Editing Véhicule Automatique Léger

{{Short description|French rail system}}
{{About|the [[people mover]] system|other uses|Val (disambiguation)}}
[[File:Ligne 2 du métro de Lille Métropole - Garage-atelier du Grand But (04).JPG|thumb|[[VAL 206]] (right) and [[VAL 208]] (left) as used on [[Lille Metro]].]]
[[File:Matra VAL plate in VAL256.jpg|thumb|right|Interior of VAL 256 with manufacturer's decal.]]
'''''Véhicule Automatique Léger''''' ({{Literal translation|automatic light vehicle}}) or '''VAL''' is a type of driverless (automated), [[rubber-tyred metro|rubber-tyred]], [[medium-capacity rail transport system]] ([[people mover]]). The technology was developed at the [[Lille University of Science and Technology]], was marketed by [[Matra]], and first used in the early 1980s for the [[Lille Metro]] system, one of the world's first fully automated mass-transit rail networks, preceded only by the [[Port Island Line]] in Kobe, Japan.<ref>Bushell, Chris, ed. Jane's Urban Transport Systems 1995-96. Surrey, United Kingdom: Jane's Information Group; 1995. p178, 472</ref> The VAL technology is now marketed by [[Siemens Mobility|Siemens]], which acquired Matra in the late 1990s.

A total of 11 lines in 8 systems based on the VAL technology are currently in operation worldwide. The current version of the VAL product is marketed as '''NeoVal''' (with a distinction between '''AirVal''' for airport environments and '''CityVal''' for more conventional transit environments).

The name is a [[backronym]], with the first project to use the technology nicknamed VAL after the routing of the line: ''Villeneuve d'Ascq à Lille'' ({{Literal translation|[[Villeneuve d'Ascq]] to Lille}}).{{Citation needed|date=May 2023}}

== Technology ==
=== Original VAL ===
[[File:NeiHuLine Point.jpg|thumb|VAL-style track point as used on the [[Wenhu line|Taipei Wenhu Line]].]]
The VAL system uses a fully automated elevated [[guideway]], which may be metal or concrete depending on prevailing weather conditions. Primary suspension is by rubber tires, with pairs of horizontal tires to provide lateral guidance. Electrical power at 750 V DC is collected by shoes from the guidebars.<ref>Bushell, Chris, ed. Jane's Urban Transport Systems 1995-96. Surrey, United Kingdom: Jane's Information Group; 1995. p472-3</ref>

The vehicles are lightweight 2-car sets ([[VAL 206]] or [[VAL 208]]) with 124 total capacity, or twin sets ([[Taipei Metro VAL256|VAL 256]]) with 80 seated and 160 standing capacity. All axles on these vehicles are motored with {{Cvt|150|kW|4=0}} electrical motors. The system detects the location of trains on the guideway by the use of ultrasonic sensors.<ref>Bushell, Chris, ed. Jane's Urban Transport Systems 1995-96. Surrey, United Kingdom: Jane's Information Group; 1995. p472-3</ref> VAL uses fixed-block signalling.

VAL can cope with unanticipated demand by inserting additional trains into the network as required by remote command from the control center. The control center computer system automatically speeds up or slows down trains in order to maintain a timetable. The VAL system can handle headways as small as 60 seconds, and the Lille VAL system rapidly proved itself with a 99.8% availability.<ref>Bushell, Chris, ed. Jane's Urban Transport Systems 1995-96. Surrey, United Kingdom: Jane's Information Group; 1995. p472-3</ref>

In contrast to another early driverless metro system, the [[Vancouver, British Columbia|Vancouver]] [[SkyTrain (Vancouver)|SkyTrain]], the VAL design uses platforms that are separated from the rollways by a glass partition, to prevent waiting passengers from straying or falling onto the rollways. [[Platform screen doors]] – produced by [[Switzerland|Swiss]] glass door manufacturer [[dormakaba|Kaba Gilgen AG]] – are embedded in these partitions and open in synchrony with the train doors when a train stops at the platform.{{Citation needed|reason=Articles to support the claim|date=November 2023}} The original platform-edge doors were manufactured and installed by PLC Peters in [[Hayes, Middlesex]] and were used on the first line.{{Citation needed|reason=Unable to find articles that prove the claim the original platform doors were made by PLC Peters, nor was able to find any information on the company 'PLC Peters'|date=November 2023}}

In addition to the trains being driverless, the station platforms are unstaffed in normal operation. In the original [[Lille metro]] system, they are monitored by a large closed-circuit television system with 330 cameras and 24 television monitors in a remote control room.<ref>Bushell, Chris, ed. Jane's Urban Transport Systems 1995-96. Surrey, United Kingdom: Jane's Information Group; 1995. p178</ref>


=== NeoVal ===
[[File:Atelier métro ligne B - Rame Cityval.jpg|thumb|CityVal for Rennes Metro Line B]]
In 2006 the NeoVal project, successor of the VAL, was announced. It features [[regenerative braking]]. 40% of the 62 million Euros set aside for the programme will come from the ''[[Agence de l'innovation industrielle]]'' (the technology-supporting project agency formerly known as the AII). The program is managed by [[Siemens Mobility]], in association with [[Lohr Industrie]]. The NeoVal will be guided by a single central rail, similar to that of the [[Translohr]], and will be able to operate without any electrical supply between the stations (no third rail or [[overhead lines]]), making the cost of infrastructure much lower.<ref>[http://www.euromedtransport.org/fileadmin/download/maincontract/Meed2006/meed2006_day2_siemens.pdf euromedtransport.org]{{Dead link|date=March 2023 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}</ref>{{Update inline|date=December 2022}}

The NeoVal is offered in two versions:
* the CityVal version designed for conventional transit environments (car width {{Cvt|2.65|m}}) with the first implementation on [[Rennes Metro|Line B of the Rennes Metro]]; 
* the AirVal version designed for airport environments (car width {{Cvt|2.80|m}}) with the first implementation on the [[Suvarnabhumi Airport Automated People Mover]] at [[Suvarnabhumi Airport]], [[Thailand]].

== VAL systems ==
=== Active systems ===
{{As of|2021|07}} there are a total of 12 lines in 8 systems operating with VAL technology:
[[File:CDG Val 0363.JPG|thumb|right|[[VAL 208]] cars on the [[CDGVAL]] at [[Charles de Gaulle Airport|Paris CDG airport]].]]
[[File:Matra VAL256, Taipei Metro 20210509.jpg|thumb|right|[[Taipei Metro VAL256|VAL 256]] cars on [[Taipei Metro]]'s [[Wenhu line|Wenhu Line]]]]
* [[Lille Metro]] (two lines), since 1983, [[VAL 206]] and [[VAL 208]] cars
* [[Orlyval|Paris Orlyval]], since 1991, VAL 206 cars
* [[Toulouse Metro]] (two lines), since 1993, VAL 206 and VAL 208 cars
* [[Wenhu line|Taipei Metro Wenhu (Brown) line]], since 1996, larger [[Taipei Metro VAL256|VAL 256]] cars using the MAGGALY technology from [[Lyon Metro Line D]] and Bombardier signaling
* [[Rennes Metro]] (two lines), since 2002, VAL 208 and CityVal cars
* [[Turin Metro]], since 2006, VAL 208 cars
* [[CDGVAL|Paris CDGVAL]] (two lines), since 2007, VAL 208 cars
* [[U Line|Uijeongbu U Line]], since 2012, VAL 208 cars with air conditioning, locally designated the U100
* [[Suvarnabhumi Airport Automated People Mover|Bangkok Suvarnabhumi Airport]], since 2023 - 6 2-car AirVal trains<ref>{{Cite web |date=17 July 2020 |title=Siemens builds fully automated people mover at Suvarnabhumi airport |url=https://thailand-construction.com/siemens-builds-fully-automated-people-mover-at-bangkoks-suvarnabhumi-airport |access-date=27 November 2020}}</ref>

=== Future systems ===
* [[SkyLine (Frankfurt)|Frankfurt Airport SkyLine]] (rehabilitation of existing people mover system)  - 24 2-car AirVal trains<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.emove360.com/siemens-delivers-fully-automated-people-mover-for-the-frankfurt-airport|title=Siemens delivers fully automated people mover for the Frankfurt airport|access-date=27 November 2020|date=3 April 2018}}</ref>

=== Defunct systems ===
*[[Airport Transit System]] at [[Chicago]]'s [[O'Hare International Airport]] (opened in 1993 and replaced by a [[Bombardier Transportation|Bombardier]] system in 2019 and reopened in 2021)
*[[Jacksonville, Florida]], had a VAL line inaugurated in 1989; it was shut down in December 1996 and replaced by a monorail, the [[Jacksonville Skyway]]. The rolling stock was sold to O'Hare.
{{clear}}

== Medium-Capacity Transport System ==
When VAL was introduced to [[Taipei]], the term [[medium-capacity rail transport system]] was coined by railway planners to differentiate VAL from [[Passenger rail terminology#Heavy rail|heavy rail]] (metro).{{citation needed|date=January 2015}} Since then, this term has begun to be applied on similar capacity transit systems–mainly in Asian cities–even when the systems are not based on VAL's technology. On [[Siemens Mobility|Siemens]]' official website, VAL was during a certain time advertised as the "first fully automated light metro", in which the term "[[Medium-capacity rail transport system|light metro]]" can be traced back to the [[Moscow Metro|Moscow Metro's]] [[Butovskaya line|Butovskaya Line]]. Siemens now rather uses the terms "medium-capacity metro" or simply refers to VAL as a "people mover".

== See also ==
{{commons category|VAL}}
* [[Automated guideway transit]]
* [[Rubber-tyred tram]] and [[Rubber-tyred metro]]
* [[Transport in France]]
Competing systems:
* [[Bombardier Innovia APM]] 
* [[Crystal Mover]] from [[Mitsubishi Heavy Industries]]

== References==
{{reflist}}

== External links ==
*[https://www.mobility.siemens.com/global/en/portfolio/rail/rolling-stock/val-systems.html Presentation of the NeoVal system on the official Siemens website]
* {{Cite web|url=http://www.traction-electrique.ch/documents/Fich0681.pdf|title=Documentation technique du VAL 206 [dont le VAL 208 en est l'évolution]|website=traction-electrique.ch|access-date=7 February 2023|lang=fr}}  
{{Automated trains and fixed-guideway transit}}
{{Public transport}}
{{Paris Metro/RS}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Vehicule Automatique Leger}}
[[Category:Passenger rail rolling stock]]
[[Category:People movers]]
[[Category:Electric multiple units of the United States]]
[[Category:Rapid transit in France]]
[[Category:Public transportation in Taiwan]]
[[Category:VAL people movers| ]]
[[Category:French inventions]]