International Railway Journal - August 2007 - (Page 20)

Locomotives First gauge-changeable electric loco under test What is claimed to be the world’s first gauge-changeable high-speed electric locomotive is about to start the certification process in Spain. Talgo explains the background to this exciting project to David Briginshaw. Spain in collaboration with Spanish traction specialist, Team. The development programme was supported by the Spanish Ministry of Industry. Trav-Ca is designed to plug a perceived hole in the market for electric locomotives which can not only cope with different power supply systems but also different track gauges either within the same network, as in Spain, or on neighbouring networks, such as between the former Soviet Union and Europe or China. “Various Eastern European railways near the 1435mm/1520mm-gauge border have shown great interest in the locomotive as well as countries from the Commonwealth of Independent States,” says Oriol. “Other parts of Europe may only require a locomotive with different voltages but a fixed gauge, in which case the bogies will be supplied accordingly.” Talgo will conduct trials in Russia later this year with a gauge-change installation in Moscow. “We will bring Y25 variable-gauge freight bogies and passenger coach wheelsets to Russia for the tests,” says Oriol. The first locomotive is designed for Spain and therefore can operate on the conventional 1668mm-gauge tracks, which are electrified at 3kV dc, as well as the new standard-gauge high-speed lines electrified at 25kV ac. The locomotive can cope with all the signalling systems currently in operation in Spain, namely ASFA, LZB, EbiCab, and levels 1 and 2 of the European Train Control System (ETCS). It is also equipped to operate with Renfe’s analogue radio network as well as GSM-R and GPS. I NNOVATION is certainly the name of the game with Talgo, Spain’s, new Trav-Ca electric locomotive, which is designed to overcome one of the fundamental barriers to interoperability: different track gauges, as well as different electrification and signalling systems. It can run at up to 260km/h and with a maximum lateral acceleration of 1.2 m/s2 through curves in passenger operation, or at lower speeds when hauling freight trains. Mr Mario Oriol, Talgo’s export and marketing director, is very proud of the fact that the locomotive was designed in Certification starts soon Talgo has completed its own tests with Trav-Ca allowing certification to begin soon. Oriol expects certification to take between six and 12 months. “From our experience in the certification of our Talgo 350 and Talgo 250 high-speed trains, we would expect to run the locomotive for 50,000km on the broadgauge network and another 50,000km 20 IRJ August 2007

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of International Railway Journal - August 2007

Contents This month News Market News Transit News News Analysis Voith Goes For Maxima Impact First Gauge-Changeable Loco Under Test Power Surge China Feels the Need For Speed A Firm Foundation For Chinese High-Speed Testing Times on the Betuwe Route Tough Tests For Mass Transit Software A Measure of Success Rendezvous Full Contact List Advertisers Index The Last Word

International Railway Journal - August 2007

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