www.chinabuses.org: With about 3 million visitors per year, the Mont-Saint-Michel monastery is one of the greatest tourist attractions in France. Today, traffic has to stay on dry land and only shuttle buses bring tourists to the monastery. That sounds easy, but it was a huge technical challenge because there is no place for buses to turnaround at Mont-Saint-Michel. Bus manufacturer, Contrac GmbH from Wiesbaden, Germany, came up with an idea for a unique dual cabin bus.
 

Moving forward with intelligent solutions

“At Mont-Saint-Michel there are many similarities to an airport. ” explains Rüdiger Hömberg, who led the project at Contrac GmbH. “As a leading manufacturer of airport buses, we won the Europe-wide tender to produce the vehicles based on our experience and creative concept.”

Dual Cabin Buses

The Cobus DES named “Le Passeur” is based on the Cobus 2500, a 12.3 m long airport bus, which is equipped with an Allison 2100 fully automatic transmission. Two fully functional driver cabins with one common drivetrain allow two-directional operation.

Allison 2100 fully automatic transmission

DGS from Mainz, Allison’s main distributor in Germany, played a major role in creating this innovative drive solution. DGS developed a special reversing drop-box module, which is directly mounted on the Allison automatic transmission and reverses vehicle direction without affecting the drivability. This compact and short design had a minimal impact on overall driveline length. Direction change occurs when the vehicle is at a standstill. The drop-box is engaged pneumatically from the driver’s cabin in use.

Development of the reversing transmission took about six months including construction of the first unit. The new reversing transmission can be combined with any Allison 1000 and 2000 Series fully automatic transmission.

“Due to the positive experiences we have had with Allison since 1990, we decided to equip the new Cobus DES with an Allison fully automatic transmission. I was positively surprised that DGS in Mainz was able to deliver the reversing module. We have always been very satisfied with DGS concerning competence, service and reliability,” says Hömberg.

The Allison 2100 transmission in “Le Passeur” is designed for vehicles up to 13,600 kg gross weight and engines rated up to 300 HP (224 kW). The advanced electronic controls offer diagnostics features while providing excellent shift quality, improved passenger comfort, and increased fuel efficiency.

The maximum speed of the shuttle buses at Mont-Saint-Michel is 70 km/h, but they are electronically regulated down to 50 km/h; while on the bridge they may only drive at a speed of 25 km/h.

On April 28, 2012 the local transport operator Veolia Transport Mont-Saint-Michel put the first six shuttle buses in operation. Over the next 12 years, each vehicle is expected to cover about 600,000 km exclusively in shuttle service.

About Contrac GmbH

The company Contrac GmbH from Wiesbaden, Germany, is world market leader in the field of airport buses. All models of the airport bus Cobus (Cobus 2400, Cobus 2500, Cobus 2700 and Cobus 3000) are serially equipped with an Allison transmission. The Cobus is in 99 countries at about 296 airports at home. Since 1990 many more than 3,000 vehicles were built.

About DGS GmbH

DGS GmbH in Mainz, Germany, is a specialist for fully automatic transmissions as well as diesel and gas engines for commercial vehicles, construction machines, military and industrial applications. As a link between the manufacturer, OEM and operators, the company develops ergonomically and economically optimized drive concepts which are oriented toward the benefit of their customers, can be integrated into special applications, and are often completed through the sole development of DGS GmbH.

About Allison Transmission, Inc.

Allison Transmission is the world’s largest manufacturer of fully automatic transmissions for medium- and heavy-duty commercial vehicles, medium- and heavy-tactical U.S. military vehicles and hybrid-propulsion systems for transit buses. Allison transmissions are used in a variety of applications including on-highway trucks (distribution, refuse, construction, fire and emergency), buses (primarily school and transit), motor homes, off-highway vehicles and equipment (primarily energy and mining) and military vehicles (wheeled and tracked). Founded in 1915, the Allison business is headquartered in Indianapolis, Indiana, U.S.A. and employs approximately 2,800 people. Allison has manufacturing facilities and customization centers located in China, The Netherlands, Brazil, India and Hungary. With a global presence, serving customers in North America, Europe, Asia, Australia, South America, and Africa, Allison also has over 1,500 independent distributor and dealer locations worldwide.

Source : www.allisontransmission.com

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