Renewed success for high speed trains from Siemens

Today, Tangshan Railway Vehicles Co. Ltd. (TC), Changchun Railway Vehicles Co. Ltd. (CRC), the Chinese Academy of Railways (CARS) and Siemens signed an extensive contract for the supply of 100 high speed trains.

The Siemens share of the contract is worth around 750 million euros. “This new order from China is especially gratifying to us because together we will be supplying the first vehicles for the Bejing – Shanghai route, the most important high speed line in the country. Moreover, we will strengthen the long-term cooperation with our Chinese partners in a high speed market that, in future, will be the largest in the world,” said Hans-Jörg Grundmann, CEO of the Mobility Division in the Siemens Industry Sector.

With a total length of 400 meters China will get the world’s longest single train in use in the area of high speed transportation.

“Counting the Chinese models, Siemens has already sold over 200 Velaro trains and has secured five of the last six contracts on the high speed rail market over 300 km/h with this multiple-unit concept,” said Grundmann. Siemens has signed long-term contracts with the three partners – TC, CRC and CARS – and these contracts will cover cooperation in future projects as well. The Ministry of Railways is planning to procure around 1,000 high speed trains within the next few years, most of which will be capable of operating in the over 300 km/h speed range. The current order includes the first trains for the new high speed line between Bejing and Shanghai, the lines Wuhan and Guangzhou and Wuhan and Shijazhuang will follow. These routes will be dedicated solely to high speed passenger service. Altogether, the network of these lines will cover a total distance of approximately 16,000 km by the year 2020.

Seventy of the new-generation high speed trains will be built in Tangshan, China, and 30 of them at CRC in Changchun, China. The Siemens share of the contract includes the supply of components such as electrical equipment and bogies to TC and CRC, the Chinese partners in the project. Siemens will manufacture its part of the scope of supply in Krefeld-Uerdingen and Nuremberg (Germany), Graz (Austria), Shanghai, Tianjin and Jinan (China). With this new order, Siemens has been able to add Changchun Railway Vehicles Co. Ltd. (CRC) to its network of Chinese partners. The first train is scheduled to be put into service at the end of 2010.

The new train models will be a development of the successfully operating CRH 3 high speed train. The CRH 3 is based on the Velaro, the Siemens platform for high speed trains. A train unit will have a total of 16 cars and accommodate approximately 1,060 passengers. The total length of 400 meters means that the new model will be the world’s longest single train in use in the area of high speed transportation. With a voltage of 25 kV and a traction rating of 18.4 MW, it will be able to achieve an operating speed of 350 km/h. The train will complete the 1,318 km run between Bejing and Shanghai in a mere four hours.

A previous order placed by the Chinese Ministry of Railways four years ago was for 60 trains of the type CRH 3 from Siemens and TC. Eleven of these trains have been in service between Bejing and Tianjin since the 2008 Olympic Games and can boast a degree of punctuality of over 99%.

About the Velaro
The Spanish version of the Velaro has already traveled a total distance of ten million kilometers. Since February 2008, it has connected the cities of Madrid and Barcelona with a service speed of 300 km/h and has even attained a market share of 47 percent in competition with air travel. The Russian version, Velaro RUS, which was handed over to the Russian Railways (RZD) at the end of 2008, is scheduled to start operating between Moscow and St. Petersburg at the end of 2009. With a consumption of only 0.33 liters per seat for every 100 kilometers traveled, the Velaro is also the most environment friendly high speed train on the market.

The Siemens Industry Sector (Erlangen, Germany) is the worldwide leading supplier of production, transportation, building and lighting technologies. With integrated automation technologies as well as comprehensive industry-specific solutions, Siemens increases the productivity, efficiency and flexibility of its customers in the fields of industry and infrastructure. The Sector consists of six Divisions: Building Technologies, Drive Technologies, Industry Automation, Industry Solutions, Mobility and Osram. With around 222,000 employees worldwide Siemens Industry posted a profit of EUR3.86 billion with revenues totalling EUR38 billion in fiscal year 2008 (ended September 30).

The Mobility Division (Erlangen, Germany) is the internationally leading provider of transportation and logistics solutions. With its “Complete mobility” approach, the Division is focused on networking the various modes of transportation in order to ensure the efficient transport of people and goods. “Complete mobility” combines the company's competence in operations control systems for railways and traffic control systems for roadways together with solutions for airport logistics, postal automation, traction power supplies and rolling stock for mass transit, regional and mainline services, turnkey systems as well as forward-looking service concepts.

Siemens AG
Corporate Communications and Government Affairs
Wittelsbacherplatz 2, 80333 Munich
Germany
Reference number: I 200903.009 e wp