Véhicule Automatique Léger

This article is about the people mover system. For other uses, see Val (disambiguation).

VAL 206 and VAL 208 as used on Lille Metro.

Interior of VAL 256 with manufacturer's decal.

Véhicule Automatique Léger (French for automatic light vehicle), or VAL is a type of automatic rubber-tyred people mover technology, based on an invention by Professor Robert Gabillard from the Université Lille Nord de France. It was designed in the early 1980s by Matra and first used for the then-new Lille Metro system. This was one of the world's first fully automated driverless mass-transit rail networks to serve a city centre and the first such in Europe, preceded only by the Port Island Line in Kobe, Japan.

A total of 11 lines in 8 systems based on the VAL technology are currently in operation worldwide. The current version of the VAL product is marketed as NeoVal (with a distinction between AirVal for airport environments and CityVal for more conventional transit environments) by Siemens who acquired Matra in the late 1990s.

The acronym VAL was originally for Villeneuve d'Ascq à Lille (French for Villeneuve d'Ascq to Lille), the route of the first line to be projected (and inaugurated).

Technology

Original VAL

VAL-style track point as used on the Taipei Wenhu Line.

The VAL system uses a fully automated elevated guideway, which may be metal or concrete depending on prevailing weather conditions. Primary suspension is by rubber tires, with pairs of horizontal tires to provide lateral guidance. Electrical power at 750 V DC is collected by shoes from the guidebars.

The vehicles are lightweight 2-car sets (VAL 206 or VAL 208) with 124 total capacity, or twin sets (VAL 256) with 80 seated and 160 standing capacity. All axles on these vehicles are motored with 150 kW electrical motors. The system detects the location of trains on the guideway by the use of ultrasonic sensors.

VAL can cope with unanticipated demand by inserting additional trains into the network as required by remote command from the control center. The control center computer system automatically speeds up or slows down trains in order to maintain a timetable. The VAL system can handle headways as small as 60 seconds, and the Lille VAL system rapidly proved itself with a 99.8% availability.

In contrast to another early driverless metro system, the Vancouver SkyTrain, the VAL design uses platforms that are separated from the rollways by a glass partition, to prevent waiting passengers from straying or falling onto the rollways. Platform screen doors – produced by Swiss glass door manufacturer Kaba Gilgen AG – are embedded in these partitions and open in synchrony with the train doors when a train stops at the platform. The original platform-edge doors were manufactured and installed by PLC Peters in Hayes, Middlesex and were used on the first line.

In addition to the trains being driverless, the station platforms are unstaffed in normal operation. In the original Lille metro system, they are monitored by a large closed-circuit television system with 330 cameras and 24 television monitors in a remote control room.

NeoVal

CityVal for Rennes Metro Line B

In 2006 the NeoVal project, successor of the VAL, was announced. It will feature regenerative braking. 40% of the 62 million Euros set aside for the programme will come from the Agence de l'innovation industrielle (the technology-supporting project agency formerly known as the AII). The program is managed by Siemens Mobility, in association with Lohr Industrie. The NeoVal will be guided by a single central rail, similar to that of the Translohr, and will be able to operate without any electrical supply between the stations (no third rail or overhead lines), making the cost of infrastructure much lower.

CityVal

CityVal is based on the NeoVal system. 19 CityVal trainsets have been ordered for the second line of the Rennes Metro.

Airval

6 Airval trainsets has been ordered for the Suvarnabhumi Airport, Thailand APM system.

List of Active VAL Systems

As of 2024, there are a total of 11 lines in 8 systems with VAL technology in operation:

VAL 208 cars on the CDGVAL at Paris CDG airport.

• Lille Metro (two lines), since 1983, VAL 206 and VAL 208 cars
• Paris Orlyval, since 1991, VAL 206 cars
• Toulouse Metro (two lines), since 1993, VAL 206 and VAL 208 cars

VAL 256 variant on Taipei Metro's Wenhu Line.

• Taipei Wenhu Line (Brown Line), since 1996, larger VAL 256 variant using the MAGGALY technology from Lyon Metro Line D
• Rennes Metro Line A, since 2002, VAL 208 cars
• Turin Metro, since 2006, VAL 208 cars
• Paris CDGVAL (two lines), since 2007, VAL 208 cars
• Uijeongbu U Line, since 2012, VAL 208 cars

Future Systems

• Rennes Metro Line B (currently under construction, opening planned for 2021) - 25 2-car CityVal trains
• Future Frankfurt Airport SkyLine (rehabilitation of the existing people mover system) - 24 2-car AirVal trains
• Future people mover at Bangkok's Suvarnabhumi Airport (currently under construction) - 6 2-car Airval trains

Defunct Systems

• Airport Transit System at Chicago's O'Hare International Airport (opened in 1993 and replaced by a Bombardier system in 2015)
• Jacksonville, Florida, had a VAL line inaugurated in 1989; it was shut down in December 1996 and replaced by a monorail, the Jacksonville Skyway. The rolling stock was sold to O'Hare.

Medium-Capacity Transport System

When VAL was introduced to Taipei, the term medium-capacity rail transport system was coined by railway planners to differentiate VAL from heavy rail (metro). Since then, this term has begun to be applied on similar capacity transit systems–mainly in Asian cities–even when the systems are not based on VAL's technology. On Siemens' official website, VAL was during a certain time advertised as the "first fully automated light metro", in which the term "light metro" can be traced back to Moscow Metro Butovskaya Light Metro Line. Siemens now rather uses the terms "medium-capacity metro" or simply refers to VAL as a "people mover".

See also

• Automated guideway transit
• Rubber-tyred tram and Rubber-tyred metro
• Transport in France

Competing systems:

• Bombardier Innovia APM
• Mitsubishi Crystal Mover

External link

• Presentation of the NeoVal system on the official Siemens website