An increase in the speed of railway systems can be achieved either by constructing dedicated lines or only by making modifications to the already existing ones and using tilting trains: the first solution would however require considerable investments and would also involve long implementation schedules and enviromental impact. The second on represents an alternative, that gets profit of tilting technology, in which the need of lines modifications is really reduced to the minimum, while the strong point is represented by the tilting trainsets. S220 trains have been developed and manufactured by Fiat Ferroviaria (Now owned by Alstom) starting from the ETR 460 development for Italian State Railways and adapting it to specific requirements of VR and to the different climatic conditions. First two units were made in cooperation with Rautaruukki-Transtech, a Finnish rolling stock company, now part of Talgo.
Another possiblity were France TGV or German ICE, but these needs new raillines and for that reason are too expensive. Only available solutions on the market in year 1992 were Swedish X2000, Italian Pendolino and Spanish Talgo. Reasons to choose Pendolino were:
The S220, together with ETR 460, are the third generation of the Pendolino train, in service on the Italian State Railway network since 1988. The electrical traction equipment, with continuous power of 4000 kW, includes GTO chopper/inverter and asynchronous motors. The tilting system in the bogie, located entirely under the body, has permitted the reorganisation of the vestibules and passenger compartment areas. The bogie-to-body connection in extremely simple and easy to make, with clear advantages for what concers maintenance.
The body, exploiting large aluminium extrusion technology, has substantial modularity and allows for extremely low axle weigth, whilst fully respecting the highest safety standards, and allows the best exploitation of the space with different loading gauges.
The trains for VR are composed of 6 vechicles, two traction units, each unit consists of two motor coaches with a 4QC/inverter/converter with four traction motors (one for each bogie), plus a trailer coach with high voltage equipment (25 kV - 50 Hz) and traction transformer. The end coaches are provided with aerodynamic shaped driving cab; on of the trailer coaches (TTC) has a special featured bar section.
The delay in tilting is, for the first vehicle, practically zero; whilst in successive carriages the tilt is carried out in real time.
Primary and secondary suspension are helical and guarantee, in addition to highest possible safety level against derailment (not easily attainable with pneumatic suspensions in case of failure), an extremely high degree of comfort.
The bogie frame, the suspensions, the axles of carrying bogie and of the motor bogie are perfectly interchangeable, with the sole expection of the driving axle which has a reducer mounted on it. To reduce unsprung masses the traction motors are installed under the body and are connected to the reducer by a cardan shaft.
Each carrying axle has 3 steel brakes; each driving axle has 2 steel disc brakes. The motor bogies are interchangeable, as well as the trailer bogies.
Particular care has been taken, in order to prevent accumulation of snow and ice, through the introduction of specific protections of secondary suspension and of bogie-to-body connection.
The central concept behind the traction chain is that it is easily "polytensionable", by simply adding the high voltage equipment and with consequent modifications to some parts of the chain itself. For DC systems, the four quadrant converter GTOs are controlled such as to work as a chopper. The presence number of independent traction units guarantees a high degree redundancy to ensure an outstanding service availability as well as safe journey since "you always get home".
The Italian company Giugiaro Design, who are responsible for the décor of the Pendolino trains, have redesigned the internal décor throughout the train. Special arrangements are now available for passengers travelling with large pets. The Prego restaurant car in the Pendolino trains has been entirely redesigned and the number of seats almost doubled to 22. Changes in the kitchen now make it possible to order hot meals in the restaurant. The cubicle for smokers, previously located at one end of the train, has been moved to the centre of the train next to the restaurant car. Axle load is now higher with 14,3 tons.
On 22nd October 2001 second Pendolino route opened in Finland when most Intercity2 trains between Helsinki and Jyväskylä were started to run with Sm3 trainsets, first with Intercity2 timetables.
Pendolino number 8 was badly damaged in October 2001 in storm at the Bay of Biscay and the train was abandonded.
Third serie is actually 9 trains sets, because badly damaged unit 8 is part of third serie. The unit 8 was delivered on February 2004 as first unit of the third serie.
The network used by the fast Pendolino trains has extended as of June 2, 2002, with the new Pendolino connections introduced from Jyväskylä to Kuopio and from Helsinki via Seinäjoki to Oulu.
Sources
20 927 visits 5/28/1999-12/3/2007. Note that we don't work for VR. Feedback welcomed at
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Copyright Kimmo Kotimäki 1997. Copying is allowed only by written agreement
with the author, except for private use.
Created Thu, Oct 9 1997 Kimmo Kotimäki. Updated
Mon, Mar 12 2007
Kimmo Kotimäki.