MRT Corp unveils Siemens Inspiro train

by **Cals** Tue 18 Mar 2014, 14:32

Business & Markets 2014

Written by Ben Shane Lim of theedgemalaysia.com

Tuesday, 18 March 2014 10:31

KUALA LUMPUR: MRT Corp Sdn Bhd yesterday unveiled the driverless trains that will service the Klang Valley mass rapid transit (MRT) system, the first phase of which will begin operations in December 2016.
According to MRT Corp director of strategic communications and public relations Amir Mahmood Razak, the Inspiro trains from Germany’s Siemens are one of the most advanced in the region.
MRT Corp has ordered 58 four-car metro trains from the Siemens-SMH Rail consortium, through a RM3.36 billion tender that was awarded last year.
The car-bodies are being built by China’s CSR Puzhen and the first two of the unfinished car-bodies are scheduled for delivery by May 28 to SMH Rail Sdn Bhd’s plant in Rasa, Hulu Selangor, where the trains will be assembled.
The first two units will then be delivered to the Sungai Buloh depot by October where testing and commissioning of the train and the track systems will commence on a test track.
Each four-car train set has a capacity of 1,200 passengers. MRT Corp has set itself a daily ridership target of 400,000 commuters. The Inspiro trains are able to accommodate such loads as they are much more spacious than the light rail transit (LRT) trains that are in operation at the moment. The interior of the driverless trains is designed by DesignworksUSA, a subsidiary of the BMW Group.
A mock-up model of the train will be on public display at the KLIA Express arrival hall in KL Sentral until May.
In the meantime, the rail industry is waiting for the government to approve MRT Line 2, from Sungai Buloh to Putrajaya. It was reported that MRT Corp has already completed the necessary studies and has submitted its proposal to the government for approval.
Although Siemens had bagged the rolling stock tender for the current MRT Line 1 (from Sungai Buloh to Kajang), it does not necessarily mean that it will win the next tender.
“The fact that Siemens won the tender was very encouraging for the industry, and we expect to see more bidders and more competitive bids for the next line,” said one industry player.
Notably, MRT Corp has not signed any agreement with Siemens for the maintenance of the trains, which have a 30-year life cycle.
Other design improvements on the Inspiro train include electro-dynamic braking, which uses the electrical engines as dynamos to slow down the train while feeding power back into the grid.
The energy saving is marginal at around 10%, but reduces the wear and tear typically associated with mechanical braking, which will in turn reduce the life cycle cost of the trains, explained MRT Corp E&M systems director Tom Khella.
The trains will also be substantially quieter than its LRT counterparts, largely due to the larger wheel diameters. Noise typically comes from the friction between the steel wheels and the tracks.

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DRIVERLESS TRAIN... (From left) MRT Corp Sdn Bhd director of strategic communications and public relations Amir Mahmood Razak, Siemens AG urban transport, rail systems division chief executive officer Sandra Gott-Karlbauer, MRT Corp electric train engineer Vanithashrree and electrical and mechanical systems director Tom Khella posing with a mock-up model of Siemens MRT train at KL Sentral yesterday

This article first appeared in The Edge Financial Daily, on March 18, 2014.