Think Railways

The future metro Line U5 will become the first fully automated line in Vienna, informed in a joint on 2 June, Wiener Linien, the City of Vienna and the Austrian Transport Ministry. The line is expected to start operation as early as 2023.

The first stage of metro Line U5 plan includes a section of Line U2 converted to driverless operation and the construction of one new section to Frankhplatz-Altes AKH. All stations in the automated metro line will be equipped with platform screen doors.

A two stages tender will be announced for the acquisition of 45 new trains, including maintenance services.  The new vehicles will replace 24 old Silberpfeil trains and will also service Line U5 in fully automatic mode and also Lines U1 to U4,  where they would operate with drivers. The trains will be equipped with air-conditioning, video surveillance and modern passenger information systems.  The vehicles will communicate with the control center in Erdberg over a wireless connection (eg WLAN).

The result of the tender are planned to be announced in late 2016. The first vehicle could enter trials in 2018-19 and the remaining trains could be delivered between 2020-29.