Bombardier Transportation has signed a ten-year contract with Fraport AG, owner and operator of Frankfurt Airport in Germany, to continue operating and maintaining the people mover system that connects terminals 1 and 2 and to modernize its signalling technology.
The fully automatic Bombardier Innovia APM100 automatic passenger transport system was originally installed in 1994. Branded as ‘SkyLine’, the 18 vehicles in the fleet run every 90 seconds at peak times, calling at four stations over 3.8km and moving millions of passengers a year.
Under the new contract, which is valued at approximately €103 million (£90 million) and includes an option for it to be extended for a further five years, Bombardier will install a new CBTC (computer-based control system) signalling and control system as well as maintain and operate the network.
Bombardier Transportation.
Commenting on the new contract, Michael Fohrer, head of Bombardier Transportation Germany, said: “We look forward to continuing our long-standing successful partnership with Fraport, whose 25th anniversary we celebrated last year.
“Our team is doing a great job to ensure that millions of travellers and guests arrive safely, comfortably and with almost 100 percent reliability at their destinations in the terminals around the clock. Modernizing the fully automated passenger transport system will extend the life cycle of the entire facility as well as its operation and maintenance by at least ten years.”
This will be the second time that the fully automatic Cityflo 650 communication-based train control system (CBTC) will be used in Germany – it has been controlling the 12 Innovia APM300 vehicles at Munich Airport since 2016. The moving-block system is in operation at airports in more than 35 countries around the world, including at both Heathrow and Gatwick in the UK.
The new signalling will replace an older Cityflo 550 fixed-block system which has been in operation since the people-mover was first opened in 1994.
Bombardier Transportation.
Richard Hunter, Bombardier’s head of Rail Control Solutions, added: “Our proven state-of-the-art Cityflo 650 train control technology will prepare the system in Frankfurt for a digital future.
“This communication-based system can be installed without interfering with ongoing operations and tight schedules because it can be used together with the existing signalling technology and does not require the system to be shut down.”
Bombardier Transportation is currently the subject of an agreed takeover bid by French manufacturer Alstom that has been referred to the EU’s competition authorities.
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