Ruf Gruppe - Ruf Avatech AG | New vehicles of Métro de Lille equipped with Ruf’s VisiWeb System

Starting in April 2023, new Alstom vehicles will start operating on line 1 of the Métro de Lille. The driverless trains will be equipped with the Ruf Group’s digital audio system “VisiWeb” which ensures smooth running passenger information and communication.

The University City of Lille is the capital of the Hauts-de-France region in the north of France. The town is only 10 km from the border with Belgium. It once usedd to be an important commercial center of French Flanders. Even today, the Flemish influences are still evident in the richly decorated buildings of the historic old town.

Modern Lille scores with a well-developed public transport system. The heart of it being the Métro de Lille (MEL), which opened in 1983. MEL serves 60 stations with two metro lines on its network of 45 km in length. The Métro de Lille was the first metro in the world to use driverless, automatic trains, so-called “véhicule automatique léger” (VAL).

New Alstom vehicles with autopilot
The MEL continues to be innovative. She commissioned Alstom to supply 27 new vehicles of the type “BOA”. From 2023, the comfortable metros with the latest generation of Alstom’s autopilot system “Urbalis Fluence” will start their driverless, autonomous operation. At 52 meters, they are twice as long as today’s rolling stock. Each train consists of four carriages and can be walked on all lengthwise. For secure passenger information and communication, the trains are equipped with the digital acoustics system VisiWeb of the Ruf Group.

VisiWeb Passenger information system – swiss made by Ruf
A highly reliable information and communication system is essential for the comfort and safety of passengers, this especially applies to driverless operation. This task is taken over by the digital acoustic system VisiWeb.

Six VisiWeb passenger intercoms per car are placed in easily accessible places by the doors. The stylish devices enable direct full duplex communication in high voice quality between passenger and control center. In addition, the control center is able to detect the noise in the interior via the microphones and thus assess the security situation together with the video cameras.

The VisiWeb Audio Hub assumes a further important function. The digital acoustic unit controls six speakers per car and ensures the output of the station announcements in hi-fi quality.

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