Refurbishment of the Articulated Low Floor Vehicles

In the cathedral city of Cologne the transit authority Kölner Verkehrs-Betriebe AG (KVB) operates an about 200 km long light rail network. 380 tramcars and light rail vehicles are operated within this network to transport about 800,000 passengers each day. 

Some of these vehicles, i.e. 28 LRVs of the B type, are being refurbished and equipped with state-of-the-art technology. The so-called “2100s”, which were built by DUEWAG in 1984/1985, are then renamed to “2400s”. These LRVs are being fully cored down to the naked car body. When the LRVs have been refurbished, one will not be able to see that they are already 30 years old because the interior has been equipped with completely new parts. The driver’s cab is also redesigned entirely and hardly differs from the cabs in newer vehicles.

Except for the traction equipment the complete electrical equipment is also renewed. A recently developed power drive unit is combined with the existing camshaft unit. Moreover, the master controller and the motor group switches are processed. The LRVs are re-cabled completely and equipped with new components like instrument and device panels, on-board power supply converters, air conditioner converters and temperature control units for the passenger compartment and the driver’s cab. Furthermore, new CAN bus control units with efficient diagnostic software and a vehicle data management system are implemented.