7 April 2015, 00:00
A new tramcar which bears the type designation 27T has been recently introduced to the Chinese public. It is the result of cooperation between the Škoda Transportation company from Plzeň and the Chinese company CSR Qingdao Sifang Co. Ltd. The vehicle, which is technically based on the design of tramcars from the ForCity family, meets state-of-the-art technical and safety parameters and can be powered by battery or hydrogen fuel cells.
The Czech and Chinese companies started their cooperation in 2012. Since then several contracts have been signed, the most significant contract concerned the transfer of production technology of the tramcar vehicle 15T ForCity Alfa together with associated training of workers and technical assistance of Škoda technicians. “I can confirm that our knowledge and experience from the operation of the tramcar 15T ForCity Alfa and from the development of other types of tramcars, namely types 26T and 28T ForCity Classic, were used in the development of this new Chinese vehicle 27T. The state-of-the-art Chinese tramcar is the result of long-term and successful cooperation between our company and the Chinese company CSR Quingdao Sifang. It is evident that we have chosen the correct strategy for establishing ourselves successfully on the Chinese market,” says Tomáš Ignačák, managing director of Škoda Transportation, and he adds: “China is generally seen as a very demanding market because of the requirements on the advanced level of product technology. Only a company which offers first-rate products can succeed there. This is one of the reasons why I am very glad that the cooperation between our company and the Chinese company is successful, it is a proof that Czech know-how can break through even on the most demanding markets.”
The new Chinese tramcar has several identical parameters with the tramcar 15T ForCity Alfa. “The vehicle consists of three sections with four fully pivoting bogies and independently suspended wheels on the bogie with a direct drive. The drive is provided by 16 synchronous motors with permanent magnets as is the case in the Czech tramcar. The difference is that the Chinese vehicle is bi-directional and wider by 190 mm and longer by 3,790 mm. The vehicle is therefore designed for 60 seated passengers and 320 standing passengers. The height of the vehicle interior was reduced to 2,225 mm. It is also necessary to mention that the vehicle meets the strictest safety standards,” addsRadek Elhota, project manager at Škoda Transportation.
“The design of the vehicle front and the colour solution were prepared by designers of the Chinese company CSR Qingdao Sifang. At present, alternative types of drives are also very popular in China. These parameters were therefore not ignored during the development of this vehicle, and the tramcar can be fitted with supercapacitors, battery cells and hydrogen fuel cells as an alternative,” says Petr Vízdal, Business Development director at the Škoda Transportation company.
In mid-2013 Škoda Transportation concluded a contract on a 10-year licence for production of tramcars ForCity (15T) with the Chinese company CSR Sifang Quingdao. A prototype of the tramcar ForCity (15T) was produced in China already in March 2014. It is a confirmation of the uniqueness and technically advanced level of the tramcar 15T, which operates not only in the capital city of Prague but also in the Latvian city of Riga.