TARLÓS: THE TEST IN TRAFFIC OPERATION OF M4 CAN BEGIN NEXT SPRING
The works on the M4 metro line are progressing appropriately, added István Tarlós. Trackwork was completed at the end of last year, and, currently, it is the last phase of the fit-out of the stations and the installation of power supply and signalling systems that is taking place in the tunnels. Parallel to testing, the remaining fit-out and systems tasks will be completed by the end of the year. Following Monday’s trial run, so-called “white tests”, i.e. tests without passengers, will begin in September.
The Mayor highlighted: the M4 is going to be a state-of-art and safe means of transport, attractive for the travelling public. The line is going to provide quality services, decrease route lengths, be comfortable and safe, and to operate reliably and cost efficiently. In all respects, it will be the requirements of the 21st century. All stations will be fully accessible; apart from escalators, lifts will be at the service of passengers with wheelchairs, prams or bulky luggage.
The Metro Line 4 trains will be made up of 4 cars and be 80 metres long. In this first-year period, the trains will have a driver’s cabin with a train attendant inside, though the train will be driven by the automatic train control system. “This will be the first fully automatic, driverless metro in Central-East Europe,” emphasized István Tarlós. This means that reliable software will be responsible for starting the trains, opening and closing their doors, keeping the safety gaps between trains, as a result of which schedules will be more precise, gaps shorter, and the operation of the entire line will be much safer. After the initial test period, the train-attendant mode will cease, the driver cab and the partition wall will be removed from the trains.
The Mayor also pointed out that the Cohesion Fund of the European Union is providing HUF 181 billion for the Project in the framework of the New Széchenyi Plan. 79% of the domestic financing is provided by the Hungarian state (HUF 196.5 billion) and 21% by the Municipality of Budapest (HUF 75 billion).
István Tarlós also stated that, according the schedule, the last of the 15 Alstom trains will receive its operation licence, the integration tests will be completed and the depot will be issued with the completion certificate in the autumn. The utilities and road works, including the reinstatement of Baross tér (the area of Keleti Railway Station), will be completed in spring 2014, and that is when the Test in Traffic Operation can begin.
The Mayor recalled that the new leadership of the municipality standing up in the autumn of 2010 set the aim of accelerating the metro construction by all means at its disposal, and do all it can to ensure that the technical handover can take place in spring 2014. In respect of the Siemens agreement, he stated they had managed to reduce the EUR 70 million claim by EUR 40 million. And they managed to knock Swietelsky’s HUF 16 billion claim down to HUF 9.7 billion. The former city leadership put up with Alstom several-year delay in delivering the trains. With the leadership of István Tarlós, the agreement on the rolling stock was re-negotiated, removing the Force Majeure clause, too, from the contract. Absurd as it is, prior to that the parties deemed it a Force Majeure should the trains not receive the type licence. Liquidated damages were increased from 10% to 20% and liability from 20% to 30%. And the advance was reduced from 50% to 20%. Of the 15 Alstom trains, 11 have arrived in Budapest, and 7 of them have received their operation permits.
Technical data on Metro Line M4
The length of the line is 7.5 km; it has 10 stations; the diameter of the tunnels is 5.2 metres. The train sets running on the line will have 4 cars with open gangways and be 80 metres long. Stage 1 stations: Kelenföld Railway Station, Bikás park (formerly Tétényi út, renamed at the request of District XI Local Government), Újbuda-központ, Móricz Zsigmond körtér, Szent Gellért tér, Fővám tér, Kálvin tér, Rákóczi tér, II. János Pál pápa tér and Keleti Railway Station. All stations have escalators leading either to the surface or subway levels below. For stations with one exit, four escalator sets were installed; for stations with two exits, at least 3 sets. At Kálvin tér, Metro Line M4 runs above the current metro network, and its exit will lead into the shopping passage way. Due to the transfer possibility, a high-level community transport link will be established between South Buda and North Pest. The length of the Kálvin tér station is 83 m, and its platform 80. The net surface of the platform is almost 1000 sq m, and the sub-surface depth of the station is -22.4 m. With the platform between the tracks, 11 escalators and 2 lifts were installed.
Photos by Dávid Nyitrai (BKK)
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