Technical Visits

Visiting the east depot of the local transport operator (VBK)

The VBK transportation authority is offering a chance to see the heart of the organisation with a one-hour tour through the new depot on Gerwigstraße in eastern Karlsruhe. Cavernous parking halls with tracks and points, an ultramodern maintenance centre for the technical upkeep of low-floor trains and light rail cars, as well as sophisticated control technology. There will also be an opportunity to see the central control room of Verkehrsbetriebe Karlsruhe and Albtal-Verkehrs-Gesellschaft, where all the lines between the vehicles in the far-reaching network of trams, light rail vehicles and buses interlink.

Address and meeting point: 17th February 2012, 14:15 pm at the VBK depot, Gerwigstraße 65, 76131 Karlsruhe. Shuttle services will be provided from Karlsruhe Trade Fair Center.

Term: 14:15 - 16:00 pm

Tour of the construction sites for the "combined project" (combination of a tram tunnel in Kaiserstrasse and a road tunnel in Kriegsstrasse)

Karlsruher Schieneninfrastrukturgesellschaft (KASIG), which is constructing the combined project for the centre of the city, is offering the opportunity to quite literally gain a deeper insight into what will eventually be the city's underground stations with a one-hour tour through the current construction site. Since the beginning of 2010, work has been underway. Construction will start with the walls before then moving on to the ground and ceiling of the stations.

Proper footwear is recommended for the tour, helmets will be provided.

Address and meeting point: 17th February 2012, 14:15 pm at the Informationspavillon K., Ettlinger-Tor-Platz, 76133 Karlsruhe. Shuttle services will be provided from Karlsruhe Trade Fair Center.

Term: 14:15 - 16:00 pm

The Karlsruhe intermodal tram-train system

Roughly 30 kilometres outside the city of Karlsruhe lies the untamed beauty of Murgtal, one of the most fascinating areas of the Black Forest. The roughly 2-hour tour begins at Karlsruhe Central Station and proceeds with the S 41 tram into Murgtal through to picturesque Forbach in the northern Black Forest. The renowned Karlsruhe intermodal tram-train system can be experienced along this route; the connection between the tram network and Deutsche Bahn railway is a moving testament to engineering, in the truest sense of the word. In order to make it possible for a single vehicle to run in both systems, VBK and AVG developed an intermodal vehicle capable of switching systems, allowing it to change from the 750 volts DC of a tram to the 15,000 volts, 16 2/3 hertz AC of the railway.

Meeting place: 17th February 2012, 14:15 pm at the Central Station Karlsruhe. Shuttle services will be provided from Karlsruhe Trade Fair Center.

Term: 14:15 - 17:00 pm