Siemens presented the first driverless Inspiro metro train for the Riyadh Metro Line 1 (Blue Line) to representatives from Arriyadh Development Authority (ARA) at the InnoTrans exhibition in Berlin.
As part of the Bechtel-led Bacs consortium, Siemens is supplying 45 four-car trains for Line 1 and 29 two-car trains for Line 2 (Red Line) together with automatic train control and electrification systems for the two lines.
The 75.7m-long aluminium-bodied four-car trains are designed to accommodate up to 522 passengers – 123 of them seated – across first-, family- and second-class accommodation.
Each car has six sets of sliding doors and two HVAC units, which are designed to operate in ambient temperatures as high as 55°C. The trains also feature LED interior lighting and full-width gangways.
Three of the vehicles in each four-car train are motorised and each motor bogie is driven by two self-ventilated 1TB 20 series traction motors, which are controlled without speed sensors.
Siemens says it has tested the performance of all electrical equipment using sand and dust from the Riyadh region to simulate the condition the 750V dc third-rail trains will encounter in Saudi Arabia.
The interior and exterior design elements were developed by Siemens in collaboration with French design bureau Avant Premiere to have no visible screw heads or fixing points inside the train – as per the requirements of the ARA.
Two trains are currently undergoing tests at Siemens test facility at Wildenrath in northwest Germany ahead of the scheduled delivery of the whole fleet to Riyadh in 2017-18.