RAIL E-SSENTIALS

TÜV SÜD commences tests on new TALGO ICE L trains for Deutsche Bahn

Having signed a framework contract in February 2019 for the delivery of a maximum of 100 new ICE L trains for German national railway company Deutsche Bahn (DB), the Spanish high-speed passenger train manufacturer Talgo has started the testing process with TÜV SÜD.

Markus Kammel, Sales and Projects Engineer at TÜV SÜD and Project Lead for the testing part at Talgo project said: “Our comprehensive service portfolio and extensive testing facilities, across multiple locations, optimises our capacity to offer the full suite of testing as well as certification services, which enables us to provide swift services and processing from a single source. We are really excited to be working on this industry-leading programme to modernise and expand the German high-speed train fleet, serving both domestic and international routes.”

ICE L is a long-distance locomotive-hauled push-pull train. The coachset can consist of a combination from 9 to 21 cars. The standard configuration is 256 m long and consists of one locomotive and 17 articulated cars. Each car is connected to the neighbouring car with a single-axle bogie, with double-axle bogies only at each end of the set. This gives each train 20 axles, in addition to those of the associated locomotive. Each unit will be delivered with a multi-system-electric Talgo Travca locomotive.

Talgo has commissioned TÜV SÜD to execute the complete package of tests, which are being performed on the public networks of Germany, Austria, Switzerland, and the Netherlands. This is achieved by working in close cooperation with RailAdventure, a Munich-based company specialising in rail operations. TÜV SÜD started a full set of homologation tests on two trainsets in parallel. The first tests focused on safety against derailment in accordance with EN 14363. This was performed on the instrumented curved track in TÜV SÜD´s rolling stock test centre in Görlitz, Germany. The tests began in 2023 and will continue this year. Once these tests have been completed, the first train of this type to be tested and approved by TÜV SÜD is expected to go into operation in 2025.

TÜV SÜD is one of the world’s leading testing, inspection, and certification (TIC) companies, providing services to the rail industry from conventional rail systems to high-speed trains and metro and urban rail systems. Over 400 experts from TÜV SÜD - Business Unit Rail Services support manufacturers, operators, and authorities throughout all stages of a project and all phases of a product’s life cycle. To this end, TÜV SÜD not only maintains its own test facilities for rail applications and proprietary testing tools; in addition, it holds all international accreditations and approvals needed for these activities.

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