French companies Alstom and SNCF Voyageurs have unveiled a hybrid train at the Alstom site in Reichshoffen and in the Régions de France headquarters in Paris.
It will serve the Occitanie, Grand-Est, Nouvelle-Aquitaine and Centre-Val-de-Loire regions.
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The electric-diesel-battery regional train is said to mark the first hybridisation project for the Régiolis train category in France.
This project was initiated by SNCF Group and Alstom in 2018, and backed by the Occitanie, Grand-Est, Nouvelle-Aquitaine and Centre-Val-de-Loire regions.
Additionally, the Occitanie Region also offered train from its liO fleet to support the project.
The project was started with an objective to decarbonise the regional train fleet by minimising greenhouse gas emissions and energy consumption.
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By GlobalDataThe new hybrid train has been designed in a manner that it can be put into use without altering the existing infrastructure.
For this project, the company replaced half of the diesel engines with energy storage systems made up of lithium-ion batteries.
The train will also have a temporary laboratory coach and sensors to measure energy flows.
In a statement Alstom said: “Equipped with its two energy storage systems and its laboratory coach, the train started its tests in 2021. A static and dynamic tuning phase at up to 60 km/h took place in Reichshoffen to check the train’s operations and test its hybrid traction mode.
“The tests then continued on the Velim test center (in the Czech Republic), with validation and certification tests at up to 160km/h. All of the train’s new traction modes were tested at high speed and the route simulation models were validated.”
The final tests will be carried out on the French national railway network.
These tests will allow SNCF Voyageurs to finalise the admission file, which will be presented to the Public Railway Safety Establishment (EPSF) to obtain authorisations for its commercial operation.
The experimental commercial service is slated to begin in Q2 2023 with traffic in each of the partner regions, before considering the deployment of the hybrid solution on the existing Régiolis fleet.
Last week, Alstom secured a contract to deliver three new Coradia Stream Pop 2.0 trains for the Abruzzo region in Italy.
