Siemens Transportation Systems has placed a major order with Voith Turbo GmbH Co. KG for the delivery of 156 drive systems for the “Desiro” diesel railcar, which will be in service in the United Kingdom.

Worth over 40 million Euro, the project represents the largest single order so far for the Voith Turbo Market “Area Rail”.

At the same time, the order confirms the success of our company in offering Voith components to the manufacturers of rail vehicles, no longer as single units but, in a development process that is integrated at the vehicle manufacturer, as a tailor-made, ready-to-install drive system, including diesel engine.

The order for the “Desiro” means for Voith Turbo responsibility for 156 complete Voith-Powerpacks® including turbo transmission, final drives, engine cooling systems, highly elastic couplings, cardan shafts, as well as the entire electronic control system of the driveline. In this project, Voith Turbo is therefore the largest suppliers of Siemens Transportation Systems. The 51 three-section trains are destined for the Trans Pennine Express which will run services in North England. The operator is a consortium of FirstGroup plc and Keolis SA.

The official signing of the contract in Erlangen by Dr. Manfred Lerch, the Vice President of the Voith Market Area were preceded by months of intensive development and design work of the Voith project team.

Each of the trains has an output of approximately 1,700kW (2,300HP). the complete drive line including cooling system is installed underfloor in module design. On the traction side, a horizontal Cummins engine is driving the vehicle through the T 312 turbo transmission, cardan shafts and final drives. On the auxiliary drive side, the cooling system and the generator are hydraulically driven. The “Desiro” for service in England is not only designed for maximum speeds of 160km/h, but also for good acceleration behaviour.

The production of the cardan shafts is carried out by Voith Turbo in Crailsheim, the final drives are being manufactured in St. Pölten in Austria and the flexible couplings are produced in Essen. All other parts are manufactured at the Voith Turbo headquarters in Heidenheim, Germany. Delivery and trial runs are scheduled to start in September 2004.

After the Railpack® with integrated T 212 turbo transmission in service in Italy, the commissioning of the “Desiro” from the middle of 2005 means that, with the Tur-bopack® (with T 312 turbo transmission rated at up to 650kW), a further range of Voith-Powerpacks® will be in series operation.

Voith Turbo, the specialist for hydrodynamic drive, coupling and braking systems for road, rail and industrial applications, as well as marine drives, is a Group Division of Voith.

Voith is setting standards in paper technology, power transmission, energy technology and industrial services. Founded on 1 January 1867, with approximately 24,000 employees, a turnover of EURO 3.1 billion and 180 locations worldwide. Voith is one of Europe’s large family-owned companies.