Train of the Week

The IC2 is still considered a rare sight by me, unless I camp outside a station where they stop. They are meant to be a kind of an intermediary solution to lines where the maximum authorized speed does not warrant the use of one of the shiny new ICE4 s that are to replace some existing InterCity trains. Essentially, the IC2 is an upgraded RegionalExpress Twindexx Vario trainset with an inverted long-distance colour scheme. They even have the same Class 146 locomotives on one end. As such, they do not come equipped with a bistro car. Food and beverages are served from trolleys, airline style (and maybe some people would rather prefer not to leave their seat). Von Falk2 - Eigenes Werk , CC-BY-SA 4.0 , Link The speed of these trainsets remains the same as their regional cousins, at 99 mph, down from 124 mph with the regular InterCity services. More sets will gradually come online throughout the next few years, as Bombardier irons some bugs out in the meantime (read more here on ...

Between the Internet and the LKAB presentation at the Heavy Haul Conference in Calgary some five years ago, I've become no stranger to these iron ore trains of the Arctic Circle. I was quite excited to see a big train again It has been a while since I last laid my eyes on some AAR 100-ton trucks, although they were surrounded by otherwise unfamiliar equipment. Photos don't do the IORE justice when it comes to their incredible might. In person, they, even with just a single section, almost in a weird way, look really long. The City of Kiruna itself feels like a deja vu. Snow and mountains in the backdrop, fatally frigid temperatures, sizable, heavy freight trains, and a passenger depot that was moved out of the city centre (although for different reasons than we are used to in our neck of the woods), to the yard at the edge of town. Fortunately, Kiruna isn't very big. It takes less than half an hour to complete a leisurely walk downtown, and there is a bus that...

This week's post will just be a little show and tell, based on something I saw on the news. It's about a new double deck express train the SBB-CFF-FFS has now certified to operate in Switzerland. It is built by Bombardier, and following the company's trend on ending product names with "XX", this EMU is called the TWINDEXX. I won't be writing too much. Instead I will link you to the trainset's web page on Bombardier's website. There aren't videos on YouTube of this train operating in service yet, so a video of this EMU in transit will have to do for now.

I dropped the ball this week huh. Anyway, I'll do a quick make up from something I've posted on the Facebook page of this blog. GO Transit in my hometown of Toronto is getting new cab cars! And this time they'll get an actual driving cab instead of a little slot with some sticks and handles for the engineperson. No more through gangways though, but when was the last time GO had to slot a cab car in between a train? I shall redirect you to a very nice blog called BlogTO, to their page on the new GO cab cars . BlogTO talks about pretty much anything Torontonian, it's a very nice site to visit for locals and tourists I think. Enjoy!

So remember two weeks ago I posted about the German-Chinese electric passenger locomotive that's based on the Siemens EuroSprinter? Well, this week I'm going to post about a cousin of hers, another German-Chinese locomotive that's based on the Bombardier Traxx series, a family of locomotives also vastly popular in Continental Europe. Not too bad looking heh Oh, by the way, before I write any further, the naming convention that's worked thus far with new Chinese locomotives built from imported technology goes like so: HXD + digit + letter. HXD for electric locomotives, 1 denotes Siemens EuroSprinter; 2 denotes Alstom Prima; 3 is a little iffy. The very first HXD3 is a Toshiba, but the subsequent ones are apparently all Bombardier Traxx as far as I can tell. The last letter obviously just denotes the variant of the family. The whole scheme isn't entirely too confusing. As far as specifications go, the HXD3D is pretty much identical with the HXD1D. Both locomot...

Okay, I'm gonna be really lazy this week. But I found the English version of the ICx promotional video on YouTube! It probably wasn't hard to find at all but I still just never realized it was there until now. Embedding is disabled on it however, so I'll have to use the new school way of including YouTube videos which may not work with mobile users. Here's the link to the video if the little preview frame below doesn't show up somehow.

News! Well, right now as I'm writing this on the 8th anyway... See I kind of shot myself in the foot when I named this blog Train of the Week... So the first 12-car ICx has taken to the rails! I had to specify the number of cars because there's also a 7-car, slightly less fast (because it's not slow either), version coming later. I'd think ICx wouldn't be the final name for this EMU though. I mean what's next then? ICy? Anyway, at least for now, to distinguish the two variants, the 7-car version is classed as the K1n, and the 12-car version the K3s. Clearly I didn't pay enough attention to InnoTrans back in 2012, or I forgot, the ICx was first unveiled there. She's intended to replace the current push-pull IC, ICE1, and ICE2 trains in corridors where it's not practical to operate new ICE trains. At the beginning, K3s was supposed to be 10-car sets, this was changed by DB in 2013. Thank Wikimedia Commons for the picture below. A mock-up, kind ...

Today's post is again, inspired by a news article I read online. Apparently, National Express has just unveiled their Talent 2 trains that are set to enter regional services in Germany a year from now. I'm sure the original Talent isn't too strange to riders in Europe, although some may not know that is her name. In fact, a few of them can even be found in North America if you look carefully enough. The O Train for example, a short stubby commuter rail line in the Canadian capital of Ottawa, is a diesel version of the original Bombardier Talent. Pretty nice looking little thing really So the Talent 2 is an articulated regional EMU that comes in 2-6 car consists. The trucks on the ends are powered and every other one in between are powered for sets longer than 2 cars (so therefore, 2 and 3 car sets have 2 powered trucks, 4 and 5 car sets have 3, and 6 car sets have 4). Each truck has an power output of 1 010 kW or 1 354 Her Majesty's horsepower, you figure out ...

The Electrostar, really developed by the former self of Berlin's Bombardier Transportation, Adtranz, is the most popular type of commuter electric multiple unit in Britain since the Thatcher Privatizations which has largely wiped out domestic rail research and development. Although one can argue that the Privatization has brought in better and more reliable equipment from Europe. I'm not getting into that. Class 375 Nice, simple, modern interior Anyway, the Electrostar, eh. This little EMU is seen in many shapes and forms and on many suburban and mainline services. This blog has mentioned a couple of types of the Electrostar before, the Gautrain (oh, did I forget to mention this one in South Africa?) and the Class 375/7 , which I've had the pleasure of riding during my trips to Britain. This Wikipedia page here sums up where exactly you may find yourself riding an Electrostar, to the best effort of its contributors. Please also feel free to explore the pages ded...

This is probably the 3rd post about the Zefiro 380 by Bombardier. I had previously jump the gun because I was so excited about this Very High Speed EMU. Finally, there have been some actual production trainsets running around in revenue testing service these days. German Engineering. What a beauty The Zefiro 380 is built by Bombardier Sifang Power Transportation in Qingdao, China, a former German colony locally known for its beer (definitely a very suitable place for a German transportation giant), for the sole operator so far of this EMU, China Railway High-speed. The Chinese classification for this beautifully designed trainset is CRH380D. The number 380 bears some significance here. Indeed these CRH380s are the world's first trainsets that are designed for a sustained top speed of 380 km/h or 236 mph in revenue service. Unfortunately the operator has opted for a really plain interior Alternate cars in the Zefiro 380 are powered and they come in either 8- or 6-car con...

Diesel electric locomotives are usually a rarity in Western Europe. The vast coverage of electrification usually means that only lines with the lightest of volumes can quench a railfan's diesel thirst. This week I'll write about an introduction of a new type of such rare locomotives. It has taken some pretty radical new directions of design of a locomotive carrying its own prime mover. Although the Bombardier TRAXX DE locomotives aren't exactly new (diesel electric variants of the famous TRAXX), this is the first time I've heard of any single locomotive that carries so many diesel engines. Now the model number for the DB Class 254 is TRAXX P160 DE ME. Quite a long one isn't it. We know what TRAXX and DE are. The rest isn't difficult to decipher. P160 for passenger 160 km/h, ME for multi-engine or multiple engines. We've had a few twin-engined diesels to date. The most famous in our neck of the woods would probably be those legendary, slick, streamli...

Fast train talk again this week. The Talgo 250 (comes under 2 classes under Spanish national passenger train operator Renfe, S130 and S730), as the name suggests, is a push-pull tilting trainset capable of 250 km/h or 155 mph in service. The special thing about this high-speed trainset though, is that she has an integrated gage changing system that works on the move at slow speed. Although we never need such a system, this is big in countries that traditionally have a different track gage until they adopt the standard gage high-speed rail (56.5 inches or 1 435 mm for the record). Spain’s existing rail network uses what’s called the Iberian gage, 65-21/32 inches or 1 668 mm. Being a push-pull, the Talgo 250 has locomotives of course. They are 4-axle units with AC traction motors pumping out 3 200 hp on high-speed lines and 2 700 hp on existing lines (in this case, speed is reduced to a max of 135 mph in service). The locomotives are made in Germany by Bombardier. Some trainset h...

This week, we'll have more of a show and tell here. Apparently the Zefiro 380 (designated as the CRH380D by the ex-Chinese Ministry of Railways, now the China Railway Corp., a crown corp) has entered production some time in late 2012 and holy smokes is she a beauty. As the winner of 2012 IF Product Design Award, she's probably the most beautiful trainset I've ever seen (probably one of the very few vehicles of any kind that actually looks better than the pre-production artist rendering)! Anyway, since the pictures are not under GPL, the thumbnail to the right serves as hyperlink only. For more pictures, simply search for the keyword "CRH380D" or "Zefiro 380" on your favorite search engine. This hyperlink here takes you to videos found through Bing.

Looks like I missed another week of this blog. Things have been quite busy lately with work and personal affairs. Anyway, moving on so I can actually write about trains on this thing now. This week I bring you a locomotive I got the honor to touch with my very own hands at a undisclosed location. Unfortunately she never came out of experimental stage due to funding (which really was the lack of willingness to progress our public transport system). This locomotive continued the very concept of very early experimental high speed trains, including the UAC Turbo , the Advanced Passenger Train , and the Train à Grande Vitesse 001. So you've probably pretty much figured it out, it's the Bombardier JetTrain high speed turbo-electric locomotive. The JetTrain locomotive on display in Calgary, AB From the outside, the JetTrain shares the same shell and trucks (including traction motors) with the power car of the Acela Express minus pantographs. Rather than overhead power ca...

This week let's tall about this EMU some Big Bang Theory fans may recall from the opening. You may remember the red nose and slender body of this 7-car trainset. Still doesn't ring a bell? Well, maybe this picture below will remind you. She's the ICN , InterCity-Neigezug (inter city tilt train), or RABDe 500 by SBB-CFF-FFS designation. Technically she is half Italian, with exterior design by Pinifarina, and tilting mechanism by Fiat (right, builder of Pendolino, later absorbed by Alstom). The rest of her is genuine Swiss engineering, by Adtranz in Zurich, now part of Bombardier. The ICN serves several lines in Switzerland and can be seen in all major cities. The 8 traction motors equipped in the end 4 cars produce a total of 6,970 horsepower and the ICN achieves a top speed of 125 mph where track speed permits. A total of 44 sets have been built and put in service between 2000 and 2005. The ICN tilting around a curve

This will be an interesting post I think. Although the class number 93 has now been referred to twice, none of the locomotives actually exists. At least not yet. The first Class 93 was discussed by then still national British Railways was going to be the electric locomotive designed to haul the InterCity 250, a concept trainset to command high speed intercity rail service on the West Coast Main Line like the InterCity 225 on the East Coast. Like the name InterCity 250 suggested, the train hauled by the Class 93 would have a top speed of 250 km/h, or 155 mph. Service was expected to begin in 1995. However, with multiple other projects the British Railways had taken on (including the Channel Tunnel lines), funding for the Class 93 and InterCity 250 could not be realized, and the project was scrapped. Artist impression of the Class 93 locomotive for the InterCity 250 Now, the Class 93 may not be dead after all. Although she won’t resemble the original Class 93 in any way, a new ...

So it's the end of a year again and it's time to look back on some of the train trips I've taken in 2012. Since most people who visit this blog will probably only read the first few sentences or so, I'll say happy holidays and happy 2013 here instead. The first two picture albums down here are from my little 3-day getaway to Portland, Oregon. One from when I was on my way, the other from me strolling around in the little gem in the Pacific Northwest. I drove for a few hours to Shelby, Montana, the closest Amtrak station from the unfortunate and middle-of-nowhere Albertan city I live in (where there had been no passenger rail service for decades), in order to board the Empire Builder, a wonderful long distance train that took me to destination. Then in June, I went on an overseas trip to England, where I had the chance to attend an elaborate train show hosted by the National Railway Museum in York, called Railfest 2012. It was during the opening day of Railfes...

Since I've written about the Lok 2000 last week, it's probably a nice followup to write about the very similar, equally handsome, VR (Finnish Railways) Class Sr2 locomotive. To start with, the immediate difference a traveller notices (well, other than the livery, of course), is that the Sr2 is built to VR's board gage of 5 ft. Also designed by companies later bought by Bombardier Transportation, the Sr2 was assembled in Finland by Transtech Oy. According to Wikipedia, the design top speed of the Sr2 is slightly higher than that of the Re 460, at 140 mph, and also the VR has then capped her top speed at 130 mph. The Sr2 was built between the mid 1990s and early 2000s, but trucks had to be redesigned and refitted due to hunting at speeds above 100 mph. The 4 traction motors of the Sr2 pump out a continuous maximum of 6,700 hp and a short-term maximum of 8,050 hp. Like the Re 460, the Vr2 is also assigned in fast intercity services at up to 125 mph.

The Re 460, or more famously known as the Lok 2000 is a high-speed electric locomotive used by the Swiss Federal Railways SBB-CFF-FFS . Engineering of the locomotive was done by ADtranz (now Bombardier) in Switzerland, while famous Italian design firm Pininfarina took care of the exterior, a fine combination of Italian beauty with Swiss precision. The Re 460 was deployed in the mid 1990s and played an important role in modernizing the passenger locomotive fleet of SBB-CFF-FFS. A total of 119 units were produced and were usually seen with IC 2000 bi-level cars in InterCity and InterRegio services. A later variation called the Re 465 was used on BLS , a regional railroad in Switzerland. Other than individual traction motor cut-out and slightly more horsepower (the 460 had to cut-out a truck at a time), the Re 465 is the same unit as the Re 460. The Lok 2000 is also a beautiful billboard Now the numbers. Being a passenger unit, the Re 460 is of course capable of sustaining 125...

The Xplorer and Endeavour are mechanically identical diesel multiple units used by Australian passenger rail operators CountryLink and CityRail respectively. The DMU came in 2- to 4-car flavors and are built by ABB (now Bombardier) between early and mid 1990s in Australia. A total of about 50 cars were built for the two railroads to be used on a total of 8 lines. CountryLink Xplorer at Sydney Central Station Interior of coach class Given that these are diesel electric multiple units, each car is equipped with a 514 horsepower Cummings diesel engine coupled to hydraulic transmission made by Voith Turbo. A separate 181 hp Cummings engine powered auxiliaries such as air conditioning and lighting. Top speed of the DMU is 100 mph but capped at 90 in service. The DMU first saw service on the CountryLink in 1993 with full deployment on both railroads in 1996. The sets were refurbished in 2009. Interior of the CityRail Endeavour