The renovation requirements for the VAL manless system in Lille

摘要

The manless VAL (Automatic Light Vehicle) system was designed during the seventies, developed by Matra Transport (currently Siemens SAS IMO) and inaugurated for the first time in Lille in 1983. It is an entirely automatic system ("manless") and requires no drivers or attendants on board of the vehicles or in the stations. The vehicles are operated automatically and the whole system is supervised from a control centre. The VAL system ensures a high commercial speed at 32 km/h, allows a top speed at 80 km/h, which reduces the waiting time in stations to approximately one minute at peak hour. In Lille's metro lines, the station platforms are designed to be accommodated trains 52 m long. Currently, only 26 m long the platforms are used by single a VAL unit (two linked cars). To satisfy the passenger demands and to increase the capacity of the system, LMCU (Lille Metrople Communaute Urbaine, the owner of Lille's VAL system) launched an initial study to analyse the capacity of the system operated with single VAL units (2 vehicles, 26 meters long). This study showed that the lille's metro line 1 will be saturated in year 2015 and there is an urgent need to operate the network with vehicles 52 meters long. In 2010, the LMCU conducted the renovation plan in order to: Develop a new control command subsystem. Put into service a new Rolling Stock. Equip all platforms station with necessary elements for operation of vehicles 52 m long. Increase the accessibility of PRM (Person with Reduced Mobility). Deal with some obsolescence problems. This paper deals with the requirements of this important renovation in terms of operation, innovation, safety and accessibility. After a short description of the VAL system and its current operation principles, the operation and safety requirements in connection with the renovation process will be highlighted. The method used to conduct this renovation process and to guarantee at least the equivalent safety level to existing lines will be developed and explained.