E-MAIL
Malatya, the capital of the eponymous province in Eastern Anatolia, is going to set up a completely new trambus system as the first Turkish city. Together with the vehicle manufacturer Bozankaya the Düsseldorf-based electric driveline supplier Vossloh Kiepe has been awarded the order for ten double-articulated trambuses. She will be responsible for the complete electrical equipment of these state-of-the-art buses. The first vehicles of the "Trambus" project are to be ready for operation in Malatya already in the spring of 2014.
The futuristic-looking vehicles of the manufacturer Bozankaya, which has branches in Salzgitter and Ankara, are not only going to have a tram-similar design, but also double-axle drives with a tram-similar power supply from the overhead contact wires. The 24 m long buses, which have 58 seats and room for 164 standing passengers, fulfil the high requirements for capacity of the public transport in Malatya.
Vossloh Kiepe has designed a powerful electrical system, featuring direct pulse inverters in IGBT technology, fully automatic current collectors, braking resistors and an on-board power supply system which has to supply the air conditioning system and the 24 V system of the vehicle with power. The complete system is so designed that the braking energy can be recuperated into the overhead contact line system, which is then available to other vehicles.
The four-axle double-articulated bus is powered by two traction motors with a continuous output of 160 kW on the two centre axles. Moreover, the vehicle will be equipped with a diesel generator unit, which supplies so much energy that the vehicle can be operated off-wire during emergency operation. The new transport system has to relieve urban public transport in Malatya considerably. A large number of buses and private minibuses are to be replaced by the trambuses, thus also reducing the Co² emission.
To start with, a line is to be set up from the inner city to the university, which is situated about 10 km east of the city. In the next few years an altogether 51 km long network (line length measured for a round-trip) is to be set up.