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