. These are areas that have a longtradition at Siemens.

Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) is consid-ered one of the key technologies for further opti-mizing logistics supply chains. This method of identifying objects using radio waves has beenaround for a good 60 years, but it has only recentlybecome worthwhile to use it on a large commercialscale. Now, the strengths of RFID systems are ele-gantly applied in various areas of modern logistics:the transponders are attached to post crates, piecesof baggage, textiles and sea-freight containers. Theysupport the logistical process and permit constantstock controls, and make it possible to track theroute of goods and commodities throughthe entire value creation chain.What’s more, as paper-thinSmart Labels, they are justas easy to attach as a regularlabel.

At the most basic level,the systems consist of mobile data storage units –called transponders or tags– and mobile or stationaryscanning devices for activa-tion and data transfer.Material-flow systemsor stock-manage-ment systems pro c-ess the informa-tion further. It iseven possible togive unique labels

The technology is robust, the areas of applicationdiverse: Radio Frequency Identification (RFID), thecontact-free identification of objects of any kindusing radio waves, has already transformed manyfields of logistics. And that’s just for starters.

to individual items in this way. Products withEPCglobal code can be identified worldwidethroughout the entire supply chain, and local-ized by any RFID reader.

Compared with the conventional barcodemethod, the most impressive aspect is the ease of handling. It makes no difference to the scannerswhere the intelligent radio labels are placed on theobject; they do not need to be touched or to be with-in a line of sight; they can be scanned reliably evenwhen extremely dirty and they are able to store avariety of data. This extends the areas of applica-tion considerably – to the great excitement of logis-ticians from all industries. Based on current pro- jections, the market for RFID applications alone isto double between 2008 and 2011, taking its valueto over €5 billion.

Hardly any merchandise logistics and distributiontasks bypass RFID any more – for the sole reason

that the previous unit of productionand delivery has long since beensuperceded in global merchandisemanagement by complex supplychains comprising of many stations,outsourcing and external serviceprovision. The electronic accompa-nying document on the tag containsthe essential information through-out the entire supply chain, and thedata can be added to or updated if necessary.

In baggage management at air-ports, a high flow rate is called for,

as demonstrated by the exam-ple of the baggage conveyor

system at Peking Inter-national Airport. This

system for thenew Terminal

3, where

Every container knows its destination




RFID overviewRadio Frequency Identification (RFID), the technologyfor uniquely identifying objects of any kind withoutany contact, allows data to be recorded by induction,i.e. using alternating magnetic fields or radio waves.The data and the energy necessary for the transferare sent between the transponder and the scannerwithout any need for physical contact or a line ofsight. Siemens has been supplying complete RFIDsystems for applications in production and logisticsfor over 20 years.Web tip: www.siemens.com/rfid

over 90,000 passengers are checked in every day,sorts and transports up to 19,200 pieces of lug-gage per hour. When passengers check in, theirbags are placed into open containers with RFIDtags. The tags receive the passenger data and des-tination airport by radio signal before the luggagewhizzes down a 2,200-meter tunnel at 36 km/h,directly to the loading carousels.

This is also possible without a container. Thenewly installed Simatic RFID Baggage System (Si -matic RBS) at Wuhan Airport uses special BagTags,which have an integrated antenna, micro proces-sor and write/read memory. Because the storeddata can simply be updated or overwritten, forinstance when the flight information or securitystatus of the luggage changes, the BagTags canalso be reused.

Whichever method is chosen, the bottom lineis that RFID systems not only speed up airportlogistics, they also make it more reliable and lessprone to errors. All in all, estimates the Interna-tional Air Transport Association (IATA), airlinesand airports save a good $760 million per yearwith RFID solutions.

In the future, it will even be possible to check theloading of containers on the open sea in realtime. This is thanks to a novel technology solution

that Siemens has developed in collaborationwith an international consortium made up of transport companies, shipping lines, technol-ogy suppliers and security organizations. Thefuture RFID tags will regularly transmit theircurrent status report back home from the insideof the containers. Open doors, high gas or tem-perature readings, dampness or suspiciousvibrations – the tag will raise the alarm rightaway. The system makes contact with a radionetwork on the mainland via satellite and sendsthe container data to the shipping line or theowner of the cargo.

Siemens is pulling out all the stops to movealong the development of these applications,and others too. For one thing is certain: RFIDwill make a decisive difference in the future of logistics, transport and traffic.

Technology with future prospects –also at sea

Modern airports opt for RFID: Siemens has developed various processes for passenger check-in and baggage handlingin order to reduce waiting times and avoid baggage being misdirected.



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15como 1/2008 focus

Combine,my dear Watson!

says master detectiveSherlock Holmes as he

turns to his friend Dr. JohnH. Watson and draws contem-platively on his pipe: “The case is

complex, but it can be solved.” But couldHolmes’ sharp insight have been enough to

solve London’s traffic problem? After all, evenlong ago, the capital of the British Empire had toreckon with similar problems to the present day.

The population rose sharply – from 1 million toover 6 million in the first decade of the 19th centuryalone. Slums and winding streets without drainage sys-

tems formed a stark contrast to the well-tended afflu-ent areas. All the same, Sherlock Holmes, the

hero of the novels by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, usedto travel around London using one of the 7,000 “han-

soms,” as the two-wheeled horse-drawn carriages wereknown. In the Victorian era, the London Omnibus Com-pany, founded in 1858, had up to 15,000

carriages and 10,000 horses on its books,and 4,000 four-wheeled hire car-riages rumbled over the cobbledstreets. But it wasn’t long before for-

ward-thinking engineers tookon the traffic chaos with modernengineering: The “Tube,” as the sub-way is known here, has been run-ning since 1863, and the first motor-ized bus rolled through the city in 1897.

c l o s e d , m yd

e a rW a

t s o n

C a s e

London was always infamous for causing traffic headaches. Now, thepulsating metropolis is becoming a model of “Complete mobility.”

“Combine,”




city, London is, to a certain extent, paying the pricefor its growth and success with this trafficheadache. The capital attracts bankers, scientistsand artists like a magnet, not to mention tourists.When Ken Livingstone – mayor up to May of thisyear and initiator of numerous mobility projects –was first elected in the year 2000, he took officewith the promise of radically improving the trafficsituation. At the time, car drivers in central Londonused to spend half of the time sitting in traffic. Thisis why Livingstone called for swift action in a policypaper on urban development. By 2016, it stressed,the number of inhabitants could grow from the cur-rent 7.6 million to well over 8 million – and therecould be more than 15 million people living in thearea of Greater London, which includes the sur-rounding suburbs.

Transport in the British capital has changed alot since master detective Sherlock Holmesused to be driven around its cobbled streets in

one-horse carriages. Congestion is heavier than in Victorian times, and the air is heavily laden withpollution, which puts a great strain both on healthand on the environment. According to a recentlypublished McKinsey environmental study carriedout on behalf of Siemens, around 47 megatons of CO2 are produced in London every year – that worksout as 6.3 tons per inhabitant, more than a quarterof which is attributed to traffic. Around 90 percentof these traffic emissions, the study adds, are theresult of passenger and goods transport on theroads.

There are many factors that have brought aboutthis dramatic state of affairs. As Europe’s largest

Comprehensive safety and traffic management has long since become a requirement for cities that want to get the mostout of their infrastructure and keep traffic flowing. This certainly applies to London with its 7 million inhabitants.



17como 1/2008 focus

The majority of the infrastructure that was creat-ed in the 19th century is not so easy to adapt to themore strenuous demands. The London Under-ground, for instance, the oldest and longest subwaynetwork in the world which opened in 1863, serves1 billion passengers each year on routes north of the Thames, and is often crammed to bursting on itsprincipal lines. The road network, which has grownover centuries, does lend the British capital a partic-ular appeal, but it is a far cry from having a smoothflow of traffic. “We are now resorting to tangiblemeasures,” announced Mayor Ken Livingstone,“which will hurt some people, but will be of benefitto us all at the end of the day.” Livingstone thereforeset out ambitious targets in a London ClimateChange Action Plan. It specified a 60-percent reduc-tion of the level of harmful emissions from 1990 by

the year 2025. This is no mean feat. Nevertheless,the declared goal remains to manage London’s con-tinued growth without traffic grinding to a stand-still or causing serious environmental problems.

Intelligently coordinating and processing trafficdata in a high-performance traffic guidance systemis of central importance. Without a strong trafficmanagement control center, the road network inLondon – as in Munich, Berlin and countless othermajor cities around the world – would completelycollapse in no time. These control centers not onlypool all the information, they also control theentire private and public transport systems, andprovide passengers and drivers with comprehen-sive information to make their journeys simpler,safer and more comfortable. On the freewaysaround London, too, variable traffic signs fromSiemens keep traffic flowing.

Nevertheless, significant improvements to the traf-fic flow can only be achieved if more commutersswitch from taking their own car to using publictransport. This is why networking the city intelli-gently with the surrounding region, with innova-tive road and rail solutions, was one of the highestpriorities. Thus in 2001, in order to provide an eco-nomical, comfortable and fast commuter servicebetween the city and the surrounding region,Siemens was awarded a contract to supply 1,200Desiro UK modular regional trains. This constitutedthe first step towards improving the inner-city traf-fic. Today, this high-comfort fleet of commutertrains forms a stable basis for networking publicregional and suburban transport. The trains havelong since become an indispensable means of transport. However, because this requires a high

Without strong

traffic managementcontrol centers, theroad networks in manymajor cities wouldcollapse completely.“

Convenient regional trains




T h e H ea t h r o w E x p r es s : n o n - s t o p f r o m t h ea i r p o r t t o t h ew es t o f L o n d o n i n t o t h e h ea r t o f t h e ci t y . T h e1 7 - m i l e s t r et ch t o P a d d i n g t o n s t a t i o n i s co v er ed i n 1 5 m i n u t es .

T h er e' s n o g o i n g b a ck n o w : p h o t o g r a p h er a n d e q u i p m en t a r e s t r a p p ed i n s ecu r el y d u r i n g t h e f l i g h t .

Hello London,say cheese!

T he a p proa ch to H ea throw.A roun d 67 mil l ion pa s sen gersea ch y ea r – more tha n a n y othera ir port in E uro pe.

Loose i t ems s t a y on t he

ground : t he hel ico p t er d oors

were t a k en o f f t o a l l ow a cl ea r

v iew o f t he Ci t y o f Lond on.



23como 1/2008 focus

Doub l e- d eck ers a re pa r t of t he

o pera t ion : Lon d on on t he mo v e

b e t ween K in g' s Cross a n d Ba k er

S t ree t .

the pulsating British metropolis of London. Justgetting to the shoot location, the team experi-ences flows of traffic first hand: a scheduledflight from Frankfurt to London Heathrow,straight into the city center approximately 17miles away on the Heathrow Express, thenthrough the commuter traffic on the subwayand in a taxi to the helicopter – it all just flashedby, didn’t it? That’s “Complete mobility” for you.

Over the rooftops of London without a safetynet, the photographer gets the traffic nodes andlandmarks of the city in his viewfinder by lean-ing out of the open helicopter. He clicks theshutter almost 1,500 times during the three-hour flight. Did one of these make the ultimatepicture? Inside you can see for yourself: apanoramic view of the “Generic Megalopolis.”

Packing London and its seven million inhab-itants into a single picture? That’s a toughcookie even for the most experienced photo-

grapher! The task, in concrete terms, is to capture acomplete view of all arteries running through atypical megalopolis. But how can such complextransport networks be represented? How can wesee the huge, apparently chaotic flows of peopleand goods that are actually always moving thanksto the intelligent networking of different modesof transport? The best way is to view it all from adistance – a very, very large picture, an aerial pho-tograph, shot while flying “freely” above the city.

A bird’s-eye view of London – with this cam-paign idea from Publicis Pro fixed in theirminds and plenty of creative equipment in theirbags, the photo crew from hi-studios sets off for

R ev i ew : w h i ch t r a f f i c n o d es s h o u l d b e i n t h e p i ct u r e? W h i ch i s t h e b es t f l i g h t r o u t e?

A t es t of coura ge a t700 me t ersu p: onl y ul t ra -quick shu t t ers peed s ca nhel p a ga ins t

sha k in g ha nd s

a nd t he v ibra - t ions of t hemo t or.

A l l cl ea r t o l a n d ? S u r r o u n d ed b y t h r ee a p p r o a ch p a t h s , t h e h el i - co p t er p i l o t a l w a y s s t a y s i n r a d i o co n t a ct w i t h t h e a i r p l a n e p i l o t s .



Assuming that the journeyis the reward, how can wemake it more efficient?



The Siemens answer: Complete mobility. Integrated solutionsfor urban and interurban transportation and logisticsPaving the way for people and goods around the world, bringing them to their destinations more safely, profitably and withless environmental impact – that’s what Siemens “Complete mobility” is all about: Shaping and efficiently interconnectingthe diverse transportation systems for the long term with integrated mobility solutions. www.siemens.com/mobility




standing passengers, and are fully air conditioned.Their passenger compartments offer much moreroom for baggage than usual, thus meeting thespecific needs of air passengers. The most signifi-cant advantage, however, is the greatly reduced journey time: instead of taking 50 minutes on thesubway or normally even longer in a cab, passen-gers can now reach the airport in just 15 minutes.

London’s suburban traffic is also being modern-ized on a grand scale. To this end, Transport forLondon (TfL) has set up an enormous program of investment in infrastructure, totaling €15 billion. Anew bridge is being built over the Thames, the lightrail network in the east of the city is being expand-ed, and the subway network is being modernized.

One part of the program is the iBus project, whereSiemens technology is helping to improve the punc-tuality of the buses and the comfort of the passen-gers. Each year, these famous red buses carryaround 1.5 billion passengers, and Transport forLondon is forecasting over 2 billion for 2011. Now,an information system is being installed that the 30private-sector bus operators, TfL and the securityauthorities can use to track each individual bus tothe nearest meter by satellite, rather than having torequest the positions of the vehicles over radio. Thisis no mean feat for a bus network with around 700routes and 8,000 vehicles, making it one of thebiggest in the world. The operation is made possiblethrough the intelligent interplay of GPS satellite data

degree of reliability and availability, individualizedservice plans are an integral part of the platformconcept. In Great Britain alone, Siemens employs500 specialists who guarantee the all-round main-tenance and repair of the trains at Siemens depotsor those provided by the client.

The direct connection from Heathrow airport to thewest of London and the city center has also beenintegrated into the transport system. On theHeathrow Express and Heathrow Connect lines,Siemens trains serve this highly frequented airportquickly and comfortably, thus also relieving conges-tion on the roads. The Heathrow Express has alreadyprovided a connection between the airport andPaddington Station in central London for ten years. Around 17,000 passengers every day are carried by14 Desiro Class 332 electric modular trains. The pas-sengers are met with a luxurious interior featuringair conditioning, telephones, display screens andtelevision monitors, as well as generously sizedbaggage compartments.

The trains on the Heathrow Connect line, whichis operated by Heathrow Express in partnershipwith First Great Western, reduce congestion on theHeathrow Express and serve five new stops in westLondon. Its Desiro Class 360/2 modular trains alsotravel at 160 km/h, have 280 seats and room for 130

The C-charge works:once the city of Londonhad set up its alterna-tives to car travel,it installed the LowEmission Zone.“The quickest way to Heathrow



25como 1/2008 focus

and GPRS mobile technology: the approximate posi-tion is ascertained by GPS, while a device in the buscalculates precise data relative to the route networkand sends these to the central computer of the oper-ations control system via GPRS. The computer com-piles a complete picture on the basis of these data.

As a result, not only do the bus drivers have abetter idea of where they are in regard to theirtimetable, the passengers also reap the benefits:the routing headquarters can quickly adjust thetimetables in case of heavy traffic, thus preventingtwo buses from coming at once – the first packed tothe rafters and the second virtually empty. In addi-tion, more and more bus stops are being equippedwith electronic displays that inform passengers asto the precise arrival time of the next bus.

Regional and national rail services, public subur-ban transport and airport transfers were finelytuned to one another, and once the city of Londonhad set up its alternatives to car travel, it began reg-ulating passenger car traffic in the city center. Car-park and traffic guidance system were installed inorder to avert gridlock. Then, in 2003, the cityintroduced its Low Emission Zone. Anyone whotravels by car in this zone on working days has topay a congestion charge, or C-charge, which started

at £5 per day. The congestion charging scheme,developed by Siemens, relies on video cameras toregister the number plates of vehicles that are thencross-checked against a database. Anyone who doesnot pay the fee has a hefty fine to reckon with.

The Low Emission Zone to which the chargeapplies has been expanded, eventually to the pointof covering the whole of Greater London as of Feb-ruary 2008. The charge has also risen from £5 to£8 per day – although residents receive a 90-per-cent discount. The technology has changed, too.Instead of transmitting analog signals from the

Former Mayor of London Ken Livingstone hardly made any friends by introducing the Low Emission Zone and a steep congestioncharge. But the results speak for themselves: the city has an average of around 60,000 fewer car journeys to cope with.

“Complete mobility”: London as a modelIndividual and public transport, buses and the subway, railand road networks – every transport system has its ownstrengths. The intelligent integration of the various systemsin London shows very clearly how well “Complete mobility”can be put into practice: Regional and national rail services,public suburban transport and airport transfers were finelytuned to one another, then car-park and traffic-routing sys-tems were introduced in the city along with the congestioncharge. After just a few months, the flow of traffic hadimproved by 37 percent; commuters now reach their desti-nations much quicker, and considerably less strain is placedon the environment. This is therefore a path that other over-strained major cities around the world could follow – and it isprobably their only chance. Only if intelligent solutions allowtravelers to combine the various modes of transport effec-tively, and above all conveniently, can mobility be guaranteedfor all the inhabitants of the world’s major cities in the future.

City congestion charge prevents 150,000tons of CO 2 emissions




fallen by around 20 percent since the system wasintroduced in February 2003. The word from themayor’s office is that 60,000 daily car journeys havebeen purged from the city, and that in most casesthe drivers have switched to using public suburbantransport. What’s more, many Londoners now walkor take their bike: the number of cyclists alone hasrisen by 43 percent since the introduction of the con-gestion charge. This works out as a saving of 66 mil-lion liters of fuel and 150,000 tons of CO 2 per year.

And yet more can be done: Last year, a traditionalred double-decker London bus was equipped withhybrid drive motors from Siemens – the client TfLdeployed the first bus of this new and environmen-tally sound generation on the 141 route towardsLondon Bridge. The bus features an intelligentcombination of diesel-electric power and energystorage in a battery; the power of two drive motorsis bundled by an addition gear on one drive shaft.When the bus brakes, the drive motors act as gen-erators, with lithium-ion batteries saving the brakeenergy that is produced and making it available forthe next acceleration. An energy-management sys-tem regulates the flow of energy between the bat-tery and the diesel motor depending on the powerrequired. In this way, the hybrid double-deckers of this type produce up to 40 percent less emissionsthan conventional diesel buses and consumearound 30 percent less fuel. If all 8,000 red buses inthe capital were made “green” like this, Londonerscould really breathe a sigh of relief.

Still, with what has been achieved so far, theBritish metropolis is a strong example of how“Complete mobility” from a single source can pro-vide a sustainable solution, even to complex trafficproblems. Sherlock Holmes would be proud.

video cameras to a control center, the new Siemenssolution in the extension of the Low Emission Zoneprocesses the video data there and then. The pic-tures of the registration plates are encoded as digi-tal certificates and transmitted to the headquartersvia a broadband IP network. This cuts the operatingcosts, which means that more of the congestioncharge income – which amounted to £123 millionin the 2006/2007 financial year – can be put towardsexpanding public suburban transport services.

The effects on traffic load and the environmenthave been studied very closely since the programwas introduced. The market researchers fromDeloitte calculate, for instance, that the flow of traf-fic improved by 37 percent in just the first eightmonths after the congestion charge came intoforce. Malcolm Murray-Clarke, director of Conges-tion Charging, states that the volume of traffic has

There are plenty of alternatives to cars in London: the stretch between Heathrow Airport and the city center can be covered in 15minutes with the Heathrow Express. In the future, a bus routing system using Siemens technology will provide momentum in the city.

Red bus withgreen-tech:

a double-decker

with Siemenshybrid technology.

Red double-deckers turning green



27como 1/2008 focus

On course for success

They are popular with passengers andtravelers and are at the top of the ladderwhen it comes to reliability: in the fiveyears since the first trains were delivered,Desiro UK multiple units have experienceda real boom in Great Britain. The secret oftheir success is a flexible platform concept.

Fleet Reliability Improvement Programme(NFRI) are published regularly and used forbenchmarking purposes. As of November2007, the Desiro trains operated by First-TransPennine Express hold the top spot forreliability in these official rankings in theNew Diesel Multiple Unit (DMU) category. TheClass 360/2 electric modular trains of theHeathrow Connect Service, operated byHeathrow Express in cooperation with FirstGreat Western, recently climbed to first placein the Electric Multiple Unit (EMU) category.

This was also made possible thanks to theprofessional maintenance by Siemens Inte-grated Services, implemented on behalf of theoperators, which employs around 500 special-ists in Great Britain alone. In order to ensurethe daily availability of the three-part DesiroClass 185 DMUs, new maintenance depotswere constructed in Manchester and York; forthe Class 360/2 EMUs of the Heathrow Con-nect service, Siemens uses the Old Oak Com-mon depot in west London.

Gym for service providers: around 500 Siemenstechnicians provide Desiro service.

SWT is at the top of theoperators’ performanceleague and the Desiroplays a major role inachieving and maintain -ing this position.

Mac Mackintosh, Fleet andEngineering Director for South

West Trains SWT

“The success story began over five years ago.In August 2003, First Great Eastern, nowknown as National Express East Anglia, putthe first Desiro UK Class 360 multiple unitsinto service. The delivery totaled 21 four-partelectric units, which have been runningbetween the terminal stations LiverpoolStreet, Ipswich and Clacton at speeds of up to160 km/h ever since.

The concept was quickly met with approval.“In the Desiro UK multiple units,” beamsChristian Roth, Managing Director of SiemensTransportation Systems UK, “we have anextremely flexible vehicle platform popularwith both operators and passengers in equalmeasure.” There are currently 279 Desiro UKmodular trains running between Weymouthon the south coast and Glasgow in Scotland. At the start of 2008, they had traveled over160 million kilometers between them. Fivedifferent series of electric trains, as well asthe diesel-powered Class 185, are in servicefor the rail operators National Express East Anglia, South West Trains, Heathrow Express,London Midland and First TransPennineExpress. Christian Roth: “Just recently, Trans-port Scotland and First ScotRail orderedanother 38 Desiro Express 23m units. Togeth-er with the 37 Desiro Class 350 electric multi-ple units for the new London Midland routebetween London and Birmingham, there willbe more than 350 Desiro trains roaming overGreat Britain.”

Furthermore, the Desiro fleet is among themost reliable around, according to the British Association of Train Operating Companies(ATOC), which analyzes the reliability of theoperators’ fleets using special criteria 13times per year. The results of this National



28 move como 1/2008

European rail transport is caught in the trap of differentsystems with procedures and regulations more variedthan ever. Nevertheless, cross-border travel is possiblewithout changing locomotives – with the Eurosprinter,which now has a new generation up and running.

From the Arctic Seato the Bosporus

Europe is united, or so we are led to believe: cus-toms barriers have been removed, as have mostborder controls. When it comes to rail travel,

however, our united Europe reveals itself to be asdisjointed as ever before. “We are unfortunatelymiles away from uniform rail standards,” affirmsUlrich Fösel, Product Manager for locomotives atthe Siemens Mobility Division in Erlangen. “On theEuropean continent alone, there are four differenttrack widths, four different voltage systems, andcountless train protection systems.” This is whymany trains have to stop at country borders andchange locomotives before continuing. This manda-tory pause is at the cost of train passengers andgives trucks a clear advantage in goods transport.

Admittedly, standardized systems have beenintroduced in accordance with European ERTMSregulations on certain important transport axes,the trans-Europe express lines and the goods trans-port corridor between Rotterdam and Genoa, for

example. “For us locomotive manufacturers, how-ever, the matter is not simplified much by theseinteroperability standards. In fact they often com-plicate things,” criticizes Fösel, “because thenational regulations normally still apply in anycase.” This confusion is likely to be around for theforeseeable future.

For this reason, Siemens has been working onpracticable solutions since the 1990s. The result isthe Eurosprinter, a product family of modular loco-motives that can be adjusted to the various condi-tions in different countries without any problems.They can handle all four voltage supplies and sev-eral train protection systems, which allows them totravel through Europe without being restricted bynational borders.

This flexibility is made possible by a consistentlyimplemented platform concept: the basis locomo-tive consists of a locomotive body, a bogie andmotors – all special functions can be selected as and



29como 1/2008 move

Many rail operatorsalready have Euro-sprinters out of theblocks (left). The new

generation (right)is also running inPortugal.

when required and integrated in a modular fashionin the form of country system packages. Thesemodules cover everything the locomotive needs tooperate in a particular country – from the voltage

supply and the train protection system rightthrough to signaling technology. For instance, inorder to comply with the various lighting regula-tions, an ingenious system has been developedusing halogen bulbs and LEDs. This can be con-trolled flexibly and is able to provide all the lightstrengths and signal colors necessary for the differ-ent country packages.

Eurosprinters are already on the tracks in manycountries such as Sweden, Holland, Germany, Aus-tria, Switzerland and Italy. They are also operatingfurther east in Slovenia, Croatia, the Czech Republic,Poland, Romania, Bulgaria and Hungary. Further-more, the rail company Comboios de Portugal (CP)has ordered 25 goods locomotives from the newseries, which are to run on the Iberian guage tracksof 1,668 mm. “The modular multi-system technol-ogy makes it possible, in theory, to travel non-stopfrom the Arctic Sea to the Bosporus,” explainsUlrich Fösel. “This brings about completely newbusiness opportunities in cross-country transport forthe operators, whether national rail or private com-panies, as well as clear competitive advantages.” Theoperators are able to react flexibly to changes in themarket, for instance when flows of commodities orsupply agreements change. “In such a case, thelocomotives can simply be modified using the plug-and-play method. The country packages which areno longer required are replaced by new ones.”

Basis locomotives and country packages arestandardized, while other elements such as thepaint finish can be designed individually. In addi-tion, there are equipment packages to choose from,containing comfort furnishings or a mass-transit

package, for instance. In this way, completely indi-vidual, tailor-made locomotives are created simplyby combining different elements and versions. Thisis a strategy with a double payoff both for nationalrail operators and private companies: on the onehand, even a small number of locomotive units canbe built at a reasonable price, and on the otherhand, the production times are short because thecomponents with longer delivery times are gener-ally those that are included as standard. Finally, it iseven possible for several operators to put togethera shared, cost-saving maintenance infrastructure.

With the latest generation, Siemens has devel-oped the platform concept of the Eurosprinter fur-ther. “The 6,000-kilowatt locomotive can either besupplied for goods transport,” says Ulrich Fösel, “oras a universal locomotive for passenger travel thatcan run at 200 km/h. Belgium’s national rail opera-tor SNCB is to deploy the first 60 of these high-speed train locomotives with equipment enablingthem to run in Belgium, Luxembourg and France.”

The modular locomotive family therefore notonly creates new prospects for goods transport, butalso increases the appeal of tourist travel – fittingthe bill of “Complete mobility” perfectly.



30 move como 1/2008

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31como 1/2008 move

The future is eco friendly. People insist more than ever onmobility, but travel at all costs is no longer an option. Now itseems the only way forward is with energy-saving transport

technology and integrated, intelligently networked all-in-onesolutions. Measurable success in protecting the climate andnatural resources has already been made – but we are a longway from the finish line.

Ready, set, green

The question of whether or not we can still savethis planet has long found its way outsidegreen political circles. The U.N. climate report

published at the beginning of 2008 dramaticallydescribed the consequences of growing industrial-ization and the increase in environmental pollu-tion. For once, climate researchers from all nationswere in agreement when they assessed the risks of climate change. According to the experts, two-thirds of the megacities are situated in coastalregions vulnerable to flooding or in other regionsthat are under serious threat from climate change.The warnings didn’t really come as a surprise. For-mer Vice President Al Gore has been trying to warnus for a long time with his presentation tour full of stirring image sequences. And this was backed upat the end of 2006 with economic figures from for-mer World Bank Chief Economist Sir NicholasStern. The material damage could add up to 20 per-cent of the global economy, or approximately €5.5trillion.

Transport is also a key focus. Humanity as awhole is traveling more than ever before – and thetrend is increasing. The quality of life of manyregions and their ability to compete on global mar-kets is increasingly dependant on safe and fasttransport systems. Traffic volume in the EU willcontinue to grow and with that, generate moreemissions – for just the 15 member states of thetime, the 1990-2004 statistics showed an increaseof 26 percent in greenhouse gases in the transport

sector, more than half of which is attributed totruck transport. Transporting more goods on railrather than road will not be sufficient. Intelligentsolutions for an environmentally sound, combinedtransport system are required – and a paradigmshift with regard to mobility.

It is precisely these needs that are being ad -dressed by Siemens’ comprehensive strategy for allcarriers and intermodal transport. People andgoods should be transported as economically, safe-ly and smoothly as possible, while combining allenvironmental and climate-protection aspects of products, solutions and systems. This begins withvehicle construction and consideration of the lifecycle, includes systems for saving energy and recy-cling, and covers everything up to optimizingschedules the coordination of all carriers. Siemensinvests approximately €2 billion in the develop-ment of new environmentally sound technologiesevery year, and holds 30,000 “green” patents –nearly half of the entire patent portfolio.

This makes it possible to create innovative com-ponents such as the Syntegra traction bogie for therailway network. It can work significantly more eco-nomically than all its predecessors, because thesynchronous motors drive the axles directly andtherefore gears are no longer necessary. Comparedwith conventional bogies, the weight is reduced byapproximately a third through this comprehensiveapproach and the efficiency of the engine is clearlysuperior to standard systems. If the integrated



32

and updated to the same performance level; the

trains can now be used with energy-saving tractionfor another 20 years. Here also, all locomotiveswere equipped with regenerative brake systems.The electric motors work as generators when thetrain brakes, the electricity flows back into the sys-tem and saves a further 2,250 MWh of energy pertrain annually.

New standards also apply to regional and suburbantransport, as the example of the Oslo Metro shows.This concept combines economic and ecologicaladvantages in an exceptional fashion. On the onehand, the new vehicles use approximately 30 per-cent less energy than the previous models becauseof their lightweight construction throughout andan efficient regenerative brake system. This allowsthe Oslo Metro to produce only 2 grams of green-house gases per kilometer and ton – a crucial argu-ment against all other forms of transport. On theother hand, saving energy was not enough: thematerials for the vehicles were chosen so carefullythat they made the entire metro train 94.7 percentrecyclable. This saves resources once the trains areout of service and makes the project in Oslo exem-plary. The vehicles – when considered holisticallyover their entire life cycle – are environmentallyfriendly in their production, operation and utiliza-tion. An additional benefit to the environment thatultimately brings in some hard cash for the opera-tor Oslo T-Banedrift AS is that, considering the cur-rent price of raw materials, when it comes time torecycle a three-carriage train the operator canmake up to €60,000.

The efficiency of technology can also be in -creased on the roads – on practically every streetcorner. The application of LED technology forlight signals has already reduced the energycosts of traffic-light systems by up to 90 percent.These figures speak for themselves: the lightbulbs for an average intersection system with 30light signals use almost 2.7 kilowatts at approxi-mately 100,000 traffic-light controlled junctionsin Germany alone, which adds up to a yearly en-ergy requirement of almost 270 megawatts – anentire power station just for red-yellow-green. If allsignaling systems were equipped with modern40-volt LED technology, consumption could beslashed by around 16 megawatts. Because the littleLEDs also last around ten times longer than con-ventional light bulbs, it is not surprising that an

brake-energy recovery is also taken into account,then Syntegra saves a fifth of the energy previouslyneeded. It spares the railway operator’s budget aswell as the environment.

At the end of the day, the recovery of electricalenergy through electric motor brakes, known asregeneration, is one of the most effective savingmeasures. The energy is fed directly into the elec-tricity grid in order to promptly discharge the trac-tion power supply. Or, as is the case with the SitrasSES energy storage system, the energy is tempora-rily stored in the grid and then released again later,for instance when a train accelerates. Each systemcan save up to 500,000 kWh of the primary energyrequirement each year, which equates to 300 tonsof CO 2. If the stored energy is buffered in the vehi-cle itself, then even journeys over longer distancesare possible without overhead lines. This makessense in the case of reduced structure gauges, atrailway switches and junctions of different trans-port systems – or simply around old towns in orderto preserve an unspoiled view of historically pro-tected buildings.

So what does “green” technology really mean inpractice? The new Class 3800 electric freight loco-motives for the Queensland Rail in Australia, forexample, provide a whole 4,000 kW of tractionpower. Therefore, the coal trains weighing up to13,000 tons need only three locomotives, comparedto the five previously required – thus saving a good1,050 MWh of electricity per train each year. Inaddition, 60 old locomotives could be modernized

Environmentally friendly through andthrough: unadulterated green mobility

move como 1/2008

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33como 1/2008 move

increasing number of municipalities are rushing

to convert their traffic signal equipment to theenergy-saving, long-life LED technology. It is worthit twice over.

Add an intelligent “green wave” and the motoristswill also be on the better side. Dynamic prioritytraffic-light circuits, for example, keep the processflowing by using the new Sitraffic Motion adaptivenetwork control, which matches the traffic-lightphases to the actual traffic conditions. In conjunc-tion with detectors and a high-performance traffic-control center equipped Sitraffic Scala, the softwarenot only assesses the flow of traffic at the junctionpoints, it also keeps an eye on the entire area, so tospeak. The effectiveness can be seen at the green-wave project in Münster, Germany, where the sys-tem constantly adjusts the traffic-light stagesaccording to the traffic at 24 controllers over a six-kilometer stretch. The travel speed during peaktimes has risen by nearly 15 percent and pollutionlevels are dropping.

What’s more, there is still abundant potential tobe tapped in adaptive networked traffic regulation, just as the Ruhrpilot scheme shows, for example.With this project, Siemens set up the biggest Euro-pean traffic management system to date. Locatedin a densely populated region, it incorporates 600kilometers of freeway, 53 towns, 70 train stations,approximately 1,200 trains and 6 million motoristsdaily. Intelligent traffic guidance technology gathercurrent data from various sources – from trafficdetectors and car-park sensors, from district systemsand the public-transport headquarters – and usethese to generate concrete recommendations. Thesystem transmits information via the Internet or cellphone regarding the optimal travel route and therelevant roads, car parks, freeways, buses and rail-ways in the entire Ruhr region, Europe’s largestconurbation. The user can also state with whichmode of transport they would like to travel and atwhat time they would like to reach their destination.The Ruhrpilot calculates the fastest route and thebest possible mode of transport and directs thedriver to a vacant parking space, where they canthen board a bus or rapid-transit train.

The result is clear: a vastly improved flow of traf-fic as a result of the smooth interaction between thevarious available modes of transport reduces con-gestion, prevents unnecessary energy consump-tion and improves the CO 2 balance – green mobili-ty in practice.

The solution: intelligent networking

1 Red-yellow-green: LED signal technology uses 90 percentless energy. 2 No gears, less weight: Syntegra bogies are gen-uine energy savers. 3 Economical locomotives: Class 3800locomotives are also strong in terms of ecological balance.4 Economical in operation, and spares resources until theend: 94.7 percent of the metro trains in Oslo can be recycled.5 License to change: intelligent networking of carriers facili-tates “Complete mobility.” 6 Electricity-saving containers:Sitras SES storage systems buffer the energy from the brakes.

1

4

2

65

3



34 connect como 1/2008

Just the bestof eachThe discrepancy is made particularly clear with

road and rail networks: transport volumes arerising sharply, as are customer demands for

punctuality, intermodal networking of carriers anda high level of comfort at a low price. A massiveboost in performance is certainly not feasible withthe existing infrastructures. The German Instituteof Urban Affairs alreadyannounced years ago thatuntil 2009 German citiesand municipalities alonerequire around €86 billionevery year for investments– a good quarter of whichfor the transport sector. Buthow are they to expand andmodernize if the publicbodies have to act in somany areas at once? What if the financial means or cer-tain specialist expertise arenot available on therequired scale?

These are the reasonswhy the term public-private partnership (PPP) isbecoming all the more common when public proj-ects are in the pipeline. It involves the public andprivate sector working together for a specific pur-pose. They combine their strengths on a certainproject, dividing the responsibilities and the risks.The public authorities can concentrate on their

core tasks, while private-sector companies bring tothe project their abilities and contacts, and directaccess to technology and innovations.

“That’s why a PPP model is not just a financingconcept, as is often assumed,” stresses SusanneKaidel, Head of Project and Export Finance Indus-try/Siemens Financial Services GmbH SFS, “but

rather a purchasing modelwhereby the client buys acomplete life-cycle serviceincluding financing, ratherthan just equipment.” Of course, it is rare that theentire program is deliv-ered by one supplier. Onlyfew companies, of whichSiemens is one, have suchcomprehensive resourcesat their disposal within theorganization. “Alongsidethe technical solution –from planning and realiza-tion through to full-serviceoperation – we can also

provide tailor-made financing in a partnership.”The goal is to offer the citizen, whether car driv-

er, rail customer or pedestrian, high-quality mar-ket-driven public services throughout the entireproduct or project life cycle. Thus, the cooperationrarely ends with the finished product; in mostcases, long-term operation and maintenance con-

PP

We have hadvery positiveexperienceswith this model,which is ground-breaking for theentire country.Dr. Gert Hoffmann, Lord

Mayor of Brunswick“



35como 1/2008 connect

tracts are signed. Under the PPP model, privatecontractors can, for instance, assume the construc-tion, retrofitting and operation costs of the systemover a long period, usually 20 to 25 years. The pub-lic client retains ownership and pays a contract fee,agreed up front, for the duration of the contract.If well planned, this kind of mixed doubles partner-ship can result in consider-able added value andincreased efficiency. Cur-rent calculations reveal anaverage efficiency boost of 16 percent, or as much as25 percent in a certain cases.

Great Britain was amongthe pioneers: at the begin-ning of the 1990s, public-private structuring proj-ects in Liverpool showedthat even a run-down in -dustrial city can be trans-formed into a showpiece.Today, as much as 20 per-cent of public investmentin Britain goes through the private sector. In Ger-many there is still a need to catch up – but theprospects are good. A PPP task force set up by theGerman Federal Ministry of Transport, Construc-tion and Housing (BMVBS) is engaged with theexpansion of a federal network of expertise, anddevelops standards for compiling tender docu-

ments. Like almost everywhere else in the world,infrastructure measures are at the center of theseactivities, with a particular focus on transport andpublic buildings. In February 2005, the go-aheadwas given for five PPP pilot projects in freeway con-struction – one of which was the six-lane expansionof a stretch of the A8 Autobahn between Augsburg

and Munich, following theso-called A model. “In the Amodel,” explained thetransport ministry at thetime, “private companiestake on the construction,operation and maintenanceof a section of freeway andfinance the project primari-ly through income from thetruck tolls collected on thesection in question.”

Rail transport, in partic-ular, is currently profitingfrom the public-privatehandshake all over Europe.By the year 2020, a stan-

dardized high-speed rail network is to run throughthe whole of Europe. Journey times on the TransEuropean Network (TEN) – from Spain to Russia,from Finland to Greece – have already beenslashed. One important section of this TEN networkis an approximately 100-kilometer long high-speedline, HSL Zuid, in Holland.

PPP divides opinions. Some consider public-privatepartnership as a universal remedy in the expansion of

modern infrastructures; critics, on the other hand, feara sellout of governmental authority. Public-privatepartnerships can, however, be of benefit to everyone.

XX

With public-private partner-ships, the clientbuys the com-plete life-cycleservice includ-ing financing.

Susanne Kaidel,Siemens Financial Services“




The two-track HSL Zuid stretch, intended exclu-sively for passenger travel, has been designed for atrain speed of 300 km/h. If the route (Amsterdam –Rotterdam – Antwerp – Brussels – Paris) is coveredat this speed throughout, the journey timesbetween Amsterdam’s Schiphol airport and Brus-sels or Paris are reduced enormously. The stretchfrom Amsterdam to Paris can be covered in threehours; Holland’s two largest cities Amsterdam andRotterdam are just 35 minutes apart.

At the same time, the high-speed line offers anenvironmentally friendly alternative to air and roadtravel, as it runs through the Randstad (“edge city”)region in the west of Holland, one of the mostdensely populated metropolitan areas in Europe.More than seven million people live here, equivalentto around 40 percent of the Dutch population. Thisconcentration entails extremely dense traffic andcorrespondingly high emission levels. The HSL Zuidcan contribute to easing the situation and signifi-

cantly reduce the CO 2 emissions – making a notice-able improvement to quality of life in the region.

The HSL Zuid was built and equipped between2001 and 2007 by the PPP consortium Infraspeed.With an investment of around €1.3 billion, it wasthe largest PPP project for constructing a high-speed railway line in Europe to date. Siemens wasresponsible for installing the ETCS signaling tech-nology, the overhead electricity supply, the safetytechnology including tunnel equipment, and all thecommunication equipment. In addition to supply-ing these elements, Siemens’ contract includedservicing and maintenance for all the technologyover a period of 25 years. As an experienced part-ner in turnkey solutions, Siemens also took on aleading role in the financing, as Susanne Kaidelexplains: “In this project, SFS made a decisive con-tribution to structuring and securing the completefinancing of the project.” And the experts wereimpressed: the magazine Project Finance gave thistailor-made project its award for “European PPPDeal of the Year 2001.”

Germany is catching up in the PPP business,however. In the period between 2002 and March2008, the IFD (Initiative Finanzstandort Deutsch-land), an action group set up by banks and insur-ers, was able to register 88 German PPP projectswith a total investment volume of €2.9 billion.“There are currently more than 150 new PPP proj-ects with an investment volume of around €5 bil-lion being planned in Germany,” estimates IFDexpert Wolfgang Meyer. “Due to the federal struc-tures in Germany,” he continues, “a large propor-tion of these may be smaller-scale PPP projects.”Municipal projects play an important role here.

For instance, the city of Brunswick decided toassign certain tasks in the field of public lightingand traffic routing to the private operating compa-ny Bellis – founded by Siemens Intelligent TrafficSystems and the Brunswick provider BS Energy. “Amodern local authority concentrates on the realpublic tasks that industry cannot perform on its

1 2

Financing experts such as Susanne Kaidel and clients such as Brunswick’s LordMayor Dr. Gert Hoffmann agree: with PPP, both partners can play to theirrespective strengths.



37como 1/2008 connect

behalf,” reasons Brunswick’s Lord Mayor Dr. GertHoffmann. “Meanwhile, it hands over all thoseresponsibilities that can be fulfilled more efficient-ly by the private sector. This includes traffic man-agement, which Brunswick assigned to Bellis in2006, including operation, maintenance andrepairs. In addition, as the central point of a regionwith high standards in transport, the Brunswicksolution was very interesting as a model.”

Siemens brings many years of experience in thefield of intelligent traffic routing to the project, aswell as the ability to innovate that comes with beingone of the world’s leading suppliers. BS Energy,meanwhile, has roots in Brunswick as a local, cus-tomer-oriented energy provider. This adds up to anideal combination for carrying out the tasks athand. Bellis now operates over 200 light-signal sys-tems in the city, some of which can be influenced bythe priority control of the light-rail services fromthe public-transport provider Braunschweiger Verkehrs-AG. The company also plans and createstraffic-dependent control systems, and designs anddelivers control devices, signaling devices and var-ious detectors. Perhaps its most important field of activity is providing up-to-the-minute traffic infor-mation on behalf of the city. To do so, Bellis oper-ates and maintains the Traffic Management Head-quarters, which collects and compiles extremelyvaried information. Data is taken into account fromthe traffic sensors of the light-signal systems, fromconstruction-site management, from the car-parkrouting system, and from current traffic informa-tion that is collected from 250 measuring pointsaround the municipal area of Brunswick. Soon, itwill also incorporate the operational control systemof the public-transport operator. One aspect worthyof note is the bi-directional processing of radio datasystem/traffic message channel data (RDS/TMCdata) from the surrounding highways and free-ways. In addition to the inner-city readings, thesemake it possible to compile LOS (level-of-service)values on the traffic density from which the

RDS/TMC announcements for the municipal areaare then generated.

Eight graphic LED boards inform drivers on thecurrent traffic situation and recommend alterna-tive routes if necessary. Taking a global view of transport, which encompasses all the fields of theTransport Management Headquarters, enables thetraffic sensors to select the appropriate signal pro-gram by way of a strategic control system. Bellisstill has lots in store for the future, however: the lat-est generation of car-park routing systems and traf-fic-calculation systems are to be united with theBrunswick Traffic Management Headquarters usinga single hardware platform.

“The city of Brunswick has had very positive ex -periences with this model, which is groundbreakingfor the entire country,” says Lord Mayor Hoffmann,summing up two years of PPP. “The firms’ perform-ance and willingness to innovate make for rationaloperation of the traffic systems. The service unitescutting-edge technology and low costs. This wouldnot be possible if it were managed by the city.” Forone thing is certain: those who do not get to gripswith the challenge of transport today are alreadyfailing in their challenges of tomorrow.

1 Future prospects: Siemens took on a key role inthe construction, equipping and financing of theHSL Zuid project.2 Traveling in safety at 300 km/h: the record-breaking Eurosprinter locomotive was used tocommission the route.3 Achieving more together: the city of Brunswickdelegated the operation and maintenance of itstraffic infrastructure to the PPP partner Bellis.4 A more relaxed way through the city: the traffic-dependent control of signaling systems, plannedand put in place by the PPP operator Bellis, cansignificantly reduce traffic congestion.

3 4




Superlatives should be used sparingly, butthe website www.bayerninfo.de really doesoffer the ultimate in telematics. With thisservice portal, the Bavarian Traffic DataAgency (VIB) has set new standards inintermodal route planning.

All-in-one routing



www.siemens.com

IMPRINTcomoComplete mobility – Facts, Trends, StoriesPublisher:Siemens AG · Industry Sector · Mobility Division ·Postfach 3240 · D-91050 Erlangen, GermanyEditor:Stephan Allgöwer · Siemens AG ·Mobility Division · Communications · ErlangenEditing:Eberhard Buhl, Presse-Team StuttgartPhotographs:Corbis P. 1, 10 below, 14, 16, 28 · Fotolia P. 6 ·iStockphoto P. 10 above · PolyIC, Fürth P. 12 ·Getty Images P. 30, 32 · Bellis P. 37 · ProjectPhotos P. 39 middleConcept & Layout:Agentur Feedback, Munichwww.agentur-feedback.deEnglish Translation:Paul Sabin, BerlinPrinting:Aumüller Druck, RegensburgPrinted in Germany.Copyright:© Siemens AG 2008All rights reserved. No part of this publicationmay be reproduced or used without express priorpermission. Subject to technical modifications.The information in this document containsgeneral descriptions of the technical possibili-ties. These may not apply in every case.www.siemens.com/mobility

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