All forty of the low-carriage trams ordered by Helsinki from German manufacturer Bombardier some years ago will be repaired in Germany over the next two years. The first repaired tram will arrive back in Helsinki in March 2006.
The transportation of inoperative and faulty equipment will begin immediately. Bombardier aims to complete the refit of all the low-carriage trams by August 2007.
The goal is to have all the rolling stock operating perfectly after the city has accepted the delivery.
Helsinki City Transport (HKL) is currently evaluating the repair plan.
The repair work will be conducted on a tight schedule. Bombardier's intention is to deliver the fixed trams to Helsinki at a rate of one a week.
"This has been our proposal to the HKL. We believe this timetable is realistic", says managing director Kenneth Granholm from Bombardier Transportation Finland.
Helsinki City Transport is optimistic about the proposed timetable from the professional point of view. However, there is a degree of scepticism.
"The schedule is extremely tight. We'll see whether it will prove to be realistic only when the work gets under way", says director Timo Ketola from the Helsinki City Transport Tram Traffic Unit.
Bombardier has discovered numerous technical faults in driving tests conducted in Helsinki.
The results have been studied in Germany and have enabled the manufacturer to analyse thoroughly the strains the low-carriage trams are exposed to.
Bombardier has now produced a new endurance estimate of the tram parts alongside evaluating what type of reinforcements the components would need in order to meet the vehicles' 40-year operating requirements.
The low-carriage trams will be inspected carefully in Germany before being dismantled, repaired, and reassembled. This will be followed by test drives before shipment back to Finland.
Bombardier's goal is to solve all the listed faults at once. The low-carriage trams have particularly suffered from technical difficulties related to the bogies and from module cracks caused by the strain.
Currently 17 low-carriage trams are standing idle at the tram depot. They will be sent to Germany first. The topic is not a new one - HKL has been expressing its displeasure at the new fleet almost since its arrival. Some months ago, the unit announced it was planning to buy a number of second-hand trams - also from Germany - in order to guarantee services while the new Bombardiers were off the rails.
