Stadler Variobahn

The Stadler Variobahn, formerly sold as the ABB Variotram, Adtranz Variotram and Bombardier Variotram, is an articulated low-floor tram and light rail vehicle. ABB developed it at Henschel and launched a prototype in 1993 for the Chemnitz tramway in Germany, and series delivery followed between 1998 and 2001. It has been built by ABB, Adtranz, Bombardier Transportation and, since 2001, Stadler Pankow, after Bombardier divested the Variotram division to Stadler Rail. Forty Variotrams built by Transtech under a technology transfer agreement from Adtranz went to Helsinki between 1998 and 2003 and proved unreliable. The design is flexible, with uni or bi-directional operation, 70 or 100 percent low floor, standard or metre gauge, and three to seven articulated modules on a floor 350 millimetres over the rail. Hub motors drive all wheels, so there are no axles or bogies, and as of 2009 254 trams had been ordered. Operators include Aarhus, Odense, Graz, Bergen, Chemnitz and London Tramlink.