Siemens Tram for Ulm Wins the Red Dot Award

July 13, 2018
The Siemens Avenio M tram, designed for Ulm, Germany, has won the prestigious Red Dot Award.

The Siemens Avenio M tram, designed for Ulm, Germany, has won the prestigious Red Dot Award. SWU Verkehr GmbH had ordered twelve articulated Avenio M trams from Siemens in May 2015. The trams are optimized for operating on the Ulm routes with their steep grades and will serve on Line 1 and the new Line 2.

The tram’s design enhances passenger experience and convenience and was, as with its predecessor model Combino, especially tailored for Ulm by Busse Design+Engineering, the design partner of SWU Verkehr. The new tram’s front and rear end design differs from that of the previously used Combinos. The new trams have adapted the current SWU design and are finished in the familiar colors of blue, light gray and white. The typical curved side profile on the front end has been further refined. The interior is light and friendly. The style and interior design of the basic tram were created by a team from Siemens and the design studio “Yellow Window.” The Avenio M also sets standards regarding safety: the “Siemens Tram Assistant” collision warning system helps the driver to avoid accidents.

“In many respects, we succeeded in further improving the visual appeal of Ulm with the new tram series. Ulm’s trams will now stand out even more for our residents,” said André Dillmann, managing director of SWU Verkehr.

“In developing the Avenio, we believed the trams should harmonize well with the urban landscape, be optimally adapted to the existing urban infrastructure and meet all the requirements for capacity as well as interior and exterior design. That we succeeded in our work has now been confirmed by the second Red Dot Award for our Avenio family,” said Sabrina Soussan, CEO of the Siemens Mobility Division.

Siemens previously received the Red Dot Award for Product Design in 2015 for the Velaro high-speed train. Last year, the company’s design for the Avenio trams for Doha, Qatar, won the award.

The Design Zentrum Nordrhein Westfalen has been honoring outstanding international product design with its famed “Red Dot” since 1955. Numerous manufacturers and designers of a wide variety of industrial products enter the annual competition for the internationally renowned seal of quality for design. This year, the jury received entries from 59 countries. Only designs with the most convincing “high quality of design” receive the coveted “Red Dot” from the jury. The awards were presented yesterday in Essen, Germany.