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The opening of the London Underground 150 years ago marked the first step in the development of an urban transport system that has had huge success worldwide. Siemens has contributed to this success story with its pioneering spirit and innovative technology.

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ome call it the metro, others the work, but the Prussian bureaucracy underground or the subway, and resists the project for another two Sin Germany and Austria it’s called decades. the U-Bahn – but in principle they all In England the family is represented mean the same thing: a public rail by Siemens Brothers & Co., owned by transport system that is primarily under- the Siemens brothers Werner, Carl and ground, free of intersections and oper- Wilhelm (later known as Sir William). ated independently from other urban They also present the locomotive from transport systems. Metro systems pro- the Berlin exhibition at Crystal Palace vide mobility for people in over 150 In 1897 Siemens in London in 1882. Although the Tube cities around the world. With the ad- Brothers delivered gets its first electric power from Siemens vance of urbanization and the con- generators in 1890, its first electric stant influx of new people into cities, the world’s first locomotives are supplied by an English the space for transport is becoming multiple unit train company. However, the powerful scarce, which leads to growing num- with gearless drive Siemens drives soon outstrip the com- 1 2 bers of underground rail lines. petition: in 1891 Siemens Brothers Underground trains have a long tra- axles in the bogies – supplies its first two electric locomo- dition, with examples stretching back the ancestor of tives to the London Underground, over 160 years. In the booming district today’s metros. followed in 1897 by the world’s first of Brooklyn in 1850, the oldest remain- multiple unit train with gearless drive ing U.S. railroad company, Long Island axles in the bogies – the ancestor of Rail Road, builds a stretch of its line nological advances such as tunneling today’s metros, rapid-transit trains and under Atlantic Avenue using the cut- shields, it soon becomes possible to high-speed trains. By 1908 the Tube is and-cover method. Although this urban quickly and economically dig tunnels fully electrified. railway tunnel is closed just a few years through London’s clay soil at a depth later, the idea catches on – including of 20 to 30 meters. This method is 4 in the capital of the British Empire, first used to build the Tower Subway Metro is booming – in Europe which is plagued by massive conges- beneath the River Thames in 1870. and America tion problems. Since the Royal Com- The diameter of these tunnels is less 1 The first electric locomotive was presented in 1879 mission of Railways will not approve than half that of the subsurface lines, The principle of underground rail also 2 A broad tunnel profile: any overground railway lines in central though the track gauge remains the arouses interest elsewhere. The year the London Underground London, the routes heading to London same, and each track has a separate 1875 sees the opening of the “Tünel” in the first years end at terminus stations outside of tunnel. These narrow tunnels give the line on the European side of Istanbul, 3 3 Small-profile train on the the city – and soon a growing number entire London system its nickname, an underground funicular railway from Berlin elevated railway at of shuttle coaches and horse-drawn the Tube. The two partial networks the terminus of the Orient Express to the Görlitzer station buses is clogging up the streets. remain separate from one another to the district of Beyoğlu. Aside from 4 Opening of the New York Subway in 1904 this day – only on the overground line people, it also transports horses and 5 Metró Budapest is the London goes underground from Rayners Lane to Uxbridge do carriages, and it is therefore not a met- world’s second-oldest rail subsurface and deep-level trains run ro in the usual sense. For this reason, network So underground is the way to go. On directly alongside one another. the Budapest Metro, which begins 6 London Underground: escala- January 10, 1863, the Metropolitan operation in 1896, is considered the tors and magnificent design 7 Latin America’s first metro Railway, which preceded today’s Lon- Hurdles on the way to world’s second-oldest subway line – don Underground and gave its name and the first electrified underground opened in 1913 in Buenos electrification Aires to the metro transport system as a rail system with regular service in con- whole, opens an entirely underground At first the underground trains are tinental Europe. 6 line from the terminus station Padding- powered by steam locomotives – this It is worth noting that the approval ton via Euston and Kings Cross to Far- remains the leading technology until authorities in Budapest make precisely ringdon Street in the city – the world’s the mid-19th century. Today it’s hard the inverse objection to those in Berlin: first subway. to imagine the experience of these they refuse to let the two transport The route is constructed as a sub- 28,000 daily passengers, with steam companies build a tramline over the surface line using the cut-and-cover and soot filling the tunnels. This only boulevard Andrássy út, yet they are method, like in Brooklyn: a trench is changes after the Berlin entrepreneur in favor of an underground line. And excavated and roofed over, then a road Werner Siemens develops a workable so it comes to pass that Werner von is laid on top. In London the tracks of electric drive system. At the Berlin Siemens completes his metro project the subsurface lines going in each Industrial Exposition of 1879 he pres- in Hungary’s capital, rather than in his direction are built next to one another, ents the first electric locomotive, and home city of Berlin. around 5 meters under the surface, in 1881 he opens the world’s first elec- In the major U.S. cities the idea of in a tunnel with a diameter of around tric tramline in Lichterfelde, Berlin. He an independent rapid transit system 7.6 meters. However, thanks to tech- also plans an electric rapid transit net- also prevails in the late 19th century. 5 7 34 move como 11 | November 2013 como 11 | November 2013 move 35

An elevated railway opens in Chicago Hudson (PATH), which runs under the standard for travel. Urban planners in in 1892, and in 1987 Boston opens an Hudson River from Manhattan to the West Germany, Western Europe and underground streetcar line – an idea neighboring state of New Jersey via the United States redesign car-friendly that would be rediscovered 70 years two tunnels. This line still exists today city centers with plenty of space for later in the light rail systems of numer- and is currently undergoing extensive traffic and parking while dismantling ous cities. New York follows in 1904 modernization using Siemens tech- many urban rail lines. In the Soviet with its Subway system. Four years nology: radio-based train control will Union and other Eastern European later a second suburban railroad opens shorten the train headways, enabling states, on the other hand, the number in New York, the Port Authority Trans- up to 290,000 passengers to use the of private cars remains relatively limit- service each day, with no alterations ed and numerous metro operators are to the line itself required. established. Leningrad gets a new sub- After years of debate Berlin also way in 1955, followed by Kiev, Tbilisi, finally opens a regular metro line on Baku and several other major Eastern The Crossrail Pro- February 15, 1902: the electrically cities. The metro system in Budapest is ject: a train station driven underground and elevated rail- expanded, adding two modern lines. way operated by Siemens & Halske. Aside from the subways there are tram beneath the streets It runs between the stations Stralauer networks such as the MetroTram in of London Tor and Zoologischer Garten. Most of Volgograd. the line runs on a viaduct, but later At the end of the 1960s, however, An extraordinary kind of rail extensions through the city center and Western Europe also starts to think transport project is taking shape wealthy districts run underground. differently: the growth of individual in London’s underground: a Berlin is also where the term “U-Bahn” mobility has led to urban sprawl, ever- 21-kilometer tunnel is to con- comes from – to distinguish it from larger space requirements for traffic, nect the current terminus station Berlin’s urban, circle and suburban a dependence on oil, and increasing Paddington in west London with lines operated by Deutsche Reichs- environmental pollution due to emis- Poster Art 150: until Stratford station in the east. Five bahn, which have been collectively sions and noise. In many cities the January 2014, the Lon- new Tube stations will provide known as the “S-Bahn” since 1929. freedom of the automobile now sim- don Transport Museum convenient links to existing To this day, like the London Under- ply means the privilege of sitting in is presenting a Siemens- underground lines and, accord- ground, the U-Bahn has a small and traffic in your own car. Now transport sponsored exhibition of posters from the Tube’s ing to the planners’ estimates, a large tunnel profile with the same planners develop light rail as an alter- 150-year history. increase the capacity of the Lon- track gauge (1,435 mm), and two native model, using simpler, tram-like don Underground network by vehicle types: the early small profile vehicles. These usually have their own 10 percent. The tunnel is the lines – now known as U1 to U4 – are tracks, but can go underground to centerpiece of a long-distance built for trains with a “tram width” of bypass the traffic in city centers and service that, from 2018, will 2.30 meters. The later large profile also make use of existing tramlines. In run 24 trains per hour. lines are designed for a train width of 1966 Stuttgart opens the first tunnel Siemens is delivering the con- 2.65 meters. section of its underground tram, form- trol and communication systems ing the core of its current light rail for the control center and sta- Decades of car dominance system. Soon Frankfurt and Cologne tions, plus the trackside equip- follow suit. ment to connect the new local As early as 1920 it becomes apparent The only other German cities to transport line to the national that cities will be shaped by car and build full U-Bahn systems are Munich rail network. The special feature motorcycle transport in the decades to and Nuremberg. The Bavarian capital here is that the long-distance come. In the years between the two departs from the existing concept of route to the west will have the world wars only a few metro systems an underground tram and opts for a European Train Control System go into operation: in Spain’s capital full U-Bahn, which begins operation (ETCS) Level 2 installed, while Madrid in 1919, in Barcelona five years in 1971, in the run-up to the Olympic the eastern direction will use the later, and Asia’s first metro in Tokyo Games. While many vehicles from local Train Protection Warning in 1927. The first underground rapid this initial period are still in use today, System (TPWS). In the Crossrail transit train in Moscow opens in 1935. since 2002 Siemens has supplied mod- Tunnel itself the trains will be It features stations built particularly ern “C-car” trains. controlled via radio using Com- deep underground and splendidly The youngest German U-Bahn begins munications-Based Train Control decorated as “working class palaces” – operation in Nuremberg the next year – (CBTC). Siemens will deliver its though these can also serve as air raid this city had also originally planned a proven Trainguard MT system for shelters. tram network. In 2008 Germany’s first this purpose. Dynamic switching In Western countries the focus in the fully automatic U-Bahn goes into ser- between the three control sys- 1950s is on mass motorization. Train vice on Nuremberg’s U3 line. As part tems will ensure that the differ- passenger numbers are constantly on of the RUBIN Project, Siemens enables ent lines are smoothly integrated. the decline; the private car sets the a type of operation on a shared stretch 36 move como 11 | November 2013

of the U2 line that has not been seen routes. A current example is Poland’s a turnkey metro system for lines 1 and anywhere in the world before: driver- first underground system, the Warsaw 2. This will include Inspiro trains, elec- less and conventionally driven trains Metro. Its line 1, almost 23 kilometers trification, signal and communication run alongside one another. This con- in length, has been running since technology, and equipment for fully tinues until 2010, when the U2 vehi- 1995 and carries up to 568,000 pas- automatic, driverless operation. cles are also fully automated. The sengers each day. A second, 32-kilo- major benefit of this approach is that meter line is under construction, and Retrofitting is today’s global the trains can be upgraded while ser- the operator Metro Warszawskie has trend vice is still running. decided to use 35 six-car trains from the new Inspiro generation of metro However, new systems are expensive Metro boom in Asia vehicles, 15 of which will run on the and take many years to build. Particu- existing line 1. The trains have been larly in the rapidly expanding mega- In the emerging nations of Asia, with specially tailored for Warsaw’s require- cities of Asia and South America, where their rapidly growing metropolitan ments and can carry up to 1,450 pas- modern transport solutions are urgently regions and megacities, the only way sengers at a time. Thanks to their light- needed, time and money are often in to cope with the constant influx of weight construction, energy-saving short supply. For this reason operators people is with high-performance rail lighting and energy-recovery tech- are increasingly retrofitting their exist- systems that are independent from nology, they are extremely energy ing lines with smart control and safety road traffic. For instance, in December efficient and economical. technology. It typically allows twice 1999 Bangkok opens the two lines Siemens is also active worldwide in the number of trains to operate on the of its “Skytrain” elevated rail system, the technical equipment of rail lines, same line – an economical and time- and Bangkok’s largely underground for example in the creation of the saving solution for increasing passen- metro system goes into operation in metro system in Algiers. With over ger capacity. July 2005. Both systems are equipped three million residents, the Algerian Subways such as those in London, with Siemens technology. capital is the country’s largest city Paris, Istanbul and Madrid have already In the People’s Republic of China, in and most important transport hub. been upgraded; other metros such as particular, transport planners are plac- Line 1 of this turnkey project, which the PATH line between New York and ing great faith in underground rail – was led by Siemens and opened in New Jersey are currently planning or the country currently has over 25 met- 2011, is considered the first full sub- implementing modernization measures. ro systems in planning, construction way system on African soil. The Cairo Copenhagen, Denmark’s capital, is or operation. The Shanghai Metro, Metro, which began operation in another example. As part of its aim to

opened in 1993 with 12 lines, is one 1987, came about as a connecting become a CO2-neutral city, it is updat- of the fastest-growing subway systems tunnel under the city center between ing the signal technology of its light in the world. A consortium between two suburbs, and it is more compa- rail network. Between now and 2019, Siemens and Adtranz, which built the rable to a light rail system. without interrupting services, Siemens first two lines, sets the standards for Algiers Metro line 1 reduced daily will equip five lines and 135 trains with signal and safety technology. traffic in the city almost immediately, the Trainguard MT system and deliver Although the metro of the capital and the first expansion is due to go into Trackguard Sicas interlockings and Beijing is the first in the People’s operation as early as 2015. This new train supervision technology. Mean- Republic of China, until 1977 it is only portion will also be equipped with the while, in São Paulo, Brazil, Siemens is open to civil servants. Today it has ten Trainguard MT control system, which helping to modernize metro lines 8, lines with a total length of over 450 kilo- allows train sequencing to be adjusted 10 and 11. The three lines carry over a meters and transports up to ten million to the passenger volume while also million passengers per day using 136 passengers per day. At 50 kilometers, optimizing operating safety, train reli- trains, and again the retrofitting will Beijing’s line 10 is the longest metro ability and availability. It uses the mov- take place while normal service contin- line in the world equipped with the ing block principle to allow the trains ues. Here Siemens is delivering the CBTC latest CBTC and Trainguard MT con- to travel at an optimal distance from system SIRIUS, including WESTRACE trol technology. one another, while automatic train electronic interlockings, point machines operation maximizes their efficiency and LED signals. New vehicle concepts, smart in terms of time and energy. So the 150-year success story of Similar benefits are expected in underground rail is far from over. Met- rail automation Riyadh, the capital of Saudi Arabia. ros, with their high capacities, lighten These days metro systems are becom- The city of five million people plans the load on road traffic and help pro- ing increasingly important – with mod- to construct a cutting-edge metro tect the environment – and when it ern vehicles as a replacement and sup- network with six lines and a total length comes to sustainable mobility, this is plement for existing fleets or for new of 175 kilometers. Siemens will supply more important than ever.