The City of Calgary in Canada has revealed a mock-up of a new low-floor light rail vehicle (LRV) designed for the Green Line, the city’s next light rail transit (LRT) line.
Spain-based Construcciones y Auxiliar de Ferrocarriles (CAF) has constructed the mock-up of the new Urbos 100 LRV. The company previously received a contract for the delivery of a new fleet of 28 Urbos 100 LRVs for the Green Line.
The new model will be used for the validation of Green Line’s technical requirements, as well as assessing its ability as a modern, safe and accessible transit option for Calgarians.
To enable the operator’s cab to serve as a training simulator for future operators of the Green Line LRVs, it is designed to split apart from the remainder of the mock-up.
The 12m-long mock-up weighs around 12,000kg, which makes it a little more than a quarter of the actual LRV’s length and 20% of its estimated weight.
The LRV mock-up is built from steel, wood and plastic, as well as a combination of real and simulated components.
The Urbos 100 features modern and low-floor technology that offers several accessibility improvements compared to earlier generations of LRVs.
Its lowered floors eliminate the requirement for steps during boarding.
To offer a better boarding experience for riders, the eight entrances of the vehicle will dock level with station platforms.
Green Line LRV systems and systems integration manager Shakti Sarai said: “From a technical perspective, the Urbos 100 LRV has met all of our requirements in a service-proven platform.
“It represents a combination of the best lessons learned from 41 years of Calgary Transit LRV operation and 20 years of CAF refining the Urbos LRV.”
