ADtranz low floor tram

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First Generation, in curves the articulation between the centre and trailing sections bends in the opposite direction to the other articulation, this requires a special track layout
First Generation, in curves the articulation between the centre and trailing sections bends in the opposite direction to the other articulation, this requires a special track layout
GT6N in Berlin
GT6N in Berlin

The ADtranz low floor tram was introduced in the 1990s as the world's first tram with a completey low floor. This tram was developed by MAN for the city the Bremenurban transport system. The prototype, tram number 3801, was first publicly introduced on 9 February 1990. From 1991 to 1993, it was tested in many European cities. Ten German cities have purchased this type. Adtranz took over the rail division of MAN in 1990. The standard-gauge version was named GT6N or GT8N and the metre-gauge version was called GT6M.

ADtranz low floor trams come in lengths of three or four modules, all of which are approximately the same length. Under each module lies a bogie; the low floor, however, constrains the bogie's movement. Two of the axles are elctrified linked to the bogie truck by means of a universal joint. Characteristic of this tram is its abiliity to follow curves, which requires a special track layout. This occurs when the first or last module drives through an arc and drags the other two modules (which are on the straight) after it.

[edit] Second generation

R3.3 tram in Munich
R3.3 tram in Munich

The response on the Adtranz's second generation trams was not successful on the market. Only Munich and Nuremberg ordered this type. Except for being renewed with the latest technology, it also featured a larger distance between the axles knows to this material (2 meters instead of 1.85 meter) so that the leg space on top of the bogies could be increased. Another difference is, which there here really talk is not of a 4-moduled tram (as the one provided to Bremen), but previously of two double-modulated trams. In the middle, the articulation has been lengthened and redesigned, so that the movements of the first and last two modules couldn't influence each other. Because of this swinging the modules is limited at - and driving out the arcs.


When Bombardier Transportation bought Adtranz, the GTx-trams was removed from the catalogue. 460 trams have been built for the transport companies of Augsburg (12 GT6M), Berlin (150 GT6N and GT6NZ), Braunschweig (12 GT6S), Bremen (79 GT8N), Frankfurt an der Oder (8 GT6M), Jena (33 GT6MZ), Kumamoto (5 GT4NZ), Mainz (16 GT6MZ), Munich (93 GT6N and GT8N2), Nuremberg (40 GT6N and GT8N2) and Zwickau (12 GT6M). On the small tramnet in the Swedish city Norrköping they have four second-hand Adtranz-tram services since the end of the millennium. The different trams is the prototype "Bremen" (tram 3801) and three trams from Munich.

[edit] Combino

The new Combinos, which will be provided to Budapest and Almada (Portugal), have been based on the Adtranz low floor tram.

[edit] External links

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