The trainset is currently undergoing trials at Alstom’s Valenciennes site and at the Valenciennes Rail Testing Centre. It will be delivered next February and is due to enter commercial service in autumn 2012. All the trainsets will operate on the metro lines in Amsterdam.

In February 2010, the city of Amsterdam (Netherlands) placed a €200 million order with Alstom Transport for 23 metro trainsets. The contract includes an option for additional metro trainsets for the future North/South line that is currently under construction.

The Amsterdam metro will consist of trainsets from Alstom’s Métropolis range. Its large doors, visual management of their opening/closing thanks to LED lights, height ceiling superior to the standard (2,30 m vs 2,10 m), platform-height floor, wide seats and gangways will make access and moving around on board much easier. Enhanced interior design providing more natural light, 100% lighting in LED technology and dynamic travel information displays will improve passengers’ safety and comfort. The extended length of the new trainsets (116 m) means capacity will be increased by approximately 50%.

Alstom relied on its expertise in metros to execute this contract. Besides Valenciennes, Alstom sites of Le Creusot, Villeurbanne (France), Charleroi (Belgium), Sesto (Italy), Katowice (Poland) and Montreal (Canada) also contribute to the project execution.

One out of every four metros currently in service worldwide was supplied by Alstom. Over 4,000 cars from the Métropolis range run on the metro networks in Barcelona, Budapest, Istanbul, Warsaw, Singapore, Shanghai, Nanjing, Buenos Aires, Santiago de Chile and Santo Domingo.

City.Mobi

Also in Netherlands today, City.Mobi is celebrating the success of its new guide to Amsterdam.

City.Mobi offers the most comprehensive mobile travel guides available, with over 800 cities in 200 countries listed. Each is developed by the City.Mobi team to combine into a single global travel directory.

However, each city retains its own mobile identity via a dedicated domain. Already on offer are Brussels.Mobi, Paris.Mobi, Sanfrancisco.Mobi and Sydney.Mobi.

Amsterdam.mobi is the latest in this illustrious line up, offering click to call functionality – which means no scribbling down telephone numbers.

Most entries are also linked to websites where users can quickly access more detailed information if needed.

Other key features include information on accommodation, restaurants, attractions, entertainment, nightlife, shopping, and transport.

City.Mobi guides include user reviews and traveller utilities such as a translation guide, currency converter, news and local weather guide.