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Home , ICE 3, Siemens Mobility, Siemens Velaro, TGV

Innovation on the move

Siemens press picture High-speed transformation Transformers for the Velaro high-speed Cécile Felon, Andreas Moglestue, Cyril Montacq, Christian Vetterli, Harry Züger

Concerns over carbon emissions from transportation, com- tries have been investing in high-speed railways for sever- bined with the increasing congestion of and air space al decades and now have extensive high-speed networks. are causing many countries to rethink their transportation The rapid development of emerging economies, together policies. New investments in transportation, such as com- with concerns ranging from rising fuel prices to global muter systems to serve major cities, or high-speed lines to warming, have led more and more countries, on different connect cities over distances of several hundred kilome- continents, to look toward high-speed as an alterna- ters, are contributing significantly to fuel savings and the tive transport solution. Manufacturers are meeting this

reduction of CO2 emissions. growing interest by rolling out a new generation of ultra- fast trains – offering higher performance and more sophis- High-speed rail is particularly effective at taking pressure ticated technology than their predecessors. off short-haul flights, reducing air congestion and bringing cities closer together. Japan and several European coun- One of these trains is ’ Velaro.

64 ABB Review 4/2009 High-speed transformation

Innovation on the move

BB Sécheron traces its collabora- responsibility of . Ve- The ICE-3 and Velaro differ from the Ation with Siemens Mobility to laro trains have been sold to first generation of European high- 2003, when ABB won a significant or- (2001: 26 eight- trains for – speed trains in that they are not pulled der to supply 140 +100 traction trans- ), China (2005: 60 eight-car by dedicated or power formers for the double-decker trains trains for – Tianjin and 2009: units, but use a distributed-traction of the Siemens’ Desiro family for the 20 eight-car trains and 120 16-car concept. This means that all traction suburban rail system of Zürich, Swit- trains for Beijing – ) and Rus- equipment such as traction motors, zerland (S-Bahn Zürich) 1 . A special sia (2006 : eight 10-car trains for Mos- transformers, cabling and auxiliary challenge here was that the transform- cow – St. Petersburg). With a power equipment is distributed along the sub- er had to be extremely light and com- of 8,800 kW, (10 percent more than floor space of the vehicles. As a result, pact as the design objective of the the ICE-3) the Spanish train can reach the full length of the train is available train was to maximize the space avail- a top speed of 350 km/h. for passenger accommodation. This ap- able for passengers. proach permitted the capacity of the

In 2004, ABB was awarded an order Factbox 1 Mumbai suburban railway to supply 172 EMU (electrical multiple units) transformers for suburban ser- vices in the Mumbai area (India). In The Mumbai suburban railway has the this project, ABB’s ability to provide world’s highest passenger density: It is used local content proved an advantage in by 6.3 million commuters every day. The sys- obtaining the contract. A second ma- tem extends over 319 route km (790 track jor Mumbai order followed in 2006 km) and is divided between two of India’s Factbox 1 . zonal railways: Western Railway (WR) and Central Railway (CR). It uses a total of 191 Building on this success, ABB secured train rakes (train sets) to operate, 2226 daily a further traction transformer contract train services. with Siemens in 2008, this time for trains destined for the Scottish railway To alleviate overcrowding and provide Source: Integral Coach Factory (ICF) franchise, Scotrail. additional capacity, a massive investment program has been launched. This includes: gral Coach Factory (ICF). ABB is sub-con- In June 2009, ABB won a prestigious Boosting capacity by adding 181 km of tracted to supply the traction transformers. order with Siemens Mobility: to sup- additional tracks ply transformers for Siemens’ flagship Extending station platforms to permit Further features of the new trains include: Velaro high-speed trains. longer trains Energy savings of 30 percent due to Improving signaling systems to permit regenerate braking The ICE-3 and Velaro trains to run at shorter intervals Use of three-phase traction motors Procuring new trains permits 20 percent higher power differ from the first Top speeds of 100 km/h rather than 80 as generation of European The works will permit the total number of on previous train types trains operated every day to be increased by Higher acceleration 0.54m/s2 as com- high-speed trains in that 25 percent. Overcrowding will be alleviated pared to 0.38 for previous trains. they are not pulled by by reducing the commuter load of a 9-car Decelartion similarly improved to dedicated locomotives or train from 5,000 to 3,600 passengers. 0.76 m/s2 from 0.6. Journey time on a typical Churchgate – power units, but use a The total cost of these measures is estimat- Borivali or CSTM – Thane trip reduced by distributed-traction ed at $943 million*) of which 57 percent is four to five minutes. provided by a World Bank loan. Passenger comfort improved through a concept. broad range of measures including better The first phase included the procurement riding quality, improved ventilation, pas- The Velaro high-speed train of 101 new trains of 9 each, with senger information displays and better Velaro traces its origins to the ICE-3 97 more following in the second phase. lighting. train, which was supplied to German As the works also include a phased conver- Railways (DB) from 2000, and oper- sion of the railway’s electrification system For more information, see ates at speeds of up to 320km/h in from 1,500 V DC to 25 kV 50 Hz, the new www.mrvc.indianrail.gov.in . commercial service 2 . trains are dual voltage, permitting them to work on both systems during the transition *) 45,260 million Indian Rupees The Velaro is a development of the period. ICE-3. In contrast to its predecessor, for which LHB, Bombardier/ The trains are being built by Siemens in DWA, and Siemens were jointly re- cooperation with the Indian company, Inte- sponsible, the Velaro is entirely the

ABB Review 4/2009 65 High-speed transformation

Innovation on the move

1 A Desiro Double Deck or train of (SBB) used 2 An ICE-3 high-speed train of German Ralways (DB). These trains on the Zürich suburban system (S-Bahn Zürich). These trains have have a top speed of 320km/h. ABB transformers. [Siemens Press Picture]

train to be increased by some 20 per- All this is achieved at great levels of rather than the more common 50 Hz cent while at the same time augment- energy efficiency. With an equivalent ones permitting their mass to be re- ing levels of passenger comfort. gasoline consumption of 0.33 liters duced without sacrificing cooling per- per person per 100 km, Siemens formance. The next Velaro order was placed by claims Velaro to be the “world’s most German Railways (DB) in December ecological train.” Capacitor-based filters have been 2008 3 . These 15 trains differ from added to reduce resulting harmonics. the previous Velaro orders in that the Two traction transformers will be fit- Railway applications are extremely train will be used on international ted to every eight-car train. In order sensitive to harmonics as these can services and must be equipped to to save weight, the secondary wind- cause interference with signaling sys- work in four countries (, Ger- ings of these transformers also serve tems. Hence requirements are very many, and Switzerland). as line inductances for the power con- stringent, demanding great diligence They must operate under four differ- verters when the train is operating un- in addressing such issues. ent power supplies and be compati- der a DC power supply. Thanks to ble with the different safety and sig- this economic weight-saving principle, The traction transformer and its cool- naling systems of the respective coun- the mass of the entire transformer ing system jointly form a plug-and- tries. assembly (comprising the 5,220 kVA play assembly, useful for installation traction transformer and its cooling and for maintenance. This was an In June 2009, Siemens Mobility system) could be reduced to 7,700 kg. unusual concept for Siemens, as the entrusted the supply of the traction company normally sources the trans- transformers to ABB. Ralf Mayer of The traction transformer former cooling system separately from Siemens Mobility said “ABB met the the transformer. The unit does not challenging requirements, eg, size and and its cooling system require de-gassing or oil refilling, and weight, of these special transformers jointly form a plug-and- so can operate for prolonged periods in a very convincing manner – so we with minimal intervention. chose ABB as a reliable partner for play assembly. the Velaro D project.” Further challenges were posed by the This principle of combined use of very demanding timelines to which The Velaro challenge windings was first installed on the ABB had to work, as Siemens required The Velaro’s transformer posed sever- Italian type, E412, in 1996. the delivery of the first transformer in al engineering challenges. It has since been adopted by other December 2009. vehicle types including the ETR 5001), If a traction unit fails, the train must AGV2) (NTV3) high-speed trains) and Footnotes be able to continue its journey with the Traxx MS4) locomotive. 1) ETR 500 is a high-speed train operated by Italian 75 percent of its maximum traction Railways (Trenitalia) and manufactured by a consor- and power in complete safety. The transformer’s enclosure is manu- tium of suppliers. 2) AGV (automotrice à grande vitesse) is a high-speed This includes the train’s ability to start factured out of weight-saving alumi- developed by Alstom as a successor to the TGV. and stop on steep gradients (the train num. Further weight is saved by inte- Similarly to the Velaro, it uses distributed traction. is expected to cope with gradients of grating the expansion reservoirs (for 3) See Factbox 2 . up to 4 percent, double that of con- the coolant fluid) with this unit. The 4) Traxx is a family of universal locomotives manufac- ventional trains). cooling system uses 60 Hz motors tured by Bombardier Tranportation.

66 ABB Review 4/2009 High-speed transformation

Innovation on the move

3 Impression of the Velaro-D train that will be supplied to DB 4 An ABB traction transformer for the Velaro D train [Siemens press picture]

A future at high speed for late delivery or malfunctions of the growth of many developing countries, ABB Sécheron has managed to build finished train – yet with acceptance the global market for high-speed rail an excellent working partnership with procedures being required in four is certain to see some exciting devel- Siemens Mobility. This was based countries, the timeline is extremely opment in years to come. ABB’s motto both on ABB’s ability to draw on its demanding. Siemens must thus be for of the future is “Let expertise in traction-transformer de- able to count on reliable partners who the brain fly but your body takes the sign and apply this to the demands will do everything in their power to train.” of high performance under restricted avoid inducing delays of their own. space and weight limitations Factbox 2 , ABB is in continuous contact with Railway applications are but also its high responsiveness and Siemens to discuss progress and willingness to collaborate. ABB’s sup- review technical issues. At the same extremely sensitive to port staff made themselves available time, ABB is working together with harmonics as these can at all times, including weekends, to the end customer (DB) on various attend to queries at meetings, by quality-related issues defined by the cause interference with phone, e-mail or on-site to share their customer such as enclosure welds. signaling systems. expertise. With projects for high-speed trains Siemens’ ability to rely on ABB is being considered in many countries The Velaro project is not only a good of the greatest importance. Being and continents, fuelled by environ- starting point for further high-speed responsible for the project, Siemens mental concerns, airspace congestion orders, but also demonstrates ABB’s must bear the liability and penalties or driven by the rapid economic competence in the design and supply of traction transformers for all types of applications. Factbox 2 ABB and high speed

Cécile Félon Cyril Montacq Christian Vetterli Harry Zueger ABB Sécheron SA ABB draws on considerable experience in additionally used two AGV power , Switzerland designing and manufacturing transformers under the passenger cars. [email protected] for high-speed trains. The highlights of this NTV (Nuovo Trasporto Viaggiatori, Italy’s [email protected] include: first private operator) will use AGV trains [email protected] The TGV/AGV train that set the world equipped with ABB transformers. [email protected] speed record of 574 km/h on April 3rd for DB uses ABB trans- 2007 (see inset photograph) used an formers. Andreas Moglestue ABB transformer. The train had conven- ABB Review tional power cars at the extremities, and Zurich, Switzerland [email protected]

ABB Review 4/2009 67