General interest press release
High-Speed Train Velaro: Ice Cold Endurance Test
Every imaginable kind of weather can arise in the climatic wind tunnel of the testing facility of Rail Tec Arsenal (RTA) in Vienna: from extreme heat under intense simulated sunshine to frigid temperatures in a snowstorm. This is where Siemens tests the Velaro RUS high-speed train, which is slated to be in service between Moscow and St. Petersburg from the end of 2009. The tests are intended to ensure not only proper functioning and safety but also comfort for the passengers in the train's interior.
The latest high-speed train from the Velaro family has successfullycome through an endurance test under extreme conditions. Beforeits delivery to Russia, experts from Siemens tested the trainin a climatic wind tunnel to demonstrate that it can handle thesevere weather conditions on the 650-kilometer route betweenMoscow and St. Petersburg. The Velaro RUS will go into operationat the end of 2009 and will be Russia's first high-speed train.
At Rail Tec Arsenal (RTA), a testing facility in Vienna, it is possibleto recreate the fierce snowstorms of a Russian winter. Designedby Siemens to withstand such conditions, the Velaro RUSincorporates special-grade steel and plastic that are especiallyresistant to cold and therefore retain their properties even at lowtemperatures. Other measures include use of special lubricants, acoherent overall design, and auxiliary safety functions for thedrive and switching systems.
In addition to demonstrating the train's functionality in snowand ice, the test also showed that passengers are in for a comfortableride. While storm conditions raged — with wind speedsof up to 250 kilometers per hour and outside temperatures as lowas minus 40 °Celsius — around 800 sensors monitored temperature,air pressure, air circulation, and humidity inside the train.Thanks to the use of enhanced thermal insulation, passengersremain pleasantly warm. The engineers from Siemens Mobilityhave achieved this by minimizing the occurrence of "thermalbridges" — components that conduct heat to the outside of thetrain — and incorporating insulation around twice as thick as thatused for the ICE 3, currently in service in Germany.
The Russian State Railroad (RŽD) is scheduled to take delivery ofeight Velaro trains by 2010. Built at the Siemens plant in Krefeld-Uerdingen, the trains can operate at speeds of up to 250 kilometersper hour. Like all Velaro trains, they offer up to 20 percentmore passenger capacity and can transport a maximum of 604people. Thanks to enhanced aerodynamics and recovery of brakingenergy, the trains are also exceptionally efficient, consumingon average the equivalent of a mere 0.33 liters of gasoline perpassenger for every 100 kilometers. Environmentally friendlytrains are part of the Siemens environmental portfolio, whichgenerated sales of €19 billion in fiscal year 2008.
Photos: http://www.siemens.com/photonews/pn200903e