High-Speed Train Velaro: Ice Cold Endurance Test

The latest high-speed train from the Velaro family has successfully come through an endurance test under extreme conditions. Before its delivery to Russia, experts from Siemens tested the train in a climatic wind tunnel to demonstrate that it can handle the severe weather conditions on the 650-kilometer route between Moscow and St. Petersburg. The Velaro RUS will go into operation at 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 possible to recreate the fierce snowstorms of a Russian winter. Designed by Siemens to withstand such conditions, the Velaro RUS incorporates special-grade steel and plastic that are especially resistant to cold and therefore retain their properties even at low temperatures. Other measures include use of special lubricants, a coherent overall design, and auxiliary safety functions for the drive and switching systems.

In addition to demonstrating the train’s functionality in snow and ice, the test also showed that passengers are in for a comfortable ride. While storm conditions raged — with wind speeds of up to 250 kilometers per hour and outside temperatures as low as 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, passengers remain pleasantly warm. The engineers from Siemens Mobility have achieved this by minimizing the occurrence of “thermal bridges” — components that conduct heat to the outside of the train — and incorporating insulation around twice as thick as that used for the ICE 3, currently in service in Germany.

The Russian State Railroad (RŽD) is scheduled to take delivery of eight Velaro trains by 2010. Built at the Siemens plant in Krefeld-Uerdingen, the trains can operate at speeds of up to 250 kilometers per hour. Like all Velaro trains, they offer up to 20 percent more passenger capacity and can transport a maximum of 604 people. Thanks to enhanced aerodynamics and recovery of braking energy, the trains are also exceptionally efficient, consuming on average the equivalent of a mere 0.33 liters of gasoline per passenger for every 100 kilometers. Environmentally friendly trains are part of the Siemens environmental portfolio, which generated sales of €19 billion in fiscal year 2008.