KNORR-BREMSE Systeme für Schienenfahrzeuge has secured orders worth over €40m to supply braking equipment for metro cars in Guangzhou and Beijing.
In February the München-based firm was awarded a contract worth over €20m to supply brake equipment for the rolling stock being built for Guangzhou Metro Lines 4 and 5. This will include EP2002 modular brake controls. The company has also been awarded a contract covering stock being built for extensions to Lines 1 and 2, so that all 750 cars operated by Guangzhou Metro will be equipped with Knorr-Bremse brakes.
On March 1, Knorr-Bremse Chairman Heinz Hermann Thiele signed a contract with Hitachi to supply complete braking systems for Beijing Metro Line 5. By 2006 a total of 192 Beijing Metro cars will be fitted with brakes manufactured by Knorr-Bremse, which began supplying the city in 2003.
In order to provide local support, Knorr-Bremse has set up a sales office in Beijing. Many of the parts for the Chinese market will be produced at a plant in Suzhou, 120 km northwest of Shanghai, which opened earlier this year. By the end of 2005 the factory will have a workforce of around 200, with expansion to 500 planned.
Knorr-Bremse is also involved in China’s main line market, and under a contract signed on February 26 it is to supply Dalian Loco with bogie equipment, air supplies and CCBII locomotive control systems for 60 locomotives.
Knorr-Bremse, Germany
CAPTION: The heart of Knorr-Bremse’s EP Compact modular brake control is a pneumatic unit and electronic module for pressure regulation, load correction and wheel slide control. Optional parking or electromagnetic rail brake controls can be individually configured
CAPTION: Developed for use in metro and mass transit applications, the VV120T oil-free compressor uses a coating on the pistons, cylinders and piston rings instead of oil lubrication, helping to reduce pollution
CAPTION: At the end of March Knorr-Bremse Rail Systems relocated to a £10m purpose-built headquarters and 8400m2 production facility at Melksham in southern England. The site replaces the former Westinghouse Brakes plant in nearby Chippenham
