Tognum is preferred supplier for Hitachi Super Express Train

• 250 mtu Powerpacks for Intercity Express Programme (IEP)
• Delivery 2013 to 2018
• Additional maintenance contract covers service life of trains
• Dr Michael Haidinger, Tognum, and Alistair Dormer, Hitachi, agree cooperation on IEP project at Innotrans 2012 in Berlin

Friedrichshafen/Berlin, September 19, 2012. Tognum subsidiary MTU Friedrichshafen GmbH is to supply Hitachi Rail Europe Ltd. with 250 Powerpacks with Series 1600 rail engines. Hitachi and mtu have also agreed comprehensive maintenance contract for the drive plants to cover the service life of the trains. The total value of the contracts to be completed exceeds €200 million. The Powerpacks are set to drive Hitachi’s future high-speed Super Express Trains which are scheduled to go into service from 2017 on Great Western Main Line and East Coast Main Line routes as part of the British Intercity Express Programme. Delivery is scheduled between 2013 and 2018 and the maintenance contract is to run from 2017. “At Tognum, we are proud that the outstanding reliability of our Powerpacks and our extensive experience with comprehensive maintenance contracts will allow us to be part of the Intercity Express Programme and partners of Hitachi,” said Tognum Chief Sales Officer Dr Michael Haidinger at a joint press conference with Hitachi at the Innotrans 2012 rail exhibition in Berlin.

The mtu Powerpacks for the Hitachi railcars are diesel-electric underfloor drive units producing 700kW. At the heart of the package is the 12-cylinder mtu 12V 1600 R80L diesel engine. The unit meets EU Stage IIIB emissions regulations which came into force in 2012 and is fitted with an SCR exhaust gas aftertreatment system. Along with the engine and generator, the Powerpack contains all the subsidiary assemblies needed to drive the vehicle. As well as purely electric vehicles, the Super Express Train family includes bi-mode trains which operate solely on electricity where overhead lines are available but also run as diesel-electric units on non-electrified routes. The pure electric trains are also set to be fitted with one Powerpack each for auxiliary power. Depending on their length, bi-mode vehicles will each have three (five-unit trains), four (eight-unit trains) or five (nine-unit trains) Powerpacks. Prior to today’s announcement, Hitachi has already started intensive tests at their own facilities in Japan using a Powerpack prototype specially prepared by mtu for the joint project. The test program focused on fuel consumption, noise and vibration, power and exhaust emissions.

mtu warranties the availability of the drive plants over the service life of the trains. The comprehensive maintenance contract which accompanies the warranty covers preventive maintenance as well as repairs and major overhauls. In addition to its East Grinstead workshop which has been specially extended for the project, mtu is planning to station its own service personnel at rail depots in North Pole (London) and Doncaster (South Yorkshire). Engines for the current generation of British InterCity 125 high-speed trains were likewise supplied by mtu and the company also implemented a similar service concept covering preventive and corrective maintenance of the vehicles. Based at East Grinstead in West Sussex, mtu’s British subsidiary MTU UK Ltd. is responsible the service program.