Reversing transmission instead of turning area: Dual cabin buses bring tourists to Mont-Saint-Michel

Since April Veolia Transport has operated six dual cabin buses produced by Contrac GmbH for shuttling visitors to Mont-Saint-Michel. Each of these unique vehicles has two driver cabins while a special gear module reverses the direction of transmission output so the buses can change direction without turning.

MAINZ, Germany – With about 3 million visitors per year, the Mont-Saint-Michel monastery is one of the greatest tourist attractions in France. Prior to this year, visitors arriving in cars and coaches were required to park on the narrow road leading to a small island in the Wadden Sea of Normandy. Today, traffic has to stay on dry land and only shuttle buses bring tourists to the monastery. That sounds easy, but it was a huge technical challenge because there is no place for buses to turnaround at Mont-Saint-Michel. Bus manufacturer, Contrac GmbH from Wiesbaden, Germany, came up with an idea for a unique dual cabin bus.

Moving forward with intelligent solutions

“At Mont-Saint-Michel there are many similarities to an airport. As many passengers as possible must be transported within a short time over a relatively short distance,” explains Rüdiger Hömberg, who led the project at Contrac GmbH. “As a leading manufacturer of airport buses, we won the Europe-wide tender to produce the vehicles based on our experience and creative concept.”

The Cobus DES named “Le Passeur” is based on the Cobus 2500, a 12.3 m long airport bus, which is equipped with an Allison 2100 fully automatic transmission. Two fully functional driver cabins with one common drivetrain allow two-directional operation.

DGS from Mainz, Allison’s main distributor in Germany, played a major role in creating this innovative drive solution. DGS developed a special reversing drop-box module, which is directly mounted on the Allison automatic transmission and reverses vehicle direction without affecting the drivability. This compact and short design had a minimal impact on overall driveline length. Direction change occurs when the vehicle is at a standstill. The drop-box is engaged pneumatically from the driver’s cabin in use.

Development of the reversing transmission took about six months including construction of the first unit. The new reversing transmission can be combined with any Allison 1000 and 2000 Series fully automatic transmission.

“Due to the positive experiences we have had with Allison since 1990, we decided to equip the new Cobus DES with an Allison fully automatic transmission. I was positively surprised that DGS in Mainz was able to deliver the reversing module. We have always been very satisfied with DGS concerning competence, service and reliability,” says Hömberg.

The Allison 2100 transmission in “Le Passeur” is designed for vehicles up to 13,600 kg gross weight and engines rated up to 300 HP (224 kW). The advanced electronic controls offer diagnostics features while providing excellent shift quality, improved passenger comfort, and increased fuel efficiency.

The maximum speed of the shuttle buses at Mont-Saint-Michel is 70 km/h, but they are electronically regulated down to 50 km/h; while on the bridge they may only drive at a speed of 25 km/h.

On April 28, 2012 the local transport operator Veolia Transport Mont-Saint-Michel put the first six shuttle buses in operation. Over the next 12 years, each vehicle is expected to cover about 600,000 km exclusively in shuttle service.

Safety and registration

The shuttle buses also run on public streets, so it was necessary to design bow and stern in such a way that the driving direction is immediately recognizable for all road users.

Rüdiger Hömberg explains, “At the beginning, developing a vehicle for such an application sounded easy. But many challenges had to be overcome to enable a legal registration of the vehicle for two-directional operation on public roads.” Thanks to the special construction, reflectors can automatically be switched between white and red at direction changes, and the exterior rear-view mirrors can be retracted.

The Contrac dual cabin bus is extraordinary in many ways. It’s technically advanced because of the two-directional operation and the huge space for up to 90 passengers. Aesthetically its look with maritime outside cladding made out of 7 mm teakwood is unique.

Further applications are planned for these buses with requests from bus operators in Southern France, who want to operate such a vehicle with an open or fully glazed roof for city tours. In addition, there is interest in the two-directional vehicles for substitute transportation at construction sites with blind alleys. “For this purpose, however, the dimensions of the vehicle must be adjusted,” says Hömberg.

The mountain will again become an island

Since 1979, Mont-Saint-Michel has been a part of the UNESCO World Heritage. Without buildings the rock is about 46 m high, and its immense bay is impacted by Europe’s strongest tides. The location is famous for its Benedictine monastery which has now become an increasingly popular place of pilgrimage.

As a result of the road embankment built in 1869 the bay of Mont-Saint-Michel was filled with silt. To restore the original conditions, an ambitious renewal project (called the “Renaturation Project”) was established. The plans involve removing the road embankment and replacing it with a stilt bridge, which will be completely closed to individual traffic. Under the bridge piers, the water will flow freely so that Mont-Saint-Michel will again become a real island.

Technical data of the Cobus double head buses „Le Passeur“

July 2012

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About Contrac GmbH

The company Contrac GmbH from Wiesbaden, Germany, is world market leader in the field of airport buses. All models of the airport bus Cobus (Cobus 2400, Cobus 2500, Cobus 2700 and Cobus 3000) are serially equipped with an Allison transmission. The Cobus is in 99 countries at about 296 airports at home. Since 1990 many more than 3,000 vehicles were built.

About DGS GmbH

DGS GmbH in Mainz, Germany, is a specialist for fully automatic transmissions as well as diesel and gas engines for commercial vehicles, construction machines, military and industrial applications. As a link between the manufacturer, OEM and operators, the company develops ergonomically and economically optimized drive concepts  which are oriented toward the benefit of their customers, can be integrated into special applications, and are often completed through the sole development of DGS GmbH.

About Allison Transmission, Inc.

Allison Transmission is the world’s largest manufacturer of fully automatic transmissions for medium- and heavy-duty commercial vehicles, medium- and heavy-tactical U.S. military vehicles and hybrid-propulsion systems for transit buses. Allison transmissions are used in a variety of applications including on-highway trucks (distribution, refuse, construction, fire and emergency), buses (primarily school and transit), motor homes, off-highway vehicles and equipment (primarily energy and mining) and military vehicles (wheeled and tracked). Founded in 1915, the Allison business is headquartered in Indianapolis, Indiana, U.S.A. and employs approximately 2,800 people. Allison has manufacturing facilities and customization centers located in China, The Netherlands, Brazil, India and Hungary. With a global presence, serving customers in North America, Europe, Asia, Australia, South America, and Africa, Allison also has over 1,500 independent distributor and dealer locations worldwide. More information about Allison is available at www.allisontransmission.com.

This press release may contain forward-looking statements. All statements other than statements of historical fact contained in this press release are forward-looking statements. In some cases, you can identify forward-looking statements by terminology such as "may," "will," "should," "expect," "plans," "project," "anticipate," "believe," "estimate," "predict," “intend,” “forecast,” “could,” "potential," "continue" or the negative of these terms or other similar terms or phrases. Forward-looking statements are not guarantees of future performance and involve known and unknown risks. Factors which may cause the actual results to differ materially from those anticipated at the time the forward-looking statements are made include, but are not limited to: risks related to our substantial indebtedness; our participation in markets that are competitive; general economic and industry conditions; our ability to prepare for, respond to and successfully achieve our objectives relating to technological and market developments and changing customer needs, the failure of markets outside North America to increase adoption of fully-automatic transmissions, the discovery of defects in our products, resulting in delays in new model launches, recall campaigns and/or increased warranty costs and reduction in future sales or damage to our brand and reputation; the concentration of our net sales in our top five customers and the loss of any one of these; and labor strikes, work stoppages or similar labor disputes, which could significantly disrupt our operations or those of our principal customers. Although we believe the expectations reflected in such forward-looking statements are based upon reasonable assumptions, we can give no assurance that the expectations will be attained or that any deviation will not be material. All information is as of the date of this press release, and we undertake no obligation to update any forward-looking statement to conform the statement to actual results or changes in expectations.

Press Contacts

Claire Dumbreck                                          Miranda Jansen

Propel Technology                                      Allison Transmission Europe

claire@propel-technology.com                 miranda.jansen@allisontransmission.com

+44 (0)1295 724130                                    +31 78-6422 174

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