MOROCCO IS ACCELERATING! feature - Alstom

ecame part of Alstom in the 1990s.
The project’s code name was ‘Z2N’. Behind
this mysterious sounding acronym, was
to be found a 36,000 horsepower train,
with trainsets of 4 to 6 cars – or 2 railcars
with 2 or 4 cars each – with a maximum
speed of 140 km/h, weighing 250 tons
empty with capacity for 1,000 passengers.
Built from a solution shared between
the operator and the French builder,
with the support of the ANF – the Ateliers
de construction du Nord de la France –
it was assigned to line C of the RER.
Two events then radically changed
the situation in the early 1990s: the birth
of the Duplex high-speed train and the arrival
of the Coradia Duplex for regional transport.
France’s modern double-decker adventure
had now begun…
Urban and regional doubledecker:
the wind in its sails
In the mid 1980s, in cities and areas with
high population densities, regional operators
and the SNCF had to meet growing capacity,
comfort and frequency imperatives. To adapt
to these emerging needs, Alstom developed
a TER version of the Z2N, the TER2N.
A version naturally suited to regional journeys:
more space devoted to luggage, improved
access for passengers with reduced
mobility… In addition to these capacity
advantages, it boasted reduced maintenance
costs and signifi cant energy savings,
contributing to a much lower global cost
of ownership.
Several regions, including the Nord-Pas-
de-Calais and Provence-Alpes-Côte-d’Azur,
recognised these advantages and ordered
several dozen trainsets. Another illustration
of this success is the concept’s export mainly
to Spain, Portugal, Belgium and Switzerland.
Alstom is responsible for technical supervision
and product development and manufacturing
is conducted in the ‘host’ country’. Its Italian
path was to be more original: modifi ed
to be a double-decker, two-cab diesel
multiple unit, it was sold to Mauritius a few
years later and renamed the ‘desert train’.
In 2000, a further decisive phase followed:
after three years research and the building
of a scale 1 model, Alstom launched the most
�
On 3 April 2007, an experimental
Duplex fi tted with permanent magnet
motors entered the history books
by obtaining the new world rail
speed record and attaining
the dizzying speed of 574.8 km/h.
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