More details about today’s announcement of Talgo coaches for Swedish night trains in this radio interview (at 44:55)
- Coaches by Talgo
- Locos by Siemens
- Three comforts: 4-bed, 2-bed with wc/shower, and some fuzzily defined solo compartment
- Same capacity as today’s fleet
- Claim of ”high comfort”, but focusing on temperature and sound insulation and wifi
- Of course they say they think it will run as promised in 2030
For reference: Follow up interview/analysis with Magnus Olofsson from KTH/Resenärerna at 78:42. Pretty harsh criticism regarding claimed comfort and economics of these carriages (and thus risk of high ticket prices and potentially killing the concept).
@partim My perception is that Trafikverket is doing what Swedish governments sometimes are a little too good at: their jobs (and nothing else). The system is defined for them to make this type of tender so they do.
IMO it’s fundamentally a political issue and our current government are beyond given up – they actively work to kill long distance passenger trains.
@stefanlindbohm @jon @Jonas_Bostrom @tml I was pondering on the way home how to do these tenders better without inviting corruption and wastage. It is a difficult problem.
That said, I meant whether Talgo had given up on trying to make their own locomotive work. Presumably they entered the tender with Vectrons? Should have made that more clear.
@partim Ah sorry! In the follow up interview, they bring up the point that tender requirements were made so that only one manufacturer could comply (Vectron presumably). Thus I guess the options were to create an entire new loco model that matches or partner with Siemens. Speaking of problematic tenders :)
One simple way to improve this would have been to only buy coaches. Locos can be leased easily by an operator of the services.
@stefanlindbohm @jon @Jonas_Bostrom @tml They have their own loco model – the ICE-L came with it – but it is still not certified in Germany. DB is using leased Vectrons for now and rumours make it sound like it may stay this way?
Of course, making a loco fit for service in the artic is an entirely separate ball game on top.
Stefan Lindbohm
Anders Norén
Jon Worth
Martin Hoffmann
Jonas Boström