Neoplan Skyliner
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The Neoplan Skyliner is a double-deck multi-axle luxury touring
coach Coach may refer to: Guidance/instruction * Coach (sport), a director of athletes' training and activities * Coaching, the practice of guiding an individual through a process ** Acting coach, a teacher who trains performers Transportation * Co ...
built by
German German(s) may refer to: * Germany (of or related to) **Germania (historical use) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizens of Germany, see also German nationality law **Ger ...
coach manufacturer
Neoplan Neoplan Bus GmbH is a German automotive company that manufactures buses, trolleybuses and coaches. It is a subsidiary of MAN Truck & Bus SE. History Foundations The company was founded by Gottlob Auwärter in Stuttgart in 1935, and ma ...
. It was introduced in 1964.


History

In 1964, the founder's second son, Konrad Auwärter, developed a double-deck design for a service bus as part of his dissertation. The 'Do-Bus' design had extremely low weight, and could carry over 100 passengers. It also featured a low-frame front
axle An axle or axletree is a central shaft for a rotating wheel or gear. On wheeled vehicles, the axle may be fixed to the wheels, rotating with them, or fixed to the vehicle, with the wheels rotating around the axle. In the former case, bearing ...
with forward-mounted steering gear that permitted a low flat floor. The double-deck principle was applied to coach design, creating a revolutionary high-capacity comfortable vehicle for touring. This vehicle was known as the Skyliner, and created an image for the company that differentiated the Neoplan brand from its competitors, and created interest in its products across Europe. A second manufacturing facility opened in Pilsting in 1973, and a third opening in
Kumasi Kumasi (historically spelled Comassie or Coomassie, usually spelled Kumase in Twi) is a city in the Ashanti Region, and is among the largest metropolitan areas in Ghana. Kumasi is located in a rain forest region near Lake Bosomtwe, and is the ...
,
Ghana Ghana (; tw, Gaana, ee, Gana), officially the Republic of Ghana, is a country in West Africa. It abuts the Gulf of Guinea and the Atlantic Ocean to the south, sharing borders with Ivory Coast in the west, Burkina Faso in the north, and To ...
, in December 1974 to support a large order. The double-deck Skyliner concept was taken to its ultimate conclusion in 1975, with the introduction of the Jumbocruiser, a double-deck articulated coach long and high. The Spaceliner, introduced in 1979 took the Cityliner concept of passenger floor level above the driver, and extended the actual floor above the cab. This kept the height of the vehicle lower than a double-decker, at , but still allowed installation of toilets, kitchens or sleep cabins below the passenger compartment.


US

In 1989, the subsidiary
Neoplan USA Neoplan Bus GmbH is a German automotive company that manufactures buses, trolleybuses and coaches. It is a subsidiary of MAN Truck & Bus SE. History Foundations The company was founded by Gottlob Auwärter in Stuttgart in 1935, and ma ...
introduced a domestically produced version of the Skyliner as the AN122/3, which designated the manufacturer (American Neoplan), model (122), and number of axles (3). Production in the United States qualified the bus for federal subsidies according to the requirements of the
Buy America Act Section 165 () of the Surface Transportation Assistance Act of 1982 (commonly called the Buy America Act) is a section of the larger STAA that deals with purchases related to rail or road transportation. Unlike the similarly titled Buy America ...
. The AN122/3 was available with
Detroit Diesel Detroit Diesel Corporation (DDC) is an American diesel engine manufacturer headquartered in Detroit, Michigan, United States. It is a subsidiary of Daimler Truck North America, which is itself a wholly owned subsidiary of the mulitinational Da ...
Series 60 engines and Allison B500 transmissions which are fitted typically to transit buses, allowing the double-decker bus to share spares inventory and maintenance facilities with the rest of the bus fleet. Adoption of the Skyliner occurred mainly in California.
AC Transit AC Transit (Alameda-Contra Costa Transit District) is an Oakland-based public transit agency serving the western portions of Alameda and Contra Costa counties in the East Bay of the San Francisco Bay Area. AC Transit also operates "Transbay" ro ...
in Oakland, California evaluated one AN122/3 in April 1983 but did not proceed with a fleet purchase. The
Southern California Rapid Transit District The Southern California Rapid Transit District (almost always referred to as ''RTD'' or rarely as ''SCRTD'') was a public transportation agency established in 1964 to serve the Greater Los Angeles area. It was the successor to the original Los ...
of Los Angeles operated Neoplan USA Skyliners during the 1980s and early 1990s. Antelope Valley Transit Authority also operated Skyliners on their Lancaster-Los Angeles route during the late 1990s and early 2000s.


UK

The Neoplan Skyliner also gained popularity in the United Kingdom.
Stagecoach A stagecoach is a four-wheeled public transport coach used to carry paying passengers and light packages on journeys long enough to need a change of horses. It is strongly sprung and generally drawn by four horses although some versions are draw ...
bought some Skyliners during the 1980s to facilitate its new coaching division developed during the company's early years. In 2004, it bought 25 more N122/3L Skyliners for its modern coaching divisions the
Oxford Tube The Oxford to London coach route is an express coach route between Oxford and London along the M40 motorway. Operated by Stagecoach West under the brand name ''Oxford Tube'', there are up to five coaches an hour via Lewknor, Hillingdon, and She ...
and
Megabus Megabus may refer to: *Megabus (Europe), a low-cost coach service with services in Europe owned by ComfortDelGro. *Megabus (North America) Megabus, branded as megabus.com, is an intercity bus service of Coach USA/Coach Canada operating in the eas ...
. Trathens Travel Services of
Plymouth Plymouth () is a port city and unitary authority in South West England. It is located on the south coast of Devon, approximately south-west of Exeter and south-west of London. It is bordered by Cornwall to the west and south-west. Plymouth ...
also bought some Skyliners in 2005 for its National Express contracts. However, many of these were displaced following the accident with a National Express Skyliner (see below) - when some Plaxton Panthers were bought in 2007.


Accidents

In March 2003 near Nažidla in South Bohemian Region a Neoplan Skyliner overturned on Czech European route E55, killing nineteen people and one man died two years later due to the injuries sustained in the crash. Thirty-four people were injured. It has been the biggest bus accident in history of the Czech Republic. In May 2003 in France a Neoplan Skyliner overturned on a
French French (french: français(e), link=no) may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to France ** French language, which originated in France, and its various dialects and accents ** French people, a nation and ethnic group identified with Franc ...
highway, killing twenty-eight people. A report by French investigators recommended that drivers of double-deck coaches should receive special training because of the vehicle's relative instability. A separate study, presented to the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe in the same year reported that high-sided coaches were much more likely to overturn in crashes than standard single-deck coaches. The German manufacturer added a safety system, known as electronic stability control, which brakes each wheel separately to prevent overturning in 2006. In January 2007 a Neoplan Skyliner operated by National Express overturned and crashed on the
M25 motorway The M25 or London Orbital Motorway is a major road encircling most of Greater London. The motorway is one of the most important roads in the UK and one of the busiest. Margaret Thatcher opened the final section in 1986, making the M25 the lon ...
near
Heathrow Airport Heathrow Airport (), called ''London Airport'' until 1966 and now known as London Heathrow , is a major international airport in London, England. It is the largest of the six international airports in the London airport system (the others be ...
, killing two passengers; a third passenger died six-months later due to the injuries sustained in the crash. The company temporarily withdrew all twelve Skyliners from service pending investigations The crash was deemed to have been caused by travelling at excessive speed and the driver was charged with three counts of causing death by dangerous driving. He was subsequently jailed for five years and banned from driving for three years. No safety issues were found. The electronic stability control system which had been introduced on new vehicles in 2006 was not used on this vehicle.


Specifications (2009)

The Neoplan Skyliner has undergone a process of evolution in specification since its 1964 introduction. , the double-deck Skyliner is available in two lengths: the Skyliner C and the Skyliner L. The shorter C version used to be long, but is now ; and the Skyliner L is long, and includes a correspondingly longer wheelbase. The Skyliner C is designed to seat 69 passengers plus two crew (driver and steward), whereas the Skyliner L seats 77 plus two. For the powertrain detail, current Skyliners use an MAN diesel engine sourced from
Neoplan Neoplan Bus GmbH is a German automotive company that manufactures buses, trolleybuses and coaches. It is a subsidiary of MAN Truck & Bus SE. History Foundations The company was founded by Gottlob Auwärter in Stuttgart in 1935, and ma ...
parent company MAN Nutzfahrzeuge AG. This Euro4 rated diesel fueled internal combustion engine is the 12.5 litre MAN D2676 LOH 02
straight-six The straight-six engine (also referred to as an inline-six engine; abbreviated I6 or L6) is a piston engine with six cylinders arranged in a straight line along the crankshaft. A straight-six engine has perfect primary and secondary engine balan ...
(R6)
common rail Common rail direct fuel injection is a direct fuel injection system built around a high-pressure (over ) fuel rail feeding solenoid valves, as opposed to a low-pressure fuel pump feeding unit injectors (or pump nozzles). High-pressure injection ...
turbodiesel with
intercooler An intercooler is a heat exchanger used to cool a gas after compression. Often found in turbocharged engines, intercoolers are also used in air compressors, air conditioners, refrigeration and gas turbines. Internal combustion engines Mo ...
, which displaces , and utilises four valves per cylinder and cylinder-
direct fuel injection Fuel injection is the introduction of fuel in an internal combustion engine, most commonly automotive engines, by the means of an injector. This article focuses on fuel injection in reciprocating piston and Wankel rotary engines. All compr ...
. It uses a Bosch EDC7 electronic
engine control unit An engine control unit (ECU), also commonly called an engine control module (ECM), is a type of electronic control unit that controls a series of actuators on an internal combustion engine to ensure optimal engine performance. It does this by re ...
, and also uses a 'PM-KAT' catalytic converter. It produces a
DIN DIN or Din or din may refer to: People and language * Din (name), people with the name * Dīn, an Arabic word with three general senses: judgment, custom, and religion from which the name originates * Dinka language (ISO 639 code: din), spoken by ...
-rated motive power output of at 1,900  revolutions per minute (rpm), and generates a torque turning force of at 1,050-1,400 rpm. The engine is mounted upright in a
longitudinal Longitudinal is a geometric term of location which may refer to: * Longitude ** Line of longitude, also called a meridian * Longitudinal engine, an internal combustion engine in which the crankshaft is oriented along the long axis of the vehicle, ...
orientation at the
rear Rear may refer to: Animals *Rear (horse), when a horse lifts its front legs off the ground *In stockbreeding, to breed and raise Humans *Parenting (child rearing), the process of promoting and supporting a child from infancy to adulthood *Gende ...
of the coach, and transmits its output to the rear roadwheels via a twelve-speed TipMatic ZF AS Tronic
automated manual transmission The automated manual transmission (AMT) is a type of transmission for motor vehicles. It is essentially a conventional manual transmission but uses automatic actuation to operate the clutch and/or shift between gears. Many early versions of t ...
. An interesting design on the Skyliner is its 'tag' third
axle An axle or axletree is a central shaft for a rotating wheel or gear. On wheeled vehicles, the axle may be fixed to the wheels, rotating with them, or fixed to the vehicle, with the wheels rotating around the axle. In the former case, bearing ...
. This is able to articulate, during steering movements - and this helps reduce tyre wear, which can afflict dual rear axle vehicles. It features
disc brake A disc brake is a type of brake that uses the calipers to squeeze pairs of pads against a disc or a "rotor" to create friction. This action slows the rotation of a shaft, such as a vehicle axle, either to reduce its rotational speed or to hol ...
s all round, and utilises
independent suspension Independent suspension is any automobile suspension system that allows each wheel on the same axle to move vertically (i.e. reacting to a bump on the road) independently of the others. This is contrasted with a beam axle or deDion axle system in w ...
on the front and trailing third axles, whilst the driven axle is a solid version. Standard safety features include ' electronically regulated braking system' (EBS) with braking assistant (BA) and Electronic Stability Programme (ESP). It also features a speed-limiting device called 'maximum speed control' (MSC), and is fitted with an
accident data recorder The accident data recorder (ADR, German commonly abbr.: UDS, also accident (data) writer), is an independent electronic device that records before, during, and after a traffic accident relevant data and thus resembles a flight recorder. It ca ...
(ADR). An optional feature is the ' lane guard system' (LGS), which will vibrate the drivers seat should the coach drift out of its lane. Its maximum permissible weight is , and can have a total luggage volume of up to .


Gallery

File:Neoplan Doppelstockbus Viernheim 100 3625.jpg, Skyliner N 1122 in Germany File:NeoplanSkyliner.jpg, 1983 model year Skyliner operated by Trathens Travel Services,
Plymouth Plymouth () is a port city and unitary authority in South West England. It is located on the south coast of Devon, approximately south-west of Exeter and south-west of London. It is bordered by Cornwall to the west and south-west. Plymouth ...
File:AVTA 722.jpg, 1996 Skyliner AN122/3 operated by Antelope Valley Transit Authority (ATVA) in Los Angeles File:Oxfordtube.jpg, 2004 Stagecoach Oxfordshire Skyliner operating on the
Oxford Tube The Oxford to London coach route is an express coach route between Oxford and London along the M40 motorway. Operated by Stagecoach West under the brand name ''Oxford Tube'', there are up to five coaches an hour via Lewknor, Hillingdon, and She ...
route File:Stagecoach Oxfordshire 50116 rear.JPG, Rear of Stagecoach Oxfordshire Skyliner operating on the
Oxford Tube The Oxford to London coach route is an express coach route between Oxford and London along the M40 motorway. Operated by Stagecoach West under the brand name ''Oxford Tube'', there are up to five coaches an hour via Lewknor, Hillingdon, and She ...
route


References


External links


Neoplan Skyliner
- official website {{Neoplan Coaches (bus) Skyliner Double-decker buses Vehicles introduced in 1964 Tri-axle buses