Alstom to manufacture 152 X’Trapolis commuter trains for Renfe
Alstom has won a contract to provide Renfe, the Spanish national railway operator, with 152 high-capacity trains for a total amount of more than 1.4 billion euros. The trains will come from Alstom’s X’Trapolis range of suburban trains. The contract also includes the maintenance of 56 of the trains for a period of 15 years and the supply of parts for the fleet, as well as the initial stock of spare parts and their tooling.
The new trains will allow Renfe to transport at least 20 percent more passengers per hour in the country’s most congested railway hubs, including Madrid and Barcelona. They will each be 100 metres long and have a capacity of over 900 passengers. The X’Trapolis have a mixed-configuration design, with both single and double-decker cars, designed to meet the evolving mobility needs of major urban centres
“Our solution is the result of long experience in design, engineering and industrialisation on a global level, and over 30 years of manufacturing trains in Spain”, said Gian Luca Erbacci, President of Alstom Europe. “Furthermore, the fact that more than 80 percent of our suppliers are local Spanish companies, makes us very proud”.
High capacity
The design of the new X’Trapolis trains maximises capacity for passengers thanks to innovative interior configuration and flexible spaces. Numerous access doors and large distribution halls facilitate the entry and exit of passengers, which should allow a decrease in station stop times. The X’Trapolis also maximise availability and line usage via more efficient traction systems and the latest generation of train control technology. The trains offer universal accessibility, Wi-Fi connectivity and dedicated areas for bicycles and pushchairs.
The X’Trapolis is a sustainable train, according to Alstom. It is fully developed ‘in line with eco-design criteria, from the raw materials selection to traction systems’. It should offer optimal energy efficiency during operation and a recyclability rate of over 98 percent at the end of its service life.
Santa Perpètua
Alstom has been working for two years with a team of over a hundred professionals from across various expertises and parts of the world with the new train as a result. The team was led and coordinated by engineering and industrialisation experts from Alstom’s Santa Perpètua site near Barcelona and the Madrid centres of excellence. The trains will also be manufactured at Santa Perpètua.
Alstom’s X’Trapolis is a modular train platform that allows a large range of flexible, high-capacity solutions for suburban and regional transit. The range already exists for more than 30 years. In the past ten years, over 5,000 X’Trapolis cars have been sold to major cities in Australia, Chile, Spain, South Africa and France.
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