Siemens Mobility has received an order for 1,200 locomotives of 9,000 hp from Indian Railways, a total value of approximately €3 billion. It marks the single largest locomotive order in company history and single largest order in the history of Siemens India. Siemens Mobility will design, manufacture, commission, and test the locomotives, as shown in Figure 1. Deliveries are planned over an 11-year period, and the contract includes 35 years of full-service maintenance. The locomotives will be assembled in the Indian Railways factory in Dahod, in the state of Gujarat, India. Maintenance will be performed in four Indian Railways depots located in Vishakhapatnam, Raipur, Kharagpur, and Pune, as shown in Figure 2. Locomotive assembly and maintenance will be implemented together with the staff of Indian Railways.
Figure 1 Siemens 9,000-hp locomotive ordered by India. (Source: Siemens Mobility; used with permission.)
Figure 2 Siemens 9,000-hp locomotive assembly and maintenance plan. (Source: Siemens Mobility; used with permission.)
The state-of-the-art locomotives will be used for freight transport throughout the Indian Railways network and are specified to haul loads of 4,500 tons at a maximum speed of 120 km per hour. Producing 9,000 hp, they will be one of the most powerful freight locomotives in the world. They will be equipped with advanced propulsion systems that are also produced locally in Siemens Mobility factories in India. Siemens Mobility will use the power of its Railigent platform to deliver highest availability and performance.
India has one of the world’s largest rail transport and logistics networks used daily by 24 million passengers on more than 22,000 trains. Additionally, the Government of India plans to increase the share of railways for freight transport to 40%–45% from the current approximately 27%. India is one of the few countries in the world with an almost fully electrified rail network. As one of the world’s fastest-growing markets for rail, India has clear sustainability and technology goals, and the 9,000-hp project stands testimony to this.
New York Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) leadership showcased one of the two R211 open gangway subway trains at the Coney Island Yard in Brooklyn on 2 February 2023, as shown in Figure 3. These two cars are currently undergoing testing and expected to be placed into revenue service in the last quarter of 2023 to determine potential future New York City Transit fleet purchases for open gangways. The open gangway cars are part of a 535-car order of the R211 model. That includes 20 cars with the open gangway feature unveiled today, an additional 515 cars with standard futuristic amenities, and 15 Staten Island Railway five-car trains.
Figure 3 New York MTA showcased R211 open gangway trains at the Coney Island Yard. (Source: courtesy of New York MTA/Marc A. Hermann; used with permission.)
These R211 cars are a critical part of the MTA’s ongoing modernization efforts and will be phased into service beginning on the A and C lines. The R211s feature 58-inch-wide door openings that are eight inches wider than standard door openings on existing cars. Figure 4 shows the side view of the R211 cars. The wider doorways are designed to speed up boarding and reduce the amount of time trains sit in stations. While very similar to the standard R211 cars, the open gangway cars feature soft, accordion-like walls that connect subway cars and allow riders to move freely between them.
Figure 4 Side view of New York MTA R211 open gangway trains. (Source: courtesy of New York MTA/Marc A. Hermann; used with permission.)
Testing on the standard R211s delivered is underway and they are expected to be placed in passenger service in the spring. Both new subway car models include security cameras, additional accessible seating, digital displays that will provide more detailed station-specific information, and brighter lighting and signage, among other features that will improve the customer experience. In October 2022, the MTA announced approval to order an additional 640 R211 subways cars, bringing the total number of new subway cars to 1,175 with the next two years.
Utah State University and the ASPIRE (Advancing Sustainability through Powered Infrastructure for Roadway Electrification) Engineering Research Center partnered with Swiss-based Stadler to develop and to test a battery-powered passenger train known as the Fast Light Intercity and Regional Train or FLIRT. This train will be the first of its kind in North America. The goal of the project is to develop and build a battery-powered two-car trainset, as shown in Figure 5. The battery FLIRT, a single-decker, lightweight train, is the solution for routes without end-to-end overhead electric infrastructure, enabling emission-free travel and allowing for longer routes.
Figure 5 The FLIRT battery-powered train developed and tested by Utah State University and Stadler. (Source: Stadler; used with permission.)
The collaboration between ASPIRE and Stadler is planned to provide a model to demonstrate Stadler’s zero-emission capabilities in real life. While Stadler’s focus is on the design and build of the trainset itself, ASPIRE will focus on charging infrastructure, workforce development, and potential impact in Utah. Tests are planned to take place at Stadler’s facility in Salt Lake City, Utah.
Stadler currently has contracts for battery trains for Germany. Diesel FLIRT from Stadler are already operating in Texas for Texrail and in California for the San Bernadino County Transit Authority. However, this is Stadler’s first time introducing the battery FLIRT to the U.S. market, which requires expansive research and development to adapt the vehicle for U.S. infrastructure and regulations.
Since December 7, 2022, the first Trains à Grande Vitesse (TGV) M test train, from Alstom’s Avelia Horizon range, has been at the Velim test site in the Czech Republic, as shown in Figure 6. This test campaign would last almost six months and is part of a long series of tests for this new generation of high-speed trains.
Figure 6 The first TGV M test train at the Velim test site. (Source: ©François SUSSET–Alstom; used with permission.)
The prevalidation tests are first conducted on the Velim site. This is a closed circuit where traffic is less constrained than on the national railway networks and, above all, there is no interaction with commercial traffic. The objectives here are to validate the overall operation of the train, to remove the risks that appeared during the design phase in relation to the regulatory requirements, and to adjust the digital modeling accordingly. This phase takes place at speeds of up to 200 km/h. Prevalidation tests needed for the dynamic development of the TGV M would be carried out at Velim by Alstom with the support of the test agency of the “SNCF Voyageurs” Equipment Engineering Department. Figure 7 shows detailed side view of the driver cabin with cables taped on the side for testing instruments.
Figure 7 Detailed side view of the TGV M driver cabin. (Source: ©François SUSSET–Alstom; used with permission)
The Velim test site, equipped with high-performance infrastructure, consists of a ring where rolling stock can run up to 200 km/h. On arrival at Velim, the TGV M began its tests and a gradual increase in speed to 200 km/h was successfully achieved in less than a week: a very short time, well under that forecasted. Once this stage was over, the first phases of functional development tests began: braking without load and under load, pantograph tests, signaling tests (communication between the train and the ground infrastructure), etc.
Digital Object Identifier 10.1109/MVT.2023.3254124