Alstom Metropolis C751A

Not to be confused with Kawasaki Heavy Industries & Nippon Sharyo C751B or Alstom Metropolis C751C.

Alstom Metropolis C751A
Front of an Alstom Metropolis C751A at Sengkang Depot.
Inside an Alstom Metropolis Car on the North East Line. Trains running on this line are driverless and fully automated.
In service	20 June 2003 - Current
Manufacturer	Alstom
Built at	Valenciennes, France
Family name	Metropolis
Constructed	2000 - 2003
Number built	150
Formation	6 per trainset Tc + M + M + M + M + Tc
Capacity	1920 passengers (320 per car) 296 seats (48 per car)
Operators	SBS Transit (ComfortDelGro Corporation)
Depots	Sengkang
Lines served	North East Line
Specifications
Car body construction	Welded aluminium
Car length	23.65 m (Tc) 22.8 (M)
Width	3.2 m
Height	3.7 m
Floor height	1,100 mm
Doors	1,400 mm, 8 per car
Maximum speed	100 km/h
Weight	337 tonnes (6 passengers/m2)
Traction system	IGBT-VVVF (Alstom ONIX 1500)
Acceleration	1.1m/s2
Deceleration	1.4m/s2 (Emergency)
Electric system(s)	1500 V AC Overhead catenary
Bogies	16 t per axle
Safety system(s)	Alstom solution - URBALIS control system (ATC/CBTC, ATO, UTO)
Track gauge	1,435 mm (4 ft 8+1⁄2 in) standard gauge

The Alstom Metropolis C751A are the first generation of communication-based train control (CBTC) rolling stock that has been in use in Singapore’s Mass Rapid Transit (MRT) lines since 2003. Alstom was contracted in 1997 and 1998 (as C751A) by the Land Transport Authority (LTA) in Singapore to supply for its North East Line in 2003.

The automated system version, previously known as “moving block systems”, CBTC systems do not require traditional "fixed-block track circuits" for determining train position. Instead, they rely on "continuous two-way digital communication" between each controlled train and a wayside control center, which may control an area of a railroad line, a complete line, or a group of lines. Recent studies consistently show that CBTC systems reduce life-cycle costs for the overall rail property and enhance operational flexibility and control.

Door of the Alstom Metropolis C751A.

A development in Singapore's MRT history, the six-car trains on the North East Line are powered by overhead catenary, in contrast to the train cars on all the other operating lines prior to this, which are powered by a third rail. This was partially because authorities consider overhead wires to be unsightly and it does not allow for trains to be powered using this method on elevated lines. Since this line is the first to be fully underground in Singapore, the authorities had a choice between powering the trains on this line by overhead catenary or third rail. An overhead catenary power supply was decided upon. This is also the first time in the history of Singapore's MRT history that the seats in every compartment of the train are made up of the same colours. 25 trainsets of six cars each were purchased for the North East Line. In addition, due to its driverless configuration, it is a unique type of train where there are windows at the front and back of the train, giving passengers an impressive view as the train speeds through the tunnel. LTA says that they are adding 18 new trains instead of 12 trains for the North East Line within 5-6 years time.

Information System

• 2 Visual Passenger Information System or VPIS installed in each train cars. These displays are capable of displaying the name of the next station, current station, door closing messages and occasionally the date and the time at terminal stations.
• 6 Liquid Central Displays or LCDs are installed at the overhead panel in each train cars showing advertisements. These show rail travel information of the next station & terminating station, silent commercials and movie trailers and safety videos. As of today, the units on the C751A have stopped showing commercials due to lack of demand.

Serial number

Individual cars are given a five-digit serial number by the rail operator, SBS Transit. The car numbers of the trains range from 7x001 to 7x050, where x depends on the carriage type. To avoid confusion with the serial numbers of Kawasaki Heavy Industries C151, which this number scheme follows, a 7 will be placed together with the other 4 digits.

• 1st digit is always a 7.
• 2nd digit depends on whether the car is the 1st, 2nd or 3rd car from the end of the train it is nearer to.
• 3rd digit is always a 0.
• The last 2 digits will be from 01 to 50, as the train identification number with an odd number and an even number separated by a slash.

So for example an Alstom Metropolis C751A on the NEL (in this case, 001/002 aka 7001/7002), would consist of serial numbers 71001, 72001, 73001, 73002, 72002, 71002.

See also

• Alstom Metropolis

References

• "Singapore Northeast Line - The first fully automatic heavy metro system" (PDF). Alstom. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2007-09-29. Retrieved 2008-02-25.
• "Singapore Northeast Line: will soon be the largest, fully automatic metro system in the world" (PDF). Alstom. Retrieved 2008-11-09.
• http://www.alstom.com/transport/products-and-services/signalling/urbalis-control-system/
• http://www.alstom.com/assetmanagement/DownloadAsset.aspx?ID=f8a7ad03-3004-4f8b-97ef-c1a192a8a25b&version=8ad42650118a4e0f8a6209c5dc6f1c6c2.pdf&lang=2057
• http://www.stee.com.sg/pdf/railway_systems/VPIS_Eng.pdf

External links

• Main fleet info for C751As