Gruppo Torinese Trasporti (GTT) has been operating a fully automated metro line in the city of Turin in northern Italy, using automation systems and rolling stock supplied by Siemens. The company has now inaugurated service on a third line section, for which it exercised its option to purchase another six Val 208 type vehicles. Just like for the first two metro sections, Siemens equipped these trains as well as the tracks with automated systems.

The new line runs south parallel with the Po River, thereby extending the existing Line 1 by 3.6 kilometers and six stations. As a result, there are a total of 29 automatic trains from Siemens in operation serving 21 stations over a distance of 13.2 kilometers. The entire new Line 1 therefore runs from the community of Collegno in the west of the metropolitan region to the Turin city district of Lingotto via the railway station of Porta Nuova.

For the capital of the Piedmont region, the Val 208 was designed for the first time as a 4-car train with a total length of 52 meters. The train has a maximum capacity of 440 passengers and can be flexibly adapted to changes in passenger loadings. During rush hour, the metros run at 2-minute intervals – a great improvement for passengers and operator alike. The new section also facilitates the use for passengers with impaired vision and hearing since the opening and closing of the platform doors is accompanied by flashing visual and loud acoustic signals. This extension aims to increase the current daily ridership from 90,000 to 140,000 passengers.

The contracts with Siemens for the fully automated metro line was signed in Turin in 2000 and 2008 and performed by the Transfirma GEIE Group in which Siemens SAS (France) has a stake together with their Italian partner Tecnimont. With a length of 7.6 kilometers and 11 stations, the first section of Line 1 was opened in February 2006 in time for the Winter Olympics. The second section with 2 kilometers of track and 4 metro stations followed in October 2007. In addition to the third extension the operator GTT plans to extend the line even further beyond its current terminuses. Siemens Mobility supplied the control and signaling systems for the entire metro line, the metro trains, and the operations control center that is located at the Collegno depot.

Since the beginning of 2006, Siemens has also been responsible for the service and maintenance of the automation system and the operations control center in cooperation with its consortium partner Tecnimont. Maintenance of the communication and video surveillance systems and the trackside equipment is shared between Siemens and its local partner Tecnimont. The agreement was signed for a period of seven years and provides for a gradual transfer of the maintenance competence to GTT.

Eleven fully automated, Val type metro lines have already been built by Siemens Mobility around the world – among them, the four airport people movers at Orly and Charles de Gaulle (two lines) in Paris, France and at Chicago’s O’Hare International Airport in Illinois, USA. In addition, urban Val systems are operating in France in Lille (two lines), Toulouse (two lines), and Rennes, as well as in Taiwan, Taipei and in Turin, Italy. Siemens is also currently constructing a Val system in Uijeongbu, Korea.