EQUANS and Portalp: a French association modernizes a metro line in Austria’s capital.

Vienna’s metro system consists of five lines and is operated by Wiener Linien. This transit authority has entrusted EQUANS and Portalp with the project of modernizing its metro system. The U5, Vienna’s sixth metro line and first automated line, will begin operations by 2023. This French consortium is tasked with supplying, installing, and maintaining the new line’s platform screen doors. These screens will contribute to making travel safer for Viennese commuters and tourists alike by improving travel in a network that plays host to 800 million passengers each year.

A bespoke solution for a modernizing metro system.
In 2017, the Austrian capital launched a program to modernize its approximately 80 km system. In order to complete this modernization, the U5 line’s five stations will be equipped with an automatic platform screen door system (screen doors covering the platform’s entire length) catering to passenger needs, safety, and the facilities’ thermal insulation.

A 100% French consortium to modernize the U5 line
Equans and French automatic door leader Portalp joined forces in 2014 to put forth their very best appraisals. Portalp is providing its expertise in terms of designing, manufacturing, and automating the platform screen doors.

Starting with maintenance studies that include safety instrumentation control systems, electrical supplies, and platform screen production, the group will then proceed to deploy installations along the U5 line by adapting their solution to the Austrian capital’s technical particularities.

First operational stations in the third quarter of 2023 :
The U5 line’s first functional door prototype was installed and commissioned in Vienna in October 2020. Siemens is now using it to test rolling stock under real operating conditions.

The design phase has been completed and construction of the first four stations has been initiated in Portalp’s Grenoble manufacturing campus. They will then be sent to Vienna as kits, where they will be assembled near the installation site during the first quarter of 2022.