VOITH Scharfenberg is to fit auto-couplers to a fleet of 87 metro cars for Dubai being built by Kinki Sharyo. The couplers will be fitted with shock absorbers to protect the driverless vehicles in a low-speed collision. The couplers, like the vehicles themselves, are being designed to cope with the desert conditions they will face in Dubai, particularly the extremes of temperature, sand storms and the high salt content of the air.
The first section of the planned two-line network is scheduled to open in 2009, running from Dubai International Airport to Jebel Ali Port. The metro is being built by the Mitsubishi-led Dubai Rapid Link consortium under an agreement with Dubai Municipality worth 12·45bn dirham (RG 7.05 p391).
Voith Turbo, Germany
The first of 240 7·5 MW electric locomotives built by Dalian Locomotive & Rolling Stock Works has been handed over to the Chinese Ministry of Railways. Each locomotive is equipped with six locally-assembled Voith SET-553 final drives. Voith's partnership with DLoco forms part of the German group's expansion into China (RG 9.06 p620).
