Interlink Communication Public Company Limited has awarded Siemens to deliver its Airval fully Automated People Mover for the Suvarnabhumi Airport in Bangkok, Thailand. The Airval will connect the current airport terminal with the new satellite terminal. The line will be approximately one kilometer long with four parallel tracks and have two stations. Siemens is to deliver a total of six two-car trains and the Communication Based Train Control system (CBTC) for fully automated operation. The trains will be manufactured at the Siemens plant in Vienna, Austria. The project will be commissioned in 2020.
The Airval system is a central railguided Automated People Mover distinguished by short headways fast acceleration and short braking phases. With their rubber tires, the Airval trains can easily handle steeper grades and are considerably quieter than other rail systems in curves. Innovative energy storage and energy recovery systems ensure the system’s high efficiency.
The Airval trains being built for Bangkok will transport up to 3,590 passengers per hour and direction during peak periods. Operation will be 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, to deal with fluctuating demand. Large doors and spacious aisles ease boarding and exiting, and provide generous space for luggage.
“Over recent decades Siemens has played a major role in the development of Bangkok’s urban transport system – from turnkey rail systems to the Skytrain to the Airport Rail Link. With our Airval system we will be seamlessly continuing this success story”, said Sabrina Soussan, CEO of Siemens Mobility Division.
Val systems made by Siemens are already operating at the Charles de Gaulle and Orly Airports in Paris as well as at the O’Hare Airport in Chicago. The Val fully automated systems also operate as metro lines, in French cities such as Lille, Rennes and Toulouse, in the South Korean City Uijeongbu and in Turin, Italy. Availability level of the Val lines in operation is over 99,8 percent.
Siemens AG (Berlin and Munich) is a global technology powerhouse that has stood for engineering excellence, innovation, quality, reliability and internationality for 170 years. The company is active around the globe, focusing on the areas of electrification, automation and digitalization. One of the world’s largest producers of energy-efficient, resource-saving technologies, Siemens is a leading supplier of efficient power generation and power transmission solutions and a pioneer in infrastructure solutions as well as automation, drive and software solutions for industry. The company is also a leading provider of medical imaging equipment – such as computed tomography and magnetic resonance imaging systems – and a leader in laboratory diagnostics as well as clinical IT. In fiscal 2017, which ended on September 30, 2017, Siemens generated revenue of €83.0 billion and net income of €6.2 billion. At the end of September 2017, the company had around 377,000 employees worldwide. Further information is available on the Internet at www.siemens.com.
