We are at the Busworld trade fair in Brussels in October 2023. On the booth of Belgian bus manufacturer Van Hool is a truly impressive bus: an almost 25-metre-long battery-electric double-articulated bus of the ‘ExquiCity 25’ type with an unusual appearance for a bus.
56 double-articulated buses for ‘Ile-de-France Mobilités’
The vehicle at Busworld is the first of a total of 56 double-articulated buses ordered by the public transport authority ‘Ile-de-France Mobilités’ for the two express bus lines ‘T zen 4’ and ‘T zen 5’ in and around Paris. Both run mainly on dedicated routes with priority control at traffic lights. The 14.8-kilometre ‘T zen 4’ line runs from Viry Chatillon to Corbeil Essones, while the nine-kilometre ‘T zen 5’ line runs between the 13th arrondissement of Paris (Bibliothèque François Mitterand) and Choisi-le-Roi. The trams are to be operated by Keolis from Courbevoie in the Paris region. Keolis is 70% owned by the French state railway SNCF. We reported here: https://www.urban-transport-magazine.com/en/56-ordered-electric-bi-articulated-buses-for-greater-paris/
Van Hool goes bankrupt in spring 2024. The company is wound up, the construction of regular-service buses is discontinued – only the coaches (some types of them) from Van Hool and the Van Hool plant in Skopje in northern Macedonia find a future under the umbrella of the Dutch bus manufacturer VDL – which wants to supplement its coach programme with types that it believes fit well into its portfolio. For example, the Van Hool double-decker coach ‘Astromega’ was always more successful on the market than the VDL double-decker coach ‘Futura DD’.
At the time of the insolvency, Van Hool had delivered five of the double-articulated buses ordered to Keolis, and a further 25 were (and still are) more or less unfinished in the bankruptcy estate at the Van Hool plant in Lier (Koningshooikt), Belgium. Rather unsatisfactory: Keolis needs the buses in Paris, and in Lier there is a lot of unused capital in a factory hall …
It so happened that a company with experience in the construction of double-articulated buses was found that was prepared to complete the ExquiCity, which is facing an uncertain future in Lier. This was the Swiss company Hess (from Bellach near Solothurn), which has already delivered a large number of double-articulated buses over the past twenty years – mainly as trolleybuses, but also as battery-electric buses – mainly to Switzerland, but also to Brisbane in Australia. A double-articulated bus from Hess has also been successfully trialled in Germany, specifically in Wiesbaden: Driving behaviour was impeccable, but as the coach (from Basel) is designed for reloading on the line, which Wiesbaden does not have, its operating radius was not sufficient.
A final agreement with the Belgian trustees in bankruptcy may still be pending, but it is considered a mere formality. What interest would the liquidators have in keeping the unfinished buses in their yard? It is better to realise a few more euros, even if it is in the interests of the creditors.
Note: In Europe, there were previously only three manufacturers offering double-articulated buses: in alphabetical order, Hess, Solaris and Van Hool. Of these, Van Hool has now been dropped … The German manufacturers MAN and Mercedes have so far kept a low profile, although they have both built a prototype for test purposes – both the MAN (it ran in several cities as a demonstration vehicle, for example in Frankfurt and Wolfsburg) and the Mercedes (the latter for a track bus system called ‘O-Bahn’) did what they were supposed to do … Renualt also delivered a small series of such vehicles to Bordeaux many years ago.
What is still missing …
All ExquiCity double-articulated buses for the Ile-de-France are as good as finished. This is the part of the new buses that Van Hool had to deliver. The battery system was to come from Kiepe, while the charging system was to be supplied by Alstom according to the original contract. Hess now needs access to the vehicles at the plant in Lier in order to finalise them. An agreement has now been reached with the bankruptcy trustees, according to reports.
Future orders
For ‘Ile-de-France Mobilités’, the insolvency of Van Hool is no reason to abandon the double-articulated bus. On the contrary. The company is considering ordering future double-articulated buses directly from Hess. However, an invitation to tender will probably also be necessary here.
23.10.2024
