Pendolino of Alstom

The super high speed trains require a special track to run on. Track and corridors may seem as a very expensive investment of billions on euros/dollars, so often the solution is to try (conventional) high speed first and tilting EMUs like Pendolino to improve the comfort of travelling. The idea behind the Pendolinos is to allow higher than normal speeds on the normal curved track by tilting the passenger compartment of the train a few degrees. No more is needed for the comfortable ride. Using tilting trains gives the country additional decades to build the high speed lines and often quarantees better service level for areas where building of the new track can't be judged. Very often the demand for the true super high speed track and rolling stock picks up once the hormal high speed option is first introduced.
    
The tilt on trains was first introduced in 1938 in U.S.A. by Atchison Topeka & Santa Fe Railway. The invention back then was a passive tilting system with unproper dampening and caused seasickness instead of the intended better comfort, so the experiment did not lead to the production phase. After much research and further experiments the first successfull passive tilting train was finally created in 1950s by Talgo to use in Spain. This technology is still in use today and have made Talgo one of the important international manufacturers of trains. Talgo trainsets are in use all over Europe and in North America.

For the active tilting system the first attempts were made in Great Britain in 1970s in the form of Advanced Passenger Train or APT. While the initial experiment was not successfull: seasickness was the result again, this phenomenon was later fixed simply by adjusting the units to tilt slightly less (enabling still a slight sence of "cornering")! However, the initial negative publicity and soaring development costs lead to withdrawal of the prototype trains.

Picture above left: A Pendolino ETR450 EMU is seen between it's assignments. From the looks of the train is is obvious the Italians have always mastered the vehicle design! The reliable engineering however can be challenging. Picture by Jeff Leknes.

Picture on the left: An APT test train 370 001 is seen here on the test drive. Although the technology could had been finally successfull, the project was cancelled and the resulting tilting technology sold to Italy. This created the success story for the Pendolinos. Picture by Phil Mason.

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First Steps of Pendolino
Fiat Ferroviaria (now part of Alstom) bought the active tilting technology from the British for it's Pendolino trains. The prototype Pendolino ETR401 started commercial test traffic in 1975. It run successfully for years and this created the foundations for the success of the later Pendolino trains that can be found in many countries in Europe.

Picture on the left: The prototype Pendolino ETR401 seen sitting at the depot in Italy. Picture by Daniele Neroni, CCA 3.0 Licensing.

In 1982 Fiat acquired the patents from the whole British APT project, guaranteeing the company exclusive market for the tilting segment for the coming years. The result of this was the Pendolino ETR450, very similar in outward appearance to the 1975 ETR401 prototype, but running as fast as 250 km/h (155 mph)! With relative restricted markets (and huge capitals needed to successfully build trains) the manufacturer of the Pendolinos was in 2002 fusioned into the French giant Alstom, better known for it's family of TGV and AGV  super high speed trains. Much of the technology has since been developed further by Alstom, but the tilting trains have proved to be extremely successfull in most European countries.

Picture: An ETR470 of the ill fated Cisalpino. Cisalpino was a joint venture between the SBB of Switzerland and Trenitalia (FS) of Italy. The maintenance was performed in italy, where it was moved once and as the magazines wrote, it took years before the easiest of the maintenance task on these expensive trains could be performaed satisfactory again. As a result the joint venture broke up with SBB blaming Trenitalia for poor maintenance and low availability figures for the type. After the split and one serious fire in the train SBB announced it will withdraw the type as fast as it can in 2014. Picture by Donald M. Hall.

A country list of the Pendolino operators
- Czech Republic,
- Finland (operators VR-Yhtyma and Karelian Trains),
- Italy,
- Poland (trains in order),
- Portugal,
- Romania,
- Russia (both the RZD (the Russian Railways) and a joint venture Karelia Trains between the RZD and the Finnish State Railways VR-Yhtyma),
- Slovakia,
- Slovenia,
- Spain,
- Switzerland (operators SBB/CFF and Trenitalia)
- United Kingdom (operator Virgin Trains),
and outside Europe the growing railroad nation China.

Picture on the left: The newest offering of the Alstom Pendolino family, type ETR610 of the SBB (still in Cisalpino colors) seen in Basel. Picture by Ilkka Siissalo.


The Future of the Pendolino
To be added soon.



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Picture: The Pendolinos ETR450 train unit seen between the assignments in Italy. Look at the attractive train design the Italians master!

Picture by Jeff Leknes.