Munich's first 8 Siemens Avenio T1.6 streetcars have been in service for almost 10 years. During this time, there were three software updates of the traction / Inverter technology, which is the reason the vehicles were on the road with different sounds. Listen carefully. :-) Various archive recordings from 2014-2021 show the differences acoustically from the outside as well as the inside. Have fun.
Background information about the Avenio in Munich:
Since the 14 Variobahns from Stadler Pankow did not prove themselves in Munich and several serial failures occurred, the company decided against cashing in options for additional Variobahns and ordered eight four-car Avenio streetcars from Siemens Mobility at the end of September 2012. Since the vehicles were urgently needed, MVG wanted them to be built and delivered in a sporty timeframe: in October 2013, the first completed Avenio was ceremoniously presented to the press. As is the case with MVG in Munich, where the supervisory authorities are known to be very fussy, the vehicles first had to "mature" for a long time in the depot before they were even allowed to go on daily journeys for the passengers. It was not until almost a year later, on September 17, 2014, that a trial run with passengers on Line 19 was allowed to begin. 2807 had the honor at that time, I accompanied this first day of operation with cell phone camera at that time and published it here. The Avenio vehicle type has proven itself very well in Munich. Especially the first series, which carries the type designation T1.6 at MVG, (in this video) is quite popular with staff and passengers. It offers a full and very comfortable ride with a pleasant suspension, even when cornering. The fact that it has established itself well is also noticeable by further procurements: since 2017, 9 two-seaters (TZ2.7), 9 three-seaters (TZ3.7) and 4 four-seaters (T4.7) have been delivered. The Avenio is becoming a cityscape-defining train for Munich, as the R2.2 cars have been up to now: in 2019, an option redemption of 73 (!) four-car trains was redeemed, of which just under 10-11 vehicles have already been delivered. Once again, these have not been allowed to go on line for almost a year, as the licensing authority TAB has not yet granted permission for passenger service.
In general, a few notes about the video:
- The car 2805 strangely had this sound (1st version) only on the last powered chassis for one or two weeks. A faulty update or something similar must have been the reason. They otherwise only sounded like this during their test runs. They then went into passenger service with version 2. If complaints from residents were the reason for making these changes is possible but not confirmed.
- The current version (3rd version) is otherwise only used by the Avenio Den Haag. These are technically very similar. While the new Munich Avenio series have newer technology or software and are therefore quieter.