Keolis, through its Chinese joint-venture Shanghai Keolis, has been awarded its second metro contract in China to operate and maintain the Rapid Transit Transport System of the Shanghai Pudong International Airport.

The new line is expected to open in June 2019 and will connect two existing terminals (T1 and T2) to two new terminals (S1 and S2).

Keolis’ Chinese joint venture, Shanghai Keolis has recently been awarded a new 20-year contract to operate and maintain the new Communications Based Train Control (CBTC) automated metro system of the Shanghai International Airport, which will connect the existing terminals (T1 and T2) to the future satellite terminals (S1 and S2) from June 2019. This is the second automated metro project awarded to Keolis in China.

With an average of 60 million passengers per year, Shanghai International Airport decided to extend Pudong International Airport to increase its capacity to 80 million travellers per year, and to build a metro line that would connect all four terminals. The new five-mile-long line — with a projected daily ridership of 250,000 passengers — will provide 24-hour operation. It will be equipped with CBTC technology, which enables operations at higher frequencies and speeds in total safety — with or without a driver. In the case of the Pudong airport line, this metro will have a driver on-board (GoA2[2] operation). The service headway at peak hours will be 4 to 5 minutes during off-peak hours. Built by the Chinese manufacturer CRRC, the metro trainsets are 308 feet long.

Present in China since 2014, the group continues to progressively develop its integration and understanding of local mobility needs in the country. This new metro project is viewed as symbolic for Keolis as it develops its ties with China.

Keolis currently manages four automated metro networks in France and abroad:

• Lille metro, the world’s first fully automated metro GoA4 launched in 1983 (France),

• Lyon metro Line D, the world’s first fully automated CBTC metro GoA4 launched in 1991 (France),

• Rennes metro Line A. Keolis will also operate the new line B, expected to be launched by 2020 (France),

• Docklands Light Railway (DLR) automated metro network in London (United Kingdom).

By the end of 2017, Keolis will launch the CBTC automated Hyderabad metro in India, one of the longest aerial metros in the world, as well as the CBTC fully automated Shanghai metro line 8, phase 3 in China.