News 2025.04 - The New Generation ULF

Vienna tests the ‘Uber-ULF’!

The ULF (abbreviation for Ultra Low Floor) is a low-floor tram vehicle that was originally developed by SGP Verkehrstechnik GmbH and ELIN EBG Traction for Wiener Linien and was later taken over by Siemens. The innovative trams have been in service in Vienna and the university city of Oradea in Romania since the mid-1990s. Today, a highly unusual further development is coming from there to Vienna for its first test runs.

Halling

© Halling Modelle

ULF-APR-M

In collaboration with Siemens Digital Industries, the company's software division in Brasov, the team at the Technical University of Oradea has developed a self-driving tram vehicle for a maximum of 20 passengers. The completely new vehicle concept bridges the gap between public and private transport and has been in use with great success for almost two years.

With the help of an app based on the well-known transport service provider, the often jokingly named Uber-ULF can be called and is on site in just a few minutes. The ‘Autonomous Personalised Railway Innovation Locomotive’, of APRIL for short, is primarily used by carpools for their daily commute to and from work. The core of the tram network in Oradea is a ring route around the city centre, not unlike Vienna's Ringstrasse, where the first 10 APRIL vehicles will be tested by Wiener Linien in the coming days and weeks. Find out more about this and how to get to APRIL here!