Train of the Week

At some point in the past, as I was daydreaming about the Scandinavian skies, I wrote about the Alstom Coradia Nordic . They became quite active in the snowy north, having replaced a variety of vintage rolling stocks across a wide spectrum of services. Little did I know. They had cousins, the Coradia Continental, who made their way south to Germany. Some of them even settled right in my current backyard, humbly serving on the busy S-Bahn Rhein-Ruhr. Von Muellean in der Wikipedia auf Deutsch (Andreas Müller) - Eigenes Werk des ursprünglichen Hochladers, CC BY-SA 3.0 de , Link Von IPRobin - Eigenes Werk , CC-BY-SA 4.0 , Link These electric multiple-units are known as the Class 440 (newer versions are called the Class 1440). They had been roaming far and wide in the Vaterland since the late 2000s. Having a top authorized speed of 100 mph, these trainsets not only could operate in frequent-stop suburban commutes, they are fully capable of running as RegionalBahn or RegionalExpre...

By Koman90 - Own work , CC BY-SA 3.0 , Link Sometimes I feel like I'm running out of things to write about on this blog, but maybe that's because there are really too many things out there. It's hard to decide, and I can't keep up lately. One of the very first posts on this blog I started quite a few years ago was about the C-Train. For those of you who don't know, that's the name given to the Light Rail Transit system in the Canadian city of Calgary, Alberta, a place I reluctantly (at first, anyway) called home due to its lack of public transit infrastructure (still true today, but hell, we've got oil and pickup trucks) despite having a population of over one million. Though, never had I known was that the C-Train would become one of this meaningless but nonetheless interesting coincidence in my life. You see, the oldest of the C-Trains are the Siemens-Düwag U2. They were built in the city of Düsseldorf, a few stops down the line on the RegionalExpress ...

Let me come back to my own side of the pond for now and write about a locomotive in the warm parts of the continents. The slight mystery surrounding them intrigues me a little, but I'm sure it's nothing a seasoned railfan can't educate me on. I shall begin by talking a little about the previous life or lives of what are known today as the MP32PH-Q. Unlike its brethren MPXpress locomotives, it is a direct re-iteration of its ancestors from MPI's Morrison-Knudsen days. By Artystyk386 - Own work , CC BY-SA 3.0 , Link When MK Rail was still a thing, they were known for rebuilding locomotives of other origins. Many transit agencies enlisted their service to provide spin-offs of the proven EMD GP38 and GP40 locomotives. Known as the GP40WH-2 in their previous life under MARC (Maryland Area Regional Commuter), the MP32PH-Q already packed lots of mileage hauling passengers under their belt. These days, they work down south, serving in Florida and soaking up all the ...

Shall we continue with the retro theme of the recent weeks? The DB Class 420 EMU screamed 1970s the very first time I laid eyes on it (not in a bad way). It's not bad looking by any means. In fact, it is actually refreshing to see something relatively old among all the shiny modern passenger equipment around me in the NRW. By Manfred Kopka - Own work , CC BY-SA 4.0 , Link Like the Class 111 locomotive featured last week, the Class 420 was developed by the Deutsche Bundesbahn for the S-Bahn service. It, however, was assigned to the S-Bahn networks of Munich, Stuttgart, and Frankfurt am Main instead. Each trainset consists of 3 cars. As usual, they can doubled up and work in multiple units. Like older subway cars, these mass-transit mainline trainsets do not have through gangways between cars. If you were unlucky, you'd be stuck in a very packed car, while the next one could be nearly empty. By Michael Bienick - Own work , CC BY-SA 3.0 , Link By Rolf Heinrich, Köln , C...

Beautifully made videos by  TheKnaeggebrot  in stunning Southern Bavaria Aha, it's that time of the week, and I haven't forgotten about this blog this time around (which is a little sad, really). Let me bring your attention to the DB Class 111 , another locomotive from the Deutsche Bundesbahn days. It seems to be making a comeback? (Not sure if that's really the case, but there seems to be more and more of them on RegionalExpress trains around the area I live in, and even on some S-Bahn trains). By Lars Steffens - Flickr : Baureihe 111 , CC BY-SA 2.0 , Link Built from the mid-70s, throughout to the mid-80s, the Class 111 was originally designed for regional trains and the then new S-Bahn Rhein-Ruhr. Capability for InterCity service was added in the early 1980s, with an increase of maximum permissible speed from 93 to 100 mph. Like many locomotives of the same era, the Class 111 was built by a consortium of builders, consisting of Krauss-Maffei, Henschel, Krupp, S...

I've had the fortune to go on yet another getaway to the not-so-distant country of Spain, where conventional lines use the Iberian gauge of 5' 5-21/32''. Although it was devoid of any long-distance train trips, I still had the pleasure of experiencing the suburban Cercanías service in Madrid. The Class 446, De Hugh Llewelyn - 180 Uploaded by Oxyman , CC BY-SA 2.0 , Enlace The Renfe Series 446 and 447 make up a portion the current Cercanías fleet. Since they look almost identical from the outside, I'm lumping them together in this post. In reality, though, the two series differ considerably mechanically. The Class 447, De Jordi Verdugo - 447 doble en Vilajuïga , CC BY-SA 2.0 , Enlace In a nutshell, the Series 447 is lighter and faster. They have more modern electric motors that help them accelerate more rapidly (more details on Class 446  here and Class 447 here ). The two series are compatible in multiple-unit, if necessary, and up to 4 sets...

A glorious 22 minutes (plus an arm and a leg, or 540 SEK), that's what it took me to get between Stockholm Central Station and Arlanda Airport. Sweden is home to many trains I had blogged about ( including this one ) over the years. It wasn't, until now, had I seen any of them in real life. In spite of being from North America, Swedish trains are wide. The 2+2 seating makes them look even wider on the inside (although it appears I had forgotten to take a picture of the train's interior). People would possibly have to shout across the row of seats in order to talk to their buddies on the other side of the aisle. Arlanda Express terminal at Stockholm Central Oh, by the way (as a PSA for people who plan to ride the train from Arlanda to Stockholm), there are three train stations in the underbellies of Arlanda Airport. Arlanda Central serves regular SJ and SL trains (which completely slipped my mind as soon as I saw the sign for the Arlanda Express), while Arla...

I missed a week and I'm late for this week... I would've been fired if I was writing for somebody else... Anyway. I was traveling a little, in a big metropolis, but believe or not, I didn't have reliable internet access because of a few hiccups here and there. Anyway. There is some big changes coming up in my life, and I think I might do a few things differently here. So yeah, this week's blog has pretty much pictures and a few words descriptions only. On a foggy day, in front of Toronto Union Station on the renovated Front Street On the right is the former Canadian Pacific Royal York Hotel. Now a Fairmount property The front of Toronto Union Station This is looking east, with the gold plated Royal Bank of Canada buildings in the center Looking out the window of my intercity train, a GO commuter train in the recently updated new color scheme This is the AMT Roxboro-Pierefonds station in Montreal. This is the only electric commuter rail in Ca...

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!

This week I feel like blogging about a locomotive from a lesser-known manufacturer in this part of the world. It's especially worth mentioning that this locomotive has recently been added to DB's procurement list to power push-pull DB Region trainsets. „ Lokomotiva 109 E2 “ od Škoda Transportation – http://www.skoda.cz/cs/press-room/fotogalerie/ . Licencováno pod CC BY-SA 3.0 via Wikimedia Commons . So the Škoda 109E locomotive, or whichever railroad classification number you may want to call it (it's aka the DB Class 102 in Germany), is quite standard in terms of her specifications go. There are four axles, each powered by a traction motor pumping out about 2 150 horsepower, and the top speed in service is 124 mph. „ Brno, hlavní nádraží, lokomotiva 380.007 (03) “ od Harold – Vlastní dílo . Licencováno pod CC BY-SA 3.0 via Wikimedia Commons . Enjoy the pictures and the quite beautifully made YouTube video (you've gotta see this one). I actually quite like ...

I thought I'd mention something I read about in the news this week. Yes, the 7000 Series rolling stock has commenced revenue service on the Metro system in Washington, DC and this time, it's a Kawasaki (they seem to have been making good progress in selling commuter stuff to the northeast these years, hopefully high speed trains to follow soon). This 7000 Series is the first Washington Metro rolling stock to look drastically different from everything that precedes it. Sometimes change is good. Although I'm not so sure about the styling at first glance. I can see some family resemblance from the new Metro North and New Haven commuter EMUs from Kawasaki though. Also unlike anything before the 7000 Series, the EMU's car body is constructed of stainless steel and not aluminum. " Metro 7000-Series railcar debut 3 " by Ben Schumin - Flickr : Metro 7000-Series railcar debut . Licensed under CC BY-SA 2.0 via Wikimedia Commons . " Metro 7000-Series railc...

So there is going to be a new train on the busy Yamanote Line again, and it will be called the Seires E235 . Some of the railfans out there probably have already heard of this important artery of Tokyo, the World's largest metropolis. It was only 2002 that this loop line saw a complete refreshment of rolling stock to the Series E231-500 , but with train frequencies at 2.5-4 minutes for 21 hours a day, they sure get used a lot. " Yamanote Line E235 Ikebukuro 20150326 " by DAJF - Own work . Licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0 via Wikimedia Commons . To put a perspective on the importance of this new commuter EMU, here are some numbers one ought to have a look at. The New York City Subway carries 5.08 million passengers per day on 26 lines serving 468 stations, and the London Underground carries 3.36 million passengers per day on 12 lines serving 275 stations. The Yamanote Line E235 however,  once in full deployment starting in the fall of 2015, will be responsible for trans...

Transit news! The Ontario city of Ottawa has unveiled the LRV to be operated on their first ever LRT line, and it's an Alstom Citadis . The LRT line, Confederation Line , will open in 2017, in time for the 150th anniversary of Canada's Confederation. The New York State thanks Ottawa for the jobs created as a result of this order. Based on some web search, there are a few dozens of variants of the Citadis operating in piles of cities around the world. There is a nice little video made up by Alstom too that provides quite some good information on the Ottawa LRV. I guess I'll leave most of this post to that.

I'm kind of sure I've posted about the airport rail link in Toronto at some point, but I can't find it through searching my blog. Oh well. Even if I wrote about it before I wouldn't have had a lot of information. So I don't think it hurts to mention it again. As its name suggests, the Union Pearson Express, or UP Express (except UP doesn't stand for Union Pacific), is the express rail service between Toronto Union Station and Pearson International Airport. This service is scheduled to inaugurate prior to the 2015 Pan Am Games. The UP Express will traverse a distance of 15.5 miles, most of which along the GO Kitchener Line trackage. A new, 2.1 mile, Airport Spur was constructed to connect the GO Train tracks to the airport. Trains will run every 15 minutes and it takes 25 minutes to complete the journey. There are two stops en route, one at Bloor-Dundas, where subway connection is provided, the other at Weston GO Station. Initially, service will be operated by ...

So I've been doing some more railroad browsing on the website, and this is the one of the news/rumor I've stumbled upon lately (it's actually 7 December today as I'm writing this... but I think I'll still stick to my weekly schedule and post this whenever this is supposed to be published). Some time ago I posted about the Pacer used on brand lines in the North of England. It's a 2-car DMU with 4 steel wheels attached to each car that's based on the body of a Leyland bus. I've ridden them for hours at a time during my trips to England, and to be honest, they are loud, rattly, the ride is really crappy. They've been in service for quite a number of years now. Recently, certain people have started asking about replacement. In an effort to save money, one party has proposed something rather quite interesting, which is to take the retired D78 Stock from London Underground, sling a diesel engine under the floor, hook it up to a generator so it can powe...

Good news! The City of Denver, CO is another step closer to their first commuter railroad system with the delivery of the first EMU built by Hyundai Rotem. The regional transit authority, the RTD is so excited that it is hosting a tour of these railcars at the newly revitalised Union Station from 3 December to 6 December. I can't find anything publicly on what the EMU is really called, everyone just calls it the Rotem EMU. Anyway, you know the gist of what an EMU is and this one is probably very similar to the SEPTA Silverliner V. I won't copy and paste stuff from RTD's website and will link you there (click HERE ) instead. It's quite an informative web page with quick facts and media contents. This EMU is scheduled to enter service in 2016. This video from YouTube here is not of the Denver EMU but a Rotem Silverliner V operated by SEPTA.

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...

New equipment in North America is, in general, harder to come by than the rest of the world where rail is a primary mode of public transportation. Therefore I have no excuse to not mention any new comers onto North American rails. This week I'll write about a new commuter locomotive by Wabtec for the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority, she is called the HSP46. Unlike the MPExpress Series locomotives that can be seen across the continent by now, Wabtec has partnered up with General Electric in the case of the HSP46. Instead of the EMD 710, we have here a 12 cylinder GEVO engine at the heart of the HSP 46 that also supplies Head End Power. Four AC traction motors will take this puppy up to a top speed of 110 mph. This locomotive is also kind of a feather weight compared to her freight hauling siblings, coming in at only 287 500 lbs, 1 500 lbs more than a fully loaded standard 100 ton freight car. Not a bad looking loco at all really The paint scheme of the HSP46 co...

I'm sure the excitement of riding some new unknown equipment for the first time lingers in a railfan's heart for a long time. I knew nothing about this EMU at the time I first stepped onto it at Heathrow Airport in the summer 2009, except that the conductor told me we could ONLY do 100 mph. It was a smooth ride to London Paddington, with the gentle whine of electrical wizardry at the helm and blurry scenery rushing by. 100 mph seemed like a hell of a deal for trains where I come from, but here the word "only" went ahead of it. The avid trainspotters of course know it by now, I'm talking about, the Class 332 used in the Heathrow Express service. Class 332 in Heathrow Express Service at London Paddington Then there's the Class 333, roaming the gentle landscape of West Yorkshire, far away from London. They are mechanically very similar if not identical to the Class 332 but have an entirely different interior layout. The Class 333 are used in regional comm...

I've missed this blog again, this time due to some family medical stuff that required quite some of my attention. All is fine though. Anyway I had a chance to stroll around the vast inter web for some time again, with the hopes that I'd find some technical papers of my interest. I found this, a catalogue of bogies  by Siemens, or in North American English, trucks, offered on various rail vehicles. It's not all that technical, more of a marketing brochure. The interesting bit is though, this catalogue does reference the types of rail vehicles in service each truck has been fitted to. Are some of your favourite equipment listed in the reference sections of the catalogue? Now it's your chance to have a more complete look on what they really look under those skirts. Cheers!