Neoplan Centroliner
Encyclopedia
Neoplan
NEOPLAN Bus GmbH is a German automotive company that manufactures buses, trolleybuses and coaches. NEOPLAN is now a subsidiary of NEOMAN Bus GmbH, which itself is a part of MAN SE.-Foundations:...
for the Europe
Europe
Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...
an market. At the time when it was first released, it adopted contemporary technologies like Controller Area Network
Controller Area Network
Controller–area network is a vehicle bus standard designed to allow microcontrollers and devices to communicate with each other within a vehicle without a host computer....
.
The product range of Centroliner included: midibus
Midibus
A midibus is a classification of single-decker minibuses which generally are larger than a traditional minibus but smaller than a full-size single decker and can be anywhere between and long...
, full-size/articulated
Articulated bus
An articulated bus is an articulated vehicle used in public transportation. It is usually a single-deck design, and comprises two rigid sections linked by a pivoting joint...
single-decker
Single-decker bus
A single-decker bus or single-decker is a bus that has a single deck for passengers. Normally the use of the term single-decker refers to a standard two-axled rigid bus, in direct contrast to the use of the term double-decker bus, which is essentially a single decked bus with an extra deck and...
, and three-axle
Multi-axle bus
A multi-axle bus is a bus or coach that has more than the conventional two axles, usually three , or more rarely, four...
double-decker
Double-decker bus
A double-decker bus is a bus that has two storeys or 'decks'. Global usage of this type of bus is more common in outer touring than in its intra-urban transportion role. Double-decker buses are also commonly found in certain parts of Europe, Asia, and former British colonies and protectorates...
, in different body lengths. After the acquisition of NEOPLAN by MAN AG subsidy MAN Nutzfahrzeuge AG, a new version of Centroliner full-size/articulated single-decker was launched, it was also known as NEOPLAN Centroliner Evolution.
Hong Kong
NEOPLAN Centroliner was the third type of GermanGermany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
double-decker introduced in Hong Kong
Hong Kong
Hong Kong is one of two Special Administrative Regions of the People's Republic of China , the other being Macau. A city-state situated on China's south coast and enclosed by the Pearl River Delta and South China Sea, it is renowned for its expansive skyline and deep natural harbour...
(the first being the Mercedes-Benz O305
Mercedes-Benz O305
Mercedes-Benz O305 is a rear-engined bus model built in West Germany between 1967 and 1987. The O305 was built as a successor of the O317 and was the Mercedes-Benz adaptation of the first so called "Standard-Linienbus" design, that was produced by many different German bus manufacturers. The...
, and the second the MAN 24.350
MAN 24.310
MAN 24.310 is a low-floor double-decker bus model built for the Hong Kong market. Unlike other low-floor double-decker buses in Hong Kong, there are steps in the lower deck aisle after the rear exit....
). A total of 193 NEOPLAN Centroliner double-deckers were introduced to Hong Kong by Kowloon Motor Bus
Kowloon Motor Bus
The Kowloon Motor Bus Company Limited , a company of the Transport International Holdings Limited, is the largest franchised bus operators in Hong Kong, and one of the largest privately owned public bus operators in the world...
(KMB) and New World First Bus
New World First Bus
New World First Bus Services Limited , abbreviated as First Bus and "NWFB", is the third largest public bus operator in Hong Kong.NWFB was established in 1998, taking over China Motor Bus's franchise on 1 September 1998 to provide bus services on Hong Kong Island together with Citybus...
(NWFB).
Kowloon Motor Bus
Cummins
Cummins Inc. is a Fortune 500 corporation that designs, manufactures, distributes and services engines and related technologies, including fuel systems, controls, air handling, filtration, emission control and electrical power generation systems...
M11-305E21
Cummins M Series engine
The Cummins M Series engine is a straight six diesel engine designed and produced by Cummins. It displaces . Introduced as the M11 in 1994, it was built on the previous L10 engine .In 1996, Cummins added electronic controls to improve efficiency...
10.8 litre straight six diesel engine
Diesel engine
A diesel engine is an internal combustion engine that uses the heat of compression to initiate ignition to burn the fuel, which is injected into the combustion chamber...
and ZF
ZF Friedrichshafen
ZF Friedrichshafen AG, also known as ZF Group, and commonly abbreviated to ZF, is a German public company headquartered in Friedrichshafen, in the south-west German region of Baden-Württemberg....
Ecomat 5HP590 five-speed automatic transmission
Automatic transmission
An automatic transmission is one type of motor vehicle transmission that can automatically change gear ratios as the vehicle moves, freeing the driver from having to shift gears manually...
, entered service in August 1999.
In 2000, KMB received 60 Centroliner N4426/3s, followed by 50 similar buses in 2000/2001. They (AP21-AP130) were allocated to long-distance routes serving North
North District, Hong Kong
North District is the northernmost district of the 18 districts of Hong Kong. It is located in the northwestern part of the New Territories. The new town of Fanling-Sheung Shui is within this district. It had a population of 298,657 in 2001. The district has the second lowest population density.It...
/Yuen Long
Yuen Long
Yuen Long , formerly Un Long, is an area and town located in the northwest of Hong Kong, on the Yuen Long Plain. To its west lie Hung Shui Kiu and Ha Tsuen, to the south Shap Pat Heung and Tai Tong, to the east Au Tau and Kam Tin, and to the north Nam Sang Wai.-Name:The Cantonese name Yuen Long 元朗...
/Tuen Mun
Tuen Mun District
Tuen Mun District is one of the 18 administrative districts of Hong Kong. Its name was previously 'Tsing Shan' and it changed in the 1970s. It is the westernmost continental district of Hong Kong, located about 32 km from the Kowloon Peninsula, 7 km southwest of Yuen Long and 18 km...
Districts.
In April 2001, KMB acquired two Centroliner N4426/3s (AP131-AP132) which were fitted with MAN D2866 LOH-27 straight six common rail
Common rail
Common rail direct fuel injection is a modern variant of direct fuel injection system for petrol and diesel engines.On diesel engines, it features a high-pressure fuel rail feeding individual solenoid valves, as opposed to low-pressure fuel pump feeding unit injectors...
Euro 3
European emission standards
European emission standards define the acceptable limits for exhaust emissions of new vehicles sold in EU member states. The emission standards are defined in a series of European Union directives staging the progressive introduction of increasingly stringent standards.Currently, emissions of...
turbodiesel
Turbodiesel
Turbodiesel refers to any diesel engine with a turbocharger. Turbocharging is the norm rather than the exception in modern car and truck diesel engines...
engines, and either a four-speed Voith
Voith
The Voith GmbH, which is headquartered in Germany, is a family-run corporation in the mechanical engineering sector with worldwide operations....
DIWA864.3E or five-speed ZF Ecomat 5HP602C transmissions. They were coated with special metallic 'flip' paint, which shows different colours (mainly green and purple), depending on the angle of light reflection. They entered service in August 2001. One of them (AP131) was repainted in the standard KMB champagne gold livery in 2010.
In May 2003, KMB received a NEOMAN Centroliner N4426/3 (APM1) with MAN A34 chassis and straight staircase. The width of the bus has increased from 2.5 metres (98.4 in) to 2.55 metres (100.4 in), and is equipped with MAN D2866 LUH-24 straight six engine, four-speed Voith DIWA864.3E transmission, and ventilated disc brake
Disc brake
The disc brake or disk brake is a device for slowing or stopping the rotation of a wheel while it is in motion.A brake disc is usually made of cast iron, but may in some cases be made of composites such as reinforced carbon–carbon or ceramic matrix composites. This is connected to the wheel and/or...
s on all wheels. The bus was painted in gold with dark brown skirt, which is the standard livery
Livery
A livery is a uniform, insignia or symbol adorning, in a non-military context, a person, an object or a vehicle that denotes a relationship between the wearer of the livery and an individual or corporate body. Often, elements of the heraldry relating to the individual or corporate body feature in...
for other straight-staircase low-floor buses such as TransBus Enviro500 and Wright
Wrightbus
Wrightbus is an independent coachbuilder and pioneer of the low-floor bus. Based in Ballymena, Northern Ireland, it was established in 1946 by Robert Wright and currently run by his son William Wright.-History:...
-bodied Volvo Super Olympian. It was registered in October 2003. It has been criticised for its frequent breakdowns
Breakdown (vehicle)
A vehicle breakdown is the operational failure of a motor vehicle in such a way that the underlying problem prevents the vehicle from being operated at all, or impedes the vehicle's operation so much, that it is very difficult or nearly impossible, or dangerous to operate, or else at risk of...
and extra difficulty in maintenance and so it has remained as a reserve bus since it entered service.
New World First Bus
After KMB put its first 20 Centroliners into service, NWFB announced the order of 30 NEOPLAN Centroliner N4426/3s in October 1999. They were delivered in 2000 and entered service in 2000/2001.
Since 2004, a number of these buses have been suspended from service. Some believe that it is caused by the difficulty in maintenance by NWFB, or due to the fleet quota limit set by the Transport Department of Hong Kong
Transport Department (Hong Kong)
Transport Department is responsible for transportation related policy in Hong Kong. The department reports to the Transport and Housing Bureau.The current Commissioner for Transport is Joseph Lai.-See also:* Transport in Hong Kong...
. However, the actual reason is not clearly known. All of them have been put back into the fleet.
Premature withdrawal
One Kowloon Motor Bus-owned Centroliner (fleet number AP69) was forced off a viaduct by a lorryTruck
A truck or lorry is a motor vehicle designed to transport cargo. Trucks vary greatly in size, power, and configuration, with the smallest being mechanically similar to an automobile...
on Tuen Mun Road
Tuen Mun Road
Tuen Mun Road is a major expressway in Hong Kong which connects Tuen Mun in the New Territories with Tsuen Wan. It is part of Hong Kong's Route 9, which circumnavigates the New Territories...
on 10 July 2003 and was subsequently written off
Write-off
The term write-off describes a reduction in recognized value. In accounting terminology, it refers to recognition of the reduced or zero value of an asset. In income tax statements, it refers to a reduction of taxable income as recognition of certain expenses required to produce the income...
. The remains of the bus were then sent to Long Win Bus
Long Win Bus
Long Win Bus Company Limited provides bus service to northern Lantau Island and the Hong Kong International Airport...
's depot in Siu Ho Wan
Siu Ho Wan
Siu Ho Wan is a bay on the north shore of Lantau Island in Hong Kong. The bay is largely reclaimed for the bus depots. The Airport Express, Tung Chung Line of MTR and North Lantau Highway run across the reclamation of the bay...
for inspection and storage. The remains was finally sold for scrap in 2008.
Totally 21 people (20 passengers and a bus driver) were killed in this accident. The lorry driver involved was sentenced to 18 months in jail
Prison
A prison is a place in which people are physically confined and, usually, deprived of a range of personal freedoms. Imprisonment or incarceration is a legal penalty that may be imposed by the state for the commission of a crime...
after being found guilty of causing death by dangerous driving. He later on appeal
Appeal
An appeal is a petition for review of a case that has been decided by a court of law. The petition is made to a higher court for the purpose of overturning the lower court's decision....
ed against the rulings, which were subsequently overturned. He was then found guilty of careless driving, and his sentence was shortened to six months.
Specifications (2009)
The NEOPLAN Centroliner is available in a range of styles and dimensions. , the Centroliner consists of the following specifications and powertrainPowertrain
In a motor vehicle, the term powertrain or powerplant refers to the group of components that generate power and deliver it to the road surface, water, or air. This includes the engine, transmission, drive shafts, differentials, and the final drive...
detail.
| model | internal combustion engine Internal combustion engine The internal combustion engine is an engine in which the combustion of a fuel occurs with an oxidizer in a combustion chamber. In an internal combustion engine, the expansion of the high-temperature and high -pressure gases produced by combustion apply direct force to some component of the engine... | max. power Power (physics) In physics, power is the rate at which energy is transferred, used, or transformed. For example, the rate at which a light bulb transforms electrical energy into heat and light is measured in watts—the more wattage, the more power, or equivalently the more electrical energy is used per unit... @ rpm Revolutions per minute Revolutions per minute is a measure of the frequency of a rotation. It annotates the number of full rotations completed in one minute around a fixed axis... | max. torque Torque Torque, moment or moment of force , is the tendency of a force to rotate an object about an axis, fulcrum, or pivot. Just as a force is a push or a pull, a torque can be thought of as a twist.... @ rpm | transmission Transmission (mechanics) A machine consists of a power source and a power transmission system, which provides controlled application of the power. Merriam-Webster defines transmission as: an assembly of parts including the speed-changing gears and the propeller shaft by which the power is transmitted from an engine to a... | wheelbase Wheelbase In both road and rail vehicles, the wheelbase is the distance between the centers of the front and rear wheels.- Road :In automobiles, the wheelbase is the horizontal distance between the center of the front wheel and the center of the rear wheel... | length | width | height | passengers seats / standing |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Centroliner N4516 (single-deck Single-decker bus A single-decker bus or single-decker is a bus that has a single deck for passengers. Normally the use of the term single-decker refers to a standard two-axled rigid bus, in direct contrast to the use of the term double-decker bus, which is essentially a single decked bus with an extra deck and... ) |
MAN D2066 LUH 10520 cc R6 common rail Common rail Common rail direct fuel injection is a modern variant of direct fuel injection system for petrol and diesel engines.On diesel engines, it features a high-pressure fuel rail feeding individual solenoid valves, as opposed to low-pressure fuel pump feeding unit injectors... turbodiesel Turbodiesel Turbodiesel refers to any diesel engine with a turbocharger. Turbocharging is the norm rather than the exception in modern car and truck diesel engines... |
199 or @ 1,900 or 1,700 - Euro4 235 or @ 1,900 - EEV |
1250 or @ 1,000-1,400 1600 or @ 1,000-1,400 |
4-speed automatic Automatic transmission An automatic transmission is one type of motor vehicle transmission that can automatically change gear ratios as the vehicle moves, freeing the driver from having to shift gears manually... 6-speed ZF ZF Friedrichshafen ZF Friedrichshafen AG, also known as ZF Group, and commonly abbreviated to ZF, is a German public company headquartered in Friedrichshafen, in the south-west German region of Baden-Württemberg.... automatic |
5875 mm (231.3 in) | 11.95 metre | 2.5 metre | 2.99 metre | 36+1 / 56 |
| Centroliner N4516P (single-deck) |
MAN D2066 LUH 10520 cc R6 common rail turbodiesel |
199 or @ 1,900 or 1,700 - Euro4 235 or @ 1,900 - EEV |
1250 or @ 1,000-1,400 1600 or @ 1,000-1,400 |
4-speed automatic 6-speed ZF automatic |
5875 mm (231.3 in) | 11.95 metre | 2.5 metre | 2.99 metre | 44+1 / 48 |
| Centroliner N4522 (articulated Articulated bus An articulated bus is an articulated vehicle used in public transportation. It is usually a single-deck design, and comprises two rigid sections linked by a pivoting joint... multi-axle Multi-axle bus A multi-axle bus is a bus or coach that has more than the conventional two axles, usually three , or more rarely, four... ) |
MAN D2066 LUH 10520 cc R6 common rail turbodiesel |
228 or @ 1,700 - Euro4 235 or @ 1,900 - EEV |
1550 or @ 1,000-1,400 1600 or @ 1,000-1,400 |
4-speed automatic 6-speed ZF automatic |
5875 and 5055 mm (231.3 and 199 ) | 18.72 metre | 2.5 metre | 2.99 metre | 56+1 / 108 |
See also
competitors - double-deck- Alexander Dennis Enviro500
- Dennis Trident 3Dennis Trident 3Dennis Trident 3 is the first low floor double-decker bus chassis built by Dennis in the United Kingdom, with a large number purchased by bus companies in Hong Kong, Singapore, the United States and Canada.-Design:...
- MAN 24.310MAN 24.310MAN 24.310 is a low-floor double-decker bus model built for the Hong Kong market. Unlike other low-floor double-decker buses in Hong Kong, there are steps in the lower deck aisle after the rear exit....
- Scania K310UDScania K-seriesScania K-series is a series of bus with longitudinally, straight-up mounted Euro IV engine at the rear. For the 5- and 6-cylinder engines Scania is using exhaust gas recirculation system to fulfill the legal Euro IV emission standard...
- Volvo B9TLVolvo B9TLThe Volvo B9TL is a low-floor double-decker bus built by Volvo Buses since 2002. It superseded the older Volvo B10TL and the Volvo B7TL.-Chassis:...
- Volvo Super Olympian
External links
- NEOPLAN Centroliner - official website