Training objective achieved: The workshop is empty
Trafiku Urban, Pristina’s local bus operator, transported more than 20 million people through the streets of Kosovo’s capital in 2022. The nation in the southern Balkans is still a young country, having declared its independence in 2008. Since then, it has been working intensively on building its economy, because over many decades, industry and infrastructure in the region had been neglected.
As the capital, Pristina plays a key role in the country’s development and has therefore become a magnet for the population. In the last 10 years, the number of residents has increased by more than 30 percent to around 200,000. This in turn has led to an increase in the number of people using the city’s eight bus lines.
To meet the demand, Trafiku Urban embarked on a complete renewal of its vehicle fleet in 2015. It awarded the contract to a European bus manufacturer that delivered a total of 51 buses to Kosovo in the space of two years. All buses are fitted with a diesel engine whose power is transferred to the wheels by Voith’s DIWA.6 transmissions.
(Photo credit: Shutterstock)
DIWA training at Pristina’s bus operator a resounding success
The seven-to-eight-year-old buses, with mileages of between 100,000 and 200,000 km, still have several years of service life left, especially as the operator has so far been extremely satisfied with the vehicles. The only major obstacle to operation has been the need for a software update for the DIWA transmissions. To resolve this issue, the bus manufacturer contacted Voith directly.
Unfortunately, an on-site replacement was not possible, as neither the bus manufacturer nor Voith has a local representative in Kosovo. The regional Voith branch office responsible for Kosovo is in the Croatian capital Zagreb, more than 900 km from Pristina. Even in free-flowing traffic, the drive takes at least nine hours, and there are no direct flights. This kind of distance naturally makes it difficult to provide fast service deployments and may also entail long downtimes for malfunctioning vehicles.
Voith therefore had to come up with a practical and reliable solution in the interests of the customer. A solution quickly emerged when working on the new software. The Trafiku Urban team expressed a desire to take on more responsibility for maintaining and repairing the DIWA transmissions. Voith met this request by proposing that the workshop team in Pristina receive comprehensive training on the DIWA transmission to build servicing capability onsite that could also be supported remotely if required.
All 51 of the operator’s buses are ready for service and in optimum condition
“We worked for around seven months to design and plan a customized training program,” says Zlatko Kljajic, Voith’s representative for the West Balkans, who set up this unusual project. The focus was on the typical tasks involved in overhauling a DIWA transmission. Alongside this practical training, the Trafiku Urban employees were also to receive theoretical instruction about the functioning and benefits of the DIWA.
The first workshop took place in November 2022. In addition to providing a technical understanding of the DIWA transmission, the training also focused on the topic of spare parts. Among other things, the Voith team emphasized that original parts help avoid damage to the transmission to extend its service life and reduce vehicle downtimes.
As early as the next workshop, it was obvious that the training provided by the Voith team, headed by Zlatko Kljajic, had been implemented effectively. “I was shocked at first when I entered the workshop hangar,” says Kljajic, laughing. Because finding an almost empty workshop is definitely not normal. “All 51 of the operator’s buses were ready for service and in optimum condition.” Ulrich Joachim Kaleja, Manager Field Service CV at Voith Turbo, who conducted the training, had a similar response: “Seeing an empty workshop was an unusual experience. I have never witnessed that before in my entire 41-year career.”
Accordingly, Kljajic’s verdict on the entire training project is a positive one: “The caliber of the Trafiku Urban workshop team is extremely high. The operator has invested well in the ongoing training of its staff and their technical equipment.”
The in-depth, personal support and training provided by the Voith service team has left a lasting impression on Trafiku Urban. The bus operator was so taken by the competent and personal support received that it has already placed an order for additional buses, specifying that they should be fitted with DIWA transmissions.
Accelerate, shift, brake, shift. City bus operators face numerous challenges on the road each day. As a bus manufacturer or operator, rely on Voith’s globally successful DIWA automatic transmissions. With DIWA, you can benefit from intelligent shifting and reduced downtime, maintenance costs and fuel usage.
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