Automotrice à grande vitesse
Encyclopedia
Alstom
Alstom is a large multinational conglomerate which holds interests in the power generation and transport markets. According to the company website, in the years 2010-2011 Alstom had annual sales of over €20.9 billion, and employed more than 85,000 people in 70 countries. Alstom's headquarters are...
train
Train
A train is a connected series of vehicles for rail transport that move along a track to transport cargo or passengers from one place to another place. The track usually consists of two rails, but might also be a monorail or maglev guideway.Propulsion for the train is provided by a separate...
intended as the successor to France
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
’s TGV
TGV
The TGV is France's high-speed rail service, currently operated by SNCF Voyages, the long-distance rail branch of SNCF, the French national rail operator....
high-speed trains; the name stands for automotrice à grande vitesse, or ‘high-speed self-propelled carriage’. Instead of having separate power cars at either end of the train, as current TGVs do, the AGV has distributed traction with motors under the floors of the passenger carriages. This is the arrangement used on many regular-speed multiple unit
Multiple unit
The term multiple unit or MU is used to describe a self-propelled carriages capable of coupling with other units of the same or similar type and still being controlled from one driving cab. The term is commonly used to denote passenger trainsets consisting of more than one carriage...
trains and also high-speed trains such as the Siemens Velaro
Siemens Velaro
Siemens Velaro is a family of high-speed EMU trains used in Europe and China. The Velaro is based on Deutsche Bahn's ICE 3 high-speed trains, but is a full Siemens product unlike the ICE 3 which involved other manufacturers....
and Japan
Japan
Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...
's Shinkansen
Shinkansen
The , also known as THE BULLET TRAIN, is a network of high-speed railway lines in Japan operated by four Japan Railways Group companies. Starting with the Tōkaidō Shinkansen in 1964, the network has expanded to currently consist of of lines with maximum speeds of , of Mini-shinkansen with a...
trains, although the AGV combines it with the articulated design that characterizes the TGV family. The Jacobs bogie
Jacobs bogie
Jacobs bogies are a type of rail vehicle bogie commonly found on articulated railcars and tramway vehicles....
s are now powered, providing more space without compromising safety.
Alstom offer the AGV in configurations from seven to fourteen carriages, with a total of 250–650 seats, depending on internal layout and number of carriages. The commercial service speed will be 360 kilometre per hour. According to Alstom, the AGV weighs less than its rivals which reduces its power consumption, and it consumes 30% less energy than previous TGV designs.
The prototype was unveiled on 5 February 2008, with French President Nicolas Sarkozy
Nicolas Sarkozy
Nicolas Sarkozy is the 23rd and current President of the French Republic and ex officio Co-Prince of Andorra. He assumed the office on 16 May 2007 after defeating the Socialist Party candidate Ségolène Royal 10 days earlier....
in attendance.
NTV
The first customer for the AGV is Italian company Nuovo Trasporto ViaggiatoriNuovo Trasporto Viaggiatori
Nuovo Trasporto Viaggiatori is an Italian company which plans to be Europe's first private open access operator of 300 km/h high speed trains. NTV was created by four Italian businessmen to compete with Trenitalia. French state railway SNCF has a 20% stake in NTV...
, Europe's first private open access high speed train operator. NTV has ordered 25 11-coach AGV trains with 460 seats each in a contract announced on January 17, 2008. The company planned to launch a service in 2011 between the cities of Turin, Milan, Bologna, Florence, Rome, Naples, Salerno, Venice and Padova, with the initial delivery in September 2010.
Reports in January 2010 state that the AGV's Italian certification will be complete by mid-2011 with an entry into service later that year.
Production of the first AGV trainset at Alstom's plant in La Rochelle
La Rochelle
La Rochelle is a city in western France and a seaport on the Bay of Biscay, a part of the Atlantic Ocean. It is the capital of the Charente-Maritime department.The city is connected to the Île de Ré by a bridge completed on 19 May 1988...
was completed in May 2010; further trainsets are to be built in Italy.
NTV built a maintenance depot in Nola
Nola
Nola is a city and comune of Campania, southern Italy, in the province of Naples, situated in the plain between Mount Vesuvius and the Apennines...
Campano Interport in Campania
Campania
Campania is a region in southern Italy. The region has a population of around 5.8 million people, making it the second-most-populous region of Italy; its total area of 13,590 km² makes it the most densely populated region in the country...
for its fleet of 25 AGVs at a cost of around 90 million euros.
The NTV trains will provide wi-fi
Wi-Fi
Wi-Fi or Wifi, is a mechanism for wirelessly connecting electronic devices. A device enabled with Wi-Fi, such as a personal computer, video game console, smartphone, or digital audio player, can connect to the Internet via a wireless network access point. An access point has a range of about 20...
, satellite TV and UMTS for the passengers and will also include a cinema in an end carriage
Air France-KLM
The liberalisation of the European rail network from 2010 has led to several proposals for new services. Air France-KLMAir France-KLM
Air France-KLM is a European airline holding company incorporated under French law with its headquarters at Paris-Charles de Gaulle Airport in Tremblay-en-France, Paris...
have proposed running a high speed rail service, in conjunction with Veolia, with plans between Paris
Paris
Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...
and Amsterdam
Amsterdam
Amsterdam is the largest city and the capital of the Netherlands. The current position of Amsterdam as capital city of the Kingdom of the Netherlands is governed by the constitution of August 24, 1815 and its successors. Amsterdam has a population of 783,364 within city limits, an urban population...
/London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
. Air France's plan would involve the lease or purchase of a number of AGV units.
Testing
Pégase, a seven-car test AGV unit began trials at the Velim railway test circuit in the Czech Republic on 14 May 2008 for several months of testing and measurements. All trials of the AGV at Velim were restricted to 210 km/h (130.5 mph) due to the architecture of the test track. Testing of Pégase at high speed then commenced on the LGV EstLGV Est
The LGV Est européenne is an extension to the French high-speed rail network, connecting currently Vaires-sur-Marne and Baudrecourt , and later Vaires-sur-Marne and Vendenheim . , it is the newest high-speed line in France and still under construction, with of a planned in service...
on 14 December 2008, including 360 km/h (223.7 mph) runs.
The test programme will continue in Italy from 14 January 2010 to validate the Italian signalling and safety equipment required by launch customer NTV
Nuovo Trasporto Viaggiatori
Nuovo Trasporto Viaggiatori is an Italian company which plans to be Europe's first private open access operator of 300 km/h high speed trains. NTV was created by four Italian businessmen to compete with Trenitalia. French state railway SNCF has a 20% stake in NTV...
. The prototype AGV trainset will be equipped with
LED lighting and a second in cab screen, providing the Italian SCMT data in addition to the standard ERMTS data. The test will initial run on the Roma–Firenze conventional line, then on the Rome–Naples high-speed railway and finally on the Florence–Rome high-speed railway (the Direttissima) with maximum speeds of 335 km/h (208.2 mph), 25 km/h (15.5 mph) short of the design top speed.
In January 2008 a test conducted by Alstom resulted in the train running at the speed of 360.9 kilometres per hour (224.3 mph) .
As of December 2010, Alstom expected certification from the Italian rail regulator in April 2011. NTV
Nuovo Trasporto Viaggiatori
Nuovo Trasporto Viaggiatori is an Italian company which plans to be Europe's first private open access operator of 300 km/h high speed trains. NTV was created by four Italian businessmen to compete with Trenitalia. French state railway SNCF has a 20% stake in NTV...
intends to officially start its commercial service in September 2011.
External links
- AGV very high speed trains at Alstom.com
- AGV Brochure
- AGV tailors capacity and performance to the market Railway Gazette InternationalRailway Gazette InternationalRailway Gazette International is a monthly business journal covering the railway, metro, light rail and tram industries worldwide. Available by annual subscription, the magazine is read in over 140 countries by transport professionals and decision makers, railway managers, engineers, consultants...
September 2007 - "ELISA" to validate Alstom's AGV very high speed train concept, Alstom