The Siemens Avenio is a low floor tram family produced by Siemens Mobility, a subsidiary of the German conglomerate Siemens. It is the successor to the Combino family. The first generation was sold as the Combino Supra , Combino MkII, or Combino Plus. With the introduction of the second generation in 2009 the Combino brand was dropped and Siemens have referred to Combino Plus trams in Almada (Portugal) and Budapest (Hungary) as part of the Avenio range.
The Avenio is made of stainless steel instead of light materials, and is manufactured at a new assembly line in Vienna. Like the Combino it utilizes a modular design with standardised components, with resulting reduced costs.
Differences between the Combino and the Combino Supra
Unlike the Combino, the Combino Supra is designed in fixed sections. Each section has a bogie, either powered or unpowered. The length can be anywhere from two sections () to eight (). In Budapest and Almad, modules are in two-car blocks, each connected by a double articulation joint. In the Combino and other articulated low-floor trams, the modules are suspended between the bogies. Siemens claims the axle load is for a width of , such as the Almada.
For Budapest, the length went from nine modules of the Combino to six for the Combino Supra.
The Combino had a half-width door near the driver's cab, where the Combino Supra has a full double-leaf door.
Combino Plus
Budapest
The city transport company of Budapest ordered 40 Combino Supra Budapest NF 12B units for the city's tram network. The six-module trams (three units of two sections) are 53.99 meters long, exceeded only by the 59.4 m CarGoTrams in Dresden, thus making them the longest passenger trams in the world at the time of their introduction. (In 2016 56 meters long CAF Urbos 3 trams entered service in Budapest.) The first two units were delivered on March 14, 2006, and the rest was delivered by the summer of 2007.
In the summer of 2006 problems arose. On August 1, 2006 Budapest mayor Gábor Demszky ordered all six trams to be withdrawn from service until technical problems were rectified. There were problems with the doors, caused by sensitive fail-safe systems that brought trams to a halt for reasons including luggage or the odd leg getting stuck in a door. Siemens AG reportedly admitted the door problem to be a "design fault".
Another problem was the overhead wires, rebuilt in April and June for the new trams. This was done in a hurry and of poor quality, causing the Ganz trams still running to have problems with their pantographs. On July 15 one catenary mast fell to the road on Margaret Bridge, causing tram services to be suspended between Jászai Mari tér and Moszkva tér till July 25. In the last week of August the overhead was adjusted to prevent new problems from occurring.
The teething problems were eventually sorted out, and all 40 trams were in regular service by the summer of 2007. But Siemens realises further improvements in the ventilation (the vehicles were ordered without air conditioning), and door closing signals will be changed, after inhabitants of the streets passed complained that they are too loud by night.
Almada
Metro Transportes Sul de Tejo (MST) ordered 24 four-module Combino Plus vehicles for a new light rail system in Almada, south of Lisbon. The first unit was delivered by the end of May 2005, but after the problems with the Combino surfaced the order was converted to stainless steel-bodied Combinos, to be delivered by 2007.
Melbourne
Siemens leased Almada tram C008 to Melbourne's tram network for research and development purposes. It entered service on Grand Prix shuttles on route 96 shuttles on 18 March 2007, before commencing a three-month stint on route 16 the following day, running alongside the classic Combino and other tram models.
Toronto
The Combino Plus was offered by Siemens in August 2007 in its bid to deliver 204 articulated, low-floor vehicles for the Toronto streetcar system as replacements for aging CLRVs and ALRVs. These three-module units were supposed to be in length, have a width of , and carry 183 passengers. Siemens withdrew their first bid, citing an inability to meet the TTC's 25-percent Canadian content requirement. When tenders were reopened in August 2008, Siemens bid again using the same model, but their price was 50 percent higher than that of Bombardier's locally built Flexity Outlook model, who subsequently won the bid.
Siemens Avenio
The Avenio brand was introduced at the UITP 2009 trade fair in Vienna, marketed as the "longest tram in the world" with 100% low floor (referring to the 72 meter version with eight modules).