Shortly before the resumption of passenger service on September 16, 2006, TS and Flughafen Düsseldorf GmbH held a joint press conference today to provide information on the improvements made to the SkyTrain and to present the new transportation concept. During a subsequent test run, journalists were able to gain their own impressions of the second-generation SkyTrain.

During the event at the SkyTrain depot, TS board member Jörn F. Sens stressed that the new SkyTrain offered much more than technical improvements: “Over the past few months we revised the control technology and the vehicles and accelerated station clearance. In addition, we optimized operations management. The result is more comfort, increased speeds, and therefore a higher passenger transport capacity.”

In addition, the operation and passenger care concept was revised together with Flughafen Düsseldorf GmbH. It regulates detailed responsibilities and measures to be implemented in case of service interruptions, such as caring for passengers by in-house trained service personnel.

Christoph Blume, spokesperson for the management of Flughafen Düsseldorf GmbH, confirmed that TS and its overall improvement concept met the demands of Flughafen Düsseldorf GmbH for improved system performance and optimal operations management.

SkyTrain overall project manager Ralph Hasselbacher then provided details on the new SkyTrain during a test run. A service interruption was simulated, with a subsequent tow to the next station, including all communications activities.

Pictures of the press conference and test run of the SkyTrains at Düsseldorf
Airport are available for downloading at
http://www.siemens.com/transportation/skytrain/ .