Stockholm Metro

The Stockholm Metro has seen a new development in the Vagn 2000, where it has replaced ageing stock as part of a fresh investment package in the city’s transport infra structure.

As part of the project, Superform have supplied a range of sidewall window and doorway pillar panels for the Adtranz Trains Division of ABB Daimler-Benz Transportation (Sweden), makers of the Vagn 2000. The siewall panels were supplied to Botnia Producton AB, Sweden, and the door pillars to Georg Eknes Industrier AS, Norway, who are the main assembly subcontractors.

The panels were specified in SPF aluminium primarily because of the enhanced design freedom offered by the process: coupled with environmental, mechanical and fire performance factors.

“Both the project and our customer are strongly focused on environmental aspects, and we feel that superplastic aluminium has advantages in this area when compared to other materials, for example GRP”, commented Catharina Kindberg, Adtranz interior design system manager. “Graffiti removal is important with this kind of transport and we now have an easily cleaned surface. The ability to form three-dimensional curved surfaces from single sheet also results in high strength and an attractive design”.

Intended to carry up to 414 passengers, the Vagn 2000 is built in three articulated sections with a driver’s cab at each end, and can be operated as a single, double or triple-car unit. Nearly all materials employed in its construction are either biologically degradable or fully recyclable - in the case of SPF aluminium, for less than 5% of the energy required for the alloy’s original manufacture.