New trains replace DMUs in Scandinavia

LARGE numbers of dieselpowered trains in both Denmark and Sweden will be replaced in the next few years after two big manufacturing contracts were awarded.

The largest contract was awarded by Danish state operator DSB to Alstom for 100 new single deck 200kph five car EMUs based on the Alstom Coradia Stream design and similar to the ICNG trains that Alstom is currently delivering to Netherlands Railways (NS).

An option for 50 more trains was included in the contract worth 20 billion Danish Kroner (£2.32bn) As part of the contract Alstom will also be responsible for maintaining the trains for up to 40 years at two new dedicated depots in Aarhus and Copenhagen. Stadler, which lost out on the Danish contract, has started legal action against the decision.

In Sweden, CAF has received an order from a contract it won in 2014 which until now hadn’t been taken up. The order is worth more than €250 million with Swedish regional government owned ROSCO AB Transito which buys trains for regional councils, who then concession their operation.

The order for CAF ‘Civity

Nordic’ trains includes eight three car plus ‘power car’ 67m long, 140-seat bi-mode electric/ diesel units as well as 20 four car, 76 metre, 15kV AC EMUs with 190 seats. The new trains will be introduced from 2023 operating the Krösatågen and Kustpilen concession contracts replacing older EMUs. The bi-mode trains, which will run only on bio-diesel will mainly be used on the mostly non-electrified Linköping – Kalmar /Västervik Kustpilen routes.

The CAF trains will have a cranberry red livery and are designed for extreme Swedish weather conditions (from -40ºC to +40ºC). All the new trains will have a maximum speed of 200kph as EMUs although the bi-mode units will be restricted to 160kph when operating in diesel mode.

KEITH FENDER DSB will replace all its IC3 and the newer, but less reliable, IC4 DMUs with the new EMU fleet as largescale electrification is planned, or in some cases complete. The first of the new trains will enter service in 2024 with deliveries lasting five years. DSB IC3 DMU 5067 seen at Høje-Taastrup, west of Copenhagen on May 20, 2019.

KEITH FENDER Right: The new CAF Nordic bimode trains will mainly be used on the mostly non electrified Linköping – Kalmar /Västervik Kustpilen routes. These are currently operated by a mixture of Class Y2 DMUs which is similar to the Danish IC3 design and dates from 1989 plus newer Bombardier ‘Itino’ Class Y31 DMUs built around 10 years ago. Kustpilen Y31 1424 seen at Linköping on April 28, 2018 with a service for Kalmar.