InnoTrans 2012 sets impressive new record

Between 18 and 21 September 2012, the Messe Berlin opened its doors to welcome over 126,000 trade visitors from 140 countries who attended InnoTrans to find out about the latest industry products and services from over 2,500 exhibiting companies. The theme of InnoTrans 2012 was ‘the future of mobility’ and alongside the opportunity to watch live-demonstrations of innovative products available on the market, there was also a number of interesting and informative conferences, seminars and onbooth discussions amongst the industry’s toplevel management and experts.

At the Opening Ceremony of InnoTrans 2012, Siim Kallas, the Vice President and Commissioner for Transport at the European Commission called for fair conditions for rail service providers in all member states. “It is important to have a mix of public invitations to tender and open access,” he said.

Speaking at the trade fair, Dr. Peter Ramsauer, Federal Minister of Transport, Construction and Urban Development in Germany commented: “InnoTrans is the international shop window and the leading platform for rail transport technology. Technical innovations have an important role to play in bringing about further advances in safety and quality on the railways.”

Talgo and Global Railway Review

Global Railway Review was proud to partner Spanish rolling stock manufacturer Talgo during InnoTrans 2012. The exhibition was an important event for Talgo, which presented the AVRIL train to the industry – the most modern high-speed train in its market segment and based on Talgo’s unique technology.

Mario Oriol, Deputy Chairman of Talgo, presented the AVRIL to visitors of the trade fair and unveiled the prototype on display. The module attracted lots of interest during the event and was even visited by Ana Pastor, the Spanish Development Minister.

Global Railway Review was fortunate to have an exclusive video interview with Mario Oriol during InnoTrans 2012 which can be viewed on our website at www.globalrailwayreview.com. In the video Mario explains the process of developing and designing the AVRIL platform, its important and unique characteristics, its safety aspects, and how environmentally-friendly the train is.

Designed to reach speeds of 380km/h, the AVRIL can accommodate up to 600 passengers on a single-deck. This is possible thanks to the use of an extra row of seats in tourist class, achieving a 3+2 configuration in a wider body shell which complies with the UIC standard clearance gauge; something unique in the industry. Talgo is proud that this is a revo – lutionary seating configuration that provides maximum seating capacity and flexibility for rail operators.

Talgo is the first high-speed train supplier in Spain and is placed amongst the top companies in the world. Global Railway Review urges you to visit the Talgo website at www.talgo.com to learn more about the AVRIL and the specialist rolling stock manufacturer.

Other products and solutions on show

Rail technology leader Bombardier Transportation opened a window to the future of public transport at the rail trade show. Under the theme ‘The Evolution of Mobility’, visitors experienced Bombardier’s integrated and sustainable smart transport solutions for an increasingly mobile and congested world. The company featured 20 game-changing innovations that it is introducing in its latest key projects around the world. Bombardier displayed a full-scale mock-up of the V300ZEFIRO very high-speed train for Italy with its next generation BOMBARDIER FLEXX Speed bogies. The new train ensures top travel times even on winding routes thanks to its exceptional acceleration. It is part of the globally acclaimed BOMBARDIER ZEFIRO family of high-speed trains that can transport up to twice as many passengers as the world’s largest aircraft at speeds of up to 380km/h. Another high-speed innovation featured by Bombardier was the FLEXX Tronic WAKO system developed for the BOMBARDIER TWINDEXX double-deck intercity trains in Switzerland. It allows the trains to travel through curves up to 15% faster than with conventional bogies.

Speaking to the organisers of InnoTrans 2012, Michael Clausecker, CEO of Bombardier Transportation said: “For Bombardier, this year’s InnoTrans has again proved itself to be the rail industry mecca. The fair was a marvellous opportunity to showcase our innovative products and technologies to a wide expert audience and to our customers.”

In another Russian State Railways-related highlight during InnoTrans 2012, Siemens displayed the new Desiro RUS and the first of 200 comfortable sleeping cars that have been ordered by RZD.

Speaking to the organisers of InnoTrans 2012, Hans-Jörg Grundmann, CEO of Siemens Rail Systems mentioned that the trade fair “is extremely important for our global railway technology business”.

Visitors to the Vossloh Group’s three stands at InnoTrans got access to a unique variety of exhibits from Vossloh’s divisions. Vossloh’s motto for the event, “inspiring mobility”, stood for a broad range of products and their impressive cost-effectiveness and rigorous conservation of natural resources. On the Rail Infrastructure stand were more exhibits than ever before and Vossloh Fastening Systems showcased its fasteners for every type of application. Vossloh Cogifer exhibited a heavy haul turnout and some signalling components, thus underscoring its overall competence in the switch system sector. Moreover, and in teamwork with other business units, there were new noise suppression products (Quiet track). Vossloh Rail Services showed its HSG City, an innovative high-speed grinding system suitable for urban railways, as well as a new rail-milling product. At the Transportation stand were 100 metres of extra trackage. Here, Vossloh Rail Services presented its high-speed grinding train and Vossloh Rail Vehicles exhibited its Tramlink along with the EUROLIGHT. From a platform, visitors could inspect the roof of the Vossloh tram and experts from Vossloh Kiepe explained to fair visitors the electrical equipment. Alongside the diesel-electric centre-cab DE 12, Vossloh Locomotives exhibited its best-seller G 6. A highlight and already announced to the trade press was the G 6 ME in a dieselelectric multi-engine format. The entire line-up of electrical systems used on road and rail vehicles operating on (sub)urban public trans – portation services was on show on Vossloh Kiepe’s stand.

Speaking to the organisers of InnoTrans 2012, Dr. Norbert Schiedeck, Chairman of Vossloh AG commented: “For Vossloh, InnoTrans was an all-round success. The products we displayed on our Rail Infrastructure and Transportation stands showed how innovative and competitive we are as a company. At the meetings we held with our customers, the reactions to our designs and product concepts were very positive.”

Kapsch CarrierCom, one of the leading providers of telecommunications solutions for railway operators, demonstrated at InnoTrans 2012 how the railway communication of the future will look. As a world market leader, the company is advancing the development of the GSM-R standard in the direction of IP communication and is highly active in standardisation bodies. The new developments in the area of access form the foundation for greater safety, higher operating efficiency and also for new applications.

Kapsch focused on four major topics at its InnoTrans booth. Firstly, the company demon – strated an extensive portfolio for end-to-end solutions that have been and continue to be realised around the globe. The palette here ranges from radio planning (especially for high-speed lines) to integration and inter – operability tests, turnkey solutions, on-time project management and an extensive array of training and educational services for customers and partners. The second area revolves around ETCS Level 2 via GPRS technology, a field in which Kapsch is at the forefront. The third area is dedicated to the sustainable and staged migration of GSM-R in the direction of IP, which is a major goal of railway operators. The final topic concerned the expansion of railway comm unication with additional applications. One example is the lone worker protection application. This GSM network-based application helps improve the safety of line workers and simult – aneously enables more efficient utilisation of the personnel.

KEYMILE, a leading technology supplier of communications solutions for access and transmission systems, exhibited its extensive range of dedicated network solutions for railway and transport companies. Just some of their solutions on display included the access and transmission platform MileGate, the multi-drop transmission system LineRunner SCADA NG and machine-tomachine solutions (M2M) for monitoring and controlling local comp onents and mobile telephony networks.