Vienna’s public transport operator Wiener Linien’s has said its U5 U-bahn line will become the city’s first driverless metro.
Austrian Infrastructure Minister Alois Stoeger said the announcement “heralds a new metro age” for the city.
With U5 due to open in 2023, Wiener Linien also said it planned to launch a Europe-wide tender for the supply and maintenance of 45 new metro trains.
Although fully automated on U5, the trains would also operate on lines U1 and U4 with drivers.
Wiener Linien hopes to award the tender by the end of next year.
Delivery of the new fleet, which will replace the remaining ‘Silver Arrow’ sets, will take place between 2020 and 2029.
