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English   MAN Miditrain – a midibuses with a trailer *
03.08.2006 von admin

German version

MAN Miditrain – a midibuses with a trailer

Since the beginning of January two new buses have been running on the streets of Nagold in Germany: midibuses with a trailer, so-called miditrains, carry passengers around town in a visually unfamiliar way. Together with Markus Göppel GmbH & Co. KG, NEOMAN Bus GmbH won an invitation to tender issued by the Rübenacker Group and has now handed over the first two miditrains to the managers, Karl and Thomas Rübenacker. Also present at the ceremony were Dr. Rainer Prewo, Mayor of Nagold, and Roland Bernhard, the top-ranking civil servant of the Calw District Council.

"Until now we've had to use buses designed to cope with passengers during the rush hours – either an articulated bus or two standard buses. The big drawback was that at other times too the high consumption costs of an articulated bus still had to be paid, or the second bus involved extra maintenance costs. If passenger demand was any higher we had to use up to three buses on a route during the rush hours. With this "people trailer" that we've now discovered we can react flexibly to passenger demand, as the trailer can be hitched up or unhitched as required", said Thomas Rübenacker, summing up the decision to buy the miditrains. The trailer will be used primarily for taking children to school.

Nagolds Mayor, Dr. Rainer Prewo, regards the new buses as an innovative jump in public transport: "We expect the number of passengers to increase, even in the context of a concept for the town centre that was introduced three years ago."

The miditrains were produced by Markus Göppel GmbH und Co. KG in close cooperation with the NEOMAN Bus Group. The tractor vehicle, which features the design and engineering of the new-generation Midi, is low-floor and has all the convenience of a modern city bus, e.g. a kneeling system and a folding ramp for passengers with prams or wheelchairs. The trailer too is in keeping with the new MAN design. To make service and maintenance easier it features many parts from the MAN set of modules, and for durability the body is made of special steel. The vehicle also has ESP and an ABS/EBS brake system. Inside the bus the aisle is completely without steps; this has been achieved by relocating the batteries and the fuel tank to the front-axle wheel housings, which also resulted in a better weight distribution. The miditrains are 19.51 m long and can carry a total of 135+3+1 persons (23+3+1 seats and 42 standing places in the tractor vehicle, 36 seats and 42 standing places in the trailer). They have been inspected by TÜV Süd and are operating with a special permit valid until the end of 2011.

The advantages of a midibus with trailer are to be found above all its flexibility. Miditrains provide a variable concept that can react flexibly to different capacity requirements. At quieter times the trailer can be unhitched, and if the midibus is used alone it needs considerably less fuel. A midibus without trailer consumes up to 40 % less fuel than an articulated bus. After a short period of getting accustomed to the miditrain the driver finds it easier to operate than an articulated bus because the trailer corners just like the tractor. This makes the entire unit extremely manoeuvrable and means that it performs excellently in narrow streets.


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