Status: 30.10.24

When you need a new car, it's pretty clear what you're going to do. You have a rough idea of how big it should be, how much power it should have and what features you would like. Then you look around at the various manufacturers, compare different models and ultimately find the vehicle that best meets your expectations.

At DSW21, we had to rise to the challenge. With success - our new high-floor trams have been rolling through Dortmund since April. The interdisciplinary team from the responsible "Technical Planning Rail Vehicles" department, or TSP for short, had a long way to go to get there.

The first step was to find out what our new light rail vehicles could and should actually do. In consultation with other departments, the requirements were collected, defined in detail and included in a specification sheet. From the door ramp, which signals to our passengers in good time when the doors are closing, to insulation that is unique in Germany and reduces the required heating output and therefore electricity consumption by around 15%, everything was considered. In the end, we ended up with 260 pages describing our dream light rail system in detail.

In a tendering process, it was then the turn of the light rail manufacturers to prepare offers and specifications confirming that they could deliver what we needed. These were carefully scrutinised by our colleagues, questions were asked, information was requested and in the end the contract was awarded.

But the TSP team's work didn't end there. They were also in constant contact with the manufacturer during the planning and construction of our first new light rail system. During regular visits, they kept an eye on progress and quality to ensure that our new vehicle was as good and safe as possible when it was delivered.

What reads quickly here in three paragraphs actually kept the team busy for several years. In other words, a really big project. It goes without saying that so much effort is not put into just one light rail vehicle. That's why we ordered 34. And we are having 64 of our old trams converted so that you can hardly tell them apart from the new ones.

Compared to the development and construction of our new railway, the approval by the technical supervisory authority, the "tram MOT" so to speak, which had to be carried out before the first trip through Dortmund, went quite quickly. After many discussions, on-site appointments and the preparation of several thousand pages of documents for the so-called type test, the first new light rail vehicle was able to enter service just one and a half years after delivery.

Of course, the light rail vehicle acquisition is not the only task of the "Technical Planning Rail Vehicles" team. They take care of pretty much everything to do with the technology of our rail vehicles. Starting with the creation of plans for the maintenance or modernisation of vehicles in order to meet new regulations and standards, through to the procurement of components and spare parts, tools, test benches and other equipment for the colleagues in the light rail workshop. Here, they sometimes pick up a screwdriver themselves and support their colleagues when there is a particularly tricky problem.

If these are tasks that appeal to you, why not become part of the team as a project engineer? And if you have not yet completed your studies - the "Technical Planning Rail Vehicles" team is also happy to give working students the chance to gain an insight into their exciting topics.

Over the next few months, we will be presenting a few of our "wouldn't have thought that existed at DSW21" jobs here. If you don't want to wait that long, you can get an idea of what goes on behind the scenes with our YouTube series Shift Change.

Our series: Shift change