Michael Groschek, Minister of Building, Housing, Urban Planning and Transport of the Land of North Rhine-Westphalia, visited Vossloh Kiepe GmbH in Düsseldorf Tuesday this week within the scope of his autumn trip.
Mr Groschek's attention was drawn to the traction power specialist during his visit to the trade fair InnoTrans, where the effective solutions of the Düsseldorf company aroused the minister's interest in environment-friendly and low-emission public transport. During an extensive tour of the premises and the production plant of Vossloh Kiepe the minister was informed in detail about the production process on the basis of current projects. The innovative technologies of Vossloh Kiepe and the modern production conditions for the modular systems convinced Mr Groschek: "NRW know how has to be brought onto the road."
Mr Groschek sees the future of the entire metropolitan area of NRW in linking the infrastructures of the region. He cannot understand that such transregional linking is only found abroad at present. "NRW has to develop into a place of pilgrimage of modern public transport. The new Vancouver has to be among us", says Mr Groschek.
In Mr Groschek opinion especially the environment-friendly trolleybuses will become more important in future. He is convinced that it would be a good investment to set up trolleybus lines in NRW. The trolleybus is one of the most environment-friendly kinds of public transport vehicle. It hardly causes emissions or creates fine dust particles and is fed with energy via the overhead contact line. Moreover, it is possible to drive without overhead contact in the inner cities by way of battery trolleybuses, which combine two different kinds of traction drive. Thus, it is not necessary to adapt the infrastructure in certain areas if battery buses are operated, which saves costs. All in all, the trolleybus does well if it is compared with the costs for building new metro or rapid transit lines. "It does not always have to be expensive. Finally, punctuality is the important factor!" comments Mr Groschek. Economic efficiency and satisfied passengers - an objective that could be realised with new trolleybus lines in NRW.
Mr Groschek's attention was drawn to the traction power specialist during his visit to the trade fair InnoTrans, where the effective solutions of the Düsseldorf company aroused the minister's interest in environment-friendly and low-emission public transport. During an extensive tour of the premises and the production plant of Vossloh Kiepe the minister was informed in detail about the production process on the basis of current projects. The innovative technologies of Vossloh Kiepe and the modern production conditions for the modular systems convinced Mr Groschek: "NRW know how has to be brought onto the road."
Mr Groschek sees the future of the entire metropolitan area of NRW in linking the infrastructures of the region. He cannot understand that such transregional linking is only found abroad at present. "NRW has to develop into a place of pilgrimage of modern public transport. The new Vancouver has to be among us", says Mr Groschek.
In Mr Groschek opinion especially the environment-friendly trolleybuses will become more important in future. He is convinced that it would be a good investment to set up trolleybus lines in NRW. The trolleybus is one of the most environment-friendly kinds of public transport vehicle. It hardly causes emissions or creates fine dust particles and is fed with energy via the overhead contact line. Moreover, it is possible to drive without overhead contact in the inner cities by way of battery trolleybuses, which combine two different kinds of traction drive. Thus, it is not necessary to adapt the infrastructure in certain areas if battery buses are operated, which saves costs. All in all, the trolleybus does well if it is compared with the costs for building new metro or rapid transit lines. "It does not always have to be expensive. Finally, punctuality is the important factor!" comments Mr Groschek. Economic efficiency and satisfied passengers - an objective that could be realised with new trolleybus lines in NRW.
