Rolling stock & Rail Vehicle Design

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 (AU$2.2bn).

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, which rely on proven platforms, will allow Renfe to transport at least 20% 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 boast an innovative mixed-configuration design, with both single and double-decker cars, designed specifically to meet the evolving mobility needs of major urban centres.

“We are immensely proud to have been selected by Renfe to supply this large fleet of latest-generation trains. 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. Furthermore, the fact that more than 80% of our suppliers are local Spanish companies, makes us very proud. The size and importance of this contract bears witness to the trust and confidence that has been built in the enduring relationship between Alstom and Renfe,” said Gian Luca Erbacci, President of Alstom Europe.

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, allowing a decrease in station stop times. The trains offer universal accessibility, Wi-Fi connectivity and dedicated areas for bicycles and pushchairs. The X’Trapolis also maximise availability and line usage via more efficient traction systems and the latest generation of train control technology.

The X’Trapolis is a sustainable train, fully developed in line with eco-design criteria, from the raw materials selection to traction systems. It offers optimal energy efficiency during operation and a recyclability rate of over 98% at the end of its service life.

The conception of this innovative train is the result of two years of intense work by a team of over a hundred professionals from across Alstom’s many domains of expertise and parts of the world. 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 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 designed to meet the needs of both operators and passengers. The range benefits from over 30 years’ experience. 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.