Munich and Siemens present the first Avenio

The new tram is in Munich now: The first Siemens Avenio arrived at the depot of the Munich transport corporation (Münchner Verkehrsgesellschaft, MVG) just a few days ago. The much anticipated moment of its first grand appearance in public finally arrived today: The new tram with the MVG type designation T1 was presented to guests of honor from the city council, politics and industry, employees and the mass media.

“In spite of the extremely tight schedule we successfully managed to manufacture our Avenio in record time. The Avenio for Munich underscores our ambition to take a leadership role in the German and European market again. We are striving to once again be the first contact partner of the cities in all matters concerning trams”, Sandra Gott-Karlbauer, CEO of the Urban Transport Business Unit, emphasizes.

The tram, as a powerful, eco-friendly and thus highly cost-efficient means of transport, is becoming the focus of more and more city planners and transport companies all over the world. Siemens expects approximately 500 new procurement projects in the world market in the coming years.

The first Avenio will be followed by seven more in the next few weeks. The Avenio is the new Siemens tram generation which will be in revenue service in Munich for the first time anywhere in the world. The exact date when the first trains will enter passenger operation is currently not yet known. The authorization procedure is making good progress, and all the requirements were coordinated between the Technical Supervisory Body (Technische Aufsichtsbehörde, TAB), Siemens and MVG in parallel to manufacturing. The commissioning process and the required authorization tests will start now.

Extensive work will take place simultaneously: While the first vehicle goes on the necessary test trips on the Siemens test track in Wegberg-Wildenrath, the second vehicle will be subjected to comprehensive adjustment work and tests in Munich. At the same time TAB experts will set up their inspection reports.

The time schedule has been highly ambitious right from the start: There were only 15 months between the award of the contract at the end of September 2012 and the scheduled date of initial operation. The goal of the accelerated procurement and manufacturing process was to respond to the strongly increasing demand for the tram in Munich as quickly as possible.