Alstom hands over the new metropolis metro to Budapest

New trainsets will carry passengers on Line 2 from the beginning of September

10 July 2012 - Alstom has officially handed over the first Metropolis metro to the Municipality of Budapest today. Keys of the first new trainset, which will replace the existing metros from Line 2 of Budapest, have been presented to Mr. István Tarlós Mayor of Budapest by Mr. Patrick Kron, Chairman and CEO of Alstom Group on the event. In line with the deadlines set in the agreement signed by Budapest and Alstom last year, the manufacturer obtained the Final Type License for the 22, five-car trainsets, which opens the way to the service entry of the new metros on Line 2. The new 100 meter long, single spaced, fully air conditioned metro vehicles will enter passenger service as early as September this year. 

As part of the largest ever transportation vehicle modernization program to date, Budapest has ordered to Alstom 110 METROPOLIS cars for its recently modernized East-West metro line (Line 2). After modifications made on the brake system as well as full test procedure including a test run of more than 35.000 km - the trainsets obtained Final Type Licence from the National Transportation Authority on 1 June 2012. Alstom is now able to officially hand over the first METROPOLIS to the Municipality of Budapest, exactly by the deadline set in the last year agreement of Budapest Mayor, Mr. Istvan Tarlos and Mr. Patrick Kron, Alstom Group Chairman and CEO.

The 100-meter metro can carry 1023 passengers, including 209 seated ones. The cars have 4 external wide (1.3 m) sliding doors on each side, allowing passengers to access and exit the metro quicker at stations. The metros able to run at maximum speed of 70 kph - are single spaced thus passengers can walk from one end to the other inside the train, through 1.5 m wide gangways.

The comfort and safety of the passengers are further enhanced as the metros are equipped with air-conditioning and state-of-the-art passenger information systems. Taking environmental aspects into consideration at designing and using reusable materials such as steel, aluminium and copper, the METROPOLIS trainsets are 98% recyclable. The vehicle regenerates power when it brakes, thus protects the environment by lowering energy demand during operation.

The new metro of Budapest was designed in France, its traction system was manufactured in Hungary. The manufacturing of the carbody shells and the actual assembly took place in one of Alstom Transports Manufacturing Excellence, based in Katowice, Poland. 

Alstom has been manufacturing metros for more than 70 years. One in four metros currently in service in the world is manufactured by Alstom. In total, 4,000 METROPOLIS coaches across the world are carrying several million of passengers every day in around 45 cities such as Barcelona, Warsaw, Singapore, Shanghai, Nanjing, Buenos Aires, Santiago de Chile or Santo Domingo.