Flexity Swift

Bombardier Flexity Swift

Company type	Product line
Industry	Rail transport
Predecessor	Adtranz designs
Founded	1995
Founder	Bombardier Transportation
Products	Urban and suburban tram, light rail, and light metro vehicles
Parent	Bombardier Transportation

The Bombardier Flexity Swift series comprises urban and suburban tram, light rail, and light metro vehicles produced by Bombardier Transportation. As a member of the broader Bombardier Flexity lineup, these vehicles offer extensive customization options tailored to client specifications, incorporating legacy designs inherited through Bombardier’s acquisition of Adtranz.

By late 2015, sales had surpassed 1,000 units across the Flexity Swift range.

Overview

Flexity Swift models are articulated vehicles, generally consisting of three sections, equipped with driver cabins at both ends to enable bi-directional travel. They feature doors on either side, and the central module can be lengthened to boost passenger capacity. These units are engineered for operation on exclusive tracks at speeds reaching up to .

Vehicle weights differ significantly: lighter models weigh around , while versions built for Minneapolis comply with more rigorous U.S. crashworthiness regulations, resulting in higher weights. Similarly, vehicles serving Rotterdam and Karlsruhe meet the demands of rapid transit and mainline railway standards with increased mass.

There are two primary configurations: a 70% low-floor variant designed to facilitate wheelchair access without requiring elevated platforms, and a high-floor variant intended for compatibility with existing raised platforms in older systems. Power is generally supplied via DC overhead wires; nonetheless, Rotterdam's fleet also utilizes third rail electrification, and Karlsruhe’s tram-trains are equipped to operate on AC power to interface with mainline railways.

Initially created for the Cologne Stadtbahn, Flexity Swift vehicles are currently deployed in several cities including London’s Tramlink, Manchester Metrolink, Istanbul, Melbourne, Rotterdam Metro, Karlsruhe Stadtbahn, Bonn Stadtbahn, Stockholm’s light rail lines 12 and 22, as well as the Minneapolis-Saint Paul Metro Light Rail. The model was also selected for the now-defunct Liverpool Merseytram project.

Major competitors encompass the Alstom Citadis family—especially RegioCitadis, Citadis Dualis, and Citadis Spirit—as well as offerings from Siemens Mobility like the S70/Avanto series, SD100/SD160, SD400/SD460, S200 range, and Hitachi Rail Italy’s Hitachi Sirio. Unlike other Flexity variants optimized for mixed-traffic streetcar operations, the Flexity Swift is tailored for higher-speed services on dedicated tracks but can still operate within mixed traffic environments in cities such as London, Manchester, and Melbourne.

Low-floor versions

City	Operator	Image	Type designation	Manufactured	Number of vehicles	Length	Width	Weight (empty)	Maximum power
Cologne, Germany	KVB		K4000	1995–1999, 2002	124	28.40 m (93 ft 2+1⁄8 in)	2.65 m (8 ft 8+3⁄8 in)	35.50 t (34.94 long tons; 39.13 short tons)	4 x 120 kW (160 hp)
			K4500	2004–2007	69	28.50 m (93 ft 6 in)		37.40 t (36.81 long tons; 41.23 short tons)
London, England	TfL (Tramlink)		CR4000	1998–2000	24	30.10 m (98 ft 9 in)		36.30 t (35.73 long tons; 40.01 short tons)
Istanbul, Turkey	Metro İstanbul		A32	2003	55	29.70 m (97 ft 5+1⁄4 in)		39.20 t (38.58 long tons; 43.21 short tons)
Karlsruhe, Germany	AVG and VBK		ET 2010 (Tram-train)	2011–2013	30	37 m (121 ft 4+3⁄4 in)		62.5 t (61.5 long tons; 68.9 short tons)	4 x 150 kW (200 hp)
Melbourne, Australia	Yarra Trams		E	2012–2015	50	33.45 m (109 ft 8+7⁄8 in)		62 t (61 long tons; 68 short tons)	6 x 85 kW (114 hp)
			E2	2016–2021	50
Minneapolis, Minnesota (Metro Light Rail), United States	Metro Transit		Type 1 LRV	2003–2007	27	28.65 m (94 ft 0 in)		48.50 t (47.73 long tons; 53.46 short tons)

High-floor variants

City	Operator	Image	Model designation	Year(s) built	Fleet size	Length	Width	Empty weight	Peak power output

|- | Bonn, Germany || SWB || || K5000 || 2003 || 15 || || rowspan="12" ||||| rowspan="5" |4 x |- | Bursa, Turkey || Bursaray || || U5-2010 Bursa || 2010–2011 || 30 || || |- | rowspan="3" | Cologne, Germany || rowspan="3" | KVB || rowspan="3" ||| K5000 || 2002–2003 || 59 || rowspan="3"||| rowspan="3" | |- ||| K5200 || 2010–2011 || 15 || |- ||| || 2020–2021 || 20 || |- | Düsseldorf, Germany || Rheinbahn || || HF6 || 2017–2020 || 42 || || |- rowspan="3" | Frankfurt am Main, Germany || rowspan="3" | minVgF || rowspan="3" ||| U5-25 (Bi-directional) || rowspan="2" | 2008–2017 || 94 |||||||||||4 x |- ||| U5-50 (Uni-directional) || 130 |||||||||||4 x |- ||| U5-KR (non-driving) || 2018– ? || 22 ||||| |- rowspan="2" | İzmir, Turkey || rowspan="2" | İzmir Metro |||| MD || rowspan="2" | Ordered 2001|| 30||| rowspan="2"||||||| rowspan="2"|4 x |-||| M||15|| |- Greater Manchester, England||Manchester Metrolink||||M5000||||2009–2022||||147||||||||||||4 x |- rowspan="2"|Rotterdam, Netherlands||||rowspan="2"|Rotterdamse Elektrische Tram||||MG2/1, SG2/1||||1998–2002||||81||||||||rowspan="2"|||||||||6 x |-||||RSG3, SG3, HSG3||||2007–2016||||86||||||||||||8 x |}

See also

• Flexity Freedom

External links

• Flexity official site
• About London's trams (unofficial)